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10/31/02 Those damn Jewish Nazis I've been hesitant to write about this, because I'm still a bit nauseated by the whole scene. Last night, The Freedom Alliance (a student organization here at UIC comprised of libertarians and republicans) hosted a lecture by David Horowitz. While I do not agree with Mr. Horowitz entirely, and he is not the most eloquent speaker to ever take the stage, he did have several interesting points and overall gave an thought provoking lecture. So why was I nauseated? A socialist group showed up with no intention of having a serious discussion. They snickered, heckled, and waved their little signs around during his lecture, and ultimately turned the question and answer period into a chaotic mess by asking questions and and not letting him respond. They could not discuss, they could only shout down. Warnings were issued and several of the socialist had to be removed by security. I never could understand why those of the far left behave this way. Why do they not want people to hear what he has to say? What are they so afraid of? And I'm not talking about your average democrat here, I'm talking about Socialists. One of Mr. Horowitz's better points was in answer to this very question. Socialism and Communism are founded on the idea that a "utopia" is possible, where everyone makes the same amount of money, no one is starving, and we all live together peacefully. A sort of heaven on earth if you will, minus God of course or perhaps replacing him with Karl Marx. Imagine taking the idea of heaven away from a religious fanatic. What would they be left with? What reason would they have to live? Their world would literally crumble at their feet. Apply the same idea to the socialist. By showing them that their idea of "heaven on earth" is not only impractical, but also built on a shaky foundation and what will they be left with? Refute Mr. Marx's theories and their world crumbles. The other very interesting point he made, which Mike and I discussed afterward, was regarding the capital required for a socialist system to work. Read all the Marx you can get a hold of, read all the communist, socialist, Chomsky-esque, pseudo-academic material you want to, but you will not find anything about creating the required capital. They are full of ideas of how to divide up the wealth among the people, but they never once mention where this wealth is going to come from. Sorry, didn't mean for this to be so long. Oh yes, one more thing. They called Mr. Horowitz a Nazi. Figure that one out.
10/29/02 When two worlds collide Our world ebbs with the growth of the internet. Relationships develop between people who would not have had the opportunity to meet otherwise. This, of course, isn't news - communications majors have been studying this for some time. There is also a flip-side in that the internet has also expanded our world, or perhaps created another one, or several others, i.e. The Blogsmos, chat rooms, etc. Again, not news that's going to register on the Richter scale, but what happens when there is an unplanned intersection of these worlds? What about that random sliver of overlap created in this enormous Venn diagram? I'm curious as to how often these intersections happen, even more so after reading this post by PoisonEnvy.
10/28/02 "To infinity and beyond . . ." A girl showed me this at work today. This guy was a student here, and I've seen him come in and out of the office, but I didn't really know him. Probably a good thing - I'm really not up to being friends with someone who thinks they are "The Infinity" and attacks people with paring knives.
10/26/02 Mowing the Mane So I got my ears lowered a few days ago. It still feels rather strange. People say they don't recognize me, and several times I haven't recognized my self. I catch my reflection in a window and pause . . . Whoa. I feel naked. Exposed. Different. Tyler would say, "Your not your effing haircut." True, but it does affect me. We project images - variations of ourselves. "Your appearance now is what we call residual self image." Well, not exactly, but there is definitely something psychophysiological going on. The question is: Should we battle the interaction or go with the new feelings?
10/24/02 People Suck 3:30 PM Let's review, shall we? I finally received the new case, p/s, motherboard, processor, and memory. After installing my drives and configuring the system everything ran smoothly for about an hour. Then the system froze. Hard. Now it will not even boot up to allow me into the BIOS. The system also did not come with the case fan mentioned in the product description. I have attempted to contact their tech support for four days now via telephone. Twice the people in the sales dept. have promised to "personally ensure" that someone from the tech department would call me back. Bullshit. Liars, liars, worthless sacks of shit on fire. Oh yes, I've also sent four e-mails to their tech support which also remain unanswered. The only possible good news is that they are located in a northern suburb of Chicago. Maybe I should venture up there and do a Falling Down routine. Those who know me will attest that I am typically a laid back kinda guy. Dealing with these fucktards makes me want to be violent.
10/22/02 Waving or drowning? 6:19 PM Somehow I always recover from the tsunamis of life. It's usually the gradual rising flood that gets to me - rising almost imperceptibly until I can barely dog-paddle. I'm drowning in bullshit.
10/18/02
Friday Five I don't normally do these, but this one seemed like one where my answers wouldn't be like everyone else's. 1. How many TVs do you have in your home? I have one TV. It sits on the floor of my closet hooked up only to a VCR that needs a new belt. 2. On average, how much TV do you watch in a week? See #1 3. Do you feel that television is bad for young children? Only in the vague sense that it can hamper the imagination. I don't really buy the whole, "My kid got violent because he/she watched The Matrix 463 mazillion times." 4. What TV shows do you absolutely HAVE to watch, and if you miss them, you're heartbroken? See #1 5. If you had the power to create your own television network, what would your line-up look like? Forensic shows (The New Detectives, etc.) Animaniacs Music videos Classic movies (Cool Hand Luke, American Graffiti, East of Edan, etc.) Animaniacs Biographies In The Actor's Studio In The Musician's Studio
10/17/02 Speed Rules 11:14 PM BMW Films has started their second season of The Hire. Call me a sucker for any excellent execution of high-speed maneuvers, but I really liked the films last season. The latest is called Hostage, and can be viewed here. They also have all five films from last season in case you missed them.
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