Sorry I haven’t posted in a while… I’ve been busy…

On the campaign front… for the most part, I agree with my challenger’s recent reform proposals… there exists a problem with traffic and traffic lights… I’m not too worried about Goodman road because they just started a major project to redo all of goodman all the way from hwy 51 to hwy 78… all of it… if they don’t fix the problems, all of the engineers will be stripped naked and have signs strapped to them that say “I designed this road” and they must parade back and forth that entire 9 mile strip of goodman until I assemble a task force to fix their screw ups. Also, any traffic lights that cause anyone to sit still while no one actually goes through the intersection will be torn down and used for scrap… And as an added personal bonus, that stupid 3 way stop on Chesterfield is toast…

As Supreme Ruler of the World, I would immediately establish a scientific consortium with one task in mind: permanent colonization of other planets. It would consist of two task forces. The first is responsible for finding a way to mine astroids from earth orbit, and the second is responsible for terraforming Mars. I will expect, nay, demand a plan within a year, with action to follow. Depending on how long there is a nuclear winter on Mars (yes, terraforming Mars will probably involve nukes… deal with it…) then Humans will be waiting to jump on that rock and stick a flag in it….. with my name on it… I expect there to be people on Mars within 20 years and a colony established and manned within 50 years. As soon as people are on Mars, any Vice Supreme Ruler of the World will be declared Interim Supreme Ruler of Mars.

So my esteemed challenger has posted his daily proposed reforms, and again, today, I find myself at odds with roughly half of his points. For all those voting in the upcoming elections, do you realize that you are no more than “cannon fodder” to my challenger? something to think about… Also, do you realize that he has already promised to give favors to his personal friends? is this really the kind of person you want to elect to Supreme Ruler of the World?

I have been accused of creating “soft reforms”. Someone has said that I am afraid of hurting someone’s feelings… I hardly feel like my stance on public canings caters to the soft at heart.

I agree about the weathermen… none of them will be allowed on screen.

While I will not abolish country music, I will severely limit the industry, but not as severely as I will limit rap music. I will create a commission to develop HEMP rifles (Hand-held Electro-Magentic Pulse rifles) that will automatically disable and destroy all electronic equipment aboard any vehicle who is playing their music too loudly…

PT Crusiers and SUT’s will be destroyed… but, as an owner and fan of older mustangs, not every older model car will be destroyed. Old and ugly models such as Pintos will be destroyed (JP and Scott excluded) All owner/operators of VW Buses will be registered because my country will need to keep track of both terrorists and ultra-hippies, and we all know those are the only two kinds of people who drive VW Buses.

Now for my big reforms of the day… Welfare… Welfare will be abolished in its current form. A new system will be implimented to help unemployed persons for a maximum of 6 months. If, at the end of that time, they have not found a job, they must not have been looking. People who become disabled will be treated under a different plan. Also, any man or woman having more children than they can support will be sterilized. A couple may appeal this decision during a timeframe of one month after the last child is born, but if they manage to become pregnant again without increasing their means, they run the risk of having their children taken to the NABFCSP.

That’s all for today… and remember, vote Me for Supreme Ruler of the World…

Second,

It has been two days since I’ve seen Signs…. Now, you have to understand, there are very very few movies that actually scare me. There are a few movies that disturb me… Three days ago, the top movie that disturbed me was Arachnaphobia. Below that were movies like Blair Witch. Movies that messed with your mind, but with no real graphic violence. Graphic violence does not disturb me, and probably helps movies… the more graphic it is, the more I detach it from real life. And then came Signs.

I found this movie to be truly freaky and frightening. Now, I laugh at myself for getting scared about irrational things, but that doesn’t change the fact that hair on the back of my neck stood on end and I found myself only slightly less than running when the street light went out at brian’s and I had to walk to my car in lots of darkness. Sure I laugh at myself, but it didn’t change the fact that I had the same feeling while trying to go to sleep watching shadows dance on my wall…

All that being said, I have two more things to say. One, if you haven’t seen this movie, go see it, but take someone with you, and if you’re particularly susceptible to mind games, go see a matinee during the day… Two, I was, and continue to be impressed with how well that movie was put together. A very long round of applause for M. Night Shyamalan. He’s a young director/writer/producer (is there anything this guy doesn’t do?), and his movies continue to impress me. I just don’t know if this movie would have had the same effect if someone other than the person who envisioned it all tried to direct it or anything else… If it takes him doing it all to create that kind of effect, then, hey… go for it… I wonder what he’s got up his sleeve for the next movie…

also, a funny story… last night, playing cards with brian and his family… We’re all downstairs and a door slams shut upstairs…. brian and I looked at each other and he said “you know, after watching Signs…. that scares me….” yup, I think that pretty much sums it up

Two things….

First. It has come to my attention that one Brian would like to enter into the race for Supreme Ruler of the World. While I had hoped to run unopposed for this position, I can’t challenge the validity of his claim, and accept the challenge of running against him. Anyone else wishing to run for Supreme Ruler of the World must submit their intention to the author of this blog by way of comment by 12pm, August 5th, 2002. Elections will be held within the next three weeks, depending on how much campaigning both brian and I do between now and then…

now, my esteemed challenger already has a jump on his campaign, so allow me to start by offering my thoughts on his thoughts. First, I do not believe any of us would wish to be blown up if we accidentally don’t signal when we change lanes… The tank brigade would result in the deaths of lots of innocent passengers… I know my challenger well… he will not stop and blowing up large offenders, but small ones as well… Someone running a red light will have as equal a chance of being blown up as those not adhering to the antiquidated Miss. law that requires you to carry a torch 10 feet in front of all motorized carriages. Is this really what you want from a Supreme Ruler of the World? I suggest a kinder, gentler approach. Those misusing their automotive rights will be stripped of them… they will be driven a minimum of 20 miles from wherever they were going, and be set free while their car will be complete distroyed and their license confiscated. Other penalties will occur if other laws are broken while breaking automotive laws…. this leads into my second point.

I completely agree with my venerable challenger on his second point. Those committing capital offenses will be repaid in kind. Example… the people who ran into that random house in Memphis and shot everyone will be allowed to walk free. At some time when they least expect it, a group of 4-5 guys will bust in on them and shoot them. Cruel, yes, but very fair. There may be exceptions made when exact penalties do not apply. For example, a teenager committing vandalism may not have enough possessions to cover what he destroyed. In these cases, public punishment will be a very acceptable alternative. Public canings will send a message to the youth who might think they can escape punishment.

Now that I have commented on the thoughts of my revered challenger, let me add a reform of my own. Reform #1: George W’s Bush’s new “No Child Gets Left Behind” plan will be immediately nullified. A new plan will replace it. For those of you not familiar with this new plan, W has suggested that the children with the lowest test scores in the lowest performing schools be given slots to attend the highest performing schools, and he suggests that the government pay for their transportation and everything else. So, in layman’s terms, you take the slowest kids from the dumbest schools and send them to smart schools so they can pull down the average there, too. I’m sorry, but if a child cannot perform adeqately in a school that caters to low performing children, of course he/she is going to be left behind at the new school. Now, if the school does not have a program to deal with children with learning disabilites, well, that’s different… then change the school. I say we restructure the current “no child gets left behind” program. Rather than take the bottom of the bottom and put them in the top schools, lets take the top of the bottom and put them in the top schools. This, to me, would be a better definition of “no child gets left behind”. If we have children that are consistently at the top of their classes, and are not being challenged by their current schools, and are in schools without accelerated programs, and are quite frankly just bored, then take them and give them the option of a higher performing school where they can be challenged and live up to their potential. To get a sled to go faster, you don’t push the dog in back, you pull the lead dog… so there you have it… my Reform #1.

I believe I’m going to put the second thing in a different blog because it’s on a completely different topic.

So what would you do? You’re sitting at your desk, in an office you share with the busiest person in the building. He’s having a meeting with a construction supervisor, and they’re talking about people who want more money than they should get. And then the supervisor leans forward and says, “I’d rather have a n*gger working for me than a dirty ol’ mexican”… (yes, I edited that word… no, I didn’t have to…) so what do you do? I was offended… something about the way he said that just hit a nerve… I really wanted to turn around and explain to him that he personally was holding up social reform in this country. He’s a reason why people think the south is full of redneck racists and the stars and bars stands for black oppression…

I got up and walked out for the day… Just turned my computer off and walked out… No, it wasn’t the most professional thing I’ve ever done, but the comment wasn’t exactly the most professional thing I’ve ever heard. There was no one here to explain to why I was leaving, so I ran by the temp office and explained it to the guy who signs my paychecks (who happens to be the son of my boss). And he apparently called over here this morning, and I got called into another bosses office (the brother or son of my boss (yes, there’s A LOT of them around here)) to discuss what happened. He said that that kinda of behavior was unacceptable at this business… but then he followed that up with, “besides, he’s got it all wrong, everyone knows that mexicans work their tails off, while..” now, I’m gonna stop there, because that’s about the point I realized that while this guy was obligated to say it was the company policy to not be racist and yadda yadda… he had the same racist stereotypical views as the other guy…

What’s wrong with people? Why can’t we just withhold our judgement of people until after we meet them? Doesn’t matter what’s happened before… not only is that in the past, but it doesn’t apply to the next person who walks along. If some long-haired, trench coat-wearing, white guy slapped your sister, then, sure, be aware of me as I walk down the street, but don’t assume I’m the same as that other person… then again, that’s getting off on a different tangent…

I could rant all day about this sort of thing, because it doesn’t exist in my perfect world… then again, neither does the NAACP. different side of the same coin… d@#$ why can’t I just run the world? excuse me… would everyone please just elect me supreme ruler of the known universe? maybe just supreme ruler of this solar system… Then I can set things right.

And now for something completely different….

I got a neat little thing on my desk this morning. The results for some psych/work ethic test I took came back today. They sent the temp company, who then sent to me, a 20 page summary of how I work. I have to say I am more than impressed… These thing just pegs me down perfectly… I really want someone else to read through it and see if they agree, but unfortunately, it’s 20 pages long… no way I’m gonna retype it here… maybe I’ll scan it or something “Here, everyone! spend an hour reading about me!!!”

but not today, because it’s quittin’ time and I’m going home.

ok, so I haven’t written in a while… been a lot going on, though… had to try to figure out the rest of my life in a matter of days… finally got a job offer in colorado to teach astronomy to freshmen, so I accepted, and listed my advisor as a reference… upon hearing I had a job, my advisor decided to make me an offer for the job that I’ve been after for over a year now… (despite the fact that two days earlier, he assured me that he still didn’t know if he could give it to me or not). problem is, the research job is only guarenteed for one month… and if I didn’t take it, someone else would… and it would probably be renewed for another year… so after some soul searching and fixing a burn out in my brain, I had the idea of taking both jobs… and it turns out, that’s what I’m gonna do… take the full teaching assistantship, and then half of the research assistantship… it means working my butt off (yes, I will have no butt by Christmas), but I do get an extra $675 a month (minus taxes). extra money is good all of it has to be approved by the dean, but that should go through….

work sucks… nothing new there…

Deedee came down this weekend! it was good… I have to brag a bit for her, though…. her driving has infinitely improved. not that she was a bad driver before or anything but it was a smooth ride this weekend My first experience with a stick shift driver was carpooling with Roy in D.C. He had that BMW for 3 years and it still made me sick every morning I rode with him… Deedee’s had her car for two weeks now and drives much much better than that

gotta run… more later

ok, today’s quote hands-down belongs to my brother. I asked him to look in the phone book for a place where I could take my car to get the alignment done.

Quote of the Day:

“Is your car or truck running red lights, driving over pedestrians, or exceding the speed limit? Not any more! Come on down to Sunrise where we will realign that bad boy from chaotic evil to lawful good!” — Caleb

this bothers me… no matter what combination of stuff I use, I can’t seem to build this computer (S1642, $589) cheaper than I can buy it… That sucks… it’s never happened before… I still can build high end computers cheaper than I can buy them, but now I can’t build my parents a computer cheaper than I can buy it… For the first time ever, my family is going to own a computer that I didn’t personally put together… not sure how I feel about that

yes, I got hit by a semi-truck yesterday… twice… I would tell you the whole story , but manda ruined it with her whole “CHAD ISN’T HURT, but he did get hit by a truck” approach… See, I prefer the “I was stopped on the interstate and got hit by a semi-truck, twice! same truck!!! oh yeah, I’m fine” approach sounds better that way…

oooo… lunch is provided by the office today… always a good thing when bosses have birthdays

more later… gotta work… busy, busy, busy…

ok… It seems to me that everyone did, in fact, miss the point, and it feels like it set off a string of attacks in my direction. HIV and Seasame Street… Yes, puppets are asexual… I know that… my point was entirely missed… I’m not even sure people got as far as to read my point, so let me just repost it here… “the way to teach children NOT to be prejudice is NOT to go and make a big deal about how “different” and “special” some group of people are”. I even restated it here “Kids are tought to make that distinction, they’re not born with it.”

So now let me discuss my point. Let’s use another seasame street example… anyone remember this song/game? “Three of these things are just like the others, three of the things are almost the same. One of these things is not like the others. Now it’s time to play our game, it’s time to play our game.” Now most of the time in this game, you see four kids in four corners… Three of them are playing games like football, soccer, and basketball, and the fourth one is decked out in a poncho, holding an umbrella. Now why is this such a big game for kids this age? Simple, they haven’t learned to isolate differences yet. Now, what if you stuck three white kids and one black kid in those squares? Now you begin to teach children that “one of these things is not like the others” and that black kids are different from white kids… a concept completely foreign to that child. (barring parental intervention, which I will address shortly). So now lets take four white kids, but give one of them a sign that says “HIV”… Now what does that say about that kid? Now maybe we begin to see my point… maybe not, because as someone so kindly pointed out “people are …. stupid”.

Now, the problem comes in with parents. Parents are the ones who teach kids to be paranoid about what they don’t understand… yes, kids will fear what they don’t understand, but complete ignorance is not fear… complete ignorance is bliss.. A 4-year old will never understand, so why scare him? When they become mature enough to understand, then enlighten them… That’s where the sex ed comment came from. Children that young will never understand, so why try to teach them about it? It was all on an episode of Southpark… Anyway, that’s what parents should be doing… Problem is, parents are stupid… parents are uninformed and stubborn… they relay their stupidness to their children, who, not understanding, fear…

In short, yes, I understand in some parts of the world it is more important to force an understanding of mature issues on children to young to understand them… However, by attempting that, you send more signals to an impressionable child than you mean to, and you stand a good chance of getting it wrong. (“this different unique person is no different than you”… confused? what if you were 3?) Things of this nature should be dealt with on a child by child basis and should not be covered by blanket education from mass media. The ultimate burden is laid upon the parents. Lets face it, if a child is being raised correctly, anyways, a parent should have far more influence on a child than any tv character.

That’s my little perfect world… if you don’t like it, find your own…