You know, I used to like Ben Stein (or at least that quiz show anyway).
Expelled: No intelligence in theatres!
Monday, March 31, 2008
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
I'm Voting for Dukakis...
On the subject of the upcoming elections (as everything seems to be) I am reminded of Donnie Darko. In one scene Donnie is told to place somebodies actions on a line between fear and love. He refuses based on the fact that life isn't that simple. He gets a 0 for class that day. Figures.
What does this have to do with elections? Well, as much as people like to pretend that democracy leads to fair representation, the fact is that life is more complex than 2 or 3 parties can represent. when you vote you always compromise, because odds are that neither candidate agrees with you 100%. This is why we wind up with minority governments. It's also one of the reasons that George Bush won the first time around (Ralph Nader's followers would have been enough to push Al Gore past Bush's BS). The fact is that the decisions that need to be made are far more complicated than the American Democracy was designed for. 200 years ago what was really needed was a united but agreed upon front and thats exactly what the American's built. There are now a wide variety of issues all of which need completely different ideologies to approach and the system is bending under the strain. Good luck fixing this problem America. For all our sakes.
What does this have to do with elections? Well, as much as people like to pretend that democracy leads to fair representation, the fact is that life is more complex than 2 or 3 parties can represent. when you vote you always compromise, because odds are that neither candidate agrees with you 100%. This is why we wind up with minority governments. It's also one of the reasons that George Bush won the first time around (Ralph Nader's followers would have been enough to push Al Gore past Bush's BS). The fact is that the decisions that need to be made are far more complicated than the American Democracy was designed for. 200 years ago what was really needed was a united but agreed upon front and thats exactly what the American's built. There are now a wide variety of issues all of which need completely different ideologies to approach and the system is bending under the strain. Good luck fixing this problem America. For all our sakes.
Single Last Name Syndrome
I have nothing against Hillary Clinton. Honestly, from what I can ascertain she was responsible for most of the good things that happened during Bill's reign. I am also very attracted to the idea of a female president. But why do we keep electing people with the same last name? Didn't the Bushes teach us anything? Ok, so perhaps I'm being unfair in comparing the situations. Why Bush 2 got in at all is beyond my mind, especially knowing how bad Bush 1 was. I can see why people would vote for Hillary and she isn't tainted by parentage by imbecile. But I do think that its important to mix up the political gene pool and get some different backgrounds in there. At least pull me out of Texas.
Monday, February 4, 2008
Big Evil Corporations! Run Away!
In Shadowrun there are 7 big corporations that run everything. those corporations are run by...well by dragons. While certain parts of this situation are pure fiction (there will obviously be 6 corporations run by dragons), I believe that on the whole there is an element of truth to it.
about 50 years ago people were really angry at countries, namely the USSR and Cuba. Now countries still do nasty things, but they have been overshadowed by the wonders of capitalism. the fact that the term anti-trust even exists is quite disturbing in itself and the fact that there are many companies which completely abuse their power without a significant backlash is even worse. I'm not going to get into the details of all the evil things that happen all over the globe (including in the west) but I think it's important that we all realise that corporations should not own the world. They are worse for us than professional politicians who fear the general population becoming so educated that we realise what a bunch of useless bastards they all are.
about 50 years ago people were really angry at countries, namely the USSR and Cuba. Now countries still do nasty things, but they have been overshadowed by the wonders of capitalism. the fact that the term anti-trust even exists is quite disturbing in itself and the fact that there are many companies which completely abuse their power without a significant backlash is even worse. I'm not going to get into the details of all the evil things that happen all over the globe (including in the west) but I think it's important that we all realise that corporations should not own the world. They are worse for us than professional politicians who fear the general population becoming so educated that we realise what a bunch of useless bastards they all are.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Youtube Suicide
Let's say someone wanted to broadcast their suicide over youtube without help. I think I've sussed out everything that they would need to do. This requires some coding ability so it isn't feasible for most prospective dramatists, but I'll tell you anyway.
Step 1: fill out all the information for the video and then write in the location that the video will be stored.
Step 2: Write a bat file or program that clicks on the "upload video" button when you're program is finished recording the file. Run it.
Step 3: Plug the video camera into you're computer and begin recording straight to the hard disk on a timer (i'm assuming that you are using Windows Movie Maker, but if you want to use something else the theory is the same. Also, WMM sucks). The clip file that the program makes afterwards should be usable by the youtube converters. now kill yourself before the timer runs out.
I hope this is useful, if you try it please contact me with the results :)
Step 1: fill out all the information for the video and then write in the location that the video will be stored.
Step 2: Write a bat file or program that clicks on the "upload video" button when you're program is finished recording the file. Run it.
Step 3: Plug the video camera into you're computer and begin recording straight to the hard disk on a timer (i'm assuming that you are using Windows Movie Maker, but if you want to use something else the theory is the same. Also, WMM sucks). The clip file that the program makes afterwards should be usable by the youtube converters. now kill yourself before the timer runs out.
I hope this is useful, if you try it please contact me with the results :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)