March 25, 2003
@ 11:58 PM
Bob Abooey style, like whoa
  • My K5 subscription has expired. I'm probably going to renew it once I get to work. By the way do you subscribe to K5? If not, why not?

  • From recent forays to the mailbox I see MSN has jumped on AOL's annoying tactic of mailing me bulky plastic shit I didn't ask for. Given how successful AOL's CD proliferation campaign has been I'm surprised it's taken this long for MSN to start doing the same thing.

  • Why I Like the United States Government: Exhibit C

  • Joshua Allen has an unattributed quote from me or so I believe
    I've lost all respect for so-and-so after he posted his wrongheaded comments supporting/protesting the war
    I said something similar to Joshua about a week ago and assume he is paraphrasing my statement. I feel like expanding on this. The truth is that I discriminate against irrational people. If I eventually find out that someone who I have discussions or debates with makes irrational arguments to defend a personal bias then I tend to pigeon-hole this person in my mind and set up a mental note to redirect future commentary by this person to my mental "Deleted Items" folder unless those comments are referenced by some other person whose credibility is not suspect. This does not mean I discriminate against people who have biases because I'd have to discriminate against everyone since we all have them. Here's an example of someone whose posts are now redirected to my mental "Deleted Items" folder.

    As for Joshua's question as to why one would react differently to someone's irrational arguments about Java vs. C# as opposed to irrational comments about war. Well, my opinion is that arguments (even irrational ones) about things like whether using an interface with one method (Java design style) versus using glorified function pointer (C# delegates) is better or whether checked exceptions are better than unchecked exceptions are really about topics that are inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.

    On the other hand opinions on what human life is worth, the true essence of freedom and propaganda for the sake of war are about life and death. In my mind there's a big difference between someone who strongly believes that final is a better keyword than sealed and C# should be avoided because of that and someone who believes America should have nuked the Middle East after September 11 and should deport all males of Middle Eastern descent regardless of whether they are US citizens or not.

  • While in Florida I was overwhelmed by how many white kids now listen to hip hop. In the three days I was in Panama City Beach I don't think I ever heard music blaring that wasn't loud and obnoxious rap music. It's been disconcerting watching Abercombie & Fitch wearing WASPs reciting the lyrics of 50 Cent's latest hit or demure looking Southern Belle's singing along to the hook of the Last Mr. Bigg's 2000 hit, Trial Time.

    I remember just a few short years ago while going to school in the heart of the "dirty south" and still having to go out of my way to hear music like some of the stuff that gets regular airplay on MTV today. When I say out of my way, I don't just mean going to hip hop clubs instead of a club that plays top 40, I mean going to the club in the bad part of town where sometimes tempers get out of hand and folks get shot.

    It's been interesting watching the transition. I wonder if this is how the Seattle grunge fans felt in the early nineties?

  • My favorite B0rg hater recently reposted his "How Do You Sleep At Night question.
    Furthermore, if you work for - or with - Microsoft, you need to do a reality check. I've said this before, but the question still remains: how do you sleep at night? How do you take pride in your work? Do you like copying other people's innovations? Do you like working with felons? If you're just making a buck, hey, more power to you. If you're one of those gung-ho borged-out drones... Well, all you're doing is making the whole computing industry a worse place to work in. And you KNOW it.
    I'm curious as to what other B0rg drones would answer to his questions. Me, I sleep like a baby except for the days I leave the window open because Seattle apartments don't have ACs and wake up with a fucking cold. I take pride in my work because I do a kickass work. As for copying other people's innovations, I've seen a lot of copying going on all sides of fence both from the B0rg and the AnythingButMicrosoft crowd. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and the B0rg has just as many or more imitators as the folks it imitates.

    Also my inner cynic loves to point out that a lot of the stuff people in the computer industry have been going gaga over the last few years were old hat decades ago in the research community.

    As for working with felons, I'm not sure exactly what that statement means but would love enlightenment. :)

  • While in Florida I discovered a bunch of underground mix CDs by 50 Cents, Eminem's Shady Records and Bubba Sparxxx in my friend's CD collection. I got him to give me the Invasion: Shady Records Mixtape which is fucking hot. I miss being around folks who I can swap stuff like this with and having to rely on file sharing networks instead.

  • I've gotten permission from Miguel to RSS-ify his activity log. Since I have a bunch of catching up to do I'll probably end up doing it at the end of the week then will probably update it every day or so like I do with the feed for Tantek's blog.

  • I recently rediscovered a blog I used to read while in college before blogs became mainstream enough to be covered in USA Today and CNN. The Misantrophic Bitch is still telling it like she sees it. I especially liked the most recent posting Tokin' For Osama.

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Disclaimer: The above comments do not represent the thoughts, intentions, plans or strategies of my employer. They are solely my opinion.
 

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