Next Semester

okay so here we go with a break from my usual political rants. What classes are you guys taking next semester? Fun ones? Not so fun ones? GO!!!


This is what I get to look forward to:
-Genetics & Molec Biol--scary shit
-Lab in Genetics & Molec Biol--scary shit up close
-Environmental Engineering--fuck if I know, it counts for cred
-Intro to Political Analysis--could be interesting. it's statistics + politics
-U.S. Foreign Policy: Selected Problems Intl Relations --gonna be awesome
-Spanish Level IV - ay, dios mio! no entiendo!

Thnxgvn Projex

The Thanksgiving break is short, so we have to make the most out of our time. The Galactic Super Senate has already passed a measure in which we are going to test the lethally hot Buffalo Sause "Defcon 5". I would like to take this opportunity to propose another measure which will be recorded and donated to the internet: getting the most out of your soda. This would include but not be limited to...

1: Buying 2 liter bottles and filling up your own smaller bottles.
2: Explaining how carbonation works.
3: What to do if your soda has been shaken.
4: The rate at which an open can or bottle loses carbonation.
5: Buying generic or store brand soda for a fraction of the price.

This will be filmed, edited, and posted on the various "how to" sites like 5min.com or instructables.com. Its about time we gave something back to after taking oh so much.

We Need to Talk

Ok this is getting ridiculous now. As anyone from California knows, if you travel to the other end of the state you are not in the same state anymore. You're not even in the same country. Dare I say not even the same planet. To be honest, I'm more than surprised we don't have two different accents. There's northern California, southern California, and 400 miles of dirt separating the two. I think its about time we stopped ignoring the issue. California is too big and too diverse. Its like a bad marriage, and we need a divorce.

Can someone explain to me why we can't do this? I mean sure it'll make the country flag a little weird with 51 stars, but can't we just combine two of those stupidly small states on the east coast? Consider this, when you travel and meet someone how often do you just say "California"? It's about always followed with Northern, Southern, Bay Area, San Diego, or some modifier like that. I say Bay Area because I don't want people thinking I may be from LA. Its hard to get more different than SF and LA. I'm also convinced that Prop 8 passed because of the "other" half. If Northern Cali was its own state from the beginning I wouldn't doubt that we could have a gay governor. Which I'm saying is a GOOD thing. Not because gays are inherently better at being governor, but because it would reflect our acceptance of people beyond their race or sexual orientation.

Also, we should move the capitol. I mean really, Sacremento?

So the only real question is what to name the new states.

Election 2008

For some of you looking for election results in CA, you may be finding it hard to find the results for the issues you voted for. So here it goes. Commentary included!!

Prop 1a - Train connecting LA, Bay Area, and Sacramento - passed
Prop 2 - Standards for Confining Farm Animals - passed
Prop 3 - Children's Hospital Bond Act. Grant Program. - passed
Prop 4 - Parent Notif. Before Terminating Minor's Pregnancy - no
Prop 5 - Nonviolent Drug Offense. Sentencing, Parole, Rehab - no
Prop 6 - Police, Law Enforcement Funding. Criminal Laws - no
Prop 7 - Renewable Energy Generation - no
Prop 8 - Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry - looking like it will pass. not official yet
Prop 9 - Criminal Justice System. Victims' Rights. Parole - passed
Prop 10 - Altern. Fuel Vehicles and Renewable Energy Bonds - No
Prop 11 - Redistricting - passed
Prop 12 - Veterans' Bond - passed

County Measure Q - SMART Rail Quarter Cent Sales Tax - passed


So, there they are. How do you feel about them?

To be honest, I am pretty shocked on some of them. I don't know what kind of TV ads have been on back there swaying opinions one way or the other, but why in the hell did some of these pass?

Let's start with the first one; the safe, reliable railway system connecting southern CA and northern CA. Why? Why do we honestly need that? It sounds like a great idea, as a matter of fact a lot of what was on the ballot sounded like a great idea, but who the hell is going to pay for it? It's expected cost is somewhere near 20 Billion dollars and its expected upkeep is millions if not billions per year. Just guess where that is going to come from? The taxpayers, that's where. The state is in the hole and has been for awhile now, it does not have the money for this. We are trying to rebuild our economy, yet for some reason people felt the need to spend money on a luxury, not even a necessity. Think about what 20 billion dollars would do for CA schools. Now this sounds like a wild idea, but what about just not spending that much money period! You know saving it up, getting positive and out of debt. I know that makes too much sense, but come on people, a fucking 20 billion dollar train?

Now let's discuss drugs. So, many may be thinking they're criminals so why should we have to pay to help with their rehab. I know I know, I just went on a rant about senseless spending, but this is different. It does not cost nearly as much, and actually saves money. It's not just about rehab for non-violent drug offenders either. Laws regarding the punishments dealt to people who violate drug laws in a non-violent manner were also going to be reformed. That means, less people in jail, and thus less money required to house inmates. It was a chance to break away from this awful and totalitarian-like war on drugs where the government can make our decisions for us and unjustly punish us for doing no harm to anyone else whatsoever. It's a war that will never be won, actually increases crime rates, and increases needless government spending. Yeah, I know, drugs are bad. But it should still be our choice and this bill was going to be a way for us to get closer to getting that choice back.

I was really taken back with the two props. regarding renewable energy and alternate fuel vehicles getting shot down by so much. Let's just keep using gas, we don't need to break our dependence from foreign countries.

What about our police? I guess we don't need to give them more money as we don't need any more law enforcement because we have those rehab programs...oh wait. I don't consider this one as big of a deal as others, I'm just shocked it lost by so much.

SMART. A railway to connect Sonoma and Marin. Makes sense because they are sooooo far right? However, even I'll admit in all seriousness, it will be good for the environment. I voted no, but it's not the worst thing to get passed this year. However, if you voted yes for this and bitch about our already high sales tax increasing, I will slap you.

And finally, yes you knew it was coming, proposition 8. While it may not be passed yet, as there are some 3 million or so absentee ballots that have yet to be counted, it is not looking good. I cannot believe and am very disappointed with the flat out intolerance demonstrated by the passing of this amendment to our state's constitution. I live in Indiana for school. It is an extremely conservative part of the country. One thing that gets me through it is the ability to know that the whole world is not like this. California, to me, represents change that is to come. It represents modern and progressive ideals that the rest of the country will eventually come to follow. The passing of prop 8 scares me. If California, arguably the most progressive state in the U.S., cannot be an advocate for gay rights, who can? The passing of this is hateful, and I am ashamed to say that I share a state with so many hateful people. There is absolutely no practical reason to pass 8. Denying homosexuals the right to get married is simply based on one groups intolerance for the other and nothing else. Christian fundamentalists with no concept of what American society should be, passed this. I'll admit a large percentage of the country was founded by Christians. but, an even larger part of the foundation of this country is based on the freedom to choose religion. It is wrong for Christians to force their ideals on people of other beliefs and that is exactly what is happening here. Prop 8 supporters will argue that it does not really matter because they can still have unions and get all the rights of married couples anyways. But it does matter, this is segregation. Why should one group have the right to tell another group they cannot do something with no logical reason beyond religious reason which should not come up in political forums anyways. Who gives a shit if because of this not passing, kids would have to learn that homosexuality is normal. Homosexuality is a part of society whether people like it or not and kids will learn about it in one way or another. Wouldn't it be better for them to learn about it in a safe environment like school? They just don't want their kids to learn about it being okay so they can indoctrinate them until they are intolerant assholes too. People who actively supported this bill are imbeciles and should probably get bent. The mentality they possess is intolerant, slack-jawed, idiotic and similar to what you would get from generations of inbreeding. If you voted for this, you are severely misinformed about modern life and I would love to hear/debate your reasoning. Way to fail on this one California, I am actually holding Indiana in a higher light politically because they actually managed to vote blue for once.

We Don't Have Bionic Eyes Yet, Save Yours

Its been a long while since I've posted anything of real, practical value. Sure railing against the corporations and illuminating the futility of choice through determinism are fun. But how does that help you? Right now? Well actually they both help you but you just haven't ascended to that plane of intellectualism to understand their usefulness yet. So here is something easy that even you can do.

Like many of you I spend a lot of time in front of a computer screen. And a lot of the time its very straining on my eyes. But I didn't really realizes just how much unnecessary stress I was putting on my eyes until I started darkening certain things. So here is a list of things you can do to relieve the stress on your eyes.

Dark wallpaper. This one is the easiest. Just go download a darkish wallpaper and even though you may not spend that much time staring at your desktop, its must less jarring to see when you close your active programs.

Custom FireFox Extensions: This one I highly recommend. If you use FireFox (and you should), go and install the "Stylish" extension (link below). Now go the other link posted below and search for the sites you visit regularly. People have submitted a lot of custom templates that modify specific sites that change the background color, font, and other things. Take a look through them, find one you like, and install it. I recommend the dark versions of Wikipedia and Google.

Word Background: I'm really surprised I didn't figure this out sooner. Just open Word, go to Format and then Background. After a few seconds of staring at the default white background, switch to black. I don't know about you but as soon as I do that I feel like all this tension is listed off of me. I feels so much better to look at a dark screen.

Get Stylish

Customize Web Sites

My Browser is very eye friendly

Stop and Think

In the last two weeks or so you've all probably heard me talking about the online film Zeitgeist Addendum. Its a long documentary with a lot of radical ideas, so here is my rundown.

I've watched ZA twice now. The first time I just sat back and let it play. When it was finished I wasn't sure what to make of it. My first impression was that it was very persuading, but like all second hand reports I didn't think it was the whole truth. So I started asking around to see if anyone could verify some of the claims that it made. This was pretty hard because it makes a lot of claims and I don't have the time or know-how to check all their facts. But my research did yield some fruit. The last quarts of the film is about The Venus Project, a proposed new "Resource Based" economy by this guy Jaques Fresko. The film is pretty much a big ad for the project but even without the proposed new economy, the message of the film is still important on its own.

So I decided to watch it again but this time take notes on their main points so I could compile it all and check from there. Thats when I realized that it wasn't the facts that I needed to focus, it was the ideas and concepts. Even if someone says that unemployment in the US is 10% when its actually 8% doesn't change the fact that the unemployment rate is out of control (I just made up those numbers for the argument). So its counter productive to focus on each precise statistic than to the look at the main point.

The entire argument of the film is that our growth as a people is being held back from meaningful progress by long held institutions that are not longer relevant, and the point is to just get you to stop and think about the way things work. We could be so much more than we are now if we were not slowed down by the desire to keep things the way they are. The biggest institutions targeted in the film are the monetary system, capitalism, government, and religion.

I don't want to go into each one individually because I don't think I could explain them accurately the way the film does. However there are few overarching things I'd like to point out.

1: Capitalism values profit well above human welfare. The only reason most companies hire employees is because that job hasn't been automated yet. If I have a factory and can function at a fraction of the cost by using machines, why would I hire employees?

2: The only reason we don't usually have to pay for water and air is because its so abundant. Charging for it would be useless.

3: Our monetary system cannot keep up with technological advances. What happens when the population starts to really outweigh the number of jobs? The global population is rising every year and more jobs are being automated every year.

4: As I said in my last post, we have the technology to make clean, efficient transportation and energy but the oil and energy companies (and the government) stand in the way. Why? Because efficiency does not mean profit. The longer we use inefficient cars and energy, the longer they
will stay in business and maintain control. Its no secret that the oil companies hold electric car patents that prevent mass distribution.

There are more issued addressed in the film but, again, I don't want to screw up the message by the explaining it poorly. Take two hours, watch the film, and then look around and ask yourself "is this really the best we can do?"

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7065205277695921912

Gas Prices Too High or Not High Enough?

Alright I'm going to try to make this short since I need to be in the hot tub soon. In the last couple of years, gas prices have gone way up. And like the whores and addicts that we are, we bitch and complain but we still crawl back to the pump for our sweet sweet liquid crack. I know because I do it too. I really like having the freedom that comes with owning my own car and being able to drive any where I want any time I want. But isn't it about time we retired the combustion engine engine and adopted a new energy with modern functionality? Automobiles really haven't changed all that much since Henry Ford's Model T which began production ONE HUNDRED years ago. We ARE STILL using the same basic technology that powered those cars. In over a hundred we haven't come up with a better and more efficient engine than that? Well we have actually, but they've been stopped from entering mainstream production. The problem is that the oil companies make way too much money the way things are now to let that happen without a serious fight. The automobile industry as it is now is built around having to constantly pay to use a car. Even after you own a car you still have to pay for gas, tires that wear out, and tune ups and oil changes every couple of months. So you can see why the oil companies are doing everything they can to stop cars that don't need as much energy and don't need tune ups and oil changes. Now, our problem is that gas prices are just enough that people will be still use it and not make drastic changes in their lifestyles or demand new technology. If suddenly gas was $10 a gallon, I would bet there would be rioting in the streets for a new engine independent of gasoline. We need higher gas prices. Not just a few dollars though, I mean WAY higher. The higher the better. Its time to shape up and get with the fucking 21st century. We DO have the technology for clean and efficient engines. Its about time we got to use it.