Happy Agnostica!

http://www.agnostica.com/

"Agnostica is the only truely secular winter celebration. It is a celebration for the scientist in all of us, celebrating not some contrived story written thousands of years ago and translated seventeen times over until the Hebrew word for "rope" gets turned into "camel," and then inexplicably the whole deal is replaced by consumer-frenzy dictated to us by a fat child-labor mogul in a fur-lined red suit, but rather of ourselves, the perfect self-defining nature of the universe, and of being proud of the human intellect."

"DECEMBER 14 IS QM DAY!


This site, Agnostica.com, was launched on December 14, 2000, the 100th anniversary of Quantum Physics. On December 14, 1900, Max Planck presented experimental results in front of the German Physical Society and announced that they could best be explained if energy exists in discrete packets, which he called "quanta."

Thus, the field of Quantum Physics was born. December 14 is the start of the Agnostica Holiday."

Well I'm still celebrating the commercialized christmas with my family but it's a fun idea anyway. Actually, I'm not sure that I should call what I celebrate with my family "Christmas." I think my dad is the only person who claims to believe anything about Christianity, and even he agrees that it doesn't really matter if others believe it.

Our Christmas is not about some skinny jewish rebel who got nailed to a stick of wood. It's about spending time together. The commercial aspect of gift giving has become a part of that, and I'm okay with it, I enjoy it (except for the whole figuring out how to afford gifts thing).

-Brandon

I just came across this and thought it was interesting. It's a 1950's newspaper comic about the motivation of fear that still make a lot of sense today. I just liked that it still made prefect sense.
http://www.pogopossum.com/december.htm

-Brandon

Websnark is great

There is an awesome new article that brings up some really valid points over at websnark.

http://www.websnark.com/archives/2004/12/sacred_hamburge.html

I still think that the comic syndicates are bad, as they favor business over art. I think that there lies the root of the problem, and not that Breathed and Watterson proved to be less profitable then brainless Garfield strips. However it does provide insight into why the syndicates are so hesitant to pick intelligent comics.

I also am a little confused with his love for "For Better or Worse," but that is just personal opinion and does nothing to damage the article.
___
This is apparantly a little dated but I thought it was cool. Amon Tobin is composing the entire soundtrack for the next Splinter Cell game. This seems incredibly appropriate because his music is generally very intense. I can definatly see him scoring a spy movie, or in this case a game.

Tobin's original score will be heard throughout Tom Clancy's Splinter CellR Chaos TheoryT; he and label Ninja Tune will also be releasing a companion soundtrack CD featuring extended and re-mastered versions of the themes from the game to coincide with the release of the game this year, with a limited collectors edition mixed in 5.1 surround sound planned for release in spring 2005.

I can't wait. At least for the music. Probably won't ever play the game...
____
A few webcomics I've discovered lately that I enjoy...

http://www.samandfuzzy.com/
This is the comic I discovered the bottom few through. It's a not very original idea that is done very successfully. The adventures of a naive innocent and his best friend, a psychopathic bear/creature/thing. I like the artwork in this one a lot. The black and white works really well and I can't imagine the charecters in any other way. Fuzzy sort of reminds me of "Max" from Sam and Max.

http://www.iccomics.com/
This is a comic created by an obvious movie fan. The references they make aren't over my head, But they are still amusing and inteligent. The artwork is simplistic but I like it. There are quite a few laugh out loud moments.

http://www.alessonislearned.com/
This comic is both incredibly surreal and incredibly beautiful. I'm not sure if I would like it as much if it wasn't for the awesome art, but as it is, I adore this comic.

-Brandon

Pointless post number... *counts posts*

I have a habit of placing images that make me chuckle on my desktop. They generally tend to stay up only a day or so before it disappears. I had a strip from Wigu on it but today I found a replacement. I hadn't read Mac Hall in a while, and was browsing the archives. This charecter idea is absolutely brilliant.

I know people say it a lot, but I really like the visual style of mac hall. Although I wish he would lay off the anime and furry drawings when he's posting a filler image.

I would also like to add that "A samurai's strength comes from within... dick!"

Jeffrey Rowland's overcompensating is one of the best (and likely least accurate) journal comics in existence. Actually it's not the best, but it's definatly up there. I've heard Kochalka's "American Elf" is great, but I don't want to get a subscription to view the archives. I'll have to pick up the new collection next time I get the chance.
-Brandon

I just read an awesome interview with Neal Stephenson on slashdot. I love this man. I enjoyed his "who would win in a fight between you and William Gibson response. I particularly liked the second question on "The lack of respect for popular fiction." (edited out massive quote, follow the link if interested) It provides an interesting look into the social world of published authors.

I'm currently reading Stephenson's final book in the "Baroque Cycle," "The System of the World." The series follows some of the many innovative thinkers during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. I think of it as historical fiction, but Stephenson prefers to call it alternate history. This is probably more appropriate because he does take many liberties with history while posing some interesting "what if's." The three main charecters are "Daniel Waterhouse," (his connections provide a look into the scientific and philosophic world) "Eliza of Qwghlm (a fictional island off the coast of ireland)," (she provides a look into the royalty and the business practices of the upper class) and "Jack Shaftoe," (a criminal mastermind/lucky moron who provides the excitement and action of the novel, while eventually becoming emproiled in monetary theory). The charecters in this series have the last name of charecters in his previous book "Cryptonomicon." I suppose they are meant to be ancestors. He basically implies the same in interviews I've read.

If you haven't read his "Cryptonomicon" yet, I suggest you do. It's entertaining and informative. He poses some really cool ideas regarding currency and the electronic world.

As well, if you enjoy cyberpunk I suggest you pick up "Snow Crash" and "The Diamond Age: A Young Ladies Illustrated Primer." I would say that "Diamond Age" is better, but I know others disagree with me.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4018261.stm

Next jackass I hear who says global warning is a media myth gets a boot to the head. I keep finding increasingly frightening things about the severity of global warming. Hell, even the pentagon has released statements saying the climate changes are going to cause disorder and war.

Unfortunately big business refuses to believe it, or chooses to ignore it (probably a little of both) in favor of higher profits. And this little gem really makes me feel better about the whole thing. Global warming actually has the possibility of improving oil company profits because receding ice and warmer waters are making undersea drilling spots easier to access.

And then you get these assholes who claim to be doing well for the nation by "dispelling the myths of global warming." Because apparently this "myth" is bad for the world because anything except a pure free market economy is bad for the world. Damn, libertarians.

Plus the environment is an ignored issue now in politics and the media. I was having a debate online with someone about presidential candidates, and when I mentioned the environment, he claimed it wasn't important because "it was boring and nobody cares about the environment anymore." Like he thought that this made it a non-issue. The environment is one of the biggest reasons I despise Bush and the far right. I think with proper responsibility a low tax low spending policy can work. I think that the taking of civil liberties is only a temporary problem that, when it gets to extreme, will be righted by the people. I think that in all these situations where the far right is typically attacked, Kerry couldn't have done much better. However Kerry could have, and would have at least prevented further loosening of environmental regulations, and may have created more. The damage done to the environment is already probably irreversible, and that to continue ignoring it will be fatal. Bush and the far right have undone what they could from the Clinton administration’s environmental policies. Clinton fucked up a lot, he supported the disastrous NAFTA, he considered "don't ask, don't tell" a solution, he ignored and avoided topics about the Rwandan genocide, and he ordered cruise missiles to be fired at a medicine factory in Sudan. However, when it came to the environment, Clinton was a saint. Bush managed to undo his two greatest legacies, the record surplus and his environmental protection actions.

What the world needs is a president who cares about the environment. He doesn't need to be a liberal, but what I think is most needed now, or as soon as possible, is environmental protection. The president who fixes the environment can ruin US reputation, they can fight unnecessary wars, they can ruin the economy, they can do whatever they want as long as they defend the environment and find a way to keep it defended, because none of those other topics are any way near as permanent as this constant and steady environmental damage is.

-Brandon

Webcomic stuff

[NOTE ADDED AT END: this entire post is worthless. I just kept writing for the sake of writing I think. It doesn't flow or have any sense of organization. But if you can sift through it feel free to comment, I still agree with everything I said]

I read webcomics. There seems to be to groups of people online with opinions regarding webcomics. One group says that basically, they are all pieces of shit put together by talentless amateurs. The other side seems to worship the community, and is often reluctant to say anything bad about the webcomic movement.

I tend to agree that the vast majority of webcomics are utter shit. But this is to be expected. What's great about the webcomic community is that it has created a situation in which people can create completely unhindered. You have organizations that encourage this movement. Particularly keenspace (a group that gives free webspace for amateur webcomics) comes to mind. Now most of what is on keenspace isn't worth the server space it's stored on. However, the existence of this group is important because the one out of ten thousand comics that is actually decent is given a place to begin, and good webcomics spread fast once the right people know. The problem, is the talented webcomic artists end up suffering because of the time they put into it. Some become frustrated and disappear, but you rarely hear about this, because the frustration begins before the popularity hits its peak in most cases.

Many artists feel that they would like to be paid for their work. I can understand this perfectly. What many artists have begun doing is essentially begging. Paypal buttons have been popping up in many comic strips. I don't have problems with this, and many people have success. Some stories are truly amazing, like Something Positive's success story about the author, being fed up with his fan's ill consideration of real life priority, threatened that if they wanted him to continue his comic and do it regularly, they would need to pay his salary. Astonishingly, they did. Many comics make money off advertisers. Many comics attempt to sell merchandise. Some are successful, some aren't. I have never bought comic merchandise, but I can honestly say that I've come close, on multiple occasions with Goats. Other comics like megatoyko and pvp seem to do well with merchandising and advertising(neither of which I read, but PVP gets a link because Scott Kurtz seems like an honestly cool guy from rants he has written and blurbs I've read on him) Other artists, in attempts to gain funds (join (by invitation I believe) subscription based groups like Modern Tales. I have come close, on many occasions to joining this, and similar groups, but alas, my cheap money grubbing qualities hold me back. However, it is apparent that, although

You know, I honestly forget what my point was. I think I originally intended to just discuss the community as a whole. Somehow I got into money, I don't know why. How about I just say that I think that despite the utterly despicably quality of the majority of internet comics (rule of thumb, anime blows and animorphic is almost always lame)the community is good, as it provides a sort of artistic Darwinism. The shitty comics fail, or are ignored because their fan base is too small, while the decent comics thrive because they are supported by their fans. Because even the most popular webcomics are far from money making powerhouses, business doesn't become a factor in art and the popular tend to be popular because of quality and effort of the artists. It's a nice model of the way artistic fields should be. I wish music, movies, and literature would work the same way.

I went through a big webcomic phase around four years ago. I discovered a lot of comics and artists that way, and one of the most important in my search was Framed. the comic was not the best. I really enjoyed it (and still do when it is updated) but it's an acquired taste. The humor is far punnier then most humor I follow is. It's importance was, rather, that Damonk (the artist's name/pseudonym) made a habit of regularly suggesting decent comics that he had come across. He was a huge supporter of a comic community, and in fact, at on point, began a massive project, among hundreds of webcomics in which his characters (it's a self aware strip) escape the comic and wander through other webcomics. Other comic characters found their way to Damonk's comic, and it was the single biggest crossover I have ever seen or heard of. The point, is that Framed was important because of Damonk's emphasis on spreading quality comics by word of mouth. I didn't always agree with his choices, but they did show me to comics that I still read regularly. Some fail my theory of popularity (although perhaps they aren't really high quality and I am deceived) but others have since become huge. SomethingPositive is one of these comics. I discovered it when the comic was only a couple weeks old, all because Damonk had run across it and posted it. It's interesting how it's a self serving community.

Today I came across a dated quiz that tells you what comic artist you are most like. I was shocked to find that, not only did I recognize more then half the possibilities, but almost all of them were introduced to me through Framed and Damonk.

If anyone was curious I am apparently most like Tycho of Penny Arcade, which I found a little surprising and disappointing only because I have trouble imagining either of the penny arcade creators outside of a video game and technology discussion. I enjoy the strip, and I enjoy their daily rants as much if not more. It's always interesting, but I don't see them as people one can identify with. I view them almost more as journalists. No one is going to watch the news and say "Man, I really identify with Tom Brokaw." Because he doesn't have a personality. He's just a guy who tells the news. And although Tycho and Gabe are more opinionated in their posts, I seem to view them in the same way. This quiz as well as http://www.websnark.com sort of inspired the post.

Maybe sometime soon I'll post a list of comics I like. I'm falling asleep now though, at the ripe hour of, uh, four in the morning. 9:30 classes are gonna be fun!

-Brandon

AH! SO ANGRY!!!

God damnit Ashcroft, you're leaving office and yet you still manage to infuriate me one last time before you're gone.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46434-2004Nov12.html

In his first public remarks since he announced Tuesday that he would resign, Ashcroft told a meeting of conservative lawyers here that court decisions limiting President Bush's powers are part of "a profoundly disturbing trend" in which the judicial branch is injecting itself into matters that should be up to the executive branch.

So according to Ashcroft, the judicial branch is damaging this country by limiting the role of the executive branch even though this is its EXACT FUCKING PURPOSE IN THE CONSTITUTION! Has Mr. Ashcroft even studied American politics? Does he understand the idea of checks and balances? Does he honestly think that the president should have no resistence and have complete control over the country. How the hell can this man, this evil, stupid man, defend an attack against Saddam Hussein one minute because he is a dictator, and the next criticize the courts for not giving the executive branch full power. What really drives me insane, is I can't tell whether he is being evil and smart in his manipulations, or if he's a complete moron and honestly believes everything he says. My hands are honestly shaking with anger after reading this article.

The really scary thing is that, on this topic, Ashcroft's replacement won't likely be much better. A man who considers the Geneva Convention an annoyance for the US to ignore, is not a man who should be attorney general.

EDIT [At this point I kind of went off on a tangent, I was just writing things as I thought them. I'll check it tomorow to see if it makes sense.]

I prey that history looks back on this era and administration the same way it looks at the vietnam era and administration. However I fear that Bush is destined to become a Reaganesque figure, loved and worshipped by conservatives. If only the liberal half of the country had some organization. A strong movement of non-violent protests would be good for this country. They might not change anything, but they might shift the future views of Bush in a more negative light. Unfortunatly there isn't a centralized goal for the left to unite under. The success of the civil rights movement and it's ties to the left before and during and vietnam era are largely why the vietnam war is portrayed in such a negative light, and partly why the conservative Nixon administration attracted the negative attention it got. There is a glimmer of hope of the left uniting under a banner of gay rights, but I can't honestly say I think it will happen. There isn't enough motivation for change inside or outside the gay community. There's no demand. And although homophobia is rampant, the bigotry they face now is nothing compared to the problems blacks faced in the 50's and 60's. This generations left is doomed to mediocrity. Perhaps the next generatio will be stronger.

I have now made myself depressed, I'm going to try to sleep and maybe make this more intelligable tomorow.

-Brandon

Thank you Mr Bush!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4000679.stm

"Our correspondent says Mr Gonzales has been a central figure in the administration's debate over interrogation techniques for prisoners held in the war on terrorism.

He was criticised by some human rights groups after writing a memo to the president in which he described the Geneva Conventions as "quaint". "
I have only this to say, we're off to a great start! /sarcasm

-Brandon

Insomnia is great. Well, I don't know that I'm an insomniac. Is it insomnia if you are just getting drastically less sleep then normal? I fall asleep, It's just not usually until 3 in the morning. This gives me roughly 5 and a half hours of sleep, if I'm lucky enough to fall asleep at 3:00. I know people have it worse, but it's wierd for me, since I have always been a fan of sleeping. I was never one of those kids to protest bedtime. I have always, however, been poor at waking up. However, since I've moved into this aparement, and really since classes have started, I haven't been able to fall asleep until I am physically unable to stay awake. I just lay in bed and think, generally unhappy, paranoid, and worrying thoughts, for hours. It probably doesn't help that now I have stopped trying to go to bed at a decent time, and jut stay up till I have trouble keeping my eyes open. I don't know what it is. I don't drink caffiene, or rarely. I just sit up at night and browse the internet.

I've read some ebooks. I discovered www.unitedheroes.net which has kept me amused, particualrly "Greyhound Chronicles" and the "Secret Journals of Phineas J. Magnetron." I've read some of the few decent webcomics out there and sifted through far more trashy webcomics as well. I read the news, I do homework (always double check a paper written at 3 in the morning).

It is currently 3:09 am and I am just starting to feel tired. I don't know why I can't sleep I'm not particularly stressed. My diet is, although not healthy, I like to think sufficient. Perhaps it's some emotional thing I don't conciously notice. I haven't been very happy as of late, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it depression. I've been depressed, and if anything, that just makes me want to sleep more. Stress? I doubt it. my homework load is incredibly light this term. I have only two classes that assign homework regularly, and is a physics class that is easier then highschool physics. The other is Russian, which although difficult, is not too time consuming, and not high on my priority list since I've discovered that it is impossible to fail first year Russian, and since I have decided to continue spanish next term.

On a completely different topic, I've been contemplating joining the Peace Corps after I graduate. It's something I want to do, and should give me a boost when applying for grad school afterwards. I'm still not sure if I want to attempt Grad school right away, or attempt working full time for a while before I go back. I'm afraid I'll get sucked into a career before I've attained a higher degree, and won't return to college. Then again, what carreers could possibly care about a history major. If I'm going to major in something useless I may as well go all out right away.

-Brandon

American's going mad?

I saw this article on google news and the title caught my interest. "Bush win drives Americans crazy"

Apparently, therapists have recieved a huge increase of depressed patients due to the election. They are calling it "Political Rage." I can probably say I'm affected by this as well.

And apparently, one particularly deranged individual went to ground zero in New York and shot himself in the head, supposedly in response to Bush's reelection. That's pretty fucked up.

The Canadian immigration webpage has also recieved a massive boost in hits from the US, from 20000 to 115000. Wow.

The second page of this article has an editorial that says what I've been trying to say, in a much better way then I have managed. I'm not specifically pissed at Bush. I'm pissed that 50% of this country like Bush.

-Brandon

Today, I am ashamed to be an American

I used to always take offense at the conservative idea that liberals were somehoe unpatriotic. That "If you don't like the way the country is run you should move out of it." It wasn't until today that I really ever considered myself ashamed to be from this country. True, I had been disgusted in certain aspects of how it was run, and how it acted towards other nations, but I had still always had a certain sense of pride in living here. Maybe Pride is the wrong word, but I always felt grateful for having been born here.

Today is the first time that I am really ashamed to be an American. I can forgive the citizens of the US for voting for a tyrant once, but twice? I know, the election hasn't been decided yet. Kerry could take Ohio... fat chance... Even if he does win, the fact that it was so close, tells me that there is something seriously wrong with the values and intelligence of the people who live here.

What is wrong? I think it's a lot of things. I think it's the widespread belief in our own moral superiority. I think it's the belief that the US is somehow invincible and eternal. But most of all, I think it's religion. Fundamentalist Christianity is ruining this country. Many fundamentalist and sometime Catholic churches openly support Bush as the christian choice. People attending church accept this as a viable reason to vote for him. Why not? They've been dictated to about philosophy, distorted history and mythological beings for all their lives, politics isn't that big of a jump. Unfortunatly the liberal half of the equation has nothing to compete with that. Liberal christians generally attend churches that don't force opinion's on their followers. The dmoecratic party attempted to compete with this power house by convincing apathetic to vote, thinking, illogically, that they would see the "correctness" of Kerry or the "wrongness" of Bush. Stupid morons...

Many of Bush's supporters vote for him simply for his stance on one thing. Sometimes it's abortion, sometimes his anti-gay marriage stance(another nightmare outcome of this election).

So I am now part of a population of morons who vote with their faith rather then their brains. I am honestly considering moving out of the country after graduation, but I feel that, because of the power of this nation of arrogant fools, I should stay. It feels like it would be selfish of me to leave this country and not participate in elections that could negatively affect the entire world.

-Brandon

More GTA

Ah, GTA has gotten even cooler. When you get far enough in the game (not that far) the map becomes color coded by gang. You can recruit troops from your own gang and invade a different gangs territory. If you survive three waves of enemies then the territory is yours. However you have to defend your captured territories as well. It's really cool seeing to large mobs of opposing gangs firing on each other. And when a gang war begins, the streets clear of civilians, and even the police won't interfere, even if you have a wanted level.

When you capture a territory more of your gangmembers began hanging there and help to defend, but they often need your backup for successful defense, and from time to time you will recieve a message saying someone is trying to take your land.

Another cool feature, is that you are encouraged to attempt to woo this girl you save from a burning building. As you go out on dates, her attachment meter grows and as it gets higher, nighttime dating activities change. So far i've gone from, grabing a bite to eat, to cruising around town, and now, to nightly dancing at the dance club (which is DDResque except you use the circle triangle x and square button instead of a pad).

-Brandon

GTA San Andreas

Bought it yesterday. It's awesome, of course. Same type of gameplay with new features added.

The game area is massive. The area I have the right to visit now seems as big as all of vice city, and according to the map it's maybe a fifth of the area I will be able to unlock. Granted, most of that area is countryside between cities, but it's still awesome. Bicycles are awesome. Police get motorcycles. You can now swim. You can burgle houses (at night with the right type of van). There are so many more cars. Combat has been enhanced. Now you can block, and you have two punches, a power punch (which is what you had last time) which is a little slow, and a fast bunch. You can also alter your attacks by your actions while hitting them. You can now target people when you carry a melee weapon, and civilians are a bit more aggressive then they used to be. Now they are aften packing weapons, and if you damage someone's car, it isn't rare that they will hop out and begin beating on yours. I have had people roof riding on my while beating my windshield with various weapons (golf club, baseball bat, shovel) a number of times.

One of my favorite new features is the respect meter. As you kill enemy gang members, complete missions, and kill police, your respect slowly (very slowly) goes up. when you get enough respect you can recruit ally gang members to follow you and fight with you. If you get in a vehicle, they hop in too. This allows you to perform fun driveby's while cruising through enemy territory. They won't hesitate to attack anyone who attacks you, including police that are chasing you.

There are actually a number of personal statistic meters. There is a stamina meter that determines how long you can sprint, pedal fast, or speed swim. There is a muscle meter that determines damage during combat as well as alter how you look. There is a fat meter, if it gets too low, you lose all stamina but if it gets too high you get fat, clumsy and slow. There is the respect meter, and there is a sex appeal meter, which seems to alter based on clothing, hairstyle, tattoo, and possibly fat and muscle meters. Stamina and muscle can be improved at the gym, as well as through consistent running and combat, but the gym is faster. You can also lower fat at the gym and learn new combat moves.

The plot seems alright. Pretty typical ghetto gangster movie. Violet swears that your family gang is modeled after NWA. I don't know enough about the rap group to say yay or nay. But one charecter does remind me of Ice Cube's performance in "Boyz in the Hood."

I discovered a neat thing yesterday when I was causing destruction and stealing people's cash. If you grab the right type of vehicle you can have "pimping" missions. You drive hookers to clients and protect them when clients get rough, and in exchange you get a share of the money. The more missions you do in a row, the more cash you get (300 x number of missions completed in a row). I went from not being able to afford a haircut, to comfortably wealthy pretty fast.

-Brandon

PS and one off topic thing I found. Apparently Matt Stone, in an interview with salon, has been quoted as saying that the uninformed and undecided should not vote or feel obligated to vote. Good for him, I'm happy someone else is arguing my point, especially someone as cool as Matt Stone.

Terrorists made your fake Gucci!

link
Apparently buying cheap knockoffs of designer products supports terrorism. Yea, there is some evidence that some products might be connected to people who have possible connections to people in terrorist organizations. But who is making these statements?
"Members of his group, called the Global Business Leaders Alliance Against Counterfeiting, include: Procter & Gamble, Gillette, Unilever, BP, Philip Morris, Heineken and Coca Cola."
Ah, how convenient. The nations largest corporate manufacturers accusing imitaions of immoral acts. They couldn't be motivated by anything besides national security could they?


On a more serious note...

http://www.parachutingtrees.co.uk/rushmore.htm

I don't know why, I just find this incredibly amusing.


http://www.cheekybeef.co.uk/hexstatic/virata.html

Awesome little animation music video thing.

-Brandon

Martin Luther's Thinking "throne" discovered

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3944549.stm

Martin Luthers toilet has been discovered. Martin Luther chronically constipated. I love history.

-Brandon

"Get out and Vote" programs bad for country

Before I start I want to say that I think that different very intelligent people can reach differing opinions through logical means. I am fairly liberal but I can understand and respect intelligent conservatives. However, there is nothing I despise more then a person who holds strong political opinions for no clearer reason then fashion or expectations from peers. However it seems that this is how most people with political opinions are now a days, from all political sides. I despise the ignorant liberal as much, if not more then, then the ignorant conservative. At least a stupid conservative is easy for my liberal mind to deal with. A stupid liberal can insult my own beliefs just by agreeing with me and attempting to argue my beliefs with wrong information and poor logic.

I would also like to add that I am generalizing, a lot, in this post. When I say all apathetics do something, I mean that a vast majority of them do.

It has been common in the media to talk about widespread voter apathy the past few years. Perhaps it has been going on longer. I only really started paying attention to the news a few years ago. Voter Apathy has become an incredibly negative term. People use it to complain about candidates they feel are doing poorly in office. There is a belief that voting is the responsibility of every citizen. That to not vote is to be unpatriotic. This is all wrong. Voting is a right of every citizen. It is not mandatory, but every citizen has the choice to participate if he or she so chooses. In the same way, every citizen has the right to not vote. If someone doesn't care about the politics of the country, they should not feel obligated to vote anyway. In fact, it is better for the apathetic to stay home and not vote then to go to the polls and vote for someone based on some rough, uninformed approximation of the candidates. To pester and beg the apathetic to vote would be dangerous because their lack of opinion/resolve on political issues makes them susceptible to manipulation. An apathetic voter could easily become a second vote for someone else.

This is, of course, precisely the idea of the Get out and Vote programs. In attempts to gain votes for their respective candidate both political parties have started numerous voter registration drives. They preach the voter responsibility and patriotism gospel and pester people outside in public spaces and door to door at people's homes. The truth is most of the apathetic citizens are not "unpatriotic." The majority of them understand that they are lucky to live in the United States and feel a certain amount of pride to live in this country. When you question their patriotism, they are generally going to want to show that they do care about this country, and when it is pounded, over and over again into their head, most people are going to believe there is some truth to the unpatriotic act of not voting. So people are registering to vote, no, nany people are registering to vote, no, record numbers of people are registering to vote. Who are the apathetic going to support? They don't follow political events unless they can't avoid it. The only firmly established opinions can come from two sources: peers, and media. Now the various media certainly have their biases but, with a few exceptions, most mass media is fairly unbiased in regards to political candidates. The influence comes from friends and family, the same people who likely helped in convincing the apathetic in the importance of voting. These are the people who are going to guide the political opnions of the uninterested. Whether intentionally or not, these opinion guiders have just skewed the election one vote to their side. Now imagine the vast numbers of people who have been convinced to register, despite not caring about politics. Imagine hundreds of thousands of people all just siding with their buddies. It gets worse, because it's contagious. A newly converted apathetic will convert his or her apathetic friends the same way. So know those original influencers are gaining even more votes. What it does is create a situation in which the person elected might not be the choice for the majority of intelligent voters. Instead it was decided by a minority influencing a majority of indifferent voters.

And even if this system of uneducated voters evens out, the fact still remains that the country is being guided be massive groups of people that don't know or care about what effect politics have on their lives. This election the damage has been done. Both political parties have gone out on a massive run to get the apathetic to vote, and in order to win them over, both sides are encouraging absentee ballots, even if you aren't absent. The reason they say they do this is because it supposedly saves the political parties money because they won't call or send you mail demanding before the election night. This isn't really completely honest. Instead they call and send you mail a month before the election and try to change your mind on the absentee ballot. The real idea is to make it more convenient for the apathetic to vote. Both parties belief they have the most to gain out of convincing the uncareing to care because both parties believe they have the most logical belief. The idea is to get them to agree to vote, make it easy for them, and then attempt to sway them through the media, and personal communication lines. They are thought of as nothing more then puppets who will fill in the right circle come election time.

What can be done about this? not much. The damage this election is done. I can tell those around me what I believe, I can beg those who didn't care but are now voting, to not vote, but all these will accomplish little. It's a problem that I don't know how to fix, and by this point, the manipulators from both parties believe they have won.

-Brandon

A Dirty Shame

I saw John Waters' latest film last night. It was absolutely hilarious. It was chock full of rude sexual jokes and bizzaare situations. Such a strange and entertaining story.
A town where every major head injury turns normal people (or neuters) into raging nymphomaniacs.

A messiah like figure that heads a group of 11 (eventually 12) sex addict apostles with unique fetishes seeks to revolutionize the world by freeing them from neuterdom.

A group of concerned citizens take up action against the spreading plague of nymphomania in their town.

When these two groups collide, hilarity ensues. The film wasn't perfect, and seemed to sort of fall apart at the end. But if you have the chance too, I suggest you see this flick. It is rated NC17 for a reason, but if you are easily offended, I probably don't like you enough to care anyway.

-Brandon

<>Oh my god, if you haven't checked www.b3ta.com yet you are missing out.
They have some brilliant takes on nursery rhymes. And a frightening yet hilarious stunt (I don't think it's real). How about an incredibly surreal and nonsensical bush animation?
-Brandon

Low Grav Water Balloons

http://microgravity.grc.nasa.gov/balloon/blob.htm
http://microgravity.grc.nasa.gov/balloon/HS.HTM

These are cool videos I came across about popping water balloons in low gravity situations. This stuff looks so cool. I like the crater like impact of the blunt pencil stabbing into the balloon on highspeed camera. Very awesome. These guys looked to be having fun too.

Posted by Hello

-Brandon

Yay for me!

I feel special. I have figured out how to add a links list to the sidebar all by myself. (with a little help from Blogger and Google. What, you don't thiink it's that special? LEAVE ME ALONE! I DON'T KNOW HTML!

Although it seems to be pretty easy to figure out, maybe I'll take some time out of my hectic schedule of fucking around on the internet to learn.

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/earth.php
-Brandon

Just testing the power photo uploader with this work of art. I made it myself.
Posted by Hello

Hi

I wanted to check out blogger. Whether or not I'll use this often or not, I don't know. Sometimes I just want to post cool links and news articles, when I feel like it, I'll put it here.

no one looks at my old blog garp.postureposse.com since I took a long break of posting anything. No one will look at this either probably, but maybe changing the URL will change people's minds. Whatever, it doesn't matter anyway.