It is Thanksgiving, and as part of my ever failing goal of actually writing more in this blog, even though no one seems to be reading it (perhaps there's a connection there), It's time to talk about Thanksgiving. As the name implies Thanksgiving is, or was supposed to be about giving thanks, but it has long ceased being so. Most people still try to do some lip service to that by listing a few things they're thankful for, but that is no longer the primary purpose.
In that vein, I would like to say that I'm thankful for my new job. I'm finally away from substitute teaching. I'm working for a place that takes outsourced tech support calls for a satellite television service. I have one day of classroom training left, then will be starting live on the phones with added help for another two weeks. I get a decent benefit package, and a few other perks that make it nice. This means I get to pay off some bills, and finally have a bit of fun too. I can also do some of the things with the scouts that I've been meaning to do. It's amazing how many wonderful things can be directly traced back to being able to actually earn something resembling a living.
I'm also grateful to my parents that we've been able to live with them. It's solved a great many problems for us, and allowed us to get on our feet far better than would otherwise be possible.
The only thing is that I guess I can't exactly call myself "formertech" anymore, except that I'm not going to change it because I'm not a computer tech, and I don't intend on staying a front line phone tech for long. I'm going to work my way up, or find something even better.
What I'd actually like to talk about though is Thanksgiving. It isn't really about overtly giving thanks anymore. It seems to be about gluttony, and watching a stupid athletic event on television or similar. But is that really a bad thing?
First off, let's address the charge of gluttony. A cynic might suggest it's a bad ting, as would someone trying to find sources of "bad" in society, but first and foremost Thanksgiving is a celebration. Humans have nearly always celebrated whatever they are celebrating with some sort of feast. While Thanksgiving isn't really celebrating anything in particular, it is still done with a feast. If approached with the right attitude, that can be a great thing. Enjoy it, and have fun.
Now for the football. I'm not sure why football is played so much on Thanksgiving, but it doesn't really hurt anyone. Sure for those of us who hate the sport, it's annoying, but don't watch. I don't and no one in my family does.
So what is Thanksgiving really about? It's about family, about seeing them, and being together. A shared repast is a traditional way of doing that. Food is generally about socialization, and often love or friendship. Thanksgiving should reflect that. Even if the original idea of giving thanks is going away, it can still be a celebration of being together.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
The Federalist Papers: A reading and blogging project
I have begun to read The Federalist otherwise known as The Federalist Papers. For those who've never heard of it, it is a collection of papers written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay in support of the then new Constitution. It explains the reasoning behind pretty much every part of the constitution.
The edition I have is a "Signet Classic" published by New American Library, a division of penguin group. I don't know if it's the best version, but since I'm basically without income for the time being, It had to be something cheap.
As I read, I will be posting a summary and my initial thoughts about each of the letters. Hopefully, I will get someone to read it, and maybe learn about our country.
The edition I have is a "Signet Classic" published by New American Library, a division of penguin group. I don't know if it's the best version, but since I'm basically without income for the time being, It had to be something cheap.
As I read, I will be posting a summary and my initial thoughts about each of the letters. Hopefully, I will get someone to read it, and maybe learn about our country.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Joplin, Missouri vs New Orleans, Louisanna
Joplin, Missouri was hit by a severe storm a short time ago. The storm spawned several tornadoes, including at least 1 EF5, which hit Joplin. At least 200 people unaccounted for, with at least 125 confirmed dead, and at least 900 injured. The entire town is basically gone. Yet despite all of this, people are already rebuilding. Everyone is pitching in to help, and some have already started rebuilding. It is an inspiring view of what America should be.
Let's contrast this with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans a few years ago. Everything was Bush's fault. FEMA somehow caused all of the problems, and the government didn''t just come in and fix things. People basically sat around waiting for mommy government to come and kiss it all better or something, and when that couldn't happen, the result was anger and helplessness, not self sufficiency, or personal responsibility.
Let's view some basic differences:
First a nicely illustrative picture of the attitudes in New Orleans.
Now some comments from Joplin:
Now one could argue that it is simply biased reporting, but I've heard nothing about how the government failed Joplin, only New Orleans. I've also heard nothing about FEMA coming in to take care of things in Joplin. What I hear about are people coming together to get things done.
Now a lot would call this racist, but it isn't. It has nothing to do with race, and everything to do with ideology. Everywhere a socialistic/progressive viewpoint prevails, helplessness prevails, not only are people unwilling to help each other, they are unwilling to help themselves. They sit and wait for someone else to take care of it for them.
In areas where people have a sense of individuality, not only do they help themselves, they help each other. It is a truism, that if you can't help yourself, you can't help others. As we can see, in areas where people are willing to own their misfortune, things are getting better. In areas where progressivism reigns everyone sits around waiting for someone else to take action. The worst part is that in these areas, if someone does stand up to try to help, no one else stands up with him. He is crucified in the court of public opinion for not helping more.
Let's contrast this with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans a few years ago. Everything was Bush's fault. FEMA somehow caused all of the problems, and the government didn''t just come in and fix things. People basically sat around waiting for mommy government to come and kiss it all better or something, and when that couldn't happen, the result was anger and helplessness, not self sufficiency, or personal responsibility.
Let's view some basic differences:
First a nicely illustrative picture of the attitudes in New Orleans.
Now some comments from Joplin:
Now one could argue that it is simply biased reporting, but I've heard nothing about how the government failed Joplin, only New Orleans. I've also heard nothing about FEMA coming in to take care of things in Joplin. What I hear about are people coming together to get things done.
Now a lot would call this racist, but it isn't. It has nothing to do with race, and everything to do with ideology. Everywhere a socialistic/progressive viewpoint prevails, helplessness prevails, not only are people unwilling to help each other, they are unwilling to help themselves. They sit and wait for someone else to take care of it for them.
In areas where people have a sense of individuality, not only do they help themselves, they help each other. It is a truism, that if you can't help yourself, you can't help others. As we can see, in areas where people are willing to own their misfortune, things are getting better. In areas where progressivism reigns everyone sits around waiting for someone else to take action. The worst part is that in these areas, if someone does stand up to try to help, no one else stands up with him. He is crucified in the court of public opinion for not helping more.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Starting Back in College
Well, I've started back in college again. I don't know exactly how I'm going to pay for it all, but I'm in college, I just signed the papers.
I won't go back to take classes from my former employer. I don't care if I'm 90% of the way to a degree there, and could do it in a couple of semesters. I won't go back, because my experience there as an employee was simply too horrid, and a number of people there made it clear that if I did try to come back, they would be out to destroy me.
Now to continue my education, I have to pay around $75.000 to an online college, with a less than stellar reputation (strangely, only very slightly worse than the state school I came from). Few if any of my credits transfer, and I have to take three years of year round online classes to get a degree.
In my opinion it's totally worth it. The cost, the time, and the effort are all worth it. I need a degree, and I hate the university that I gave nearly 20 years of my life to. I've vowed that they will never receive another dollar from me. They've taken too much from me and those I love already. I owe them nothing.
As for my major, I'm majoring in computer science. They offer two (better than my former university), one with an emphasis in programming, another with one in networking. For the time being, I'm going for programming. I'll post about the overall quality of the classes after I actually experience a class.
I'm actually a bit excited. If I can complete my degree, I can get a better job, and more importantly, I can get the skills I need, as my wife and I are trying to go into business for ourselves, as that is the only realistic way to get a job when there simply are no jobs. When measured using equivalent criteria, unemployment is almost double that of the great depression.
We're also talking about my wife going to school and getting her photography degree, and me getting an MBA. This would give us the skills we need to run our business as we get it started, as it is our preference to be self sufficient, rather than reliant on the whims of others.
I won't go back to take classes from my former employer. I don't care if I'm 90% of the way to a degree there, and could do it in a couple of semesters. I won't go back, because my experience there as an employee was simply too horrid, and a number of people there made it clear that if I did try to come back, they would be out to destroy me.
Now to continue my education, I have to pay around $75.000 to an online college, with a less than stellar reputation (strangely, only very slightly worse than the state school I came from). Few if any of my credits transfer, and I have to take three years of year round online classes to get a degree.
In my opinion it's totally worth it. The cost, the time, and the effort are all worth it. I need a degree, and I hate the university that I gave nearly 20 years of my life to. I've vowed that they will never receive another dollar from me. They've taken too much from me and those I love already. I owe them nothing.
As for my major, I'm majoring in computer science. They offer two (better than my former university), one with an emphasis in programming, another with one in networking. For the time being, I'm going for programming. I'll post about the overall quality of the classes after I actually experience a class.
I'm actually a bit excited. If I can complete my degree, I can get a better job, and more importantly, I can get the skills I need, as my wife and I are trying to go into business for ourselves, as that is the only realistic way to get a job when there simply are no jobs. When measured using equivalent criteria, unemployment is almost double that of the great depression.
We're also talking about my wife going to school and getting her photography degree, and me getting an MBA. This would give us the skills we need to run our business as we get it started, as it is our preference to be self sufficient, rather than reliant on the whims of others.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Retro Starcraft
My wife and I have become fans of classic Starcraft (and of course the Brood War Expansion). We don't particularly like online play, and most of the maps available online seem to be geared toward free for all, or melee settings, so we decided to do our own campaign.
We're kind of departing from the regular storyline, but since the game is kind of stuck with the characters acting like the characters in the regular campaign, we kind of had to go with them, so it's more of an alternate reality situation.
We have a couple of levels more or less made, but the story and dialog still needs to be fixed some, and the mission briefings need to be written. So far we're figuring on about nine or ten levels. We want to have interesting combinations of characters and races fighting each other, just to keep things nicely mixed up.
My wife is basically handling the story, and since I'm the programmer, I'm handling the scripting. She is handling a lot of the mapping as well, and I make some changes as necessary. Once we get it going, we're going to hand it off to some friends for some play testing. If and when we get it done, I'll link to it here.
We're kind of departing from the regular storyline, but since the game is kind of stuck with the characters acting like the characters in the regular campaign, we kind of had to go with them, so it's more of an alternate reality situation.
We have a couple of levels more or less made, but the story and dialog still needs to be fixed some, and the mission briefings need to be written. So far we're figuring on about nine or ten levels. We want to have interesting combinations of characters and races fighting each other, just to keep things nicely mixed up.
My wife is basically handling the story, and since I'm the programmer, I'm handling the scripting. She is handling a lot of the mapping as well, and I make some changes as necessary. Once we get it going, we're going to hand it off to some friends for some play testing. If and when we get it done, I'll link to it here.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Today is a Day of Celebration
Osama bin Laden is dead. Apparently killed by a U.S. operation in Pakistan. All I can say is that it's time to celebrate.
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