Thursday, May 31, 2001, 2:00am

boy with purpose: in your post
jpmccord: in my post
boy with purpose: you hit one of your observations on the head
jpmccord: my icon is better than yours.
jpmccord: which is?
boy with purpose: ...
boy with purpose: :D
boy with purpose: night!
boy with purpose signed off at 1:00:02 am.

     For those of you that may be wondering, I am blocked from his list as well. Apparently he thought this was important enough to share with me just before going into his buddy list hibernation again. Damnit, Nick, WHICH POST?! :)

And the icon to which I just refered that is better than Nick's:
And, by the way, its background is transparent, not gray.

Wednesday, May 30, 2001, 11:37pm

     So I'm having router problems. About three weeks ago, we networked our several computers through a LinkSys router, and now we run our internet connection on several computers through one account. How nice. However, I can no longer run my FTP server or any IRC clients because the ports are blocked. I have done everything that any help files or friends have told me to do, and nothing seems to work. Go ahead, send me any advice you may have, but don't be surprised when I tell you that I've already tried that.

Tuesday, May 29, 2001, 11:59pm

     Philosophy: Who needs it? I'll tell you who: everyone. It's as simple as that. And I can prove it to you, but it would require a little reading. I can admit that much of Ayn Rand's objectivist philosophy may be a bit flawed to you or others, but there is very little flawed with her arguments for people having a rigidly defined philosophy with which to guide themselves. On March 6, 1974, she delivered a compelling speech called Philosophy: Who Needs It? to the graduating class of West Point. I beg you to read it, if I have not put the book in your hands to do so already.

Tuesday, May 29, 2001, 11:53pm

     I know, I know, you don't care about the economy. But if you do, you should read this article called The Joy of Debt, which reasons that the national debt is actually a good thing, and the horrible thing that the federal government would like you to believe. I know, it's long, and it took me over five hours to read it if you count the hours of interruptions by various family members and out-of-town callers, but all those interruptions are a natural part of anyone's life. If you lock yourself into reading mode, you should be done with it in eight minutes. If you just stare blankly at it, you shouldn't have a problem being on and off the page in less than thirty seconds. So go ahead, choose to be informed. I dare you.

Tuesday, May 29, 2001, 6:55pm

     Is it just me, or is Randy Johnson getting zero press coverage this year? In April 1986, Roger Clemens struck out twenty batters in one game, setting a new record, and he was a hero for months. In 1996, over ten years later, Roger Clemens did it again, and so he was naturally a hero for another few weeks. In 1999 (I think), Cubs rookie pitcher struck out twenty batters in one game, becoming the first rookie to do so, and so he was also a hero.
     On May 8, 2001, just three weeks ago, baseball's most prolific strikeout pitcher since Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, struck out twenty batters in one game for the first time in his career, after striking out 19 twice and 17 or 18 a few other times. The first I heard about it was in today's Jayson Stark column column comparing Curt Schilling's near-perfect game a few nights ago to Johnson's performance - near the bottom. Is it just me, or should Johnson have received a lot more attention for such an amazing feat?!

Tuesday, May 29, 2001, 5:39pm

     You can read Bush's press briefing on the tax bill. But I'm not convinced that something isn't being left out. After reading through the AP's Tax Cuts Glance, I found what I was looking for in the last line: "...most tax cuts expire on December 31, 2010, unless renewed by a future Congress."
     Now I will look to my "pet crank" Neal Boortz for an interesting quote. Take it for what you will:
     Well I'm no journalist, and I'm not one to deliver the whole story, but perhaps I can add a bit to that, Neal. How about, "that's a good thing", for starters. The "sunset clause" provides us with protection from controversial issues being passed and closed forever. Instead of that, a sort of trial period is placed on it, and after a given amount of time, it is reviewed and, if it is generally thought of as good legislation, renewed. If after that trial period it is not seen as such a great piece of legislation, then it will either be modified accordingly, or the system will revert to its former state. This goes for any issue, not just the tax bill.
     In other words, it's an insurance policy for the American people. If you don't like your catch, throw it back!

Tuesday, May 29, 2001, 4:03pm

     Note that, for reasons unknown to me, I did not update my site last night, although I did. Confused? I added a little bit around 2:22am last night, but I did not send it to the web, so effectually you had no knowledge of any update, so I may as well have not updated. So you understand, yes? Well it's here now.

Tuesday, May 29, 2001, 2:22am

     So nickd.org has gone into remission. You'll live. Maybe. Don't worry, it should supposedly return by June 10, although I wouldn't hold your breath to that. I'm not sure holding your breath for two weeks would be healthy anyway. Rumor has it that the many complicated stressed of life are behind this unannounced, um, whatever it is. (It just means that Nick's a wuss.) Some will suggest to you that he is redesigning. Others will suggest that he is adding something huge. I would suggest that he is just lazy. He doesn't feel like addressing his future self or you, so he is sitting back and relaxing and studying for finals. Anyone can do that. Only the most brilliant can keep up their weblogs too.

Monday, May 28, 2001, 12:52am

     I walked into Barnes & Noble last week, as almost-nineteen-year-olds will certainly do, and I cruised over to the philosophy section as usual. You see, I like to stand around and read random philosophers' works for no other reason than to gather a great variety of perspectives to choose what I feel is best for me. Of late, as you no doubt have guessed, I have become interested in Ayn Rand and objectivism, her philosophy, though somewhat moderately. I say moderately because I disagree with Rand's and her philosophy's stance on faith or religion:
     So perhaps you see why I disagree. This presents a problem, though, in that I declare myself an objectivist, yet I disagree with a very significant claim of objectivism. How, then, do I justify my being an objectivist while rejecting the objectivist view of faith?

jpmccord: I believe in the philosophy [objectivism] moderately.
jpmccord: I believe in objectivity.
jpmccord: I don't believe in Rand's stance on faith or religion.
IHAFARM: I know nothing in regards to those.
IHAFARM: But you believe that..."we can reason only on the basis of the facts of reality, always adhering to the laws of logic. Do we need a concept for this method of acquiring knowledge? Yes. That concept is objectivity"
jpmccord: Laws of logic, yes.
jpmccord: note that she says "facts of reality"
jpmccord: her reality may not be the same as yours
jpmccord: we each define our own reality
IHAFARM: I know this.
jpmccord: take it loosely
IHAFARM: But there is shared ground.
jpmccord: Well, I have found very little that I disagree with.
IHAFARM: How can you use these "laws of logic, pertaining to your own reality" to justify faith and your religious beliefs?
jpmccord: Considering that religion is usually outside the realm of our physical reality, laws of logic do not apply.
IHAFARM: Reality is everything we percieve, whether that be physical or metaphysical.
jpmccord: True.
jpmccord: But because we can not perceive the supernatural, or whatever adjective you may wish to use to describe God or our reason for existence, it still lies outside the realm of our physical reality, and is not subject to logic.
jpmccord: Like I said, I am a moderate objectivist.
jpmccord: I believe in objectivity. :-)
IHAFARM: Hahahaha. Nice way to talk yourself out of a corner.
jpmccord: Did I do a good job, really?
IHAFARM: Oh yeah.
jpmccord: (I'm told that I have a knack for doing that... It's my ability to REASON.)
jpmccord: I make a good objectivist, I think.

     So what do you think? Did I find my way through a loophole in Rand's philosophy by relying on my own reasoning ability? Or did I merely defy the philosophy by rejecting her reasoning? Am I an objectivist, moderately, as I claim? You decide, if you're familiar enough with the philosophy.

Sunday, May 27, 2001, 11:47pm

     So I had an article posted to the front page of K5 for the first time. I discussed my opinion on the Zero Tolerance issue, placed it in the OP-ED section where it belonged, backed up my opinion with a few news articles from Fox News and Neal Boortz (in agreement, naturally, or I wouldn't have used them), and watched the comments flow in. You would be amazed to see some of the nice things some people had to say, their anecdotes, their opinions, and their reasonable arguments against my opinion.
     You would be even more amazed at the number of members of K5 that know me oh-so-very-well based on one article and how idiotic they can be. You see, they assume that they must know everything about me, and so they insult my opinion, my character, my life, and one has even gone so far as to pray for my soul for my "wicked, wicked ways".
     Let's see. It was wrong of me to be so "closed-minded" as to only use Fox News and Neal Boortz as my sources. Obviously I am not getting the big picture here. Or, as I reasoned, maybe those are two sites that supported my opinion. It makes sense to couple an OP-ED article with links that defend the prevailing opinion, yes? I don't think that that is so unreasonable.
     Also, I have been accused of simply listening to my parental conservative influence and ignoring the outside world, thus my apparent conservative standpoint on the issue. Others combatted this by accusing me of being a liberal (in my defense, I think). The problem here is that there are people much farther to the right and left than I, and I am neither a conservative nor a liberal, though I am certain that I show greater conservative than liberal tendencies... Either way, does it make any difference if, for the first few years of my life, I was convinced by friends and other family that Democrats and liberalism was the way to go, and only recently have I been given the gift of the internet and the ability to reason my own answers for myself?
     I attempted to clarify this several times, at which points I have been called many names, the most insulting being "liar". I'm sorry to disappoint anyone, but I find intentional deception to be horrible wrong, and I would not do such a thing, especially when concerning my political roots. Besides, who are these "experts" on my life, anyway? They read one article and a few comments that I wrote, and suddenly they know enough about me to know that I am a horrible person, a "gun nut", an avid believer in Rush Limbaugh (sorry Rush, you're too Republican for me), and, well, that my eternal life hereafter is in danger for my deceit.
     So, anyway, read the article, and tell me what you think. I would recommend skimming the comments section because, without an account, you can't reply, and, well, they're spiteful.

Sunday, May 27, 2001, 12:38pm

boy with purpose: WHY DID YOU POST THE DILLO DAY MANIFESTO ON YOUR SITE
boy with purpose: (KILLS YOU)
boy with purpose: the only people that can do that, mind you, are people that go here :p
boy with purpose: because you have absolutely no idea what dillo day involves

     So, as you can see, this is not supposed to be here. At least I was half right when I said that I didn't know the origin of the list and kept my separate items, um, separate. So, because I have a strict policy of not deleting stuff from my web page because, well, it is a history of me, and we can't just go around removing chapters from history books (memory hole bad), I have chosen to employ the illustrious <s> tag, which essentially means that I have ordered its execution, and that it shall be run through. You can still read it, if you wish, but it may be a bit deformed, you know, as it has been run through. With a line. Like this.

Sunday, May 27, 2001, 12:29pm

     Reb seemed intrigued with the fact that her site is ranked fourteenth of Yahoo's list of things "inherintly evil". What she doesn't realize that this means, however, is that she is ranked fourteenth out of the people that misspell the word inherently. I don't know that I would want to be ranked first in a misspelling contest...

Sunday, May 27, 2001, 1:13am

     So I bowled tonight for the first time since, um, early March? I'm not sure how long it's been, but I know the last time I bowled was over two months ago. The night's first game was great - 192! In fact, I botched the tenth frame or I would have had 200 easily. After that, my best game was a 133, although I did have four strikes in a row once (struck out in the tenth frame of a horrible game, and one more in the first frame of the next). So... I bowled, and I got my fifth highest game ever on ten-plus weeks of rest. And the top ten are: 223, 202, 196, 193, 192, 190, 187, 186, 186, 184. I love bowling. Too bad it costs $10 - it's worth it, though!

Saturday, May 26, 2001, 3:40pm

     Below is "The Underground Armadillo Manifesto", an article that I have blatantly ripped from nickd.org. This document has been created in the spirit of the Armadillo, the entity in whose honor this day has been created as a gift to us all.
     And a couple of personal entries that I would like to add to the list. I don't think that Nick would disagree with them, but I do not know the origin of the list, so it is important to keep these items separate. Feel free to add your own to the list, though.
Saturday, May 26, 2001, 2:45pm

     So what is Zero Tolerance, aside from a policy to "protect" our nation's children from such tragedies as the Columbine shooting of over two years ago? Perhaps we should look at some of the facts:
     WFAA TV, a site for a Dallas television news station, reports that a middle school student is being charged with a misdemeanor and a $550 fine for uttering the "F" word in class. Apparently, Chris Beauleau uttered the word while telling a joke to some classmates during a lull in class activity. So what we have is not only a horribly disproportionate reaction to what can best be described as, at worse, an act of disrespect for one's peers, but perhaps a violation of the eighth amendment (you know, the one that protects us from cruel or unusual punishment). At worst, a child deserves disciplinary action such as detention or even suspension for such an offense - not criminal charges.
     Another example of this nationwide "Zero Tolerance" epidemic includes a student who was arrested and charged with felony possession of a weapon on school property when a kitchen knife - not a cutting knife or a steak knife, but a butter knife - was found wedged under the passenger side seat of her car by a sheriff's deputy. The knife was the remnants of moving over the weekend; apparently it had escaped from its container. Lindsay Brown, an honor graduate and National Merit Scholar at Estero High School, was also hit with a five-day suspension at the end of her senior year, which means that she is forced to miss her own graduation.
     The superintendent of the Lee County school system reasoned that the knife represented a "clear and present danger" (Nuze, near the bottom) to the students of Estero High School, not because Lindsay was poised to use it in a threatening manner, but because someone else may see the knife and break into her car and threaten another student. If I am not mistaken, that reasoning still clears Lindsay Brown from any wrongdoing. Can anyone name any instance in which someone has spotted a "weapon" such as a butter knife in someones car, broken into the car, retrieved the weapon, and then threatened anyone with it? Or perhaps I should ask if anyone would use a weak butter knife instead of the tire iron or any of a number of other random heavy, metal objects that could be found in anyone's car. Or, for that matter, could the tools in the toolbox in Jeremy's Ford pickup be considered deadly weapons?
     At least the Estero High graduating class has organized a boycott of the graduation in Lindsay's honor.
     [Another example from Neal Boortz] In October 1999, Ben Ratner was an eighth-grader at Blue Ridge Middle School in Loudon County, Virginia. He received a note from a friend that told him that she was contemplating suicide and that she had a knife in her binder. Ben asked for the knife; she refused to give it to him, so he took the binder and put it in his locker, intending to take it home to his mother, a nurse, for help with the situation. School officials found out about the knife and asked Ben if he had it. He said he did and delivered the binder to them. Ben was then suspended for ten days for possession of a weapon, despite statements of school officials declaring that he posed no threat to anyone and that they understood why he had taken the knife from his suicidal friend. That weekend, Ben's friend slit her wrists; her suicide attempt was unsuccessful.
     Ben Ratner's ten-day suspension became "indefinite", pending review. The school board acknowledged that his actions were noble and admirable, but upheld his suspension anyway. Ben was out of school for nearly four months. Ratner, by means of his parents, filed a lawsuit against the school district for violating his civil rights. The case was dismissed by a lower court. They made their appeal to the Fourth Circuit Court about two weeks ago.
     These Zero Tolerance policies put in place after the Columbine incident are only making victims out of honest students - students who wouldn't dream of hurting anyone at school. All Zero Tolerance does is relieve school administrators of the burden of considering infractions on a case-by-case basis. It takes the thought process out of dealing with school violence. Are you willing to send your child to a school where administrators can't be bothered to think for themselves?
     So what is Zero Tolerance, aside from a policy to "protect" our nation's children from such tragedies as the Columbine shooting of over two years ago? Mindless, abject stupidity! (to quote Neal Boortz) Aren't we supposed to be trying to teach our kids how to think rationally? Is there anything rational about this Zero Tolerance nonsense?
     Chris, Lindsay, and Ben are just three in a long list of victims of these idiotic Zero Tolerance policies.

Saturday, May 26, 2001, 12:19pm

     The internet has a serious problem. You see, the 1128th best site on the web (which says a lot, considering that there are over 832587129450 sites out there), Daniel's waferbaby.com, has run out of space. More specificially, the combination of his site and all the sites that he hosts have exceeded their disk space limit, and so he is being charged for his site being over the limit. If someone does not pay the penalty fee for such, the internet may lose waferbaby.com forever. This is unacceptable. Everyone, yes, even you, direct your PayPal™ accounts toward Daniel and his baby - his waferbaby - and see to it that the waferbaby lives on. Thank you, and good afternoon.

Saturday, May 26, 2001, 11:59am

     So, um, I was going about my daily business as usual, waking up after six hours of sleep and pestering anyone, awake or not, on my buddy list, when all of a sudden:


I only have question. Who inspired this day?

     So anyway, I was awakened once again by my father's and sister's bickering and generally being loud in the kitchen. (This is becoming a Saturday morning tradition.) Here's a brief summary of why the argument persists: My dad likes to save buttertubs and other little plastic containers for storing leftovers or transporting food from one person to the next. It's really quite ingenius, I think. My sister, on the other hand, hates it. She thinks that they clutter up the kitchen, and she can't stand their very existence outside their given purpose - to contain the butter that sat in the tub when the tub was acquired. So, after having been gone for four years, living on her own at Georgia Southern University, running her own kitchen her way, my sister has come back home to stay for the summer before she gets her own place and a job and whatnot. It seems, though, that she absolutely can not stand my father's kitchen. I advised her to get over it because it was his kitchen, and that she could rightfully do nothing about it. This did not stop her. She proceeded to throw away many of the items in his kitchen that she felt were unnecessary, without asking him, and regardless of any known or unknown functions for which such items may serve to be useful. She also rearranged some of his cabinets and drawers, placing the items that seemed to be the most useful near the front, and any items that she felt did not need such attention to the back. For the most part, my father has dealt with the change just to keep her quiet. (Who could blame him?) But this morning, he ran into a problem. You see, she has failed to take into account a number of reasons why my father has a long list of items immediately within view upon opening the cabinets. His neck is not as limber as it used to be, and he can not bend down to see too far back on the shelves of the lower cabinets, so he places the items up front. So, now that the dishes that this morning's kitchen functions have been moved, and he can not see them, he can only assume that she has thrown them away, because she's thrown away everything else, right? So she finds the object in question and hands it to him and basically treats him like a four-year-old that "can't do it himself". I was pretending to still be asleep, but I was a bit disgusted by my sister's account of the events that took place as she repeated them to whomever was on the other line. Apparently, she does not understand that we had an organized kitchen - perhaps not the way she would organize it, but organized regardless - before she came in and rearranged everything. Not to mention that my father had his kitchen - not hers - "organized" without any form of approval before or after the act.
     I remind you again that my sister is only planning on being here for a couple of months. Don't get me wrong; I love her dearly, and I know that she means well. But she has a problem with authority, especially his, and she has little respect for the rest of us in the house. Or if she does have respect for us, then she has a funny way of showing it. Perhaps she wants to respect us, but aside from what seems like a bribe every now and then, it seems to me that she is only costing my brother and me lots of money and a more comfortable living by the constant spending of our father's money that should be going, for example, torward a vehicle for my brother, who has a job and a license, but no vehicle of his own. This would not be a problem, I don't think, had my sister not smoked cigarettes for about twelve years or drank and partied with friends throughout her high school and college careers.
     And so, a glimpse into the life of me. I really quite enjoy myself. I'm the middle child, so that means that I am the moderator (universal characteristic of nearly all middle children). I believe that this has had an overwhelming impact on the decisions in my life, such an impact that I would attribute it as the most significant factor in my choice to take up libertarianism (not officially) and objectivism. (On a side note, I think that all of us are closet libertarians (politics), and perhaps objectivists (philosophy) as well, although both views have flaws. Research them, if only for half an hour. You might be surprised to find how well they describe your thoughts.)

Saturday, May 26, 2001, 12:18am

     Barbara Streisand and Alec Baldwin stated that they would move out of this county if George Bush were elected president. They have not moved yet, but, if they want to go, Delta is ready as soon as their bags are packed. If they decide to stay for a while and get their way in terms of an energy plan, they can either go back to riding a mule and wagon or stock up on bicycles. Also, take a peak at this nifty little bumper sticker circulating in California (Gray Out):
     Now let's take a look at a problem that isn't so political. Why don't we all think about a real problem in our schools: plagiarism. A professor at the University of Colorado has discovered that five (or six?) of his students plagiarized their term papers last semester by copying research found on the internet. And that was an electronic information strategies class. What's worse? Their majoring in journalism. Doesn't look pretty, does it? A professor at the University of Virginia wrote a computer program that discovered duplicated phrases in 122 students' papers earlier this month. The situation is so bad that many college professors are reconsidering their careers. This is looking worse, right?
     All of this can be thanks to our wonderful government indoctrination system that dismisses academic achievement in favor of self-esteem. It's okay to cheat and plagiarize as long as it feels good. After all, in today's anti-achievement climate, it's uncool to come by your knowledge honestly. College is for partying, not learning! Well, I have bad news, and I have worse news. Bad news: For those that plagiarize, there is no room for shortcuts in the real world, and the penalty is much worse than a failing grade. Worse news: One day, these lazy, cheating plagiarisers could become doctors, architects, computer scientists. I would love for my surgeon to be the one that copied his way through medical school, wouldn't you? And can you imagine the lawsuits for "borrowing" Windows code for your own project? Not that I would be against that, but Microsoft would certainly have the leverage to kick your ass for it.

Friday, May 25, 2001, 11:11pm

     I'm sorry. I know. I took this from one of daniel's fusions, but it had to be done.
     Okay, so it's ridiculing him more than necessary, and perhaps it is grossly exploiting a horrible character misinterpretation, but it's funnier than most things anyway, and so it is a must-see. (And by the way, I am not for abortion. I am simply for the right to choose or not to choose abortion in the event that that choice needs to be made.)

Friday, May 25, 2001, 5:21pm

     I admire the graduating class of Estero High School for petitioning to skip graduation if Lindsay Brown is not allowed to walk with her class. "We won't walk unless she walks," says the student credited with starting the petition. (I emphasize that she is credited with it because I am quite sure that many other Estero students generated the idea on their own.)
     The graduating seniors have reason to be admired. The Lee County school officials and Florida law officials enforcing this cruel and unusual punishment for possession of an ordinary household item has absolutely zero reason to be admired. What do I expect to see come out of this? I expect to see a lawsuit that could reach the Florida Supreme Court, or our nation's Supreme Court, in which not only is Lindsay's record cleared of this "felony", but she will also receive a nice fat check for the damages to her reputation through the unnecessary media attention this case has brought her. Way to go, Principal Bode. You sure know what you're doing!
     In Salida, Colorado, at least they're doing it right. Top-ranking senior Dan Arnett will walk with his graduating class despite burglary charges against him. Principal Carrick removed Arnett's moderating privileges at his graduation, but only after the school board overrode Carrick's decision that would have had Arnett excluded from his graduation, like Miss Brown.
     "The board...feels this position is based solely on academic achievement and is not an issue of character." It is good to see that some school officials think before acting, although the principal here did not.

Friday, May 25, 2001, 5:04pm

     In a train carriage, there was Bill Clinton, George Bush, a gorgeous young blonde, and an awful looking old lady. Several minutes into the trip, the train passes through a dark tunnel, and the sound of a hard slap is heard. After exiting the tunnel, Clinton had a big red slap mark on his cheek.
     The blonde thought, "that horny Clinton wanted to touch me, and, by mistake, he must have put his hand on that old lady, who must have slapped his face". The old lady thought, "that dirty old Bill Clinton laid his hands on the blonde, and she slapped him". Bill Clinton thought, "George put his hand on that blonde, and by mistake she slapped me". George Bush thought, "I hope there's another tunnel soon so I can slap the hell out of Clinton again".

Friday, May 25, 2001, 4:40pm

     So this is why we pay $15 for CDs - to pay for the RIAA to sue any and all entities that may damage their control over the industry. In this case, the RIAA is suing Launch despite the fact that Launch possess all of the necessary licenses to distribute its music. The RIAA is basically upset that Launch is playing what we want to hear instead of what the RIAA had preselected for us. The RIAA is using the courts to stop anything that may even remotely resemble a breach of control over their industry. I would not be surprised if, before too much more time passes, the RIAA begins to sue recordable media manufacturers for "providing consumers with means for piracy".
     What can we do? Individually, not much, if only our own little bit. If we all work together, however, we can do a lot. Stop buying CDs, if only for a while. Give it a month or two; subsist on your current collection of music. Borrow CDs from family and friends. Go to live performances. Go to the park; take a walk; ride a bike; or go to a baseball game. I love music as much as any guy, but I don't see the need to buy a brand new CD every two weeks. Take it easy for a little while, and give the RIAA something to think about.

Friday, May 25, 2001, 4:06pm

     Anna keeps sending me these things, and despite the fact that I rarely read them in their entirety, I still find the time to enjoy a few of them. One of them is Sasha's picture of the day for today:
     Hold your mouse over the image to see what makes it so special, if you can't tell on your own. And then, when you see how amazingly cool it is, go about your daily lives and never think about it again. Like a normal person.

Friday, May 25, 2001, 2:04pm

     I found a couple of funny anagrams, and I know there are hundreds more out there that I could use, but these are just a few:

George Bush -- He bugs Gore.
Evangelist -- Evil's Agent.
Desperation -- A Rope Ends It.
The Morse Code -- Here Come Dots.
Mother-in-law -- Woman Hitler.
Eleven plus two -- Twelve plus one.
President Clinton of the USA -- To Copulate he finds interns
The New York Times -- The Monkeys Write!

Just because some of us can read and write and do a little math, that doesn't mean we deserve to conquer the universe. -- A masquerade can cover a sense of what is real to deceive us; to be unjaded and not lost, we must, then, determine truth.

To be or not to be: that is the question, whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. -- In one of the Bard's best-thought-of tragedies, our insistent hero, Hamlet, queries on two fronts about how life turns rotten.

Stifle is an anagram of itself.

Friday, May 25, 2001, 1:43pm

     There were four sophomores at Duke University taking Organic Chemistry one semester. They were doing so well on all the quizzes, midterms, and labs, etc., that each had an A so far for the semester. These four friends were so confident that, for the weekend before finals, they decided to go up to the University of Virginia and party with some friends there. They had a great time, but after all the hearty partying, they slept all day Sunday and didn't make it back to Duke until early Monday morning.
     Rather than taking the final, they decided to find their professor after the final and explain to him why they missed it. They explained that they had gone to UVA for the weekend with the plan to come back in time to study, but, unfortunately, they had a flat tire on the way back, didn't have a spare, and couldn't get help for a long time. As a result, they missed the final.
     The professor thought it over and then agreed they could make up the final the following day. The guys were elated and relieved. They studied that night and went in the next day at the time the professor had told them. He placed them in separate rooms and handed each of them a test booklet, and told them to begin.
     They looked at the first problem, worth five points. It was something simple about free radical formation. "Cool," they thought at the same time, each one in his separate room, "this is going to be easy." Each finished the problem and then turned the page.
     On the second page was written: (For 95 points): "Which tire?"

     In loving memory of finals week, I borrowed this "joke" from one of those insane joke collection pages, thanks to Anna. I don't expect a lawsuit over it or anything. :)

Friday, May 25, 2001, 1:06am

     I was just passing through slashdot as I so often do, and I came across some comments in response to some of my own that made reference to the "Constitutional right to privacy" as being infringed upon by the NSA or other government organizations. My response:
     Did I go overboard? Am I trying to enlighten? Do I believe that I am self-righteous? Or am I, in my ability to spread my truth and find others' truths, simply sharing my knowledge in hopes to gain from others'? I would go with the last (*). You may disagree. Feel free to call me a hypocrite.
     It seems that I have become a bit too interested in the language. I don't know why, but you can still buy me this. I need a good resource of English usage, and this would beat the pants off of Tony's puny American Heritage book! Not that this is a competition, or anything.

Friday, May 25, 2001, 12:17am

I hope you know where your towel is.

     It is Friday, May 25, 2001, also known as International Towel Day, in honor and memory of Douglas Adams, author of the most improbable trilogy in the history of the universe. If you have not yet read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, then what are you waiting for?
     As for the holiday, it's simple. Carry a towel with you at all times, for twenty-four hours. Eat with it. Sleep with it. Feel free to lay it by your side, to sit on it, or to toss it over your shoulder or in a hand bag. Tuck it into your belt or pants and let it hang freely by your side. Grip it in your teeth and sling it for no apparent reason. So long as you hold near and protect your towel in every circumstance.

This is Towel Day, and this is no joke.

     Oh yeah. We lost. We did not win the trivia "contest" tonight. However, we came in third place, tied with everyone else that had zero points. The final question was somewhat of a trick question. It had three parts, and you had to get all three to get the question right, and the fact that we all wagered our points based on the subject matter meant that most of us bet everything, and anyone that missed even one of the three parts of the answer lost. So, two teams got prizes. My dad and I probably performed better than everyone else, because we were in fifth before the final question, and we were only a team of two. Everyone else had teams of five to ten. Next week, I demand that Tony and Claire, and perhaps Mike, my mom, and my sister can join us as well.
     And the final question was: What three movies won Oscars for "Best Picture" in 1995, 1997, and 1999? That's the Academy Awards for those of you that do not know immediately, as I didn't. We guessed Forrest Gump for 1995, which was the answer that disqualified us. Forrest Gump won in 1994; Braveheart won in 1995. We were correct for 1997 and 1999 respectively: Titanic and American Beauty. So you know.

Thursday, May 24, 2001, 11:24pm

     Andy and I have a little conversation going. It takes an average of about eighteen hours between each reply, but the exchange is interesting. The following is my most recent contribution to the conversation:
     So the world is going to end, and we're pulling the end closer. Deep down, nearly everyone on this planet - in their right mind - knows that we are, at a viciously unruly speed, racing towards our doom, yet no one would dare take a public stand to do something about it. Or, in the event that someone does, no one listens. No, I am not talking about your environmentalists that scream that we are damaging the ozone layer or the really stupid ones that scream about our "tragic losses" day in and day out. (Look, they bother me too, but they help our cause much more than our whining about them.)
     I am talking about our consumption of everything on the planet at such rates that, as currently predicted, we will have very little left by the year 2100. Think about petroleum, wood, and electricity. I could name many others, but I don't feel like doing the research just now. Think about how we take these things for granted, and how our supersonic rates of consumption are leaving the first three on paces to be depleted, or very close to it, within about fifty years.
     Sure, there are alternatives, but we are not exploring them. Man has this uncanny ability to procrastinate, and, if he weren't so lazy, he'd be doing it now. Our Socialist Democratic Party continues to advertise their party by appealing to the "think of your grandchildren" emotion. If the Democratic Party has anything right, that's it. Unfortunately, their advertising is all they get right. The issues to which they apply this are mostly complete nonsense, and the few that are not are horribly communist.
     Perhaps communism isn't completely evil. There is nothing wrong about thinking of the common good of society as a whole. However, in thinking of society as a whole, one must consider the individuals that compose that whole. One must consider that the idea of redistributing the wealth is not a terrible idea. One must then consider that the current methods of going about this are horribly wrong.
     A government can not simply take from the rich and give to the poor. That is wrong. Believe it or not, some of the wealthy have actually earned their fortunes. However, in the event that certain leaders, such as the CEO of a powerful software company, are raking in billions of dollars for contributing, at most, a few hundred thousand dollars worth, perhaps something should be done. Perhaps we need a rating system of some sort - to rate one's importance in society and to pay him accordingly.
     Ah, what a dream. As if anyone would rate fairly, and as if the greedy know-it-alls (or know-nothings, to be more accurate) would accept a pay cut for the good of their brethren. To be selfish is not a bad thing. Oh no. However, when that selfishness interferes with the quality of life that others could potentially enjoy, then that selfishness is bad.
     Would it hurt people to think? Would it hurt government to allow people to think? Would we be better off? I do not have the answers - only misguided, naïve ideas that may potentially lead to the answers, through the interaction clashing opinions and ideas.

Your ideas.

Thursday, May 24, 2001, 6:59pm

     The local Buffalo's Cafe has the neatest thing: trivia night. I have never experienced this trivia night of which I speak, but I am told that it starts at 7:30pm, and it normally takes thirty minutes to be seated, so perhaps I should end this and head out. It may serve to my advantage that my dad happens to be a genius of many matters, and I may be half as smart as he is, and perhaps I know more of my generation's, um, trivia... So I must depart.
     What could be better than chicken wings and trivia?

mp3otd: Stabbing Westward - I Remember.mp3

Wednesday, May 23, 2001, 8:23pm

     You should read Nealz Nuze for May 23; it is highly entertaining and insightful, and, even if you disagree with him, it will help to open your eyes to a few things of which you may not be aware. If you read nothing else on the page, just read about the Zero Tolerance crap and the Weakest Link's greedy Clinton-esque contestant. I'm telling you that it's entertaining and enlightening. Don't you believe me?

Wednesday, May 23, 2001, 6:45pm

     Some people have believed or may actually believe that your conscience - that little voice in your head - is God speaking to you. If this is the case, then it's okay to sleep in, and God's addicted to caffeine. Mmm... caffeine. You are probably among the millions of people worldwide who consume caffeine on a daily basis. Whether you wake up to a piping hot cup of coffee or enjoy an afternoon pick-me-up latte at the local Starbucks, there's no escaping that caffeine is in many foods and beverages. In fact, caffeine is a naturally occurring substance found in the leaves, seeds, or fruits of scores of plants from around the world. Because it's so widely used, caffeine is one of the most studied ingredients in the food supply. Despite what you may have heard, here's a sample of what the scientific experts have uncovered:

• The most notable desirable effects from caffeine occur after low to moderate doses (50-200 milligrams) and include increased alertness and increased ability to concentrate.
• The American Psychiatric Association has declined to describe caffeine as a substance of abuse or dependence.

     Did you know that most root beer contains no caffeine? This proves that the placebo effect works (or can): I downed a nice can of Barq's several times last semester when the Dr. Pepper button produced a short humming noise followed by an annoying, blinking light. I had to have my go-go juice, so I pressed the button for the next best thing - Mug Root Beer! It's always had the same effect that my usual Dr. Pepper has had, but little did I know that Mug Root Beer has no caffeine. The foam really must go straight to your brain! I love that stuff!
     And, just because I know that I can, a caffeine chart for your viewing pleasure. Numbers may vary from one organization's chart to the next, but these numbers are reasonably accurate and consistent. (The only inconsistency was the bonehead company that thought regular Coca-Cola had as much caffeine as Diet Coke.)
     Just so you know, 12-ounces of coffee contains roughly 150 to 250 milligrams of caffeine. Tea is also loaded in caffeine: the different varieties average from 20 to 90 milligrams of caffeine in a 12-ounce sample. Oh, and if you want to separate facts from fiction concerning caffeine's affect on your health, skim through this IFIC review (PDF format).
     And while I'm at it, someone buy me this.

Monday, May 21, 2001, 7:43pm

     I was just inspired, somewhat. I can not tell you what has inspired me, nor can I tell you who, or how, or why, because if I did, I would first have to kill you, and shortly thereafter I would likely be killed. But the fact remains that I was inspired (somewhat). I say somewhat because I had already possessed the notions that I am about to share with you, but the inspiration lies in the words that have helped to shape my thoughts on the matter to a form a bit more coherent than they had previously existed. I will quote here and there from this source of mine, and for reasons that I will not disclose, this will simply have to suffice. Source, if you happen to read, and I am sure that you will at least skim over, you will also have to deal with this. :)
     I am talking about sex (or, more particularly, promiscuous sex), and I am largely going against the ways of most denominations of organized religion. I have done this before, but I do it again because, as I explained above, I was somewhat inspired. To consider sex evil, as many religions do (specifically that of which I am most familiar, Catholicism and other forms of Christianity), is to consider the functions of your own body evil. To deem your own body evil, after aeons of deep thought and hard work to prove otherwise, presents an amazing contradiction. While my source of inspiration argues that this, in a sense, denies the existence of your own hormones and your feelings toward the opposite sex", I would rather argue that this denies your freedom to enjoy those qualities of life for which individuals have stood for centuries, or even millenia.
     To be promiscuous is to be indiscriminant, to lack standards of selection, or to be casual or random. To engage in promiscuous sex, therefore, is to be indiscriminant in the choice of sexual partners (to engage in "casual sex" - gotta love colloquialisms). I am against promiscuous sex. Not because I think sex is evil, but because sex is an intrinsic and significant element of our very existence, and it should not be "cheapened or devalued".
     However, this is not to say that my particular opinion on the matter should apply to you or anyone else. I make decisions for me, you make decisions for you, and so on. I was careful to mimick the structure of my source to illustrate that sex is not evil in any of its forms, but that I oppose promiscuous sex. In other words, promiscuity does not work for me, but if it works for you ... so be it. The same can be said of many other things, such as owning a gun. I choose not to own a gun, but I preach for the freedom for one to make that decision for oneself, be one worthy to make that decision.
     The underlying idealogy of this message? Freedom for one to do as he chooses, so long as that freedom does not infringe upon the freedom of others. In other words, Libertarianism.
     The end.

Monday, May 21, 2001, 6:45pm

     Friday, May 25, 2001 - four days from now - is the first annual Internation Towel Day in honor of the late Douglas Adams, the hoopiest frood our planet has ever known. There can be no exceptions, nor can there be any excuses. Any and every one will carry a towel with them for the twenty-four hours that May 25, 2001, exists. If anyone asks, you will refer them to Douglas Adams and his five-book Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy. You do not have to understand; you simply must put for the effort and read the book. If you choose not to read the second through fifth books of the trilogy, just make sure you read the first. It's quick. It's easy. It's highly entertaining. Read it. And make sure that everyone else on the planet reads it.
     Is that so difficult to understand? It is a very simple task and requires very little effort on your part. Simply carry your towel with you. Know where your towel is. And do not underestimate the importance of the towel. That is the worst that you can do.

Monday, May 21, 2001, 2:11pm

     The following was written by one of my best friends, Tony, of whom I make frequent mention on this site. He has no web page of his own (yet), and so I have offered to act as his internet voice in the event that he wishes to share his opinion on ... just about anything. Naturally, I am free to accept or reject what he writes, but he is one for one so far! And by the way, we do not agree about everything. We do, however, respect each other's opinions for what they are, for we know that the only way progress can be made is through the exchange of clashing opinions (of any matter) and moderation. As Mark Twain once said, "Moderation in everything, including moderation". Now on with Tony's words:
Monday, May 21, 2001, 10:41am

     Many people have sworn at some time or another that my sister was "good for nothing". I won't lie to you. At some time or another, in a fit of anger, annoyance, or otherwise, I have given in to that same contempt. Last night was not one of those times. Last night, you see, my sister got us pizza in a town in which all reputable establishments that produce pizza close at 11:00pm, and perhaps earlier on Sunday evenings. And we got pizza at midnight! Hah! One would swear that her sad puppy routine that will eventually take her to world domination or assassination would be really annoying in all instances, but, for some reason, it isn't so annoying when I am on the receiving end as well. So we're all selfish sometimes. And pizza is good. My sister rocks.
     And I really had no idea that Domino's pizza still existed, but I ate it and it was good!

Monday, May 21, 2001, 10:37am

     It occurred to me shortly after I went to bed tonight that, by posting the review of the X-Files season finale when I did, I failed to allow time for the show to air in the West. Any Western U.S. readers that had their shows spoiled, I apologize profusely, though I am somehow convinced that that would never be enough. I am sorry, though. I guess I was too caught up in the excitement of the moment to wait a couple of hours to put in my say, and I didn't even stop to think about the time zones' waiting period. So, I apologize again. I didn't mean it! Maybe this is another one of those reasons why they tell us that television is the devil.
     Oh, and I remember why Krycek's hand was plastic now, so it wasn't one of the bottom three moments. He lost his hand several seasons ago and had a plastic one fitted to replace it. I do not remember exactly when or why he lost his hand, but if I find the correct information, maybe I'll let you know. Maybe I won't!

Sunday, May 20, 2001, 10:37pm

     Pardon me for saying so, but tonight's X-Files episode was the best ever. Too many questions were, as always, left unanswered, but, as it is of the nature of the show, this is not a bad thing. This is one of those things that X-Philes have come to know and love. Chris Carter is a genius.
     If you keep up with the X-Files and for some reason missed tonight's season finale, do not read any further. If you do not care or did not miss the finale, then, by all means, read on!

Bottom 3 Moments of Episode 8x21 - Existence

1. Krycek's hand was very obviously plastic.
2. The "star" in the sky. Com'on...
3. Krycek's death. Krycek has always been a valuable character, and I liked his character more than any other on the show, aside from the main four of course (Mulder, Scully, Skinner, Doggett). That is, of course, until he tried to kill Mulder. As soon as Skinner shot him once, we all know the man was toast. I had heard from my dad that one of the "inner circle" was to lose his/her life; I guess I'm relieved that it wasn't one of the main four. (I was hoping for Kersh!)
4. Mulder didn't propose to Scully. :)

Top 3 Moments of Episode 8x21 - Existence

1. Mulder kissed Scully. ('bout time!)
2. Doggett challenged Kersh. (Season 9 plot?)
3. Plenty left open for Season 9!

     Hopefully, David Duchovny will appear in more than just "a few episodes as cameo appearances", as this Yahoo! news report suggests. Hey, at least the X-Files is coming back in the fall!
     Werd to the X-Files. Werd to Chris Carter. I can't wait! Er... I guess can wait five and a half months.

Sunday, May 20, 2001, 8:29pm

     Infinity. Zero. Two concepts that are excrutiatingly difficult to grasp. To understand what they mean or stand for is easy enough. However, to actually grasp infinity or nothingness is quite a difficult task. Take, for example, numbers. (For the sake of argument, assume that this discussion refers to only intergers; irrational and mixed numbers and fractions are ignored.)
     We know that numbers are infinite. We know that an infinite number [of numbers] exist, and so we acknowledge the existence of infinity. However, we are ignorant of its nature. It is false that the infinite number is odd or even, for adding a unit would not affect the nature of its existence - to be infinite. Yet it is a number, and all numbers or odd or even, right? So we may well know that there is a God without knowing what He is or the nature of his being. To accept that a supreme being (God?) does not exist is therefore a bit foolish (in my opinion). Everyone accepts, to some degree, that there is indeed a driving force behind (or responsible for) what we call life. It seems to me that the precise design of all that we are and of which we are a part is a bit too perfect to simply have occurred by chance. However, as I do not have the answers, and as I certainly do not know the nature of how such things may work, I can not simply assert that God exists or does not based on this information. So I will leave it at that, and I will get on with my point.
     Adding something finite to something infinite is futile and pointless, for it does not change the infinite. So the finite is nothing against the infinite. You and I, our mothers, our families, our countries, our planet... All of that is nothing - absolutely nothing - to the universe. We do think of ourselves and our lives as a bit more significant than that, though, don't we? As the bug in the "Edgar suit" in Men in Black stated, we are convinced of our own superiority as we scurry about our short, pointless lives. Naturally, your and my convictions will refute that point, for you and I both know that we have our reasons for existence, even if they are limited and are unclear to us. However, the point that I am trying to make is that, no matter our limited significance, in terms of the universe - the vast, infinite reaches of the theoretical universe - we are exactly nothing.
     I try to say this lightly, for I know nothing of the nature of time nor of our future or our impact on the universe in that future. I only know that, as we exist at this exact moment in time, whatever time is, we are nothing to the rest of the universe.
     Nothing but potential.

Sunday, May 20, 2001, 7:48pm

     Zero referred to my sideways update as, "quite cool, exactly what I've been trying to do for months... well... almost. You wouldn't happen to know how to make the text read from bottom to top, would you (tilt your head to the left, not right, to read it)?"
     First, thanks for the input, "Zero". I always love email or IMs regarding my web site; it makes me feel like I have a talent of some kind. The fact that people see what I have written (whether they read it or not) and may find something useful means worlds to me.
     Second, no, I do not know how to make text read from bottom to top. In fact, I know that it is currently impossible. The top to bottom, left to right, sideways text feature that I used yesterday was engineered to cater to the languages of Western languages. Because no languages write backwards from this, there is no need to offer such a feature. However, I wondered the same when I initially discovered the sideways text feature, and I investigated it. I felt that it would be a useful and innovative feature to implement on my web site, you know, because I could wrap neat little links and stuff around the body of my website ... sideways! However, it is currently not supported by HTML 4 or CSS 2. Perhaps the next generation of web standards (HTML 5? CSS 3?) will have implemented this feature. I hope so!

Sunday, May 20, 2001, 12:28am

     Just as the internet goes through phases, so does one's particular interests of and about the internet. I have for months been keeping up with several weblogs, a few particular news sites, a couple of sports sites and teams, and even some form of entertainment. I think that it is now time for the bar on the side of my page to reflect such. As you can see, the list of weblogs has shrunk to five the news sites are up to seven (including one sports site), and I really have nothing else. So it's time to add some politico-philosophical stuff. I do not care if you click the links or not, but they are there. They are actually there more for my convenience than for you, but I would certainly not mind if you were chose to follow me to those sites. But whatever... I won't push you.
     Note that most of the new sites revolve around objectivism and its philosophical and political ties. This is not an accident. If nothing else, feel free to simply click on a couple and check them out. They don't bite. And they're the best of the best out there. At least I didn't add seventeen news sites, which I would have done, except the names of all those sites were too long and wouldn't fit.

Saturday, May 19, 2001, 10:05pm

     Reb may have inspired the new graphic, but without Daniel (that's waferbaby to you), my site would probably not render at all in any browser not created by Microsoft. He stuck with me for about forty-five minutes, reloading my site over and over again, and even drawing up a sample for me to use to fix a few problems. It seems as though something he did has worked out well... So, thanks a million Dan, and don't be surprised if I ask for your help again in the future. Ah, isn't this great? Web engineers have to stick together!

Saturday, May 19, 2001, 6:39pm

     Most "home pages" these days are not much to look at if you don't know their creator. They are rarely anything more than a little humorous or resourceful, or specifically catered to meet certain goals. Ryan Geiss's Geisswerks is no exception, but it is an outstanding example. Geiss graduated from Ohio State University with a B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering, and his home page boasts three of his awesome graphical creations, my favorite being Drempels, a "psychotherapeudic screensaver and desktop enhancer". Drempels not only acts as a beautiful screen saver, but it can also act as an animated wallpaper, sliding and grooving beneath your Windows' Desktop's icons while you work - and your computer runs smoothly, too! (Unless you're running a Pentium 90 or something.) This is a must-download for you Windows-users out there.

Saturday, May 19, 2001, 5:06pm

     I just ate dinner at 4:15. I have not eaten dinner this early in about two years. I believe the last time that I did was in the days of our "traditional" Sunday dinners at my mom's house. It was easier in a time when Mom could count on at least two of her three children presenting themselves, those two usually being my brother and me, and that time has almost all but passed. We probably stop in for a Sunday meal occasionally, but these days we are more prone to stop in just about any other time than on a Sunday. The sporadicalness of our visits is probably most significantly due to my sister being in college for four years, me graduating a year ago and commuting to and from school and Claire's so often, and my brother just getting his driver's license. Ah, they were always good meals though. Maybe we'll bring them back!

     About ninety-percent of my site validates for HTML 4.01 Strict, and all of my site validates for HTML 4.01 Transitional. My site also validates for CSS 1 & 2, but not that you care. I do not know any real reason that you should know this, but I like knowing this. So just in case I lose my mind tomorrow, I will leave the information available so that I may remind myself.

Saturday, May 19, 2001, 3:43pm

     And now I will share with you perhaps the funniest passage that I have come across in all my readings of Douglas Adams novels, which is not yet very much considering that I am only in the sixth chapter of the second novel of the five-novel trilogy. Nevertheless...

     Bahaha! Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide novels are the greatest! I have never been so entertained by any other book(s) that I have read! Certainly a joke or an article or two may have gotten to my giggle box, but never before has any book entertained me in the manner that Adams' works have. Oh man. Back to reading!

Saturday, May 19, 2001, 2:36pm

     I thought that this might throw you off guard for a moment, so, naturally, I had to give it a whirl. Whee! Look at me go! I'm writing sideways! And it's difficult too! This is my new favorite feature of Internet Explorer 5.5's HTML and CSS rendering abilities. Ah. Neat, isn't it? Just imagine the possibilities! With this kickass little feature, I can actually make the little smiley faces right-side up! (Actually, that would be left-side up, or right-side down - you and your technicalities again!) Oh man. This is just too much fun. I think I just want to keep typing and typing so it fills the page nicely. Go ahead. Try to highlight it. It's SIDEWAYS! Hahah! In fact, just to prove it to you, I'm going to link to a site while I'm writing sideways: The Objectivist Center. See? Sideways!
     Oh, and just so you pathetic losers using Netscape or something similar know, it won't work for you. If you're using Internet Explorer and this text is not sideways, update now! But wait, I'm not done yet. I have to keep this paragraph going! You do know that this feature is to account for those Western languages that are actually written and read from top-to-bottom, right-to-left, as opposed to the left-to-right, top-to-bottom that you and I are probably more familiar with. So there! Now that your neck is sufficiently cricked, and now that this paragraph is sufficiently sideways, aren't you feeling like a better person? Of course you are! Because that was the whole idea, and I wouldn't have done it if I had thought that it would damage the "readership" of my site, as my dad suggests it will. You know you love me. At least part of me. Or maybe my intentions. Either way, that was cool. That was sideways. The fact that it turns my cursor sideways is just amazing. I hope you enjoyed that, because I certainly did.

     Would you like to write sideways text onto your web page, too? It is not difficult. All you need is one simple tag. Watch. <span style="writing-mode:tb-rl;">:)</span> writes the smiley face at the end of this line. Isn't that just neat? :)
     I don't care if you read the sideways paragraphs or not, although they may prove to be quite entertaining (or stupid). However, click the links, especially if the sideways paragraph is not sideways, in which case you will just have to guess to which paragraph I am referring. Thanks for playing. Come again. I promise not to do that in the future. Much. Maybe just for smiley faces. :)

Saturday, May 19, 2001, 12:01pm

     I didn't do it! I swear! *guiltily twists foot in dirt* Okay, so maybe I had something to do with it, but he made me do it! Honest! Look, I don't have any idea what really happened, but if you have any reason to react, I have an inbox for that sort of a thing. So... go ahead, react. Or something.

nickd: it looks TERRIBLE =P
jpmccord: reload a moment.
nickd: that design now looks awesome.
jpmccord: reload a moment.
nickd: YES
nickd: GOD YES
jpmccord: you're right.
jpmccord: where would my site be without you nick?
jpmccord: WHERE?!
nickd: it would still be at crash.neotope.com, because i don't host you.

jpmccord: nickd. i think i love you.
jpmccord: (but i gotta know for sure?)
jpmccord: NICK DEEEEE. YOU MAKE MY HEART SING.
nickd: ...
jpmccord: YOU MAKE EVERYTHING...
jpmccord: groovy.
nickd: yes yes. ;p
jpmccord: *slaps self to reality*
jpmccord: wait. you still make everything groovy.
jpmccord: .....
jpmccord: so it is.
nickd: yes yes.

     Two things. One. I removed all mindless drivel from the above conversation. Two. The above conversation as you may read it has been horribly taken out of context. Oh, and Nick, that's just my humor/wit playing tricks on (you? me?) again, if anyone should dare to call it such. (Nick knows this already, so perhaps I say this for - oh I don't even know why. Not bad for noon on Saturday.

Saturday, May 19, 2001, 10:32am

     I meant to do this last night; I forgot; So sue me. Erich likes Staind, so I have company. Erich, so you know, I will be the first in line to buy Staind's new album, Break the Cycle, when it hits stores on Tuesday. The two songs to which you referred are "Outside" and "It's Been Awhile". I just felt like making those two minor corrections for you. Oh, and the album version of "Outside" - minus Fred Durst - is absolutely amazing! (Not that I dislike Fred Durst - oh know, I want Limp Bizkit's new album too - but the Staind-only version of the song is simply better.)
     While I have music on my mind, Creed is preparing for their third album. Scott Stapp (lead singer) claims that it is everything they've done turned up times ten, which is a statement that I don't quite like, but I do like the implications! He also said something to the effect of the hard stuff being harder, the epic stuff being more epic, and so on. So basically the extremes are more extreme, and the end result should be a better album! I can't wait.

Ruh Beh Ka: emburrr says hi :-)
jpmccord: hi emburrrr
jpmccord: (isn't that what that guy said on the very first "Got Milk?" commercial?)
Ruh Beh Ka: eh?
jpmccord: "emm...buurrrrr"
jpmccord: nevermind.
jpmccord: but hey anyway :-)
Ruh Beh Ka: hehehe
jpmccord: I can be zany sometimes. If zany is the right word. People learn to deal with me...
Ruh Beh Ka: zany
Ruh Beh Ka: whats a zany
jpmccord: zany: (adj.) za·ni·er, za·ni·est. 1. Ludicrously comical; clownish. 2. Comical because of incongruity or strangeness; bizarre.
Ruh Beh Ka: 3. Crash on crack.
Ruh Beh Ka: :-P
jpmccord: not crack.
jpmccord: try "Crash on sleep deprivation".

mp3otd: Staind - Outside.mp3
     Yes, that's right, the mp3otd has been recycled and is being used again. Rather than ridiculing my repetition, don't you think you should consider the obviousness of it? That perhaps the song is just that good? Goodness no?! Well, fine then.

     Not bad for a Saturday morning.

Saturday, May 19, 2001, 8:17am

     Ah. I told you tomorrow, that being today, was looking better. Perhaps it was looking too much better; I should still be in bed. Oh well. I guess when the phone rings at 7:25am and someone has for the seventy-first time turned on the ringer on my phone - not hers, but mine - after about seventy explanations of why I leave it off - and this morning being a prime example - I guess it just seems like the day is throwing itself at me. And what do you know? I'm ready to catch it. So don't mind me. I'll be ... around.

Friday, May 18, 2001, 11:59pm

     Do you ever get that "barely there" feeling? You know, the one because of which you can enjoy yourself and communicate well enough, but tomorrow just looks so much better. It's like the purpose for writing is to entertain, whether that entertainment be for me, for you, or... Ugh. I don't even know. I don't know if I'm tired, or confused, or ... I just don't know. Perhaps I should go to sleep.

Thursday, May 17, 2001, 12:31pm

     So, in an attempt to escape the responsibilities of my home for just one day, I went to my mom's and enjoyed a quiet evening watching movies and such at my mom's. I then planned on waking today to watch more movies, wait on my mom to come home, and eventually head to Macon, where I will need to take care of my Calculus grade before it's too late. Oh, not so fast! Dad needed me to help with his car, so I find myself here for a few minutes, while Claire is sitting at my mom's house either watching a movie, taking a shower, or doing any of a number of other things that I could mention but won't for the sake of time. So I won't be writing much today or tomorrow.

Wednesday, May 16, 2001, 4:44pm

     Look! Pictures of my mom's pretty car! You know all those times that I've mentioned something about taking my mom's awesome car? Well, now you can enjoy it too. That, and you can see a group picture from Tony's surprise birthday party. Oh, and there will be more - a few candid shots of classmates, and even some of my sister's graduation stuff. Oh yes, there will be more...

     And I was mistaken about my grades earlier today. I have received my Psychology grade, and while I expected an A based on my performance in the course, I received a B. I will not contest this grade - my test average was 84 not counting the 100 on my project with Mike and Heather that counted for two test grades, which makes my test average roughly an 89. This means that my daily work was less than A-worthy, which I understand. Matt and I think almost exactly alike, and we always forgot the same things, and so naturally we were always grouped together for the group assignments, so when we would forget the same things as we were prone to do, we would have no way of making A's on the little assignments! So, a B it is! Damnit.
     So my GPA is a 3.23 for the semester as things stand, and a 3.33 for the year. It is a 3.47 for the semester with the tentative correction to my Calculus grade, or a 3.46 for the year, which barely qualifies me for the Dean's List. (I'm counting my lucky stars; thankfully, they round up.) So the school isn't all bad...

Wednesday, May 16, 2001, 1:24pm

     Oh, and Reb, I would have just taken the Snickers.

Wednesday, May 16, 2001, 1:20pm

     I have just checked my grades again, and I have discovered that my GPA is currently at 3.33 for the year. However, this still includes the four-hour course in which I earned an A but have been credited with a B. If the grade is corrected, my GPA for the year rises to 3.48, and I still have another class, in which I have every reason to believe that I made an A. Ignoring that class however, my GPA sits at 3.28 for the semester, or 3.57 if my grade is corrected. So, Dean's List if corrected. No Dean's List if not. So you understand my concern for this. Had I had just one more A in another course, I would not care. But I don't. Besides, it's the principle of the thing. I earned my A, and damnit, I'm going to fight for it!
     So, ignoring my Psychology grade that has yet to be added to the database, my only other academic A so far is in English, which is historically my worst subject. This is frightening. This is actually beyond frightening. This is overwhelmingly terrifying. I have suddenly lost my ability to make A's in math and I am making A's in English. I'm scared. Hold me.

Wednesday, May 16, 2001, 12:20pm

     I just visited a web site called Limiting Copyright. The site was referenced in an email in response to a comment that I made on slashdot in response to this huge article: U.S. Intellectual Property Law Goes Global. The article essentially discussed American copyright law and its expansion. In my short response, I stated my opinion on the matter, that copyright holders should only be the creators of that which is being copyrighted. No person, business, government, or any entity of any other kind should own the copyright to anything that that entity has not created. Copyrights belong to the owners - the creators - and if that owner or creator chooses to waive that copyright, then the copyright should be deemed expired. The object has become a part of the public domain, and is subject to be freely duplicated and distributed.
     This is not the way the system works, however. I think we all know how our system works - so that people that don't deserve the money get it. There are many things for which people do not deserve to make money, but they do anyway. Restricting this to copyright laws, visit the Limiting Copyright web site and take a peak at what our Constitution really says about them. Read other responses and opinions on the matter. Even submit your own.
     You know, if I didn't know any better, I would look at this web site and think, "Gee, this guy must really hate his government." Just so you know, that's not the case. With all the corruption our government has endured throughout the decades, the good guys have done a remarkable job keeping the country in tact. I owe a great deal of respect to the men running this country correctly. It's too bad that they are overshadowed by the corruptors.

Tuesday, May 15, 2001, 11:36pm

     There are two very common and contradicing rules in our language with which nearly everyone that speaks it is familiar:

1. Place the period and the comma inside the closing quotation marks.
2. Place the colon and the semicolon outside the quotation marks.

     The second rule makes perfect sense. The semicolon and colon are not part of the quote, so, naturally, they are not included with the quote. The first rule, however, makes very little no sense. A comma at the end of a quotation, but before the end of a sentence, usually, but not always, indicates a pause in the sentence. Why, then, should the pause be indicated within the quotation, if the pause is occurring regardless of that quotation? Regarding the quotation as merely a group of words - an object of that sentence, if you will - it makes no logical sense to include the comma inside the quotation. A period should belong outside the quotation as well, for a period indicates the end of the sentence of which the quotation is a part; the closing quotation mark indicated the end of the quotation, so there is no logical reason to keep the period within the quotation as well.
     Would it make any difference to you if I told you that the inclusion of the period and comma within quotations was originally unintentional, but with the lack of coherent standards, the incorrect usage grew? Because periods and commas are small and relatively inconsequential to the meanings of sentences - they are generally there to indicate pause and transition - the mistake was easy to make and became the generally accepted standard, hence the rules as they exist today.
     My proposition is simple. Rebel against this illogical usage of periods and commas at the ends of quotations. Changes to the language and its usage may only be accepted through wide acceptance, and the quickest way to gain such acceptance is by conscious awareness and effort! Take a stand for the sake of logic, and make our language better!

     And while we're at it, let's stop using No. to abbreviate the word number; instead, let's use the German abbreviation, Nr. And for Pete's sakes (who's Pete? No matter.) - stop connecting can and not to form a single word! It's lazy and it's wrong! The proper way to say "can not" is to say "can not"! (That reminds me: Only put exclamation points (!) and question marks (?) inside a quotation if the exclamation or question are part of the quote, in which case I would generally rather the quote be introduced by the verbs exclaim or ask anyway.)

     Go ahead. Analyze all that for mistakes. I'm sure that you'll find a few. Especially if you're Tony. :-) I would actually prefer that you would tell me when I make a mistake in my writing. That way I am conscious of the mistake, and the chance of its recurrence is reduced. Understood? Now get to work!

Tuesday, May 15, 2001, 9:03pm

     Friday morning Clyde (of Binary Freedom) went to breakfast at Big Boy's (mmmm, Breakfast Bar); oddly enough, he sat in booth "42" and had a good laugh about it being the answer to "Life, The Universe and Everything". Later that day, headlines flashed the news that Douglas Adams, creator of the longest trilogy in history, had died. He was stunned; it was remnicient of the loss he felt when Jim Henson died.
     Douglas Adams will be missed by his fans worldwide. So that all his fans everywhere can pay tribute to this genius, he proposes that two weeks after his passing (May 25, 2001) be marked as "Towel Day". All Douglas Adams fans are encouraged to carry a towel with them for the day. Make sure that the towel is conspicous. Use it as a talking point to encourage those who have never read the Hitchhiker's Guide to go pick up a copy. Wrap it around your head, use it as a weapon, soak it in nutrients - whatever you want!
     Most minds in the universe are constrained to the laws of Physics, let us remember those that broke the laws, and got away with it.

     That's right! Towel Day, May 25. Take it everywhere. If you haven't read the book, read the book! You can pick it up at the ABC Bookstore (local used paperbacks store) for about $1.50, and it is a very quick read! It's largely dialogue and short passages that cut it off at half a page, so it won't take you more than a week to read it, even if you read slow! I promise. And you will love it! It is crammed full of comical yet intriguing passages that even those that hate to read can enjoy! Believe me, I hate reading long books as much as the next guy, but after reading the first of Adams's series of books, I am eager to read the next few. In fact, I began the second book in the "longest trilogy in history" today.

Tuesday, May 15, 2001, 11:36am

     Throughout most of today's "civilized" world, boys and girls are taught to hate and villify any and all boys and girls with whom they may have once been referred to as a couple. Simply stated, people generally dislike their ex's. I'm not like that, and I do everything in my power to keep my ex's from disliking me. It's just so much more healthy and easier to live with yourself when people don't hate you.
     Yes, I am preparing you for something. Several people hate me for little to no good reason at all, and all I have tried to do for them is explain my side of the story, and those closest to me see that the people that choose to hate me are left with no good reason to do so (so I am led to believe). Still, it came as a bit of a surprise to me when, a couple of weeks ago, Dalila (an ex-girlfriend; we broke up in January, curiously just before Claire and I got together, almost too curiously) sent an email regarding my take on all those people that hate me (see the linked page above). You see, Dalila was a part of the "public forum" in which all of the arguments took place, and while she chose (rather smartly) to keep her mouth shut most of the time to prevent other needless argument, she and many others read all of that which I had to say and to which to respond. I am not trying to say that her words are justified just because they support me, although any self-righteous bastard probably would. No, I am simply trying to explain to you that, because she was there, her words may actually represent someone's truth besides my own that may help to remove that egomaniacal label from my head. Perhaps. She says (edited for grammar and spelling... hehe):
     Might I also share that Dalila experienced first-hand some of that truthfulness of mine. She and I have never butted heads, so to speak, but, up to the recent past, we had always been subject to the other's thoughts, complaints, etc. We have been reasonably close for about two years now. As any five-month relationship would entail, she became subject to some of that truth that I would suspect hurt her. I would not say that it did or did not, only that I suspect it did, because in thinking about some of the things I had said to her and on my web site back in those days, I realized that they could very easily have hurt her, and...
     Forget the speech. Dalila, I'm sorry. I'm always careful with my words, but at this stage in my life, I'm not always mature enough to say things in the best way. Oh, and thank Claire for pulling this out of me. No, we haven't talked about it at all... but she made me think about it in a very indirect sort of way. I would not like to discuss that here. :-)

     If someone could tell me why I decided to ramble on like that, I would appreciate it. That's one of those mysteries of life that I just can't figure out. Perhaps the phrase "I am my father's son" would suffice, but I would like a more detailed explanation, if one exists... Thanks.

Tuesday, May 15, 2001, 11:01am

     Note: I did not write the following; Claire did. Beware the Ides of May.

     I can already tell that this summer is going to get on my nerves. Driving to school this morning made me want to vomit. I'm so tired of that same old drive, and it's not pretty at all! I didn't know driving some place could be so annoying. I feel like everything about living here is so freaking annoying right now, or maybe it's the fact that I'll be 20 this year and I'm still living at home. Whatever it is, I don't like it. This is one of those moments when you feel like going outside and chopping down a really big tree for no reason. Well, I feel that way at least.

mp3otd: Staind - Outside.mp3

Monday, May 14, 2001, 8:45pm


     The Vogon Captain glared at the trio, huddled in a corner. "Since your miserable lives will be terminated in a few minutes anyway, I have decided to treat you to the world premiere of my new poem. It's called 'Ode on the Death of the Creator.' If you like it, I might even..." (as he paused for dramatic effect) "...spare your wretched lives." He added, "for an hour or so anyway," so as not to seem wimpish in front of the guards flanking the three captives.
     "I won't enjoy it," said Marvin dolefully, "and I suspect they won't either," he added, gesturing in the direction of Arthur and Ford, who were cowering next to him.
     "Shut up!" snapped the Vogon Captain. He licked his blubbery lips and cleared his throat, which resulted in a large glob of something green and pulsating detaching itself from the back of his mouth and landing on Arthur's sleeve. The Vogon Captain began:
     The Vogon Captain was so overcome by emotion that he couldn't quite manage the last few words of his poem. But then he remembered that crying while reading one's own poems, however brilliant they may be, was un-Vogonly. Anyway, he had to think of the guards. He turned his great blubbery face towards the trio. "Well? What did you think?" he sneered.
     "B... B... Brilliant. Fabulous. Heart-wrenching." Arthur managed to stammer.
     "Absolutely," added Ford quickly. "Quite magnificent. And so... poignant. The tragedy of death caught in a manner more beautiful than any poet has ever succeeded in doing before."
     The Vogon Captain glared at them as if he didn't believe what they were saying. Then he fixed his gaze on the silent Marvin. "And, you, robot? What did you think?" Ford and Arthur could hardly breathe.
     "That," said Marvin, measuring his words carefully, "was accurate."
Monday, May 14, 2001, 7:55pm

     I should probably mindlessly propagate the mother site more often than I do. I mean, here I am, updating my site about seventeen times per week, while Matt sits back and allots webspace to me for absolutely no charge, and I barely mention him. In fact, some say that the tiny link to his site on the right of this page is not enough. (Actually, no one has ever said that; I'm just making this up to provide reason for linking to his site.)
     So, anyway, you need to watch Jurassic Park III when it comes out on my birthday. The movie has not been hyped very much, but according to this oh-my-god-this-trailer-kicks-so-much-ass (47.4 megabytes, or a seventeen-hour download for a dialup modem, or a seven-minute download for my cable modem. If I were you, I would right-click and "Save As..."), Jurassic Park III will easily surpass the first two. (Well, easily the second. The first will be hard to top.) So get ready. Two greatly wonderful things shall occur on July 18: I will celebrate another worthless anniversary of my existence, and Jurassic Park III will hit theatres. And you wonder why I love Wednesdays so much.
     And yes, this update began with the sole intent of plugging neotope.com, so you'd better go there.

Monday, May 14, 2001, 7:16pm

     Is the political press rolling over for George W. Bush? Democrats certainly think so, or at least they think their journalist buddies ought to be worried about the appearance of pro-Bush bias. "The Washington press corps has become like little puppy dogs," Clinton spin specialist Rahm Emanuel says. "You scratch them on the tummy and they roll right over."
     This Emanuel view was represented in the Sunday edition of the Washington Post, where reporter John Harris drew a tempest of conservative criticism by comparing Bush to Bill Clinton and suggesting Clinton had it "oh, so much worse." This, to any conservative who followed the Clinton years, is an assertion to be greeted first with a laugh track, and then perhaps with a rebuttal.
     There are two types of media analysis in Washington. The rare kind immerses itself in the actual content of media coverage, collects data and quotes over a long period of time, and then lays trends out on the table, like the media's stubborn, long-standing refusal to acknowledge that the scientific debate over global warming has more than one side. That's measurable. (See Neal Boortz, Bill O'Reilly and Fox News, or even Matt Drudge.)
     The second and everyday kind is demonstrated by Harris's Washington Post piece, filled with vague impressions and jumping to conclusions. This reductionist school says: Bush 100-day polls are good, so reporters must be puppy dogs with tickled tummies. But Harris, who admits his article was spurred by a Rahm Emanuel phone call and then later supported by the media theories of James Carville, reveals that he is a mythmaker, not a media analyst. The myth is Clinton's long-standing contention that no president in history had a tougher press than he did, which is utterly ahistorical and unfounded. Everyday reductionist media analysis suggests Clinton was impeached, so his press must have been really bad. (For more news of this type, look just about anywhere. Sadly, this is the driving force of our uneducated nation's politics.)
     But Harris isn't really writing about the press here. He's writing about how forces outside the liberal media ruined Clinton's legacy:
     Notice Harris doesn't say the press made Clinton miserable. He's implying that without conservatives, Clinton would have had it easy. Harris's article only hints at being right on one count: left out by liberal bias, conservatives created their own alternative to the media-Democrat complex, from the rise of nationally syndicated talk radio spurred by Rush Limbaugh, to the advent of the Internet and the Drudge Report, from dogged investigative groups from Judicial Watch to the Landmark Legal Foundation to thoroughgoing print analysis by the Washington Times, the Wall Street Journal editorial page, and conservative opinion journals.
     But Harris would be dead wrong to imply that the media was responsive to these outlets, instead of deriding them as "Clinton haters" and poring over their IRS forms and ridiculing their second marriages and decrying their information as Internet gossip. The liberal media only ultimately acknowledged the evidence of the conservative media through a third party: official Washington, represented by federal courts, independent counsels, the Department of Justice, and congressional investigating committees. Some of those officials - think Kenneth Starr and Dan Burton - were also pounded by the press as out-of-control zealots. None of these factors kicked in during Clinton's first year in office, which had no ethical headaches to worry about until late December, when the Troopergate stories and Jerry Seper's stories of the office shenanigans after Vince Foster's death pushed bimbo-phobic reporters into Whitewater.
     Harris could have explained that some institutional arrangements are different for Bush than for Clinton, most obviously, the decline and fall of the independent counsel statute. Congressional investigations did not go very far until the Republicans won the majority. But Harris would not explore the possibility that Bush may simply be less corrupt than Clinton.
     Harris charged that Bush "has done things with relative impunity that would have been huge uproars if they had occurred under Clinton. Take it from someone who made a living writing about those uproars." Harris has no list of the things Clinton did "with relative impunity," like rummage through FBI files, hand away missile secrets to his Chinese campaign contributors, completely disassociate himself from his business partners being convicted of multiple felonies, and even possibly, get away from a rape charge.
     But... By far, Harris's most ridiculous argument is that Clinton may have "disgraced himself through his personal behavior and by then taking flight from honor and accountability. But Washington's snarling public tone was caused more by his opponents; he was as ready to meet with Republicans as Bush is with Democrats. Little of his rhetoric ever matched the vitriol that congressional Republicans aimed at him."
     In an essay in the book The Postmodern Presidency: Bill Clinton's Legacy in U.S. Politics, the same John F. Harris explained how the Clinton White House pulled off one of its biggest exercises in vitriol, blaming the Republicans for the Oklahoma City bombing. While Clinton aides "indignantly denounced cynical reporters" for suggesting political gain, Harris recalled, when Dick Morris laid out his agendas from weekly political meetings, "I saw how the strategy was laid out coldly just a week after the tragedy: 'Temporary gain: boost in ratings,' read the agenda for a meeting on the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing. 'Permanent possible gain: sets up Extremist Issue vs. Republicans.'" Harris concluded: "It makes one wonder about Clinton's admonition that the public would be taken aback by the idealism of politics, if only people had a chance to sit in on the meetings."
     Harris's piece asserting a pro-Bush press is long on allegation, but very short on documentation. It's the sort of piece which can be dismissed with "bias is in the eye of the beholder." Only systematic media analysis tends to crack that argument. Outside the bitter White House bunker, the reality was that the press in the Clinton years was instinctively supportive and often apathetic. With those phone calls coming from Rahm Emanuel and James Carville, reporters like Harris preferred to ignore conservative charges against Clinton except to note the "unusually virulent hatred" that came with them.

     By the way, I am not familiar with John Harris, nor do I hold any grudges against him. He was just really easy to single out just then.

Monday, May 14, 2001, 1:59am

     So today was Mother's Day. (Okay, by the clock, it was yesterday. You and your technicalities again.) Claire and I kinda/sorta decided that a good gift for my mother was a ticket to a Dave Matthews Band concert in Atlanta on June 6. In other words, I'll be there, so look for me. I'll be the ordinary looking guy with the incredibly gorgeous looking girlfriend and mom. Their opinions of my appearance may clash with mine, but I think I look pretty normal. Oh yeha. You have pictures. Judge for yourself. Come sing with Dave and me.
     And Anna and I can't decide on a fast food restaraunt. My goodness. It's fast food! Sticking two indecisive, passive personalities together is rarely a good idea when a choice needs to be made. Then again, it helps to make things interesting. No complaints. I think we may have finally decided on a food court, you know, because there are so many more choices there, and we can't seem to decide on anything. If any of you are wondering, Anna is a really good friend of mine that I took two classes with this last semester. Great girl, I tell you. Maybe one day I'll have a picture of her around here somewhere. Maybe not... Who knows? She does, probably.
     So I go to bed. Tomorrow I drive to Macon to get my calculus grade figured out. If I find that I earned a B in calculus, then so be it. If I find out that I earned an A and that I was given a B simply because he decided that he did not like my attitude, then there will be words. Not with him, of course. A student can never win such a battle with a professor directly - especially when that student is slated to take another of said professor's classes next semester. Oh no. There is policy to be followed. Fun-ness. See you tomorrow. (Later today. Technicality. Ugh.)

Monday, May 14, 2001, 1:11am

     I do not know that I am prepared for or capable of carefully choosing my words to share the vacation from which I have just returned, but I guess I can give it a shot. If I leave something out (Claire, Tony), please be so kind as to let me know. Thanks. Before I begin, let me share some basic information - all that I knew before departure. Claire and her parents invited Tony and me to join them on a weekend retreat to the mountains of North Carolina, and her sister Corinna was also joined by two friends, Erica and Terri (guessing with the spelling). Her parents names are Dan and Carmelita, which may or may not come into play later, so I will give them to you now. And no, I had no idea what we were to be doing in the mountains of North Carolina; in fact, I was barely aware that we were going to the mountains. I was so disoriented from lack of rest over the previous weeks that I had no care for the details, and my want for rest almost told me not to go (which would have been a large mistake).
     Let me make this perfectly clear: I had no idea why I was going to North Carolina for four days, only that I was going with one of my best friends, my girlfriend, and her family, and two of her sister's friends. I had no care to know either, which is why I did not ask. I was merely convinced that I would enjoy myself, which did not take much, considering that I enjoy any moment with Claire anyway. Again, I had no idea why or exactly where I was going; I was just going with the flow. (Can I say it again?)
     So here is my recollection of the trip in the best manner that I know to deliver it, which, of course, means that the older entries are below the newer entries.