Sunday, December 31, 2000, 8:42pm

     Oh yeah, I forgot... My last update had a single purpose in mind: to introduce you to the new nickd.org, and I completely forgot. But, I'm still here, and it's still there waiting on you, so go look at it. Notice how it isn't green anymore. At least, I think it was green. Enjoy it. And don't start asking me why my site isn't changing. It changed in late September and has not endured enough to be rebuilt from scratch. So there.

Sunday, December 31, 2000, 8:29pm

     Gas prices suck. Yeah, they're going down a little: down 20¢ in the six weeks here. But they still suck. Why do they suck? Two big reasons. (1) Oil embargo of 1973. This led to rocketeering of gas prices from the 25-40¢ range to nearly a dollar. Gas prices have remained around the dollar mark ever since. (2) Yuppie idiots have succumbed to ... something ... and they're all buying gas guzzling SUVs. Not only are SUV's more dangerous (top-heavy, more succeptable to rolling, harder to control), but they get between 5 and 15 miles per gallon of gasoline. Sure, that's great for them if they've got the money, but they don't realize what they're doing to those of us that don't. These SUV-driving sons of mothers have greatly increased gasoline consumption in the United States, and supply and demand being what it is, have raised gasoline prices nearly everywhere a good quarter per gallon. That's a rough average of four dollars per week. $200 per year. Per vehicle. My point? All of you SUV owners with money burning holes in your pockets, think of those around you, sell your overrated vehicle, and get a very nice luxury automobile, such as 2001 Pontiac Bonneville (those are NICE).
     On a lighter note, 58% of the world is experiencing a new millenium right now. It's like a time warp talking to Europeans or Aussies on AIM or IRC. "How's the new millenium? Any different than the last?" "Nah, except I am experiencing difficulties in adjusting from '00' to '01' when I sign any legal documents."
     This holiday season has not felt like holiday seasons of old. Christmas did not feel like Christmas. The new year certainly does not feel like a new year, and especially not a new millenium. So it goes. It's just time. Time is relative. We label it our way, and then we celebrate our labels. How... what's the word... ah damnit.

Sunday, December 31, 2000, 2:29pm

     Oops. I missed yesterday. So the string of consecutive days ends at just short of a month. Damn. I was so close too. This reminds me of that hideously difficult Pirahna Challenge in Mario Tennis (Nintendo 64). You have to get the ball past the guy fifty consecutive times - my closest is 48 in a row, then he got one, then I smashed the 50th. Well, look, I missed the second to last again, but I'm here to smash home the finale! So what have I got in store for you? Probably a lot less than you were hoping for, but you'll deal with it. First and foremost, I would like to wish everyone a very safe and highly enjoyable new year/century/millienium tonight! Those of you on the other side of the world already in the new millenium, WAIT FOR US, GEEZ! If they were in a real time zone, they wouldn't have that problem.
     On to yesterday. I woke up at my mom's after a night of housesitting when she arrives at 11:30am. The dogs instinctively know she's there, even though her car makes absolutely no sound, so their jolt to rush for the door shakes me into consciousness, starting off my day. Immediately I have a headache, so I quickly down an Excedrin™ to rid myself of the pain. (On a sidenote, the red Excedrin rocks. It's nothing but acetamenophin (tylenol) and caffeine! Talk about feel-good medicine.) I then proceeded to the kitchen where mother was checking her messages. She offered to fix me breakfast, and after brief hesitation, blueberry muffins were heading my way. Skipping all that wonderful stuff, I think turned on my laptop and Protac™ speakers to share a little of my music with my mom. Most of it is hard rock, and I knew she wouldn't like it, but she was able to find lots of music worth listening to. Most surprising to both of us - my mom is suddenly in love with Metallica. She was completely in awe. She was amazed that Metallica actually had musical talent. She was under the [sad] impression that the name Metallica automatically implied heavy metal music. However, the selections that I chose to play for her clearly showed otherwise, and when I told her about the S&M album (Symphony & Metallica; she loves orchestral stuff), her eyes lit up like a two-year-old that spots cookies - "Oooh! I bet I'd love that!" So now I'm going to be stuck without my S&M album for a couple weeks, as she'll surely not let me have it back until she's coughed up twenty-three bucks to buy her own. Also, while listening to my oddly eclectic music, my mom asked about my web page. I explained to her the concept of the weblog and how my site dated back to September 1999, and she wanted to go back and read it. So, I took her to it, and she started reading. And she loved it. So, in short, I now have a mother who claims that she is going to read my entire archived website from past to present in her spare time. As a warning, I explained to her that, being a journal of sorts, my website contained bits and pieces of information that included my relations or feelings about her, or my family, or whatever, and she seems to be quite the understanding mother. I told her that if she disagreed with anything, or if it was clearly wrong, to let me know. I expect that she'll be getting in touch with me in the coming weeks as she stumbles upon new-to-her but very old-to-you-and-me stuff buried in the depths of my web page.
     Ah, cosmic bowling. Matt enjoys cosmic bowling too? Cosmic bowling is quite the regular Saturday night activity around here, for me anyway. It's a painless hobby that I've taken up because it's a good way to keep me out of trouble on the weekends. Besides that, nearly every other type of social activity around here sucks: the people suck, the parties suck, the city sucks - bowling is fun! Anyway, a few friends and I went bowling last night, as usual... Nothing special, but I almost had two 200 games! Both of them ended up in the 160s because I screwed up late in the game, but both games were above 120 in the sixth frame. For whatever reason, I have this habit of either starting games strong or finishing strong, but I can rarely stay strong the entire game! Even when I bowl six games a night... Oh well. That's life. Sorry to bore you with so much useless information. You're free to roam about your daily lives, now.

Friday, December 29, 2000, 6:37pm

     Webster's dictionary defines pencil as "A slender stick of wood encasing graphite or chalk for writing or drawing". I can't find the definition of cuttlefish - it ain't in this one.
     But that's all asparagus juice to the loveseat. Because the subject here is "what can I, in my infinite et cetera, do to make you, the great unwashed masses, liven up the joint a little?" And I've had it delivered right unto my madly-quivering lap. I've got the scoop on all those other -real- music reviewers who begin their columns with "Webster's dictionary defines" blah blah woof woof, who admittedly observe grammatical road signs and negotiate eloquent curves and take commendable glee at running down the wayward straggler whose only sin it seems is not displaying the same uptight constipated worldview yadda yadda yadda as the rest of the callous sophistry. This is all well and fine. Somebody's gotta do it, but that somebody is not me.
     I remove my shoes and halo and swaddling clothes and stand before you as what I am, a shivering man of extreme wahdeedoodah, satisfied with who I am and facing no competition in that regard, HERE NOT TO BE A REVIEWER, BUT A RANTER. There I've said it. Combination town crier/town drunk, working cheap oh my brethern and sistern, but alerting you to some groovy tunage, so put that stuff down and pay attention. I've got a surprise to relate...
     Ready? Here goes.

     Music never sucks. Music always changes and your tastes never change that much from what you were initially introduced to. Right? Well, not necessarily, but for the sake of argument, let's just say that our tastes don't stray *too* much. Despite the fact that the music "sucks" in your opinion, people have to understand that music caters to the changing of the times and the evolution of musical taste. I'll admit that modern rock pissed me off in the early nineties. I grew up in the late eighties and I loved Def Leppard, Don Henley, New Kids On The Block *dips head in shame* ... Then my dad got me into seventies rock. And wow, it still kicks ass. In the last year or two, I've gotten into modern rock such as Metallica, Creed, and lesser known bands like Dust For Life and American Pearl. 95% of the people in this country probably thing American Pearl sucks. I love them. Sorry... that's the way things go.
     What's my point? My point is that music is about individualism. It isn't about pleasing everyone that hears it. So what if 75% of Americans hate Britney's music. If even one tenth of that other 25% buy one of her albums, that's about 6 million record sales. And by today's standards, that doesn't suck. In conclusion, we should not decide what music sucks and what doesn't popularly. I say, if music is good enough to make it to the mainstream, even if only for a moment, then it doesn't suck.
     Then there's all the factors of why this band or that song or this genre ... sucks. It's a bunch of crap. Music only sucks when individuals don't want to hear it. But just because Bing Crosby sucks by today's standards, does that mean his music sucks? No. It's his creation. It's his art. (arguably) And that can be said about all musicians and their music. It doesn't have to conform to anything, and you don't have to listen to anything you don't want to.
     So those of you complaining about music that sucks so horribly, why don't you stop your bitching and go out and listen to something you like. (or make your own? make sure you wipe when you're done.)

Friday, December 29, 2000, 3:55pm

     Natasha, you don't need the social hierarchy. It needs you. I say, "Damn the social hierarchy." People that accept others based on social status in an educational environment are too stupid, if they can't realize that they're there to learn, to socialize properly. You, Natasha, are far more socially advanced than the creatons that have so convincingly singled you out. Or, more exactly, singled themselves out as a group of Commonthinkers. Nonindividuals. Braindeadones. Idiots. You are on top of the world, Natasha, not them. So make them come to you. Your own escape from the Hell they're in is for you to keep yourself out of it. Supercede them. Rise above them. Excel past them. You are the champion.
     Speaking of Nick, the insanity of nickd.org has dropped a notch, and the anxiety attacks are being felt all over America ... millions waiting in agony to see what good ol' St. Nick has up his sleeve. Oh, let me tell you, we can't wait!

Friday, December 29, 2000, 1:32am

     After scanning through the new releases at Video Warehouse, Dalila and I were fairly sure that the movie we wanted to watch was Return To Me, an odd little love story starring David Duchovny and Minnie Driver. However, it suddenly hit Dalila that she had never seen Showgirls and, having recently turned seventeen, she could rent it now! So, having not seen it myself, I told her she could get whatever she wanted, so she dashed for the erotic section and picked it up! I'm not going to critique the movie too much, because movies in erotic sections are usually to dominated by sex and nakedness for an accurate review, but this movie wasn't half bad. I'll never be able to watch "Saved By The Bell" again, but I can live with that. (And yes, Nick, you look like Screech.) Anyone who hasn't seen Showgirls should rent it and curl up with a loved one, advisably not a family member, and watch and enjoy it! That is, if you can handle naked breasts in nearly every scene of a movie. The point is not the movie itself, but that it is odd that she was the one who urged it and not me. You would think that the male in any relationship would be pushing for a movie with dancing women wearing [almost?] nothing. I guess I'll count my blessings.

Friday, December 29, 2000, 1:17am

     As it is about time for such, I am adding a new load of pictures to the site that are not baby pictures! They will arrive sporadically and will depict random persons, places and events. I cannot help this. However, note that the great majority of them will be taken with my new digital camera, the FujiFilm FinePix 1400! Everyone should have a digital camera - they're so much better than regular cameras, except that the pictures can only be viewed on a computer screen in most cases. Anyway, I think this page will become some sort of a list of my pictures. I'm not sure exactly how it will be done, but maybe I'll follow the lead I am providing myself with here, and I'll continue to add pictures in this manner in the future!

     2000 Dec 27 - My new laptop sitting on its desk in my old bedroom.
     2000 Dec 28 - Dalila standing in her kitchen, trying to ignore the camera.

     These changes, and eventually more, can also be viewed on my pictures page, or by the "image" link on the left side of the page. Not like anyone cares what I look like or what my friends look like... but hey! It could be interesting...
     And one more thing, remind me to shoot Nick.

Thursday, December 28, 2000, 11:11pm

     Do you ever drive in the rain? Did you know that the risks of driving in the rain are significantly higher than driving under normal conditions? Do you know how the white and yellow lines in the roads are harder to see at night when the road is wet? Well, tonight my dad made a left turn on Russell Parkway on his way home. I didn't notice, because I wasn't really paying much attention, but he turned out into the center lane. Since he could not see the lines in the road due to the wet ground and the reflections of every light in creation on the road, he drove about two miles down Russell Parkway in the center lane. It gets better. As we approach our left turn into our neighborhood, he pulls into oncoming traffic (assuming it's the center lane) at full speed. He's like me: in most cases, he'll pull into the center lane at full speed and then brake so as not to slow traffic behind. Well, vehicles in front of us proceeded to swerve and honk and flash and anything else that their cars could do to let us know something was wrong. My dad's cussing up a storm because everyone on the road is being an asshole, and suddenly I notice that we're way too close to the right side of the road. "Uh, Dad, perhaps you should get out of their lane." He doesn't respond at first, then replies, "well shit," and moves to the right into the turn lane. Of course, by this time, we're at our turn, and since there was a large clearing, he could have gone ahead and made the turn. But no, instead he rambled a moment, wondering how in the world he got into the wrong lane. "I know I only moved over one lane," he said. Of course, when I realized that he was in the wrong lane, I knew that he had only moved over one lane, and since I knew he had been in that lane the entire time, I suddenly realized that he had been in the turning lane for roughly two miles of Russell Parkway. However, I didn't care to discuss it on Russell Parkway, so I told him to hurry up and make the turn. I'm still alive.
     As you out-of-towners know by now, Russell Parkway has five lanes including the center turn lane, and it is arguably the major road on my side of town.

Thursday, December 28, 2000, 10:22pm

	when you write half decent essays, you aren't trying to look at both sides of an issue. you pick a side. and go for it. even if it means playing the devil's advocate.
	bollocks

     I couldn't agree more. Sometimes I realize that I might not support my argument well enough to convince you, the reader, of my purpose because you don't necessarily share the opinions that I use to support myself. But I write what I feel and try to explain why I feel it, and even if you don't agree, at least [I hope] I am able to provide my side of things so you can understand what's going on in this crazy head of mine. Then again, being the crazy bastard that I am, I also write about things that I don't necessarily believe because they are easier to write about. I don't do that here... but in school... oh yeah. :-)

Wednesday, December 27, 2000, 9:21pm

     Not that anyone cares to know, but this month has been (and will be) the only month I've ever gone in which I added some sort of little update to my website every single day. Today was a close one - my dad screwed up our proxy settings last night by accident and it's taken me this long to get it all fixed! It probably wouldn't have taken this long, but I was too busy installing my new digital camera and playing with my new-to-me laptop computer. Here is the first successful picture taken with my digital camera! (Click it for full-size image.)

     What you're looking at is my desk in my old (guest) bedroom, which just happens to be the current station for my laptop. The speakers are some very nice Protac speakers that I actually prefer over my Altech Lansing speakers for either of our desktop systems. Why? The sound is just as good and the speakers have more sound options - more knobs to turn. The subwoofer is just as powerful as either of our Altech Lansings, and the Protac speakers were $20. I like. (note: If you look really closely in the open drawer, you can see the CD that Matt sent me for Christmas!)
     Finally, in response to Natasha, I hope you're not talking about me. If so, confront me about it, and I'll apologize profusely. :-) (And yes, I regularly read all of the weblogs listed on the left side of my page. That's why they're there. Because I like them, so I would like to give them the attention they deserve.)

Tuesday, December 26, 2000, 3:42pm

     As a result of an overwhelming lack of requests, and with research help from that renowned scientific journal SPY magazine (January, 1991), I am pleased to present the annual scientific inquiry into Santa Claus.
     1. No known species of reindeer can fly. But there are 300,000 species of living organisms yet to be classified, and while most of these are insects and germs, this does not completely rule out flying reindeer (which only Santa has ever seen).
     2. There are 2 billion children (persons under 18) in the world. But since Santa doesn't (appear) to handle the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist cihldren, that reduces the workload to 15% of the total - 378 million according to Population Reference Bureau. At an average (census) rate of 3.5 children per household with at least one child, that's 91.8 million homes. One presumes there's at least one good child in each.
     3. Santa has 48 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west (which seemes logical). This works out to 522.6 visits per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with good children, Santa has 1/500th of a second to park, hop out of the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the next house. Assuming that each of these 90 million stops are evenly distributed around the earth (which we know to be false but for the purposes of our calculations we will accept), we are now talking about .78 miles per household, a total trip of 71.8 million miles, not counting stops to do what most of us must do several times every 48 hours...
     This means that Santa's sleigh is moving at 600 miles per second, 2500 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man-made vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second. A conventional reindeer can run about 20 miles per hour.
     4. The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming that each child gets nothing more than 2 pounds of gifts, the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting Santa, who is invariably described as overweight. On land, conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting that "flying reindeer" (see point 1) could pull ten times the normal amount, we cannot do the job with eight, or even nine or ten. We need 214,200 reindeer. This increases the payload - not even counting the weight of the sleigh - to 353,430 tons. Again, for comparison, this is four times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth.
     5. 353,000 tons travelling at 600 miles per second creates enourmous air resistance. This will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as spacecrafts re-entering the earth's atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer will absorb 14.3 quintillion joules of energy. Per second. Each. In short, they will combust almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them, and create deafening sonic booms in their wake. The entire reindeer team will be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second. Santa, meanwhile, will be subjected to centrifugal forces 17500 times greater than gravity. A 250 pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim) would be pinned to the back of his sleigh by over 4 million pounds of force.
     In conclusion - If Santa ever did deliver presents on Christmas Eve, he's dead now. (from here - I would have linked, but I wanted to fix a couple of glaring spelling errors. I think I missed a couple. Thanks Nick.

Tuesday, December 26, 2000, 2:54pm

     I was so ready to tell you about my 21st (and favorite) Christmas gift (sort of), but I had to go spend three hours sorting out the mess our family had with failing automobiles. Ya know, it's funny... For years all I've ever heard in comparing import cars to American cars is that imports (such as Hondas) are superior and do not cause near the problems that American cars do. My dad drives a 1991 Honda Accord. My sister drives a 1989 Honda Accord. My granny drives a 1993 Honda Accord. My mom drives a 1998 Honda Accord (The McCord Accord™ that some of you may know). I drive a 1994 Pontiac Grand Am. *(@$&#*(@&$ Muahahaha. So much for conformity. Oh, but that's not the kicker. Of all the cars I just mentioned, mine is the only one that has never had even the slightest engine/running problem (besides a battery dying, which is natural for all cars, and also excluding my mom's car because it is too new to have problems). My sister's and dad's cars both crapped out this week, leaving mine as the only functioning vehicle in the family until this morning, when I was forced to drive everyone everywhere to get their respective vehicles fixed. However, wasting three hours of my day doing that was much better than the alternative: letting my sister take my car to Savannah for two weeks. My car is going to hit 100,000 miles within a couple weeks and has had no signs of any kind of engine problems. Wow. I am just that good of a driver! Or something. Either way, it's awesome, and I don't care what you say.
     But on to my 21st gift that I was unable to tell you about earlier. As I was saying, it sort of is and sort of isn't a Christmas present. You see, my friend Tony's laptop's screen died on him at the very end of last semester, and knowing that he had to have a laptop for his classes, his dad ordered him another one just in time for Christmas (along with a brand new KICK ASS computer of his own, better than my 800MHz machine, but that's beside the point). Well, after transferring all of his school work and anything else he had on his old laptop to the new one, he let me "have" the old one to see what I could do with it. Being the more computer literate of the two of us, my goal was to diagnose this puppy and get it working again - and I did. So, as a result, I get a semi-free laptop for next semester, and not a bad one at all. AMD K6-2 300MHz, 32MB ram, 3GB hard drive, internal CD and floppy drives. Also, with a spare set of Protac speakers w/ subwoofer that I had in storage, I've that bad boy kickin' out some noise! The laptop also came with its own carrying case, since the new laptop would not fit in it. So, mine or not, for the next six months I've got an excellent piece of machinery! Taking notes will be so much easier...

Tuesday, December 26, 2000, 10:15am

     If I wasn't sick before, then I'm certainly sick now after spending thirty minutes in the below-freezing cold and windy morning air. But let's nevermind that for now. It's the day after Christmas, or Boxing Day for you Canadians, and I have a lovely list of Christmas gifts to tell you about.

1. CD: Dust For Life (self-titled album)
2. CD: Finger Eleven - The Greyest Of Blue Skies
3. CD: Collective Soul - Blender
4. movie: American Beauty (special edition)
5. $270 cash
6. $20 credit @ Old Navy
7. FujiFilm Digital Camera: FinePix 1400Zoom
8. 50 80 minute / 700 MB CD-Rs, 25 jewel cases (no cases for the other 25 CDs?)
9. a pocket knife
10. chocolate wafer sticks
11. jackfruit chips
12. Bungi-Ball™ baseball
13. a belt
14. a bowling tie
15. a travel kit
16. novel: Alas, Babylon
17. an electric shaver
18. a heart-shaped pin
19. one-time use 35mm camera, 27 exposures
20. headache, cough, fever, sick stomach ... all the symptoms of the flu without being the flu.

     Wow, it's taken exactly an hour to change a tire and type all of this. Cool ness. Now I get to follow my dad to the "tire place" to get a real tire put on his car, then I get to drive my dad to my mom's house to protect my car from my sister, then hopefully she takes her piece of shit car instead of mine. Time will tell, my friends!

Tuesday, December 26, 2000, 9:15am

     My dad was here when the lamp's bulb blew and he didn't change it. Santa brought me a lovely cough and fever for Christmas. My sister wants to take my car for two weeks ... on a suspended license ... after nearly destroying two other cars in the last two weeks. So, freezing and miserable, and sitting in the coldest room in my house (oh such a perfect place for the computer), I sit before you a tired and helpless child. Oh yeah, I now get to go help my dad change a tire at 9:15 in the morning with an 18° wind chill. Just what the doctor ordered! If I survive the next few hours, I'll be around in a few. Don't wait up.

Monday, December 25, 2000, 12:35am

     In response to a lovely post by Matt at the mother site, I feel your pain Erich! Being 6'1" has its advantages, but also being very skinny ... well, I love myself for who I am. I guess I just wanted to ... say that. Also, I plan to share with you exactly what, why and who from I got all my presents, when I get them of course. That shouldn't be more than half a day away, depending on how much time I spend at my mom's tonight. By the way, we had a lovely Christmas Eve dinner / get together at my mom's tonight. We were all enjoying ourselves, and the wine was going down, and Christmas music and cheer were prevelant ... and for the first time in my life I actually saw my biological parents dancing together. Yeah. Good night.

Monday, December 25, 2000, 12:08am

mp3otd: Trans-Siberian Orchestra - A Mad Russian's Christmas.mp3 (it's awesome!)

     Merry Christmas! I don't have much else to say other than the typical holiday spirit stuff. I hope everyone enjoys his and her holiday! Be happy, get what you want, eat good food ... and be happy! (I said it twice for a reason.) I promised myseld that I would rant a little bit about kids using the "L" word before they know how to use it, so be prepared for that when this holiday stuff wears down a bit (in about twenty-four hours!) And from the bottom of my heart, my Christmas gift to you: I'LL SHUT UP.

Sunday, December 24, 2000, 1:57pm

     'Tis the season ... to freeze your butts off! 'Tis also the season to sit around tables and play family games that you play about three times a year (unless it's my family, in which case it is a biweekly occurrence). And do you know what the scariest part of all this is? I actually enjoy playing these stupid little games. Card games, board games, dice games, word games - you name it, we play it. No, okay, no not those games, although I'm sure given the right circumstances there's a little bit of that too. 'Tis the season to spread a little cheer, ya know... Well, I'm off to do whatever comes naturally on my Christmas Eve. I have an annoying sister screaming at me to be at my mom's this evening, a lovely girlfriend whom I thought I would spend a little time with, a mom who already knows my situation with the girlfriend so she understands if I don't make it, a dad who thinks I am incapable of living on my own (despite excellent grades, more common sense than he ever had, and ... I think he's just afraid that I might know more than him. That, and he wants to make sure that, in the hierarchical structure in his home, he stays in charge.). But, I love them all. We are a very functional family, despite a world of differences among us. And though the history of my family would lead one to believe the exact opposite, my little brother and I are actually the only two that completely understand each other. For the past fifteen years, roughly (and not counting this year), he and I have always had something to disagree on or fight about, but this year (since Thanksgiving '99, actually), we haven't even had so much as a serious argument. We get annoyed once in a while, but that's it. And so it's come to it now that we are on the same team fighting off the tradionalist and mother-like sister and overbearing and lecture-happy dad and ... well mom's actually being cool about it this time ... together. It's amazing how Christmas brings a family together! And believe me, despite how bad I may have made this sound, we all love each other very much. My brother has a problem with respect, my sister has a problem with common sense, my mom has a problem being in the passenger seat, and my dad has a problem shutting up sometimes. The few problems we may encounter are direct results from the aforementioned details, and it never happens to be anything serious (except in the case of my sister, but she's just an exceptional person). I don't have any idea why I went on and on about all that. All of you have yourselves a wonderful Christmas if possible, eat some good food, get some good stuff, and come back and tell me about it!
     And if you missed it, take a peak at the true history of Christmas that I wrote up for you yesterday. I'm sorry if it's too long, and I'm even more sorry if that page takes a while to load; it's a big page. Have no fear though ... it will load! I'll see you people on the other side...

Saturday, December 23, 2000, 1:07am

     Natasha attacked fashions of the masses. I shall defend it! Firstly, her opinions are overwhelmingly biased (and understandably so) and based on her life around her in Texas. Her opinions should in no way reflect the way the rest of the world should be seen in such respects. As for the "this group should wear that" and "these clothes are for them" kind of thing, I say it's a load of crap. I wear whatever the hell I want to wear whenever the hell I want to wear it because it's comfortable. I don't wear clothes to look good, to impress, to stand out or to fit in. I wear clothes to be comfortable. And before you attack that and start accusing me of cross-dressing or mismatching or whatever just for the sake of comfort, might I remind you that being comfortable entails more than just the sense of touch. Comfort comes from everything around you, and what people think is always a part of that. I am not going to sit here and tell you that I don't dress to some standards. I care what people think somewhat, as everyone else does. I don't let it weigh on my mind or affect any decisions that I make, but I do my best to keep the attention I draw to myself at a level that I can control. Anyway, back to the point. People make gross generalizations about who should wear what and what this clothing says and who-what and where and the how ... and it just baffles me that people can be so shallow sometimes. Just as anything else, clothing is a form of expression. If someone wishes to express that he or she is a sheep in a grossly commercialized world, so be it. If someone wishes to express that he or she is an individual, and thus is also a sheep in doing what everyone knows is "different," then so be it. If someone chooses to just not give a damn and wear whatever the hell he or she wants whenever the hell he or she wants and not give a second thought about it unless someone brings it up and forces it out of them, then so be it.

Saturday, December 23, 2000, 12:54am

     As I was just about ready to turn away from my computer and head towards my comfortable bed, my dad walked in with a handful of postal deliveries (that's mail, ya know). He looks at me with an odd smurk and tosses a few items my way and says, "here you go Crash N Bur!" At first I was caught off guard, but then I realized that one of the packages being delivered was a Christmas gift from my good friend and webspace provider Matt, or neotope as you may know him. Along with this package were a couple of suspicious looking envelopes addressed to one John McCord, III, with nothing but a logo that closely resembled the letters "MSC" where the return address should be. I carefully and curiously opened the sealed documents to uncover some "yadda, yadda, yadda" about this, some random babble about that, and ... oh what's this last one?
     Usually I am afraid of any such document that is labeled simply as "Grade Report," but this time I felt no worry at all and I did not hesitate for even half of a second. I gently tore into the envelope, painstakingly ripped at the perforated paper in several places (they make sure no one reads it by accident, let me tell you!), and I finally uncovered the horrible truth ....... I got the best grades I could have hoped for! I got my A's in Tennis and Intro to Learning as expected, I pulled an A out of my ass in English, and I even pulled out a B in History and Physics (but then I already expected most of that). I was mostly thrilled about my A in English that helped to solidify a 3.5+ GPA. For the first time in my life, I feel like I've done something incredible. I've been a horrible student my entire life, despite apparently being a brilliant child, and now I've made the Dean's List.
     Well, Merry Christmas to me, and Merry Christmas to all of you!

Saturday, December 23, 2000, 12:11am

     For the vast majority of people the question is really no question at all. Is Christmas Christian? "Of course it is! What could be more Christian than Christmas? Isn't it Jesus' birthday?" Others have begun to feel increasingly uncomfortable with the celebration of Christmas. When they look at the bacchanalia that takes place around December 25, there is an uneasy feeling that something is not quite right. And yet they keep telling themselves, "Isn't Christmas Jesus' birthday?" The world has corrupted Christmas, but underneath it's still a wonderful holiday. And so they struggle year after year to "put Christ back into Christmas."
     This may be a shocking thought to some, but after wrestling with the question for several years now, searching the scriptures and church history, I have come to the conclusion that there is nothing Christian about Christmas; that in its present observance, as well as in its origin, Christmas is basically and essentially pagan. If that thought is new and startling to you, I invite you to consider the possibility that for you Christmas is a blind spot that needs some reexamination.
     I don't mean to say that I'm unimpressed with the sentimental appeal of the "holiday spirit." There's a certain charm about this season of the year - thought of families gatherings, dreaming of a "White Christmas," "chestnuts roasting on an open fire," "city sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style." No one with any sentimentality could escape a twinge of nostalgia when there's a feeling of Christmas in the air. Even the most hardened cynic can't stifle a softening childlike feeling of good will that lasts for a few days.
     I've tried the approach that says, "Let's put Christ back into Christmas," but I have become more and more convinced that Christ doesn't want to be "put back into" Christmas. If we speak against the commercialization of Christmas and emphasize "the real meaning of Christmas," most people would readily agree. People are very well aware of what they consider to be the materialistic excesses of Christmas celebration; and they love sermons on the "true" meaning of Christmas. But I'm asking, "What is the true meaning of Christmas?" When you get right down to its essence, what is Christmas? Where did it come from? How did it originate? What does it stand for now? The real question is the nature of the institution itself.
     I think you will be shocked if you evaluate the institution of Christmas realistically. What I'm asking you to do is lay aside your cultural prejudices and preferences, and approach this question with an open mind. That's hard to do, sure. We are so snowed under a century of tradition and nostalgia, that it's almost impossible for some people to look at the issue objectively at all. I'm asking you to put aside your preconceived notions, at least temporarily, to look honestly at this institution we call Christmas. Frankly, this article is calculated to disturb you, to make you think, and to cause you to change your actions if they are not consistent with the truth of the gospel.
     What is the origin of Christmas? How did it begin? Were its beginnings pagan or Christian? There is no indication in the New Testament that the early Christians observed Christmas at all. It can be demonstrated in church history that, for probably the first 300 years after the birth of Christ, Christians knew nothing of Christmas celebration. It was only as the Church began to drift from apostolic doctrine and practice into corruption that Christmas began.
     Where did it come from? Where did the drifting Church get the ideas and customs associated with Christmas today? The source of most of the basic forms of paganism in the ancient world can be traced back to the Babylonian "mysteries." All of the ancient cultures, Egypt, Greece, Rome, even India and China, had beliefs, traditions, practices, gods and goddesses that were related to those found in Babylon. The names were different, and different modifications were added, but basically the ancient religions were related and find their "purest" form in Babylonia. In the Old Testament Babylon stands as the epitome of everything that is godless and perverse. The greatest indignation suffered by God's people for their sins is to be carried away into Babylonian captivity, into the heart of the heathen world.
     How then did we receive our holidays (holy days) with their customs and traditions - Christmas as well as Easter, Halloween, and Mardi Gras? The stories are too long to tell, and I've already written far more than anyone will probably read, but each of them has come to us from ancient Babylon, through Rome, through the Roman Catholic church.
     It was for this very reason that in Calvin's Geneva you could have been fined or imprisoned for celebrating Christmas. It was at the request of the Westminster Assembly that the English Parliament in 1644 passed an act forbidding the observance of Christmas, calling it a heathen holiday. In an appendix to their "Directory for the Public Worship of God" the Westminster divines said, "There is no day commanded in scripture to be kept holy under the gospel but the Lord's day, which is the Christian Sabbath. Festival days, vulgarly called 'Holy-days,' having no warrant in the word of God, are not to be continued."
     When the Puritans came to America they passed similar laws. The early New Englanders worked steadily through December 25, 1620, in studied neglect of the day. About 40 years later the General Court of Massachusetts decreed punishment for those who kept the season: "...anyone who is found observing, by abstinence from labor, feasting, or any other way, any such days as Christmas Day, shall pay for every such offense five shillings."
     It was not until the 19th century that Christmas had any religious significance in Protestant churches. Even as late as 1900, Christmas services were not held in Southern Presbyterian churches. The General Assembly of 1899 delcared, "There is no warrant in Scripture for the observance of Christmas and Easter as holydays, rather the contrary (see Gal. 4:9-11; Col. 2:16-21), and such observance is contrary to the principles of the Reformed faith, conducive to will-worship, and not in harmony with the simplicity of the gospel of Jesus Christ."
     What then is the history of Christmas? It came into the Church centuries after the New Testament, was discarded at the Reformation, and has only in this century crept back into the Protestant Church. What I'm saying, then, is that the real Christmas has always been pagan, and to make it a Christian celebration is to try to add Christ or biblical elements to an essentially pagan holiday.

Friday, December 22, 2000, 6:43pm

mp3otd: Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Christmas Eve in Sarajevo.mp3

That is all.

Friday, December 22, 2000, 11:00am

     I am under the impression that any human being is capable of loving another and is capable of being loved by another, and at any time either of those two humans can be you. I'm not talking about putting your closest friends in front of you kind of love, but an oh baby I can't live another second of my life without you kind of love. Two condititions (probably more) are seemingling required for such a thing: (1) You must allow the feeling to consume you and radiate from your soul (if you believe in a soul, I'm sure you get my drift). I think most people know how not to do this. Just be a loving person! We all have the gift, but it takes time unwrapping it. (2) So must the other person, the so-called object of your desires. If this other person is not ready to be loved, don't be discouraged and don't blame it on yourself. I am one who believes that every person can find love if the idea of love is genuine, and not selfish or otherwise warped. I don't know what else I could say to keep this as a generalized idea, so, moving on...
     You would expect most teenage guys to be dazzled by ... Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Lopez, or some other well known teen idol (okay, Jennifer Lopez isn't a teen, but teens certainly idolize her). Any girl with a smooth face or nice breasts or some ghetto booty will get the male heads turning, right? Well, it seems that way. Guys are hormone driven and don't require a second shake to get off. So Britney, Christina or Miss Lopez are television personalities that will certainly be well loved by the near infinite supply of young male viewers. Of course, I only bring this up because I'm not one of those young male viewers that's so taken away by any of those. No, I like a girl who's talents surpass just "shaking what she's got" and singing a few notes - I would much rather set my sites on, if it's got to be impossible, someone with a bit of an education (she's attending Columbia University); talent can come later, although she certainly has that. You're thinking, who is this guy talking about already? Either that or you saw the blue letters of her name sticking out a couple minutes ago ... either way, it's Julia Stiles. Since seeing the movie Ten Things I Hate About You, I have been absolutely in awe of Julia Stiles. Since it was an update to the Shakespearean Taming of the Shrew, and Julia was supposed to play the less attractive, "shrewd" of two sisters, I wasn't expecting someone like her in the role. After that movie, I had to find other movies that she starred in. I was quick to discover that Ten Things was her first hit movie, so I was a bit disappointed at first. Then I realized that this meant I would be able to follow the career of my favorite actress from day one. Kinda neat, yes it is. No, I do not have any posters. No, I do not have an unhealthy obsession or anything like that. I'm just trying to awaken others to my favorite actress of the moment so perhaps we can discuss something like movies or actresses instead of a typical hormone-driven conversation about Britney Spears. And besides, Julia Stiles is worth the time to get to know, for anyone who doesn't know her style. Perhaps her filmography can get you started!

Friday, December 22, 2000, 2:22am

<BlueCalx> one of my friends and i were shooting the shit last week
<BlueCalx> and we got to talkin about the chicken head at mcdonald's.
<BlueCalx> ACTUAL QUOTE:
<BlueCalx> "Man, I wouldn't even notice the head. I'd just be like 'MMMM ULTIMATE NUGGET....'"
<BlueCalx> [that last part said homer simpson-style]
<natasharama> oh my god...
<Crashnbur> THE HEAD HAS MORE PROTEIN, WHAT'S SO BAD ABOUT IT
<Crashnbur> com'on, it's brain food. pun intended.
<natasharama> yeah, excuse me while i pray to the porcelain gods...

Hmm, it's 12/22, 2:22am. Lots of twos. Peace. (that's two fingers.)

Friday, December 22, 2000, 1:01am

     To keep Matt posted on the Karma War™, I am still stuck at a solid zero. I believe he is still at ten or eleven. Either way, he seems to be killing me. However, since the war started, he has only gained two points, and I have gained one, so in that sense he's only up by one. After carefully analyzing my point distribution, I have noticed that I get lots of points, but I also get lots of points taken away. People seem to think I am off base and off topic much of the time (idiots that can't see the relation, stupid bastards), so I lose points. However, I have received three separate emails from visitors to my web site who claim to have found my site through slashdot, and each of them has claimed that my comments are insightful and somewhat inspiring. They were "quite impressed with [my] knowledge and opinions." This strikes me as odd, because in my time here on this sad planet, I have noticed that people are much quicker to share their dislikes than their likes (it's natural; complaints always come first). This means that very few people that dislike my comments see them, and the few that do don't say anything. However, quite a few take points away without leaving any reason, leading me to believe that the majority of slashdot moderators are idiots. Yes, idiots. I can't wait till I get to moderate - then I can be an idiot too!
     It's my mom's birthday. She's forty-five twenty-nine today. Everyone wish my mom a happy birthday.

Thursday, December 21, 2000, 9:28pm

     A very brilliant man recently made a not-so-brilliant proposal. A mathmetician named Scott Flansburg has proposed that our Gregorian calendar (called so because Pope Gregory XIII established it in 1582) be altered to a new thirteen month calendar in which each month contains twenty-eight days. Many problems are solved this way, he says: (1) We always know what day of the week anything will fall on, because each month will always have exactly four weeks. (2) We can predict natural cycles with greater ease, since every month will have the same number of days. (3) Paychecks will always fall on the right day, whether it be at the end of the month or every two weeks. (4) "And people will finally understand time."
     Yeah. Right. First of all, he also suggests that the days of the week be renamed from Monday to Oneday, from Tuesday to Twoday, and so on - I don't think so. Second, I think people have a fairly firm understanding of time, by the calendar anyway. But that's not my concern. I have two central concerns. (1) Technology, what the world runs on. Nearly every computer in the world uses the Gregorian calendar. How are we going to explain to every business in the world that they need to very suddenly fix their calendars? Maybe this was what they meant by a Y2K bug; at least this would have some bite. (2) Holidays, birthdays, random dates, etc. As things are, my birthday falls on something close to the 200th day of the year, July 18. Under the new calendar the 200th day of the year would be closer to the end of July. Or should I say the end of June, since the new calendar would avoid using an unlucky thirteenth month and would instead use a zero-numbered month. If this were the case, January 1 would no longer be the day to celebrate the new year. Oh, and let's not forget those birthdays and holidays that fall at the end of the month, on the 29th through 31st. Gone. Moved. Whatever.
     Solution? No. I say we keep the calendar we have now. However, if we are to ever switch to such a more "convenient" calendar, it might be a good idea to start working it along side our current calendar so that our people will be familiar with it when and if a shift is ever made. You see there? I'm bending a little. I'm not being close-minded on the issue. I agree that a such a new calendar could work, but only after a very long transition process. (I feel the same way about a shift to using the metric system.) But there's no way I would call the days Oneday, Twoday, etc... Monday and Tuesday and Wednesdar are my days and that's final!

Thursday, December 21, 2000, 1:00am

mp3otd: INXS - Need You Tonight (Ben Liebrand remix).mp3

     I have suddenly rediscovered the awesomeness that is INXS, the band, and man have I been pleasantly surprised again - for the first time. I'm not sure any band provides such a blend of instruments - excellent drums, awesome guitar, brass, keyboards - with such incredible vocals ... well, certainly no other eighties bands. I recommend you go out and buy INXS's Greatest Hits album, just because I said so. Unless, of course, you don't like mainstream music, in which case you suck. And as for the mp3otd previously mentioned, there is absolutely nothing better than the greatness of INXS combined with techno. Nothing.
     Also, everyone say bollocks! Natasha has entered the world of webloggering. [webloggering: my coined word for the act of keeping a weblog by any means necessary, including such tools as blogger or excluding them. whatever.] Have no fear, Natasha. Though this particular update will be lost in a sea of archives, I intend to keep your site permanently linked in my navbar of sorts on the left side of this page ... that is as long as content continues to flow. And that goes for anyone I link to. If the content slows, so does the linkage. I do my best to keep the few visitors I get entertained. So go. Click the sites I have recommended. You should not be disappointed. Although I must say I am a bit frightened by the new colors that Mike has chosen; I personally liked the old site. Oh well, it's the content that really matters. I've found myself becoming more personally involved with the few people I know online because of these webloggerings. I have also found that I don't particularly care for some of the more popular webloggerings of people I don't know. They don't mean anything to me if I can't relate the stories to a personality of some sort.
     Time to cut this off. Don't worry, I will ramble again.

Wednesday, December 20, 2000, 5:24pm

     On this date, December 20, in the year 2000, nothing happened.

mp3otd: Everclear - 03 - AM Radio.mp3

Tuesday, December 19, 2000, 8:01pm

     Prepare to be shocked. The 1948 movie Key Largo starred Humphrey Bogart as a weary soldier visiting a deceased Army buddy's family in the Florida Keys and Edward G. Robinson as Johnny Rocco, a Chicago gangster that dabbled in fixing elections. Although the movie was completely fictional, it paralleled this year's election problems in Florida in a very accidental sort of way. In 1948, this strategy that Gore employed to have the votes counted and recounted until they went his way was typically thought of as a Chicago method of fixing an election. Johnny Rocco, on fixing an election in Florida in the 1948 film Key Largo: "Get my boys to bring the voters out. And then count the votes over and over again 'til they added up right, and he was elected." Sound familiar? Is it possible that our election was predicted 52 years ago? A bit frightening, isn't it? The world works in funny ways.

Tuesday, December 19, 2000, 6:14pm

mp3otd 1: The Who - 01 - Baba O'Riley.mp3
mp3otd 2: The Who - 14 - Who Are You (lost verse mix).mp3
mp3otd 3: The Who - 10 - Pinball Wizard.mp3

     Yes, that's right, three mp3s of the day. That's because I forgot yesterday's. And yesterday's yesterday's. Sue me. And The Who own. "Baba O'Riley" is one of the single greatest five-minute-moments in rock history, and plays in the background of parts of one of the greatest movies of all time, American Beauty. "Who Are You" can't be too far behind - it absolutely rocks - and I have the lost verse mix, with an extra eighty seconds of orgasm in the form of sound. And Pinball Wizard, oh man, don't even get me started on "that deaf, dumb and blind kid [that] sure plays a mean pinball..." An incredible song.

Tuesday, December 19, 2000, 3:39pm

     Today is the day that the modified design of my site takes place all over the site! Except, that is, the older weblog archives of August 2000 and previous. They will forever and always keep the really really old look, just so I can see how the site looked in its beginnings one day down the road, just in case this site has any permanence to it. Also, I plan to keep the most recently replaced design, which is only slightly different from what you see now. Either way, this just leaves me more memory of what I was up to at this stage in my web designing, so if you don't like it, I don't care. :-) I do care, however, about your opinion on the current look of the site. Most of what I write isn't meant to entertain anyone in particular, but more or less to give me something to look back on in the future, and that includes the type of feedback I receive. So, give it to me the way you think it should be given. Be mean. Be cruel. Be nice. Be pushy. I don't care, I just want to know what's the dilly-o.

Monday, December 18, 2000, 11:59pm

     Now that Dalila and I have time to spend together again, I can watch movies with someone other than my other personalities (they get old after a while), and I'm starting to catch up on the flicks I've missed recently. To get me ready for the holiday season (I usually watch many movies over the holidays), I began my movie marathon a little over a week ago with Terminator 2. There's nothing like watching Robert Patrick, the new co-star of the X-Files, melt through anything and everything he pleases. I've watched many other movies in the last week, including my favorite movie of the year and maybe of all time, American Beauty. I also plan to watch new movies "in theatres now"™ What Women Want, Vertical Limit, Men of Honor, and Cast Away within the next week. Maybe I'll share my thoughts on them with you. Maybe not.

Monday, December 18, 2000, 12:47pm

     Are you banned from Napster? Would you like to be unbanned from Napster? Thanks to a very friendly person in alt.music.mp3.napster and a quick link to this page, I was able to download a tiny little program that ran, cleaned my hard drive of whatever file was hindering my ability to Napsterbate, and *poof* - Napster's back in action! If you do not wish to go elsewhere, and would rather trust me with a file that I used and recommend, you can get the Napster ban fix from me in a zip file. And how about this, it's only 5950 bytes! Even you users of pesky dialup modems should be able to get it from me in only a few seconds. If you have any problems with the file, consult the original site - they have a few instructions that may or may not help you get Napster working again. At under six kilobytes, this is a very worthy download. Unless, of course, you don't use Napster, in which case you should.

Sunday, December 17, 2000, 10:55pm

     Holy. Shit. How the hell I didn't realize this before it was too late, I'll never know. Tonight, for the first time in over four years, I missed a new episode of the X-Files. Don't talk to me; I don't want to hear it. I don't care. Just don't talk to me.

Sunday, December 17, 2000, 10:21pm

     Remind me to castrate Matt for rubbing in my problems with our current "Karma War." If you are unaware of what this could possibly be, it is a battle between the two of us to see who can get the highest karma at slashdot. He claimed my last count to be negative one or zero, when in fact it was two. However, at last check it was back down to one. Several times I have been docked a point for being off-topic when in fact my comments were very much ON TOPIC. Some idiots just cannot handle my writing, I guess. I have been told that my style is somewhat odd, or formal, or just plain different. Have any of you noticed this? Do I write differently? Do you not care for what I say? I guess not, no slashdotters do. Oh well. I expect to catch Matt, one day. If not, it's all in good fun, and he'll certainly enjoy beating the hell out of me in the "Karma War."

Sunday, December 17, 2000, 8:32pm

     Today's rant: parents planning your regularly scheduled life for you. Dad, if you somehow stumble upon my web page and read this, look away. I'm not here to insult you, but merely to share my opinions with my friends. (My dad and I have an awesome arrangement... I don't screw up, he doesn't punish me, and since I [seem to] have proven myself as responsible and sensible, he treets me like an adult. I love my dad. And my mom. And everyone else really, but those two in particular. They made me; I owe a special debt to them. Like "DON'T SCREW UP - WE MADE YOU." Anyway, the rant. I am going to lead you into the specific event triggering this rant, and then ... whatever comes next comes next.
     Over the course of several years of scheduling appointments a week off here and there, certain check-ups have been pushed back to mid-June/December, a most inopportune time for me. In years past, I had grown to love (as much as could be expected) such requisits in late March/September. Those preferred times aren't so spectacular really, but I really hate taking hours out of my holidays (summer break, Christmas break) for such things, especially considering those are the most likely times that I will not be in town (or in this case, just have something I really wanted to do). Okay, example. I have a dental checkup appointment for Monday at 3:30pm. I had my appointment set for January 10. Why? I wanted to go after classes had begun because my school is about three minutes away from my dentist's office. Well, Friday night I was informed that my loving father had all of our appointments set for December 28 (mine January 10) moved up to tomorrow for convenience. (As it turns out, it is extremely inconvenient for all three of us, but that's a sudden occurrence and is unrelated, i.e. not his fault.) Anyway, this completely screws up my day. I had planned to use every available hour tomorrow to spend with Dalila, since I never really get the chance to see her. Unfortunate circumstances had her boxed up in her house for a month, and now that she's finally free to see me again, she can't. Between finals, trips to my sister's, her new job, and everything else in the world that could possibly and does come up, we never spend any time together. Well, Monday was going to be an "us" day. And, my dad screwed that up. I had very carefully planned my appointment for a time that would be convenient for me, ya know, being 18 and being the only person that knows my schedule, where I will be, etc. But no, dad intervened. Apparently being a legal adult does not allow me to make my own decisions.
     Time for another interesting discussion. At some point during my absolutely horrible day, we decided to sit down and enjoy a nice buffet breakfast at what I believe is the last Shoney's to be open in the state of Georgia. These words led to those, and eventually we got on the subject of drug abuse. Sparing you the boring details, my dad and I came to the conclusion that the best way to free the world of the problem that drugs cause is to legalize everything which is not legal. Why? Legalize it, allow people to grow this and produce that at will, and suddenly the profits go down for those that make a living off of it, and so they move on to other things. Not only that, but it definitely separates the losers who live off of it from those that do not, and those substances that really cause some serious damage will, to a certain extent, rid the population of the unneeded subjects. It's a form of survival of the fittest. The fittest of humans will remain, obviously, but if the human race is to remain the "fittest" species on the planet, we have got to start making some changes... I had much more to share on the subject, but I just suddenly realized that I'm tired of typing and would like to go eat some food and watch U-571, or the Perfect Storm, whichever makes it to my VCR first.

Sunday, December 17, 2000, 9:02am

     Okay, I have time for a quick message. Looking at our local weather report, it seems as though Warner Robins is scheduled to receive a bit of snow today. It hasn't snowed here (enough to stick) since Christmas of 1994 (or really early March 1993), and it almost never snows anyway. Maybe once a year. Maybe. Well, today it's supposed to snow, and I'm supposed to be about 120 miles to the southeast, closer to the coast, where it's just this much warmer (holds up two fingers really close) so that I won't see any snow! Either way, I don't think it will snow here. The weather forecasters are just covering their butts by saying there's a chance, ya know, just in case it does! They would hate to look stupid by ... not predicting it.
     Anyway, the wind's been blowing about 30mph all night with gusts of up to 60mph, so my front yard is a mess. Yay. Looks like I'm gonna be doing some yardwork in the freezing cold next week! Anyway, I'm off to get my sister and her stuff! Whee.

Sunday, December 17, 2000, 1:59am

     Um, happy birthday to Ashley. I don't know that it was intended, but it seems as though my website's sudden redesign is nearing competion on her birthday. Happy 18th sistah, and may you be where the good times are!
     As for the site, note that I've completely and drastically changed from what it used to be. Don't just notice the graphical difference, but also take notice that I have done away with the whole "crash n burn" theme. I still like the fiery image that has replaced it above, but the old images ... well they sucked. So those are the changes. I would like some feedback on this, so someone for the love of cheese just send me an email and tell me what you do or don't like about the changes. Dalila, this includes you, because I'm sure you'll read across this at some point in time. :-)
     If anyone happens to be wondering where I am in the next 18 hours, don't. I am off to Statesborrow to help my sister pack up the second half of her stuff and bring it back here to clutter my cluttered home. It's not so big a deal really, except that I have a huge cut on one of my toes that hurts to walk on, I can only imagine lifting her stuff and putting extra weight on my precious foot. Anyway, it's a good two hour drive, and I'm sure I'll be down there for a good hour or several ... leaving at roughly 9:00am ... I calculate a return to the world I enjoy around 4:00pm. No promises. If you have anything to say to me in the space of time between now and then, email me, for I will definitely be checking my inbox as soon as I get back. Oh dear. I've turned into an internet geek.

Saturday, December 16, 2000, 7:49pm

     Yes, this is a new look. Yes, I like it. Yes, you better tell me if you do not like it, or if you experience any problems with it. Thanks Daniel and Nick for standing by as my ... beta testers? Heh. Whatever.

Saturday, December 16, 2000, 4:19pm

     Three things. (1) The fireless and pixel-confine-less changes have been applied to every page on the site. I have left index2.html, an otherwise identical version of this page, in the old fiery, pixel-confined layout so that you may compare this page and that and accurately form an opinion. If this new look does not bother you, tell me nothing. Or better yet, tell me it rules. If you absolutely hate it and want me to bring the fire back, or want me to bring the pixel-confinement back, by all means tell me. (2) I have uploaded an mp3 to my web site. It won't be here long, so get it now. It is called Stay And Drown (4:23, 192 kbps, 6.02 MB), by a band called Finger Eleven (or Finger 11). You can see the length and filesize above, so download the song at your own discretion. I have done this because I have discovered that very few people are familiar with this band, and if nothing else, this is a good way for me to share with you some of my musical taste. (3) I have forgotten the third thing, but no doubt it was great and witty and really interesting (idiom). And hey, my guestbook cannot achieve the guestbook version of an orgasm without you signing it - so do it.

Saturday, December 16, 2000, 2:39pm

     As you can see, I am toying with the idea of removing the fiery border image from my page. If you absolutely love the fire, which can be seen here in case you've forgotten already, I would like to know. However, the general consensus (so far) seems to have no preference. "I like them both," is the most common response that I've gotten. Also take note that without the fiery background, the body of my page stretches itself to fit the text in the entire window rather than the 750-pixel width previously used. So, if you absolutely hate the fire or absolutely love it, or absolutely love the text fitting the entire page or not, now is your time to tell me. So tell me.

Saturday, December 16, 2000, 11:57am

mp3otd: openmic.nickd.org/sound/02-nickd-nickd.org.mp3
     Nick DiSaBaTo™ has done it again, this time as the creator himself. Check out OpenMic. I promise you, I am going to contribute. As soon as ... I figure out in what way.

     Werd to Erich, who sorta gave me props for being the first to send him an IM using the superleet message at the bottom of his bio that apparently I am the first to read. That would make sense, since he only added it yesterday (I think). Erich also ranted a bit this morning on humans' overwhelming tendency to overconsume, particularly in America; an overconsumption that includes food, natural resources, and the implication any other entity that can be consumed. I tend to agree with this. I have drawn the conclusion that the human species is essentially consuming itself into a pile of crap, not to put to fine a point on that. It's a downward spiral that has one of two things: (1) a mininum, which is marked by a second derivative, meaning a shift in the flow of consumption. (2) an end, which is marked by... nothing.
     THE END

Saturday, December 16, 2000, 2:26am

     I really think this will be my last post that has anything to do with Election 2000 until the new millenium is achieved, simply because I don't think I will have anything more to add until Bush's inauguration approaches. However, stranger things have happenened, so if I add something new about the election tomorrow, accept this as your warning. This is a hilarious little tune I picked up from (of all places) a James Bond newsgroup. I recommend getting the original South Park version of the song "Blame Canada" to accurately place the lyrics. And they are:


Life was calm
As normal as could be
They held a big election and they put it on TV
We sat and watched the votes come in and everything was fine
Except for the state that couldn't make up its mind

Blame Florida! Blame Florida!
And if we had half a brain we would give it back to Spain
Blame Florida! Blame Florida!
That's what happens when you make a state with sand

Other states
Avoided this mistake
They used a type of ballot which is really hard to break
Floridians can tie their shoes and even zip their pants
But punching a hole is apparently too advanced

Blame Florida! Blame Florida!
Ever since election day the Cubans float the other way
Blame Florida! Blame Florida!
That's why Elian is never coming back

We blamed the exit pollers and we blamed the candidates
We blamed the Constitution, but frankly it's too late
And if the Founding Fathers were still around today
I bet I know exactly what they'd say

Blame Florida! Blame Florida!
If only Ponce de Leon had just amused himself at hom
Blame Florida! Blame Florida!

Well, maybe that isn't fair...
'Cause after all it's full of people from New York!

Saturday, December 16, 2000, 12:00am

     Whew! Remind me to never again update seven times in one day. This one was gonna be the eighth, but I decided to hold out till midnight. I guess the mass updatage occurs when (a) you're excited and running on fumes after a long semester ends but (b) don't care to do anything socially because the only real interest is your *significant* other and she's working her first night at a new job. So I fell asleep sporadically throughout the day, and I surfed the web in sixty minute increments. It was a really weird day...
     So anyway, on with business. Nick brings up an "analysis" of sorts on websites similar to this, in which the analyzer rates nickd.org as "okay," along with many other sites, and a few other sites as "good." Mine isn't listed, so don't worry about that. Don't worry Nick, I just wanted to say that I think your site is one of the best! Not only is the content mentally orgasmic, but if that design could be translated into a female human being, I think I would marry her. Sleek, supports herself, very nice if you know what I mean, and all the qualities of a BlueCalx! In short, it's an incredible design that is beyond my comprehension, because I fail to have the capacity to put such a thing as that together ... I'll stick with vague backgrounds to hide my vagure borders – and by the way, does this classify as a box? Or no box? If I were to classify sites like this as having a box or not, nickd.org certainly has a box, don't you agree?

Friday, December 15, 2000, 8:08pm

     I actually laughed for a minute when my dad called home today, explaining to me that someone in his office thought my web site looked bad in Netscape. It was mildly humorous at first, since my site looks exactly the same in Internet Explorer and Netscape ... but then my real reaction set in: You mean people still actually use Netscape? I wish there was some way to convince Netscape to go the way of Al Gore and concede. You have been beaten. Now give up.
     This whole election thing has really amazed me. With all the counting, recounting, different forms of ballots ... whatever. This "Gore is better than Bush," "Bush is better than Gore," c'mon people, if one guy was really better than the other, we wouldn't be in the position we're in now. And for one person to claim a win over the other opponent is just wrong. In my book, a popular vote would be something in the neighborhood of 66% or higher, which is nothing close to this election, no matter how many ways or how many times you count it.
     Why is it that we can even allow all this crap to go on in the first place? Obviously something is wrong in the voting system and Electoral College to begin with. I don't understand why the entire U.S. population can't just be given a general form (to some variance) to fill out similar to the tax forms we send to the IRS. Why not the same thing for voting? If we can trust all of our personal documentation and financial records to be sent in the mail, why not mail in a standardized voting ballot? I'm all for the standard A B C or D (or E or F or G in some elections) choices for a standard ballot; just fill in the correct circle. No punch outs. No dangling chads. No missed punches. You color in the circle. Period. You fill in the wrong circle, you get counted for the wrong vote. I never had the chance on my high school tests to go up and change an answer, so a voter shouldn't either. Take some responsibility for your actions people, if you don't understand the test, ASK QUESTIONS! All I can hope is that this whole "punch voting" crap BETTER be fixed by the next election!
     Anyone who says, "It's like taking candy from a baby", had obviously never tried.

Friday, December 15, 2000, 3:15pm

     Here are some words of wisdom, compliments of nickd and a very old rant, that dealt with the outbreak of hostilities in institutions of education across America last year, particularly Columbine.

     Nick: The main problem is here is that years of torment in people like Ryan's lives have led to such "classes" – Goths, nerds, freaks, preps, etc. People form together in cliques where people are distinctly filed into the social pecking order. The high school situation could (and is) leading to a French Revolution-esque "class war" where social outcasts decide to say, "enough with the years of torment." Unfortunately, this is happening sooner than we think.

     Anonymous response: Far from being idyllic, happy communities, high schools (including the one in question) are hellish social pressure cookers. High school society is strictly regimented into rigid hierarchies; at the top there are the athletes, the cheerleaders and the kids with rich parents; the alpha primates. At the very bottom of the food chain are those who do not fit in. The environment is a closed system; there is only one hierarchy, and nowhere to run. And failure to conform is relentlessly punished, not by the indifferent authorities but by the system itself. Systematic physical bullying goes on on a scale sometimes reminiscent of the English public school tradition of "fagging". The whole system is sadistically elegant; if a latter-day Dante was writing an updated Inferno, he could scarcely find a better model than the social structures of the high school.
     This system evolved to serve a purpose; by ruthlessly punishing difference, rewarding conformity and reinforcing an immutable status quo, it creates the preconditions of a modern industrial society; a population of predictable, conditioned worker/consumer drones, people who accept their place in the great machine of society and don't make trouble. The relatively small number of murders and suicides is well within the margin of acceptable loss.
     Meanwhile, when the jocks and popular kids grow up, they take their places in the leader-caste of society; and while most of them are, by then, relatively decent individuals, they do not see that there is a problem. Hence, when a bunch of black-clad angstpuppies massacre some jocks and popular kids, the solution is obvious: sue the video-game companies, restrict the Internet, and ban aspects of outsider subcultures, such as black clothing.
     And so, the invisible hand increases the pressure even further.

     Normally, I would take the ideas presented above, quote here and there, perhaps steal a line or two, and provide my opinion in my words. This was not an acceptable alternative in this case, for I could not have written such things as well as the two above wrote them. The original article can be found here. Also from nickd.org, and completely unrelated, the Movie Laws of Computers and Electronics. We love you Nick.

Friday, December 15, 2000, 2:04pm

mp3otd: Deftones - Change (studio acoustic version).mp3

     Hurry, before it is too late! There are just under eight hours left for you to place your bid for nickd's old-and-replaced keyboard! The current bid is at $5.50, not including shipping which will be tacked on to the billing. "You can feel free to either open the sucker up and see what nasty crap I left in there, or you can keep it in a glass case and ph34r its mad eleetness. Signed and dated by its proud owner." There is only one, and there can only be one! Get it now before it's gone! Quickly! Before 9:45pm Eastern tonight!

Friday, December 15, 2000, 11:28am

     Everyone go read this. Now. It's truly inspirational. I must say that I feel exactly the same way ... except the reason that he does not post articles and bits of information from all over the web is the precise reason why I do. It keeps me in touch with the current times, so that I may one day look back and reflect on what I was doing, how I was reacting, etc. If I may make a suggestion, Erich, mention a few of the more important current events and your opinions on them. Not necessarily sporadic information from all over the web, but perhaps the key events that will mark the time for years to come. You'd be surprised at what it could mean to you years down the road. That's all I have to say.

Friday, December 15, 2000, 10:29am

     Wellsers, I just kicked some ass on my English final exam (read: my very last exam of the semester (read: WOOHOO!)). I don't mean to sound condescending, but that final exam was a joke. The assignment was to write an essay of about five hundred words in which I convey to the reader what I believe freedom really is. Very easy assignment, I believe, since I often write about that topic anyway. I also learned that my professor did not have my final research paper that I wrote on the philosophy of mathematics last week, meaning I could not receive my grade on it this morning, meaning I have absolutely no idea whether or not this essay I wrote today will give me an A or B in the class. Either way, my GPA is at 3.4 or 3.6, and I am definitely satisfied with that. So, sparing you no further personal stories, here is my essay on what freedom really is.

     I have lived a brief eighteen years on this planet, and already I have come into contact with such dangerous requests as to define freedom. To define freedom is more than a difficult task, but perhaps easier than one might imagine if not overanalyzed. Given ample time to consider the task, however, a simple, sufficient definition can present itself: freedom is the ability to choose, for any creature living life in any place in any time. There is no greater truth to the statement, and no underlying meanings; freedom is simply the ability to choose.
     So one might ask, "If this ability to choose applies to all creatures in all places in all times, why can freedom only be defined in the context of the specific creature whose definition of freedom is concerned?" That is simple. Freedom is something that can only be experienced to some extent; there is no such thing as absolute freedom. However, each varying life form has differing boundaries to which this freedom can conform. If such a thing as absolute freedom were to exist, then those who possessed it could do absolutely anything imaginable.
     One could then wonder, if there is this implicit ability to choose, what (or who) this ability is derived from? This could potentially be a difficult question to answer, for any reply would certainly imply some brand of creation that any one could disbelieve. A supernatural being (I'll refer to the Christian "God") could have created the universe in which we live, or it could have been constructed by chance. Neither view can be proven, and neither can prove the other wrong, and there is no law saying that a combination of the two cannot be the reason for our existence. If God is our omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent creator, the question becomes not who or what we came from, but where He came from. Divine creation may offer some answers, but it is not an explanation. There are no observable effects that distinguish its product from a "naturally" originated universe. Not only is it unobservable and incomprehensible, but it is also supposed to be performed by an entity whose own origin simply reintroduces the mystery that it was his function to eliminate. Thus the arguments of origin are infinitely looped and predestined to be inconclusive. Instead of looking that direction, I would suggest that life is very scientific and spiritual, and therefore any and all interpretations of origin should comply with such a simple definition for freedom. This leads back to the question, "what is this ability to choose derived from?" Well, as I stated previously, freedom can only be identified and defined within the contexts of each life form to be considered, so perhaps freedom is derived from the limits of each particular life form. A dog cannot speak English, just as a human cannot lift himself or other objects into the air.
     There is then the argument of the limitations of freedom. I have in the past argued that there is no such thing as freedom or free will, or that all events and thoughts are merely predetermined by those that preceded them. I have abandoned this belief for the definition of freedom that I have attempted to explain above, and because that belief was based on my interpretation of freedom to mean absolute freedom, which does not exist, as I explained above. The idea that all events are predetermined could potentially be true, but the freedom of the mind is to choose in the here and now, and in the contexts of our living, we make the choices that lead to that predestined conclusion, if one should exist. In other words, despite any notion of fate or destiny implying a lack of freedom, we are free in the here and now to choose our respective paths.
     All creatures always have the ability to choose within the constraints of the form their life has taken. All creatures have limitations, and to some extent, those limitations can even be chosen. A child can choose to obey the restrictions set by his mother, limiting his freedom on a very small scale, or he can choose to violate his. Any such freedom is derived from the life in which each individual has chosen to live based on his origin, not directly from the creator (what or who ever that may be).

     And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my final final exam, in all 729 words of its glory.

Friday, December 15, 2000, 12:08am

     Words of wisdom are spoken by children at least as often as by scientists. The name 'googol' was invented by a child (Dr Kasner's nine-year-old nephew) who was asked to think up a name for a very big number, namely, 1 with a hundred zeros after it. He was very certain that this number was not infinite, and therefore equally certain that it had to have a name. At the same time that he suggested 'googol' he gave a name for a still larger number: 'Googolplex'. A googolplex is much larger than a googol, but is still finite, as the inventor of the name was quick to point out. It was first suggested that a googolplex should be 1, followed by writing zeros until you got tired. This is a description of what would happen if one actually tried to write a googolplex, but different people get tired at different times and it would never do to have Carnera a better mathematician than Dr Einstein, simply because he had more endurance. The googolplex then, is a specific finite number, with so many zeros after the 1 that the number of zeros is a googol. A googolplex is much bigger than a googol, much bigger even than a googol times a googol. A googol times a googol would be 1 with 200 zeros, whereas a googolplex is 1 with a googol of zeros. You will get some idea of the size of this very large but finite number from the fact that there would not be enough room to write it, if you went to the farthest star, touring all the nebulae and putting down zeros every inch of the way.

Friday, December 15, 2000, 12:02am

     Hey, everyone do me a few favors. (1) Go to slashdot and register yourself. (2) Begin immersing yourself in slashdot's infinite supply of information and opinions. (3) Post replies to every subject you can, promoting yourself, and giving others to chance to moderate your comments, thus eventually allowing you to moderate others' comments. (4) Moderate some of my comments/opinions:

Quick Thinking in a Slow World posted on 08:19 PM December 14th, 2000 EST.
My Opinion posted on 07:41 PM December 14th, 2000 EST
I only have one thing to say. posted on 07:23 PM December 14th, 2000 EST
Um, Actually I'm not quite sure... posted on 01:58 PM December 11th, 2000 EST

     And do not, under any circumstances, accept collect calls from a man who claims to be Bill Gates. You here me? Do not accept charges. That is my warning. Also, take a look below. Ignore the icky colors; it uses a transparent background that normally looks grey. Download it. Use it. Advertise!

Thursday, December 14, 2000, 5:47pm

Why not? I've gone three, so four can't hurt. Read:

<@ch1ckie> but seriously crash, chicks are gonna like it with experienced guys, so get yer experience

Thursday, December 14, 2000, 5:15pm

     A first in crash.neotope.com history - three updates in one day! Boy, aren't you surprised?! I hope you guys don't mind the barrell of changes rolling through. For once, "changes" doesn't mean that my site's address is changing, or that I'm going to give the site a new look, but it means that I am working to improve the content (an exercise in futility, I'm sure) and make this place just a little easier to navigate. I have goals set to be reached by the new millenium (That's right, last year was just a sham ... I hope you knew that ... the real millenium switch is January 1, 2001.), so wish me luck!

Thursday, December 14, 2000, 9:12am

     As many of you know by now, Al Gore finally conceded the election to George W. Bush last night, leaving us with a Republican President. The lesser of two evils. I'm not saying he's better because he's a Republican, but if he is such a Republican that he was able to get the Republican nomination and beat our Vice President out for the Presidency, then obviously he's got a few stronger loyalties in the world of politics than he does to his "fellow Americans." But let's not worry about that. Every president ever to be elected, except our very first one, has been a member of one political party or another. And hey, that first president of ours actually warned us to avoid political parties. Good ol' Gee-Dubya might have actually known what he was talking about, ya know, I mean he was unanimously chosen as the President of the Constitutional Convention, so I'm sure that he heard enough to know what he was talking about when he made such bold assertions, but hey, this political party thing is two hundred years old, now. I might consider dropping that protest. I might. (In case someone is wondering, the term "president" came from the term "presiding officer" in the days of the Articles of Confederation, the 1780s. I guess they mutated "General Washington, presiding," or something, and just started saying "George Washington, president," and eventually it took hold as the title of the commanding officer in the United States Executive Branch under our new Constitution... Maybe.)

     I love getting good news, especially through email. Last night, Tony and I had a long conversation about our history final, since we sat next to each other for the length of the semester in that class, and many times the conversation shifted to, "I wonder what I actually made on my 'Intro to Learning' final." Our instructor claimed that she was going to send our grades through email sometime on Wednesday, but there it was, Wednesday night, closing in on midnight, and still no grade. Well, I got up this morning, checked my email ... and BAM!

     Hi Paul,

     You made a 96 on the final, and your final grade is A, excellent.
     Enjoy the break.

I think it's safe to say that I will be enjoying my break knowing that I absolutely kicked some major ass on that final exam. I knew I would end up with an A in the class, but a 96 on the exam?! Wow, I am amazed. I did not know I had to ability to kick that much ass on a final exam. Now I'm eager to hear from my history professor about the two essays I wrote for that final... I guess now I'll tell you the two topics that I wrote about. These aren't my professor's exact words, but they're pretty darn close.

	1. Some historians would argue that the American Revolution was a "dual revolution," consisting of an inner revolution that developed the character of American society, and an outer revolution that separated America from Great Britain. Using the knowledge of your lecture notes and your text, write an essay that supports whether or not the American Revolution really was a "dual revolution." 2. Imagine that you are a private in the Union Army under General Sherman during his march through Georgia. Write an essay that describes the events between the years of 1848-1861 that brought you to that position. Be sure to include specific events, laws, decisions, etc.
	How well would you have done?

    

Thursday, December 14, 2000, 2:03am

mp3otd: [Everything the Smashing Pumpkins ever did, just cuz].mp3

nickd says "wazzaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh"

     Okay, God exists. I'll give you that. Sure, he created the universe that we live in. I'll give you that to. I'll even go so far as to say that he is the all-powerful and all-knowing god that you say he is. Sure, I'll give you all of that, for it's just as likely as any explanation that I can give that he doesn't exist, and it certainly offers a good explanation for the origin of the universe in which we live. Yes, God created our universe. Okay, you've got me there. But now I'm going to ask you a question that, being a good little Christian, you might not think about all that often: Who created his universe? Do you realize that accepting this being as the creator of our universe, you are only accepting a being whose own origin is exactly as unexplained as that of the universe without acknowledging his existence. Sure, divine creation offers answers, but it is not an explanation. There are no observable effects that distinguish its product from a "naturally" originated universe. Not only is it unobservable and incomprehensible, but it is also supposed to be performed by an entity whose own origin simply reintroduces the mystery which it was his function to eliminate. So in short, I would not doubt that a "God" exists, but if one does, doesn't it seem unlikely that he would leave us be for so long without providing some form of undeniable proof of his existence? Nevermind all that. I just want to let you know that everyone's reason for believing is flawed; there's always a paradox to consider. Such things are inevitable. I'm not here to question this, but only to provoke thought.
     Now the universe certainly functions in certain ways that are well known to scientists. One might say that the universe exists in order to fulfill these functions. This is only a misleading way of saying that it obeys certain laws. Does this mean that the universe exists by accident, by chance? Not at all; that is a false dilemna. I have argued that perhaps the universe cannot be part of a plan, but it does not make sense that its existence is a chance occurrence. The universe is not the kind of entity that is created or appears, hence the ideas that it was "deliberately planned" or that it "accidentally occurred" cannot be given any meaning for the universe itself. But what sustains the the existence of the universe? After all, it exists rather than not exists, whether or however it came into that existence. Despite any and all theories and laws which explain how and why the universe exists, whether these explanations go on developing forever or reach some ultimate definitive law, the conclusion is irrelevant. Despite any plausible explanations we can ever come up with, we will always be looking for ways to explain that explanation. However, just as I attempted to prove that accepting God as creator was a futile attempt to explain the creation of the universe, any attempt to accept any explanation will always be futile.
     What does this mean? To give up? Certainly not... What I am saying is that we should not try to define the origin of the universe explicitly, but only the universe as it exists for us. Our immediate universe. Life on Earth. Perhaps as far as we (humans) have actually explored, even. But trying to define the origins or outer limits (or inner limits) of the universe is impossible, for it is on an entirely greater level of thought, a level of thought which humans will never possess. Sure, there is a definite explanation for everything. That doesn't mean that everything can be explained to us. So find the general conclusions that you're comfortable with and stop trying to overstep your boundaries...

     By the way, I aced my "Intro to Learning" final. It was so incredibly easy that it would have been difficult had I not studied. That sounds obvious, doesn't it? You see, the methods of learning discussed in class in many ways go against those methods that I have used for the past several years - the very methods that have kept me in Honors programs and among the more intelligent people in my class. One important lesson I learned in this class is that you must learn the material covered, not necessarily what is correct. Anyway, the class sucked all semester long, but I made the most of it in the end. I don't like admitting it, but I actually learned a few things. I guess that would be a "discovery statement." Oh God, I've been brainwashed. I made an A in the class, though, so at the moment I don't really care.
     As for history (that's Honors U.S. History to 1865), I kicked ass on the final. We were given six very broad topics to go over in our notes from which three or four essay questions would be crafted. Well, there were three, and they required all kinds of detail. Luckily, I studied my ass off (strange concept for me, but it worked very well) and I feel like I aced the exam. I'll find out in a couple weeks, but I know there is no way I will be given less than an 85 on this exam, which will ensure that I make a B.
     This gives me two B's, two A's, and one borderline A/B in English to be decided on Friday morning. I am not worried about English at all though. The topic is Philosophy, and while I'm no Philosophy major, I feel as though I'm a little more philosophical than most, and all this philosophy stuff really gets to me, so I expect an A on the final, which would theoretically give me an A in the class. We have five topics from which we can choose any one and write an essay of roughly 500 words, which will be no problem at all (that's what we've been doing all year). Either way, my GPA will either be a 3.4 or 3.6 after my first semester, a step up from the 3.2 I suffered in high school. (I know, I say suffered while many others hate me for being upset about it. I am only upset because I know I am capable of better, so don't give me grief - I bet if you tried harder you could do it too!) Um, enough motivational speech. I'm gonna go get some much needed rest. Today is my only day off during finals week, and I plan to use it well!

Wednesday, December 13, 2000

mp3otd: Chrono Cross Soundtrack \ Yasunori Mitsuda - Disc 1 - 01 - Time's Scar.mp3

     Sorry for a lack of updatage today. I spent all day yesterday (a good 14 hours) studying for my History final which I am about to take (Wednesday@10am). I expect to beat the snot out of it, but only because I put so much into it. Another reason why I haven't been here ... I decided to defrag my hard drive while I was studying - and it took 20 hours. Apparently it is not good to let a 25 gig hard drive (1) get down to 5 gigs of free space and (2) go two months without a defrag. Oh well. The drive is running as smoothly as ever now, and I am no longer experienced the infamouse sound problems (Matt knows about those). Speaking of Matt, why don't you test your knowledge on him and his site: take Matt's Quiz! I scored an 80 the first time I took it, partially due to good guesses on his favorite movie and current song playing. Everything else I either knew or just clicked the wrong button (like his favorite band, geez). Ehh. What do you care about a quiz on Matt, anyway?

Tuesday, December 12, 2000

mp3otd: Stabbing Westward - 09 - Sometimes It Hurts.mp3

     No offense, but I just don't have time to entertain today. I have finals today and tomorrow, and another Friday, so my page is going to take a back seat for a couple days. Instead, I am going to write on a topic that makes very little sense, but it does (you'll understand when you read it), just because I can do that. Before I dive into that, feel free to read up on Bames Jond, Agent 770 or any of a number of stories and other writings I keep around here. And in response to Matt's semi-rant on spelling and grammar, I'm just going to let you know that I've been typing for so long that doing it correctly is almost second nature to me. Even when I do screw something up, I can usually feel myself hitting the wrong key, and so it's habit to hit the backspace key and correct myself. As for grammar, I feel like I have an excellent upbringing in that subject - I was always the only kid in class begging for grammar quizzes while everyone else wanted to read and analyze stories. I hate analyzing literature. I love grammar quizzes. The last two sentences are only valid in the context of an English or Literature class of some kind. And ... here.

     We all have a little voice in our heads that hardly ever shuts up. If you don't believe it, conduct this experiment: Close your eyes for ten seconds and pay attention to what is going on in your head. Please do this right now............................... Notice something? Perhaps your voice was saying, "Forget it, I'm in a hurry." Perhaps it was saying, "I wonder when ten seconds is up." Or perhaps it was saying, "What little voice? I don't hear any voice." That's the voice.
     This voice can take you anywhere at any time, especially when you are trying to do something important, like study for finals. When the voice takes you away, you might appear to be studying, but your brain is with a hot young brunette at the beach. We have all experienced the voice, as well as the absence of it. When the voice is silent, time seems to no longer exist. We forget worries, aches, pains, reasons, excuses and justifications. We fully experience the here and now. Life is magic.
     There are many benefits to such a state of consciousness. It is easier to discover the world around us when we are not chattering away to ourselves about how we think things ought to be. Letting go of inner voices and pictures - being totally in the moment - is a powerful tool. But do not expect to be rid of daydreams entirely; that is neither possible nor desirable. Inner voices serve a purpose. They enable us to analyze, predict, classify, and understand events out there in the "real" world.
     Your stream of consciousness serves a purpose. When you are working on a paper, your voice might suggest ideas. When you are listening to your sociology instructor, you voice might alert you to possible test questions. When you're about to jump out of an airplane, it might remind you to take a parachute. The trick is to consciously choose when to be with your inner voice and when to let it go.
     A powerful step to return to the here and now is to notice when you leave it. Your mind has a mind of its own, and it tries to fight back when you try to control it too much. The thoughts in your mind seem to want to live. If you doubt this, then for the next ten seconds, do not, under any circumstance, think of a pink elephant. Please begin not thinking about one now............................... Persistent image, isn't it? Most ideas are this insistent when you try to deny them or force them out of your mind.
     For example, during class you might notice yourself thinking about a test you took yesterday, a CD you want, or that phone number, that just happened to belong to the most gorgeous girl you have ever seen, that you accidentally washed off your hand before you wrote it down. Instead of trying to force a stray thought out of your mind - a futile enterprise - simply notice it. Accept it. "There's that thought again." Then gently return your attention to what it should be on. That thought, or another, will come back. Your mind will shift again and again. Simply notice it and keep it under control.
     The key to this process is to choose. When you choose, you overcome distractions and stay in charge of your attention. Experiment with your inner voices. Let go of the ones that prevent you from focusing on the important things, or entertain those that keep you sane. Practice this process. Be here now. And now. And now.

Monday, December 11, 2000

mp3otd: Dust For Life - Step Into The Light.mp3

     I was looking at referrer stats for my web page tonight, and I noticed that my site has more hits from web pages than search engines, which is normal. However, those few hits from search engines are very interesting. Do you want to know what search query has provided the most hits to my web page? That would be "Farinelli Playboy" - hmm. Well, I decided I was curious, so I looked it up myself. Unfortunately, I was unable to find any search engine that would list my page in the top fifty using that search query. But I did find out that my good friend Mike Farinelli has an older sister or cousin ... or maybe just someone who shares the last name ... who posed for Playboy back in the early eighties. Don't worry kids, I didn't stare for too long. I had things to do today.
     Like finding out that Yahoo/GeoCities is gay. I discovered a few old *things* here and there tied to old email addresses that I no longer have, but I discovered the GeoCities forwarding addresses that still work! Only... they send to the addresses that no longer exist. In other words, I need to find old passwords and change the address that the old GeoCities email address(es) forward to. Okay, so I snooped around my old files and got the passwords and logged in. Only one problem. GeoCities has changed so much since Yahoo took over that I can't even access my email options for those accounts. Well, I did what I could and sent them an email requesting services that would allow me to use the email account again. If they comply satisfactorally, I will certainly take back any negative comments I sent in their direction...

     I'm sure no one cares at this point, since Warner Robins has been out of it for over two weeks now, but the Georgia High School AAAAA State Finals (football, people) has come down to Parkview and Harrison. In short, I no longer care. Both of the teams that I wanted to go to the finals, of the final four, lost, those two teams being Starr's Mill and Westside. If the playoff brackets mean anything to you at this point, go look at them. If not, please forget that I ever mentioned football here.

     Someone please take a look at rant.com and tell me that you agree when I say whoever wrote that is a complete moron. The author of that rant has the same condition that Al Gore has. I don't know what to call it, but I know that the leading symptom is exaggeration to the third degree. First, he makes a big deal out of the fact that there was a nearly 400,000 vote difference in the election; Al Gore received 400,000 more votes in the popular election than "George Dumbya Bush." First of all, this moron has rendered his rant completely worthless by showing that he leans way to the left, thus anything he has to say will be extremely biased, thus can carry no weight. I would be saying the same thing if he were to lean to the right. In fact, I hope any Republicans, Democrats, or any other political party loyalists to take offense to everything I say here. Why? Because political parties are absolutely stupid! They only allow potentially good politicians to conform to the views of the general consensus of their party, thus ruling out what they think is best in many cases. This is why America will never get any better than it is right now - Republicans and Democrats are packaged deals, and it's always the same two packagages! Democrats generally share views on every single issue, and the same with Republicans. Only when we allow individuals who actually know their country well and can make all of the right decisions, or enough to overshadow the few mistakes than any and all Presidents inevitably make, can we truly say that we are rising as a nation.
     But, let's continue this argument against the rant. So, yes, he was correct. Al Gore received 400,000 votes more than George W. Bush in the popular vote. But in a country where 160,000,000 people can vote, that 400,000 represents a good 0.0025% of the population. Thinking of that in terms of money, it would take four times that much just to get you a penny. In other words, the difference is neglegible and means absolutely nothing. The fact is, neither candidate received a majority of the popular vote, so Gore receiving more votes than Bush is a moot point. The popular vote doesn't always provide a majority; thus the electoral college.
     Okay, now the rant gets good. The author goes to say that Jeb Bush, Governor of Florida, has stated that "he will personally use his power as governor to override the results and handpick twenty-seven new electors that are loyal to the Republican Party" if the vote in Florida is to end in Gore's favor. I wouldn't be surprised if Governor Jeb Bush said this, but the author gives no justifiable evidence that he didn't just make it all up, not to mention the fact that no governor has the power to do that! Either way, he loses again.
     Oh, but let's not stop now. Here's the best part: "If you want to count Florida fairly and accurately, simply allow all the citizens of Florida that voted in this election to vote again via an accurate method." This is the single most absurd comment the author of this rant makes. You cannot allow any state to revote just because their votes were counted last. So many things have happened in the last month that may have changed the opinions of everyone in the state for all we know. Besides, if there were to be a revote, it would be in the form of a runoff only between Bush and Gore, meaning those that initially voted for candidates other than those two would be forced to choose one or not vote, which would mean anyone who would rather see another candidate other than Bush or Gore would not be represented in such a runoff vote. To put this argument to rest, I will say one thing. You cannot allow one state to revote after so much time has passed and so much has taken place without allowing the rest of the country to revote. Period.
     He then continues to defend Gore's "fighting for our rights" and insult Bush and Republicans, which reminds me that he really is a moron, and so is anyone that claims to be loyal to one party or another. The only way to make an unbiased decision, or as unbiased as possible, is to be independent from the pressures of any and all political parties. And before you accuse me of being a fan of Ralph Nader, that's not it either. I would vote for Jesse Ventura before I voted for Nader. But the man said a few things right. We do need four years without a Republican or Democratic leader. Only then will we find out how "united" our states really are.

     In completely unrelated news, I just realized that two of my Bames Jond stories that I wrote months ago have never been linked to on this site, meaning you haven't had the chance to read them! Oh dear. Well, they're up now. Also, if you happened to miss any of the first five chapters, be sure to read them to familiarize yourself with the story. They're not *too* long, and you should enjoy them. Also note that I've gotten rid of the "Bond" link on my page. The site is still there, but it's dormant, waiting on the next movie to come out or something - anything to bring life to the page. As a side effect, I had to slightly adjust the links over there to keep the shapely look, so I replaced the "me" link with the pope, a nickname I have acquired over the years. It probably has something to do with my name being John Paul, III. Also note that I've added new information over there, as well as a picture of MY SWEETIE!!*#@(%#%(@*&@$!.

Sunday, December 10, 2000

mp3otd: Rage Against The Machine - 06 - Wake Up.mp3

     Warning, long rant ahead. Thank the powers that be for the creation and implementation of scrollbars. Also, this article/rant will be permanently stored here, along with any previous or subsequent rants and/or opinions on the "Great Napster Debate."

     I am slightly pissed off. I have stated my opinion on the Napster situation in the past; I've even gone so far as to side with the RIAA on many issues, and this is my reward. Saturday morning, when I attempted to logon to Napster, this is the message I received: "banned: Denied Access by Sony/Rage_Mach [Rage Against The Machine & Management]." Okay! So I downloaded two Rage Against The Machine songs! I still have them, and I'm not deleting them. Is that a crime? I had no idea what the band was like, and my friends have suggested the band. So what should I do, (a) pay $15 to buy the CD? (b) pay $40 to see them in concert? (c) pay nothing to here a couple of samples of their music? Which would you choose? After downloading and hearing those two songs, and thoroughly enjoying every second of each, I took a ride up to Media Play and bought their new album. If you're familiar with the band at all, you would know that they "lash out against racism, censorship and other social issues with combative, in-your-face lyrics." In other words, they're on our side, a