All manner of things...
First on the list: I have an awesome girlfriend. As a belated Valentine's Day gift, I received from her today a hard-bound copy of my favorite book. It was just...too perfect for words. If I had asked my mother for this thing, she would have gone to the ends of the earth to get it, but it wouldn't have the same feel to it, since she would never understand why my favorite book is about power-armored merchants of death who stomp alien bugs into submission. Mandy understands though, and it makes me love her more.
On the topic of books, if anyone would like a free one, just ask. I have one to give. A passion for poor linguistics, boring dialog, and lame characters is not required, but oh, god it would help. The book to which I refer is Devices and Designs, the first volume of the Engineer Trilogy. Not to spoil it overmuch, but the plot consists of an exiled engineer (naturally) from a highly industrialized but demi-fascist nation using his brilliant mind to manipulate the lesser peoples to get his wife and daughter back. Sounds OK, at first, but when it's basically revealed that the engineer is "too smart for EVERYONE," then the whole thing becomes a bust.
My grandfather was an engineer. Hydraulics. He was smart- damn smart. He read books on every topic under the sun, could build a table from wood as easily as he could lay the plans for a pipeline, and did sudoku puzzles with a pen. None of his many talents gave him the level of prescience and plot-devicery that the eponymous character of this trilogy seems to have. Perhaps the author should have taken cues from his subject matter and subjected his story to destruction-level testing before putting words to the page. If anyone wants it, it will likely be in my room with the rest of the clutter.
Onward!
Doktor Sleepless continues to delight with its macabre and cynical view of the future. Or is it the present? Who can say. Either way, Doktor Sleepless: Your Imaginary Friend continues the tale of the mad scientist out to change the world, or at least the people in it. We are now "over the hump" of the first arc, and answers are being dragooned up to serve the questions placed in previous volumes. Look into it. You should. Really.
Speaking of the Doktor, it seems his mentor has decided to stop running Cuba and run around in the jungle in a cocksheath and getting fucked up with new people. Really though, you can just hear the sighs of despair emanating from a compound in Langley, VA, can't you, as another office pool goes to waste.
In all seriousness, I have to commend Fidel Castro. Not for evading the CIA (as any well-led troop of Boy Scouts can do,) but for playing things up as much as he did. In reality, he was a small man with big, mean friends, and as a small man who had to do without, I applaud his cunning in duping the world's biggest country into loaning him some missiles for two weeks so he could be seen as the hero of it all by an adoring public. Now he can go on to a life of drinking fine rum while smoking cigars rolled on the bare thighs of 12-year-old girls, as God intended life in Cuba to be. Not that he hasn't been doing that all along, but now he can do it without fear of being called upon to make a decision more complex than "shall I get up and walk to the men's room, or shall I have a servant simply cup his hands for me?" It's a hard life Fidel, but we know you can handle it.
Meanwhile, in parts of the world that matter, masked vigilantes take on a corrupt corporate structure that exploits those who depend on it for their daily ration of manufactured bliss. No, it's not the next Batman film, it's Anonymous vs. Scientology. An "internet gang" of "hackers on steroids" has set its sights on one of the world's more derided religious groups, and hilarity is ensuing. Suddenly finding that their "best defense = good offense" strategy is useless against the faceless hordes of the web, Scientology would be wise to simply batten down the hatches and wait for the kids to get bored.
I, for one, hope that this doesn't happen. Why? Well, mainly because I want to see exactly how many times Anonymous can poke a badger with a spoon. It's a question that's plagued mankind for eons, and this may be our only chance to gather any empirical data on the subject. And also (and I admit that this is a guilty pleasure more than anything,) I would like to see the leaders of Scientology knocked down a peg or two. Humility is good for the soul, be it yours or Thetan. And, more practically, I really disapprove of Scientology's jackboot tactics in dealing with people who speak out against them. Come on, folks, isn't part of this making yourself better process learning how to deal with those who may not like you?
If people want to give their money to their church, be it Scientology or the little bible church on the corner, that's their business and their prerogative. But if that church basically tells their membership that they are above the law in dealing with its critics, that's a dangerous line of thinking.
Even if no investigation results from the protests of Anonymous or other groups, hopefully the message that there are people who will stand up and refuse to be bullied will stick with the leaders of Scientology...and maybe they'll think twice before they raise a legal stink over a trivial matter again.
And finally:
The race is on for the White House, and every day it looks like there's a better chance that the name of the president's home will only mean the paint job. Yes, I'll say it: I prefer Obama over any other candidate. McCain is who we should have elected 8 years ago. But not now. What America needs is a president for the 21st century, and neither McCain nor Hillary Clinton can offer that, as in their own minds they are still a naval aviator in Hanoi and an activist grad student, respectively. What America needs now is a clean slate, not a return to the '90s. A new face, a new name, and a new start. I believe Barack Obama offers all three of these things, or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof. Let's give the man a chance, at least. He really can't screw things up any worse than any other poor bastard already has. Everyone says Abe Lincoln was a great president, and he damn near lost half the country.
Try something new, for god's sake. The worst it can do is kill you.
On the topic of books, if anyone would like a free one, just ask. I have one to give. A passion for poor linguistics, boring dialog, and lame characters is not required, but oh, god it would help. The book to which I refer is Devices and Designs, the first volume of the Engineer Trilogy. Not to spoil it overmuch, but the plot consists of an exiled engineer (naturally) from a highly industrialized but demi-fascist nation using his brilliant mind to manipulate the lesser peoples to get his wife and daughter back. Sounds OK, at first, but when it's basically revealed that the engineer is "too smart for EVERYONE," then the whole thing becomes a bust.
My grandfather was an engineer. Hydraulics. He was smart- damn smart. He read books on every topic under the sun, could build a table from wood as easily as he could lay the plans for a pipeline, and did sudoku puzzles with a pen. None of his many talents gave him the level of prescience and plot-devicery that the eponymous character of this trilogy seems to have. Perhaps the author should have taken cues from his subject matter and subjected his story to destruction-level testing before putting words to the page. If anyone wants it, it will likely be in my room with the rest of the clutter.
Onward!
Doktor Sleepless continues to delight with its macabre and cynical view of the future. Or is it the present? Who can say. Either way, Doktor Sleepless: Your Imaginary Friend continues the tale of the mad scientist out to change the world, or at least the people in it. We are now "over the hump" of the first arc, and answers are being dragooned up to serve the questions placed in previous volumes. Look into it. You should. Really.
Speaking of the Doktor, it seems his mentor has decided to stop running Cuba and run around in the jungle in a cocksheath and getting fucked up with new people. Really though, you can just hear the sighs of despair emanating from a compound in Langley, VA, can't you, as another office pool goes to waste.
In all seriousness, I have to commend Fidel Castro. Not for evading the CIA (as any well-led troop of Boy Scouts can do,) but for playing things up as much as he did. In reality, he was a small man with big, mean friends, and as a small man who had to do without, I applaud his cunning in duping the world's biggest country into loaning him some missiles for two weeks so he could be seen as the hero of it all by an adoring public. Now he can go on to a life of drinking fine rum while smoking cigars rolled on the bare thighs of 12-year-old girls, as God intended life in Cuba to be. Not that he hasn't been doing that all along, but now he can do it without fear of being called upon to make a decision more complex than "shall I get up and walk to the men's room, or shall I have a servant simply cup his hands for me?" It's a hard life Fidel, but we know you can handle it.
Meanwhile, in parts of the world that matter, masked vigilantes take on a corrupt corporate structure that exploits those who depend on it for their daily ration of manufactured bliss. No, it's not the next Batman film, it's Anonymous vs. Scientology. An "internet gang" of "hackers on steroids" has set its sights on one of the world's more derided religious groups, and hilarity is ensuing. Suddenly finding that their "best defense = good offense" strategy is useless against the faceless hordes of the web, Scientology would be wise to simply batten down the hatches and wait for the kids to get bored.
I, for one, hope that this doesn't happen. Why? Well, mainly because I want to see exactly how many times Anonymous can poke a badger with a spoon. It's a question that's plagued mankind for eons, and this may be our only chance to gather any empirical data on the subject. And also (and I admit that this is a guilty pleasure more than anything,) I would like to see the leaders of Scientology knocked down a peg or two. Humility is good for the soul, be it yours or Thetan. And, more practically, I really disapprove of Scientology's jackboot tactics in dealing with people who speak out against them. Come on, folks, isn't part of this making yourself better process learning how to deal with those who may not like you?
If people want to give their money to their church, be it Scientology or the little bible church on the corner, that's their business and their prerogative. But if that church basically tells their membership that they are above the law in dealing with its critics, that's a dangerous line of thinking.
Even if no investigation results from the protests of Anonymous or other groups, hopefully the message that there are people who will stand up and refuse to be bullied will stick with the leaders of Scientology...and maybe they'll think twice before they raise a legal stink over a trivial matter again.
And finally:
The race is on for the White House, and every day it looks like there's a better chance that the name of the president's home will only mean the paint job. Yes, I'll say it: I prefer Obama over any other candidate. McCain is who we should have elected 8 years ago. But not now. What America needs is a president for the 21st century, and neither McCain nor Hillary Clinton can offer that, as in their own minds they are still a naval aviator in Hanoi and an activist grad student, respectively. What America needs now is a clean slate, not a return to the '90s. A new face, a new name, and a new start. I believe Barack Obama offers all three of these things, or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof. Let's give the man a chance, at least. He really can't screw things up any worse than any other poor bastard already has. Everyone says Abe Lincoln was a great president, and he damn near lost half the country.
Try something new, for god's sake. The worst it can do is kill you.