Michael Jackson

Wow, can you believe it?

Tours to Servants

Today, there is a headline on my browsers personal start page that sparked an interest in commenting. The headline reads, "Michelle Obama, girls get rare London palace tour". The palace, of course, is the official residence of the British monarch; the Buckingham Palace.

It is confusing for foreign governments such as Great Britain, and especially England particularly, to understand that American governments are "subject governments" and that it is the people as individuals who are the sovereign. Compared to a monarchy, America's governments are exactly backwards.

Were America to have a class system and aristocracy like the British, American officials, and particularly the United States, which is America's federal government responsible for all foreign matters involving America, would be the bottom of the barrel. Essentially, when foreign monarchs invite such officials and their families to tours of this magnitude, they are doing so to America's official serfs.

Are the tours that Michelle Obama and daughters received at Buckingham Palace open to British serfs? LOL The joke is on Great Britain and their monarch, who treat our servants as royalty.

Qumana For Linux!

So, I was casually surfing the net just now, and what should I find?  A Linux version of my blogging tool Qumana!  How cool is that?  Well, it is about time really considering that Qumana is a Java program.  Like duh, is  de facto in cross platform programming with it's virtual machine method of programming.

So, yeah I'm psyched that I get to blog from Linux natively now.  Before, I used wine to run the 'windows' version, which means I was also running the windows version of Java...  Well, obviously, that just doesn't make sense.

I do have a problem though.  It's not syncing my posts.  Well, the real test is whether it posts like it's supposed to.  At any rate, it is a lot faster and smoother than running it through Wine.  :-D

Star Trek

Holy moly!  I cannot believe I forgot to mention that I have seen the new Star Trek movie titled Star Trek.  I saw it in it's second week.  It was tricky for me to get the ride to Pocatello, but I finally got my mom to drive me up.  I told her that it would mean a free lunch and movie.  I expected to go with her and her husband, but to my surprise, when I jumped into the van, he wasn't there.  Instead, my Grandma was there, she asked: "so, what movie are we going to see?"

So, true to his promise, JJ Abrams decided to make the movie more appealing to Star Wars fans.  Star Wars fans, as you know are brainless idiots who know nothing about plot, and story development.  Sad, but true.  Yet, he still had to make us Star Trek fans (trekkies and trekkers as well as regular fans, such as myself) happy too.  So, there was a plot, albeit subtly hidden and low-key, and there was a semblance of story development.  Yippy.  I was so afraid for this movie that it would lack any intelligent star trek elements, in favor of the substance less Star Wars style.

I loved it!

Still, there were issues.  Cinematography absolutely sucked!  Every scene that should have been wide and open was instead zoomed-in and claustrophobic, you can forget about following any action scenes, impossible.  I expected way better from jj Abrams, being a fan of at least one of his current television shows, Fringe.  That's the price we pay when we accept people of the T.V. generation (kids raised in front of television screens instead of movie screens), they simply do not understand the visual scope of cinema.

As far as the writing was concerned.  Excellent.  The movie plays out in chronological order, and the scenes make sense and work together seamlessly.  I enjoyed the humor immensely.  I believe I caught every little nuance and reference to established Star Trek comedy and legend.  I even got a kick out of the red jumpsuit and knew exactly what was going to happen to the character wearing it!  Honestly, I think I was the only one in the theater who got that one.  Actually, I was often the only one who audibly responded to the vast majority of jokes, though I do remember hearing some laughs from my mom too, in some of the right places, which surprised me (no real reason it should have though).

The acting was great too.  The new cast filled shoes many thought were too big to fill.  Chris Pine is James T. Kirk, there's no question about that.  And, the actors who portrayed Chekov, Bones, and Scotty were beyond totally awesome.  I love their renditions!  And of course, the actors who were Spock, Uhura, and Sulu were awesome too.  My only criticism as far as the acting was concerned was with Leonard Nimoy.  His performance reminds me of Harrison Ford's "performance" of Indiana Jones in the sucky crystal skull farce, though to be sure, Nimoy was way better comparatively.  Though not as bad as Ford's last Jones, Nimoy's Spock appeared, to me, distracted by Nimoys glee of returning as Spock.  Also, I wish there had been more of Winnona Ryder in the film.  I am still baffled as to why someone so young was cast as someone so old let alone for such a small, trivial role.  If anything, Serek's actor should have been younger given the immortality of Valcans.

I didn't care much for Zachary Quinto's Valcan salute, It was too limp.  Sharpen that up next time Mr. Quinto!

And let's not forget the Enterprise.  For many people, the concept of a device or prop as a character is hard to understand outside the movie industry.  As a result, I read a lot of negative criticism long before the movie's release about how fans expected the films Enterprise to match the series's Enterprise (since it takes place before and during the series timeline), or they just would not stand for it.  Well, I was not one of those people, and, for one, I was glad to see that not only do we have new looks to all our old people characters, we got a new look to our old space ship character.  It was awesome too.  Way more realistic to me than some of the other versions (though, I have to admit, each rendition of the Enterprise has fit with it's respective role).

And, was I the only one who noticed that the sequence where the Klingon (yes Klingon) ship is destroyed was the same shot used in my all-time favorite Star Trek movie ever, Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country and one of the next generation features that I cannot remember (was it Insurrection or maybe Nemesis???)?  That makes three movies that particular explosion has been depicted.

The musical score left some to be desired.  The new theme song was reminiscent of both the original series's theme and the established movie themes, but it wasn't as catchy and didn't flow so well.  This may be a factor of the film that could grow on me, only time will tell.  I kept wanting to whistle along as though it were the original theme, but it didn't mesh.  Well oh!

Over all, I enjoyed Star Trek, it was well worth the 3 admissions and the 2 hour (round trip) transit just so I could see it.  (And even the 40 minute wait after the scheduled show time-I'm still pissed off about how late that theater started the film!)

Live long and prosper.

Local Celebrity Status

I think the people of the little drive-in here in Sick City think I'm a celebrity.  Apparently, the word is out here in town that I am a writer.  I'm not sure how, though.  I wish I had asked the woman who approached me about it this evening.  I would like to have known who she had heard the news from.

Anyway.  For those of you who still watch this blog with great anticipation, I should inform you that I am no longer working on any novels at this time.  I took another job a while ago, and as per my personal promise of several years, I will never work two jobs at once.  And, yes, I consider writing a job.  Like I told the drive-in woman tonight, I'm not Steven King, I do not write in my "spare" time.

I should also point out that if you have always wanted to write, just do it.  It's a lot easier when you start.

That reminds me, I baby-sat some of my nieces and nephews recently, and one of my nephews showed up with a book he is writing.  It was totally awesome to read what he had.  Though I was unable to discern just where the story was going, I have to admit that his dialog was perfection.  I often wish that I could write dialog that good.  I guess he reads a lot, that's where you learn how to write.

Unless you're lucky enough to be born with the skill, like me.  ;-)

Miniature Whiptail Devourer

Happy birthday to my second character created for Guild Wars.  I couldn't remember when I first bought the game, but I was sure it was his birthday sometime this, or last, month, so I have been checking in every few days to see if he got his birthday gift.  He had it when I checked today.  A Miniature Whiptail Devourer.  Yay!

Even though the character is technically my second character, he is the oldest living and the first one I created for the main game.  Being new to Guild Wars, I had created a PVP character first, but never played him as I realized my mistake and deleted him and immediately created the second character.  I have a total of 5 characters so far.  The others should have birthdays in about a month or so.

Pictures

Doh!  I forgot my blog was a particular size, so all those images stick out to the left.  That last post really looks bad, but I'm not in the mood to fix it, so it stays.  Maybe I'll fix it some other day.  And I forgot to make the address at the bottom clickable!  Man, I need some sleep.  To hell with it.

Earthquakes in Diverse Places

I keep an earthquake watch on my web browser's startpage that I wrote.  There is always earthquakes happening in the world and in the States of America.  The past few days, however, have them in unusual places, diverse from one another.  I thought it interesting enough to take a few screenshots and share them, while they last.

Yeah, I've been wanting to post some pictures here for a while.  :-D

Anyway, if you're interested in watching the current earthquake status, you can go here: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/recenteqsww/

Just Checking In

Once again, I have been gone for a while.  I have been over at the official PlaStation Home forums working on the Xi alternate reality game (ARG).  It ended over the weekend with the discovery of a USB device that was found in England.  The device gave us the date of the official release of the new Xi adventure game and space for PlayStation Home.

It was fun, but it come with a bit of drama.  You know, the usual stuff.  Players getting mad at other players, etc..  There was no prizes, just the satisfaction of being a part of something no one else even knew was going on.

Why I think Barack Obama as president of the United States will end up being good for America

If you recall the United States presidential campaign of 2008, you remember that the vast majority of Americans felt they were being forced to choose the best candidate of the absolute worst choice in American history. Every candidate's platform was based on implementing socialist concepts.

As you know, I oppose socialism in America. It will prove to be the catalyst which instigates the fall of this great Republic. As such you can conclude that I would be dead-set against having as open a socialist as Barack Obama in the position of America's federal government's executive president. You would, however, be slightly mistaken.

Though I am against socialism, I believe the the presence of a socialist such as Barack Obama in that position may actually turn out to be better for the country than not, though not for the reasons his supporters would express. Consider the following.

I have observed Barack Obama for as long as any other average American Citizen. I have heard him talk, read his ideas, and analyzed his actions. My conclusion is that he is the first person, in my lifetime, to be elected president of the United States, who is actually educated enough to understand and know what the United States is and how that government is intended to function. Sure, the U.S. has had 'ivy-league' educated presidents before, but unlike any U.S. president in my lifetime, Obama knows and understands the truth. He understands the sole purpose of government. As a result, he my not be so quick to implement those hardcore socialist promises. Indeed, I get the impression that he only used the socialist party to procure his seat as U.S. president. He may end up working harder to protect the Republic than usurp it and institute a democracy, which has always been the acknowledged goal of the political party that got him elected.

The place I believe United States president Barack Obama will be the most helpful for the United States and, through it, America, is in international and foreign dealings. Though his full name and the mere color of his skin has already done much towards foreign views of America, he has a deep and hypnotic voice that will lull foreign diplomats and leaders and their citizens further into acceptance. He will be able to use that voice to comfort counties who are predisposed to stand against America and the United States.

On the home front, American people are more vigilant against the government when a 'democrat' is the president of the United States. When Bill Clinton was president of the U.S., militias throughout America met on regular occasion and his administration encountered stiff opposition from most Americans. Yet, the majority of these community meetings ceased with the election of George Bush Jr.. I remember reading a concerned American's post on some arbitrary internet forum following the infamous events of September 11th 2001. Being concerned of future terrorist attacks, she had sent her husband to a regularly scheduled meeting. He had returned a few minutes later only to inform her of a notice on the door of the meeting place that read all meetings had been canceled because since the United States had a republican as president, there was nothing to worry about!

Then there's the whole racist issue. Even though it is the 21st century, there are still people in America who were taught that black people are an inferior race. Most of us know this concept to be flawed and idiotic at best. Nonetheless, racist people have a history of causing problems for everyone in their communities. This is an issue, that not only divided a country, it splits families and fosters hatred. Having a black man (even a half-breed like Obama) in what is often erroneously considered the highest power in America, can bring this issue to it's second boiling point, which would force all Americans to consider the roots of what it means to be American.

On the religious side of things, zealots expect the collapse of government to signal the end times. Humoring this concept, any conflict which destabilizes government into collapse can only be seen as a good thing, when you consider that the end time is meant to herald in the second coming of the Messiah, and a millennium of peace. Barack Obama could very well spark such a collapse either directly through his socialist intentions and actions, such as spreading the wealth, or indirectly as a result of the afore mentioned racist issue, should such a thing ever escalate to war again. And, there is always the possibility, that I may be wrong in my assumption of his intent, in which case, he will use his position to accomplish his political party's agenda of usurping the Republic with a democracy, such a thing will result in all-out war. After all, many if not all Christ based religions teach from scripture that neighbor will fight against neighbor in the time preceding His return.

In the end, it does not matter who is president of the United States, but what is done as president. If Barack Obama does understand the limits and intent of the U.S. presidency, then he'll do his best to defend the concepts of a republic form of government and the liberty that is fundamental to it. If, on the other hand, he does seek to usurp the Republic, as he promised during his campaign to be elected president of the United States, than it will only bring about a quicker end to socialist America, as no true American will stand idly by while that happens. Either way, America will prevail and emerge stronger and better.

Long live the Republic!

Lost vs Heroes

I watched Lost in accordance with the previous post up through episode 9 of season 3 before I finally stopped watching.  The show simply sucks.  There are too many inconsistencies with established facts of season 1, and I get the feeling the writers are separate and goal-less.

After my frustration with Lost, I decided to check out another series, this time one I wanted to be interested in, but never took the time to investigate.  Heroes.  I was hooked from the first episode.  The writing was 100 times better than that of lost, and flow was exceptional, the characters fun and entertaining, the premise was marvelous.

Right from the beginning, it was easy to tell that the writers had a definite vision and goal.  In fact, I have now watched every available episode of Heroes, and the entire series as a whole has been, for the most part, consistent.  Yes, it does have it's holes like most shows of this time, but they are nothing compared to those of Lost.

But don't get me wrong.  I will not be watching any more Heroes episodes.  I am not satisfied with the new direction the series has taken in season three.  So much so, that I will not continue to watch the show.  I am simply not interested in the season story arc, or the drastic changes that have ruined the beloved and established characters.

With season three, I get the impression that the writers didn't like the abilities that were given to some of the characters in the beginning, and lacked the imagination to come up with challenging situations for the characters with them, so they simply wrote out the abilities.  And what happened to Molly?  If you (the writers) don't like these things, don't write them in the first place.  Season three is half-ass writing just like lost.  I can do without it.

Unless they reboot season three and return to the enjoyable plot and story styles of seasons 1 and 2, I will never watch another Heroes episode again.  And that seems unlikely, unless others who like the first 2 seasons stop watching too.  I'll watch season 4 only if the season 3 finale erases any and all changes made in the season, so that season 4 starts off after an uneventful year right after season 2 as though season 3 never happened.

So, long story short, I haven't found any new programs worth watching on network television.  And, in my opinion, Fringe is the best network television program on air today, though House is a close second.

Also, after this (the whole Lost and Heroes fiasco) and last weeks GateWorld podcast, I have decided not to listen to those two losers any more.

Lost

I don't have cable television which includes Showtime or the SciFi channel, so I cannot watch the Stargate shows.  As a supplement, I have subscribed to the GateWorld Podcast for my iPod.  It's a really good show, fun to listen to and I can piece together episodes from it.  I'm not worried about spoilers, by the time Atlantis is cheap enough for me to justify buying the DVD's for seasons 3-5, I will have forgotten any harmful spoilers.

As you know, Atlantis was cancelled this past season, and there are no new Stargate shows airing until this fall.  Which means, there's no weekly episodes for the GateWorld postcasters to talk about and dissect.  As such, one of the comments on this weeks 'cast was that Lost was now the best show on Television.

I had never seen Lost, so I took the comment as a recommendation, and surfed on over to ABC.com, where I found the entire series available to watch free on the internet.  I am up to episode 15 in the first season, and I have to say... well something.

It sucks, it's boring, etc..  Those are fitting descriptors, but I'm going to continue to watch in the hope that some kind of substance eventually gets written into the storyline.  Like, maybe when they're done introducing the castaways, the show will take a new direction and illustrate a purpose.  I haven't seen any character development yet, or any viable story arcs...  I mean there's nothing there.  There is nothing to this show.  It is substance-less.

If I wasn't watching the episodes together, I'd have 'lost' interest half-way through the first episode.  Even with the five separate 30 second commercial breaks online, I find it hard to keep clicking that continue button.

I get the impression the entire season was filmed in a 1-2 week period of time.  It's like watching a daily soap opera, only instead of a day to pause in the middle of a conversation, it's a week.  Honestly, after that long can you really remember what was being talked about?

I can see, I will NOT be tuning in to the show on Television IF I ever get caught up to the current season.

I really hope it gets better.  J. J. Abrams is the guy we have entrusted the Star Trek reboot with.  Sure, Fringe is kick-ass good, but it was good from the first episode.  Lost just sucked from that one, and it's still sucking all the way through episode 14.

I hope it gets better.

They Finally Said it! :-D

They finally said it!!!

I love the new show Leverage on TNT. I can't watch it when it airs on television, so I catch it later when I get the time on the internet. In this case I just finished watching the most recent episode "The Mile High Job", and when the line I've been waiting for came, I jumped up and yelled, quite loudly, "Yes! they finally said it". Keep in mind, that it is after two o'clock in the morning and my walls are paper thin. I hope I didn't wake anybody up.

If you know the show, you'll know the line without me telling you, but for those of you who don't, beware of the spoiler, because I am going to tell ya.

Leverage is a cross between Oceans Eleven and The A-Team. It's about this group of thieves who steal from the bad guys to help the underdog good guy. I love this show. I was a huge A-Team fan back when it first aired-yes, I'm that old-and I still watch episodes every now and then on Hulu.com. And as you know there was a famous line delivered at the end of a lot, if not all, of the episodes.

Leverage is so much like The A-Team that I always expect to hear that line. I have even considered writing a fan letter to Dean Devlin asking him to drop that line in at least one episode. And here it was tonight! I'm so happy!

"I love it when a plan comes together."

:-D

Name the New Home Space "Contest"

I admit, the only reason I haven't written for a while is because of the big let down when Qumana crashed the other day and I lost the post I wanted to write when United States President Obama was still president-elect.

So, sorry about that, I'll try to look past the dread that crosses my mind every time I want to sit down and write something for this blog.

Also, I have been hitting the Official PlayStation Home forum.  The PlaStation Home people had a contest for us users to name the new cafe.  It was supposed to be judged on originality and creativity.

I suggested The Percolation Sensation, which is a wonderful play on words, and fitting a chat-room of this caliber.  It is 100% original as the term does not exist anywhere on the net, and it's 1005 creative.

Not only can it refer to percolating coffee and how one perceives the aroma and flavor through the senses, but a gathering and sharing of ideas (percolate) in a festive and celebratory manner (sensation).

The winner suggested "The Sixth Axis".  Where I do agree, it is a fitting name for a Home space, it is hardly original, and not only is it uncreative, it is copyrighted already by Sony, which is a direct violation of the official contest rules, which stated the entry had to be uncopyrighted.  Or is that simply "the Six Axis"?

Anyway, a quick search on the internet reveals that it is also already used for a business in Madison, Wisconsin.

Well, I may not participating in any future "contests" from those guys.

Yhe Huge Let-down

Qumana crashed earlier today, and I lost at least 5-6 average sized paragraphs of an important post.  I am still very upset over it, so much so that I am not going to try to rewrite the article, which was a look at the up-coming President of the United States.  I wanted to post it the day before the inauguration, but that won't happen now.  By the clock it is already the next day.  So screw it.  Maybe I'll do it later, though then it will seem like retrospect.

Lost Post

I stumbled across a lost post today.  It was categorized as a draft in Blogger.com.  I had such a hard time getting the formatting to work, that I just saved it as a draft instead of posting it.

Well, I have just resurrected it.  After a few miner changes to the content, here is the original entry originally dated August 3, 2008, without the original code snippets and detailed explanations:

"Background: I have always wanted to know C++ so for the past 10 years or so I studied as many tutorials and books teaching the language. At the conclusion of every one, I felt confident I knew the language well enough to code my own programs. However, since all the programs I needed, were already written, I had no practical use for the knowledge, and the fact that none of the material I read taught GUI, was discouraging.

"I am a Linux user, and for the most part very happily doing everything in Linux that I once did, and occasionally still do, in MS Windows. I say almost because, so far, Linux does not have one thing I want; a Linux native Yahoo! Messenger with all the features of the real thing.

"I have been waiting years for someone to write a full feature clone of Yahoo! Messenger, and the outlook still looks grim. Apparently most Linux software developers simply are not interested in a Yahoo! Chat (I wrote CHAT, not IM) client, or the voice and webcam features Yahoo Messenger offers.

"The Project: I have decided to launch a personal project in an attempt to accomplish two objectives; 1, Teach myself C++ GUI programming with QT 4; and 2, Provide the Linux community with a full featured Yahoo! Messenger clone.

"The Problem: No, not biting off more than I can chew, (the whole point is to learn how to chew it in the first place). That is to say, that since libyahoo2 exists, I decided to use it to write my client. After all, that's how this stuff works, right? The problem is that my instruction in QT 4 was limited mainly to the GUI, which I understand great. But it lacks in practical application. In other words, I'm having trouble getting my GUI code to blend with the libyahoo2 functions. The specific problem I'm getting is during the compile stage and appears to be dealing with scope.

"Any Linux coders out there want to put this whole thing out of my misery? I'm not really a programmer, just a wannabe."

Spent the Day In Logan, Utah

Utahans are the rudest and most inconsiderate people who ever walked the planet.

The Scent of Coal

As past readers of this blog and personal acquaintances can attest, I hate Sick City, Idaho.  But there is one aspect to this town that I absolutely love.  It goes way back to when I was little, though it's not so popular anymore.

The scent of burning coal in the air on a crisp autumn, winters, or spring day.

I'm not from Sick City, Idaho, but I did spend some time here back when I was a curtain-crawler.  Back then there were more homes heated by coal, and the scent was strong and constant.  Any time I catch a whiff of it today, I am transported to that time.

I love the scent of burning coal.  I wish I had a coal furnace, but like most of the old homes here in Sick City, Idaho our house's furnace was replaced years ago with a propane furnace.  Many homes still have the coal shoots, but our coal room has long since been converted for storage.

But every now and again, I catch that scent.  It's then that I realize those moments almost make it worth it.

Update On Kyle XY and Amanda

Duh, they're playing a marathon all day on ABC Family.  And, yes, the character's name is Amanda.  Can't wait for tonight, I hope I don't forget it again and end up missing it.  But then again, it is the 21st century, so if I miss it I can just catch it on abc-family.com or Hulu.com like I have to anyway with Greek.  That one comes on while I am working, so I never get to see it on T.V..

What I Have Been Up To

So, I have been offline, so to speak, as far as this blog is concerned for quite a while.  Wow, for like 2 years.  Jeeze.

As you know, Blogger is hard to post to.  That doesn't mean I haven't been writing for it though.  I have, but as I mentioned before, I end up just scrapping them.  The topics were mostly government or politics related anyway, so they weren't important in the least bit.  Trust me, no loss there.

I think I mentioned once that I had bought a Playstation 3.  Well, if not, I did (buy one).  I bought it towards the beginning of last year.  I was able to take advantage of the holiday Blu-ray special I had found online, so I got 5 Blur-ray movies free.  My current Blu-ray collection is 12 movies, but I have two more coming in the mail.  Even on a standard TV, the output is crisper, clearer, and more colorful then DVD's.

I prefer first person shooters, and I have Resistance, TimeShift, and Call of Duty 4.  (I have lots of other games too, but those are my favorite FPSs.)  COD4 is my absolute favorite, I spend more time with that game than any other game I have-online of course.

PlayStation Home Bata was just made available for me a couple weeks ago, so I have been there too.  I have been anticipating it for a year.  It rocks!  I enjoy the bowling, pool, general chatting and exploring the glitches.  You can often find me at Sully's bar dancing on the bar. ;-)  The new Red Bull area is cool too.  So far, I crash a lot, but every now and then I can get all the rings.

The main criticism I have for PlaStation Home is that there is no voice chatting in the public areas.  That aspect really needs to change!  This is the 21st century after all.  Typing in chat rooms and bulletin boards was fine back in the 80's and 90's, but come on, technology has advanced, give us voice.

The same plea can be made for any instant messenger in Linux by the way.

I would love to give you my PlayStation username so you can look me up and we can play together, but the current use policies for the PlayStation forbid telling people your username.  I know, lots of people do it, but I enjoy the system too much to jeopardize my privileges of the online services.  It shouldn't be hard for you to discern it if you wanted too though.  ;-)

Well, that pretty much suggests everything I have been up to in my spare time.  Oh, except there is Hulu.com and other free movie sites, which reminds me, all the T.V. shows I like are retuning again.  Yay!  Monk and Psych returned last Friday, and tonight, its Kyle XY.  We finally get to find out what happened to Amanda (she is sooo cute!).  Gosh, it's been so long, I can't remember if that's the characters name or not.  I'll have to go to abc-family.com to re-watch last years season finale, to catch up.

I Am In the Mood!

When it rains, it pours.  I am in the mood to blog.  It is so much easier now, I can't tell you.  I just cannot express how much simpler it is to blog with a blog client and the messy website scripts.  I wish I had done this long ago.

One foreseeable problem though, is now that I can do everything from one application, I may not spend enough time on the editing as my previous method allowed me.  And, as those of you readers who have read through my other posts can attest, I still could have done with more editing.

I'll do my best, and I hope the reader will forgive the often erroneous spelling and grammar, I think, for the most part, you will be able to 'get the drift' so to speak.  Still, often I do miss the negative forms of certain statements, like neglecting to type words like "not" and their derivatives.  I'll have to continue to change them as I find them.

Dyslexia can be such a drag.  Well oh...

So Long Atlantis!

Those of you who are fans of Stargate: Atlantis will know what I'm talking about.  Stargate: Atlantis has been cancelled and the final episode ran last week.  I'm so bummed out about that.  It was in it's prime.

But, not to fret, Stargate: Universe will start shooting soon for it's summer premiere, lets all wish that new cast, crew and series in general a hefty good luck!  I look forward to seeing it.

Post Script:

Qumana still rules in Wine.  ;-)

Qumana Test

Hello!  :-D  It's been a while, I know.  The new Blogger.com has made it a real frustration to actually post blogs.  I have been writing them but every time I have tried to post, Blogger.com gets in the way and I end up just scrapping the piece.

So, here I am, after a whole day searching for a blog client I can run in Linux.  As far as Linux native applications are concerned, FORGET IT!  I guess all those Linux bloggers out there are... your right, what Linux bloggers?

My solution to the whole fiasco is to run Qumana with Wine, the program that has it's own version of the Windows API to allow Windows native programs to run on top of X11.  Yay!  And, so far it works perfect! Double Yay!

:-D

This is my first attempt with Qumana in Wine.  If it works, I'll be dusting off this old blog and posting some new content.  This is so much easier so far too.  One program to do everything.  Before, starting way back in the beginning, I had to write the entry in OpenOffice.org (or Word on the Windows computers), then copy and paste it to a text editor and from there copy it to the browser window at Blogger.com (after navigating to the website and logging in and waiting for that damn thing to load), make more formatting changes, and hold my breath when I clicked publish.  More recently, I never got to the end.

Now, I'll be able to start one program, type what I want to see, then click publish, all at my leisure with no messy webpage scripts.  This is going to be awesome.  I can't believe how fast it works, and how easy it's all happening so far.

Well, time for the moment of truth.  ;-)

Webpage Update

Greetings everyone. Gee, it's 2008! I know, it's been so for a while. Anyway, I finally got around to making my yearly dates and ages update on the pages that require it. I think. It's been so long since I did anything with my website, that I can't remember all the pages that needed to be updated.

A Plea for the Republic

With each passing year, America's foundation becomes more unstable. Had you asked me 7 years ago where America would be today, I would have answered "what America". I was so sure after September 11th, 2001 that our last remaining treads of constitutional republic would have been severed by now and replaced with the dreaded dictatorship. I consider it a small miracle that a thread still remains.

Still, the Republic is barely hanging on. At this point, I know that what I have to say will be ignored by most and rejected by the rest, yet I cannot help but remember what our founding fathers said to a future latter-day prophet when they demanded their temple ordinances be completed, that they had "followed the will of God unwaveringly". How many of us could ever say the same?

Today, were I to ask any student in this county what form of government we employed, they would respond, "a democracy of course". If I were to ask them what country they lived in, they would respond, "United States, duh". Yet these two obvious answers couldn't be more wrong. And America was based on freedom right? Wrong again.

For the past several generations, new developing media technologies and world turmoil have allowed Americans the opportunities to witness the government creation process as new countries formed and old governments reformed. We know that it a long and complicated endeavor. It is times such as those that inspire some to reflect upon America's own beginnings that took over 6 years to complete since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and a generation of debate before that.

It was the conclusion of our forefathers that America would be a country based on the God given right to be free from government interference, the definition of liberty (look it up). And out of all the forms of government to choose from, they settled on the only one based on liberty, a republic. But they didn't stop there, those men who were following the will of God unwaveringly, they erected boundaries to the powers granted to the Republic in a constitution.

But what do these terms mean? Today, modern usage seems to imply that liberty is synonymous with freedom, and republic synonymous with democracy. Yet 226 years ago, it was common knowledge that a republic is a form of government based on individualism where people assemble and administer it by their representatives and agents; A democracy is a form of government based on socialism where people assemble and administer it themselves.

To illustrate the difference of Liberty and freedom, I like to picture the difference between an average household canary and the wild eagle. The canary is free to choose which perch to stand on, free to eat whenever it wants to, and free to sing whenever it wants. In fact, it is free to do whatever it wants to do within the confines of it's cage. Contrast that with the eagle, it is free to nest in any empty tree, free to soar from mountain peak to mountain peak, free to hunt, free to mate, free to protect itself, free to live, and free to die. The eagle is unrestrained in the things it is free to do, it has liberty where as the canary has mere freedom.

I am not a conspiracist. I do not believe that there is a group of people or an individual anywhere on this planet who seeks the destruction of liberty. In fact, I believe that our liberty is being eroded as a direct result of good intentions and lack of information by honest people who have simply been mislead by various propaganda. Propaganda, which, in my experience, can often trace it's origins to socialism and/or America's socialist party, which has sought the usurpation of the Republic in favor of a democracy for over 150 years now.

For years I thought that the best way to defend our republic and it's constitution was through our congressmen, but then I realized that the problem does not lie with them, for there isn't a single U.S. Congressmen who doesn't know that their powers are limited; that the statutes they write can never subjugate a single American Citizen. They know that America's legislatures may only write statutes which pertain to matters that concern every citizen but that cannot be attained by any single citizen. But they also know that the majority of Americans do not know that.

The fact of the matter is, that everyone who is subject to any given statute knows he is subject. This includes civilians (elected office holders, government agencies, agents, and employees, etc.), military personnel, corporations, and foreign entities within American boarders, such as immigrants who do not seek naturalization, tourists, etc.. In every case, subjects are notified of their subjugation through office oaths, employment agreements/contracts, visas and licenses, and charters, etc..

The problem is that local governments are populated by an uninformed public. It is the local legislatures that assume the ordinances they write are laws which apply to all inhabitants within it's geographical jurisdiction. It is they who are the most unaware that statutes are not law, but that they may become law only when tested on a case-by-case basis in a legal court of law.

To compound the issue, many local legislatures use a monkey-see-monkey-do method of writing the statutes in the first place. A statute in New York, which is written because of it's large population of unnaturalized foreigners, or corporations would be constitutional when applied to those, but unconstitutional when adopted by a small town without a single corporation, or unnaturalized foreigner. Property taxes, Eminent Domain, are perfect examples of monkey-see-monkey-do statutes. Local legislatures often focus on the fact they exist, but neglect to understand why they exist or to whom they apply.

To make matters worse, even sheriffs, the only legal law enforcement entity in America, are now "enforcing" those statutes without the least regard to Due Process; making arrests when no warrant for arrest has ever been issued, no conviction or even trial has ever occurred. Even the least informed American is familiar with the phrase "innocent until proven guilty". Yet most dismiss it as how things used to be. Well, it's not just the way things used to be, it's the way it is. Every time you see a "law enforcer" making an arrest when a trial has not resulted in a conviction which warrants that arrest, you see a citizen's liberty being violated.

And this is what it means to have constitutions hanging by a thread. It means that the constitutions exists, but the people aren't taking the time to learn them, and as a result, they don't know how to utilize them. It means that until such time that America's citizenry begins to uphold and sustain our constitutions by disallowing local sheriffs to make arrests without lawfully issued warrants, and stopping prosecutors from pressing charges against citizens, and recalling any civilian who refuses to operate within their limits, the government is going to continue to infringe upon our liberty.

Most of the country's sentiment is that this election year will be a pivotal turning point for America. On the U.S. Presidential front, voters must choose between what many are calling the worst of the worst. The socialist party is in full force and even it's rival counterpart has a candidate with heavy socialist views. It is entirely possible that the federal Republic may not last another term regardless of who is elected its president.

On the local front, this county must decide on both the sheriff and the prosecutor. The major deciding factor appears to be the voters stance on how the jail issue was or should have been handled. An issue that has plagued many Idaho counties these past several years. County legislatures and sheriffs everywhere seem to think that new or more or bigger jails are needed. To prove it, more arrests are being made, and they're getting away with it because no one is suing the sheriffs for false imprisonment, unlawful arrest, personating a law enforcement officer, and liberty and Due Process violations.

In the end it's not going to matter which candidate is elected, but whether or not they are willing to start adhering to the supreme law of the land by honoring the limits therein. As equally important is whether or not the American Citizens uphold and sustain those same constitutions by enforcing them through the impeachment, and recall processes. A civilian who fears to lose his position and credibility will tend to go out of his way to stay on track. America cannot afford to continue to let it's governments reign without responsibility or accountability if we expect to retain and maintain our liberty.

In conclusion, I would like to leave you with this thought, when a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken, or quit being honest. And for those of you who still haven't figured it out, we live in America, which is the official short version of the States of America, which is a union of states, and is abbreviated U.S.A.. The United States is a legal term, which bears different definitions depending on the statute which uses it. In the Constitution of the United States of America, it refers to the federal government itself, or the seat of the federal government when used in a geographical sense.

Long live the Republic.

Wii Verses... What?

I am tired of people (websites, media, etc) referring to the Nintendo Wii as a "next generation" console. It's nowhere near next gen. As much as I hate Microshit, at least the Xbox 360 can be called a next gen system. The Wii is just a Gamecube in a new case with different peripherals. Literally. Look it up if you don't believe me.

The first and foremost feature of a next gen console is support for high definition output, or at the very least compliance with the ATSC standards. The Wii only supports NTSC which is outdated, and obsolete. What this means is you cannot have the Wii connected to new HD television sets, without switching the set to SDTV each time you want to play. For those of you who don't know, the NTSC format only allows a resolution of 640x480 and limited color capabilities. Whereas the ATSC format allows resolutions up to 1920x1080 and millions of colors (HD).

The second feature required of a true next gen console is online cross-platform capabilities. With a true next gen system, a gamer can play against any other player with the same game who may be on a PC or any other console platform the game has been ported to. The Wii can only utilize it's online abilities with other Wiis on a peer-to-peer basis. That not only alienates games manufactures, but, coming from an end user perspective, it just doesn't make sense for a console in the 21st century.

The third feature required in next gen systems is raw power. While both the PS3 and the 360 sport hefty 3 Ghz dual technology processors, the Wii is still fumbling with its measly, Gamecube innards (400-729 Mhz single core).

A forth feature, and last requirement for the "next generation' label, is a hard drive. The Wii does not come with a hard drive. That is absolutely ridiculous.

Now, don't misread what I've written, I'm not saying the Wii sucks, obviously, it's a popular system with a load a fun games. What I am saying is that it is nowhere near "next gen" as far as it's "competition" is concerned. In it's own inferior way, the Wii is in a class of it's own.

Never Say Never

I remember having a conversation with a relative some months ago concerning wireless keyboards and mouses. I have from time to time considered purchasing one or the other or both, but never have for the obvious reasons that they depend on batteries. That's an expense and inconvenience I'd rather not have with any device that can single-handedly make or break a good computer setup. Could the pros of having wireless extremities such as those make it worth it? Absolutely not.

Nevertheless, while browsing through a secondhand store recently, I happened upon a small desktop keyboard with a much desired and sought-after layout similar to my IBM ThinkPad's. It even had a built in cursor mover (mouse). The only thin was, as I'm sure you've figured out by now, it was wireless. As I've said, I have long wanted a keyboard like it; small, without that god-awful numpad sticking out in butt-fucked right field. (Seriously, what purpose does the keypad have on a home PC? It's not like were checking groceries at our desktops. It's totally redundant to have two sets of numbers on the PC keyboard. And to top it all off, it throws the whole keyboard off center, which means we have to sit with our arms unnaturally to our far left anytime we need to type. It literally does not make any sense.)

Anyway, I bought the keyboard with the intention of testing whether it worked and maybe convertinging the power source to be wired instead of battery powered. It only takes two AA's, so it wouldn't be hard to wire it up to a basic AC to DC power adapter. The wireless signal I wouldn't change, the vulnerability is primarily in the power source. Anyway (again), I promptly forgot about it. Though I did make it a point to buy some batteries a few weeks later, though I could not remember for what. :">

Enter the Sony Playstation 3. For months now I have been craving a good game console and some quality game play time, so two weeks ago, I bought a PS3. (Totally fun, way awesome system!) As you may or may not be aware, the PS3, like all next gen game consoles, comes with wireless accessories, the controller for instance. The way Sony pulled this technique off, was to have the controller rechargeable via a USB cable. Ingenious! All a player has to do is plug the device in whenever it's convenient, we can even play while its charging.

If computer accessories used that approach to wireless extremities, I won't hesitate to purchase them. Especially if they didn't freeze the computer every time the power pack became too low to send signals. With the PS3, when the control doesn't function, such as when it's out of power or turned off, the PS3 system doesn't freeze. That's the ultimate hotplugger right there. Just plug it in (to charge) or turn it on, and viola, everything's fine, no hassle, no inconvenience, no messy hard-booting, and no wasted time.

Today, I found that wireless keyboard I had bought batteries for and hooked it up. I've been using this whole time while writing this blog entry. Very nice. I didn't like the little mouse thingy though, so I'm using my real mouse. It's nice to sit back and use it's symmetrical layout in my lap. Before, when I was always fumbling with an over-sized board which never sat right in my lap because of that blasted numpad... I think I'll get used to this real quick. Some buttons are in new places and some others stick, but overall, its not more than I can handle. Looks like I've got some soldering to do in the near future because, even with all the pros going for it, it still runs on batteries.

An American Guide to Law & Statute

In a recent online conversation (chat) I was involved in, the subject turned to who was actually subject to certain licensing laws. During the conversation, I decided that the facts I was presenting should also be shared on my blog. So, after editing the transcript for spelling and clarity, I offer the following. The question I'm answering could easily be "why aren't I required to license...".

Because of America's system of government. It is founded (as in the foundation of America) upon liberty, and mankind's God-given rights (as in inalienable). What you are referring to as "law" is actually a statute which was passed by a legislature whose powers and authorities only extend to matters "which concern all the members of the republic, but which are not to be attained by the separate provisions of any". They exist for two purposes, to govern the foreign entities who have been granted certain privileges in relation to America, and as a code of conduct for the members of the government itself, which is why it is often referred to as "code" (statutory code, United States code, Internal Revenue code, etc.).

Actual law in America is what a legal court decrees when a statute is tested through trial. It is situation-dependent and relies on the plaintiff's ability to prove the statute is law in each particular case. Because of this, what may be found to be "law" for one person or group of people, may not be so for any other.

The key is Liberty. The right to be free from government interference (look it up). Americans, are guaranteed liberty. Any statute written, which appears to apply to everyone, must be read in light of that fact. So, where the legislature has authority to write statutes, they do not have the right to subject American Citizens to that statute. In other words, they (statutes) only apply to people under the direct authority of the legislature; civilians and foreigners.

No, not all of us are civilians. Remember, America's government is divided into three separate parts, two parts civil (legislature, and judicial), and one part militant (executive). A civilian is a member of the civil government, officers (elected officeholders), delegates, agents, employees, and so on. Most of us (Americans) are citizens.

Furthermore, a statute cannot be enforced. Only law (judgment of the court) can be enforced. Hence the phrase "innocent until proven guilty". And even then, only by a legal law enforcement officer. As the title suggests, enforcement "officers" are duly elected individuals empowered to enforce the law (decree, warrant). Ever seen a traffic ticket? Tickets are not law either, in fact, they are just summonses to appear in court and are themselves governed by statute.

If you looked at most licensing forms and the statutes and regulations which constitute them, you will discover that they were intended only for foreigners who wish to practice certain privileges within the States of America, or government agencies that the government has decided should provide certain services (county hospital, city fire department, etc.). Remember that all statutes are written by a legislature, with limited powers and authorities, under the assumption that those who are within their jurisdiction know they are subject to the statute.

Also, when reading statutes, you have to be able to read EVERYTHING regarding the statute you're interested in. The reason is because legislatures use their own definitions for common terms and words, which is crucial to understand the statute as the legislature intended. Also, you have to cross reference other seemingly unrelated statutes.

For example, most statutes which govern licenses will have some connection to the Social Security Act. Many licenses require social security numbers (SSN), which can only be issued to foreigners and certain benefits receivers. The forms use the term "United States", which is defined in the code (statute) as the District of Columbia, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, and American Samoa. Most people, including American Citizens, would have assumed the term "United States" on the form referred to the States of America (the 50 states), and would have no problem signing under the oath of perjury that they were citizens of the "United States", when, in fact, they may never have even visited the "United States" as the term is defined in relation to that form.

Actually, statutes aren't complicated. They are well organized and straightforward and easy to understand. Definitions like the one cited above are often found in their own section labeled "definitions" for each section, subsection, or title they apply to.

It may seem far-fetched, but you don't have to take my word for it. The truth is indeed out there, and easier to find than one would first assume. If you stick to the statutes, their regulations, and the constitutions (state and federal) you'll figure it out in pretty short order. It may even appear mind-boggling that more people don't already know.

Fullscreen vs. Widescreen

I hate fullscreen movies. I do not understand why they exist. Wait a minute, first let me say that when I'm referring to "fullscreen", what I mean is full screen versions of movies that were filmed in widescreen format. Pan and scan. Movies like "Gone With the Wind" and so on that were filmed in the square format are fine, and even the newer movies filmed in 16:9 ratio are fine. But those movies that have been butchered from the director's intentions, discuss me. I cannot understand why someone would want to watch a movie where only one-third of the movie is actually visible. It just doesn't make sense to me.

How would you like to walk around and only see people from the center of one shoulder blade to the center of the other shoulder blade? Pretty freaky isn't it? So why would you want to see just the center portion of movies? I know I don't. When I pay to watch a movie, i expect to see the whole picture. Not just the center piece.

Live Free or Die Hard came out recently, and I had intended to rent it this weekend, but while I was in the video store today, I noticed it only had the fullscreen version.. I was renting the first three Die Hard movies, which were in their original format today so that I would be all caught up by Thursday when I planned to rent Live Free or Die Hard. Now, I guess I'll have to wait longer to see that one, because I am not going to pay money to see just 1/3 of the picture. An action film like that, I would never be able to tell what was happening. Or see everything the director wanted me to see.

I wish I could damn the sons of bitches who first slaughtered a movie-just so it would fill a television screen-to hell. Or perhaps chop two-thirds of them off so they could see how repulsive and useless they would be with only one-third of their bodies left.

SG-1

Stargate SG-1 was canceled this year. It ran for 10 seasons. I loved that show. In fact, I currently have my old Ati All-In-Wonder Pro card installed on my desktop computer because I don't have a television set and I wanted to watch Stargate SG-1. I even installed cable to my room just to watch Stargate on the local Fox channel (The Cable Company I have does not provide the Sci-Fi Channel). But, since Sci-Fi canceled it, Fox removed it from their lineup as well. Damn.

It is amazing; the depths I was willing to go just to see Stargate SG-1. A major reason for having DSL was so I could watch online TV and hopefully find the show. I have been unsuccessful in that endeavor as well. I have spent a lot of money on SG-1. And effort. And Time.

Enter an awesome sale at Shopko. In my weekly visit to Pocatello, I stopped by Shopko and was amazed at the price of the DVD series's. Stargate was on sale for $19.99 a season. Shopko normally sold it for about $45 a season. So, what did I do? I bought the first five seasons! :-D

I don't know how long the sale lasted, just that it ended on the 21st. I became aware of it on the 20th. Had the sale started a week earlier, and had I known about it, I would have bought the whole series. I could have afforded it anyways, but as much as I have always wanted that series more than anything else, I decided that there are more important things I NEEDed to spent my money on. :-( But, At least I got the first 5 seasons.

I had never seen the first season. So, I spent the last few days watching season 1 and 2. I love that show. It has always been my favorite show, And now I finally know how the SG-1 team and the SGC in general was started, and how/why Daniel was apart of it. I always wondered what happened in that pilot, or first episode. Now I know.

I have had a great Thanksgiving because I got to spend it watching Stargate SG-1 seasons 1 and 2 so far. :-D

Short Circuit

My desktop monitor blew-up Friday night. :-( That's the second monitor to do that to me. The first time it happened I was in Island Park, Idaho and the temperatures were reaching about 20 degrees below freezing. I made the mistake of turning the propane heat on one morning before the computer. When I finally did turn the computer on, BOOM!, the condensation caused a major short inside the monitor and sent a bunch of smoke out. This time, it was way different. While it is getting cold enough to cause some condensation when I turn my propane heater, the monitor had been on for a while. This time it shorted out on a reboot. Weird, it was second hand, and when I looked inside today, I could see that whoever owned before me had spilled some type of dark pop, like a cola or root beer in it. I think it may have fried a few parts enough to expose some wires, which finally just shorted out completely on Friday and burned a few additional component.

So, I'm back to my old stand-by, the first monitor that came with our families first ever PC. This thing was built to last! It's a Hewlwtt Packard D1182A. It came with the Hewlett Packard Vectra 386. My display has gone from 17 inch 1024×768 to 640x480 on the 14 incher. :-( But, at least I have something.

Webpage Update

As some of you may be aware, I have been having problems with the Yahoo! mail servers. I about 40% of the mail I send in never received and about 60% of the messages sent to my are never received. I've had this problem for the past several years. Anyway, since Google Mail offers free POP3 as well as Free webmail, I have decided to use Gmail as my primary e-mail account. Tonight (or this mornig :-)), I edited all the "mailto" links throughout my pages to point to my Gmail address.

If any of you tried to email me from the site, but go no response from me, try again now. :-D

You can visit my sites at:

http://waldowoc.100free.com

and

http://www.geocities.com/waldowoc

DSL At Last!

Yippy!, I can now be online unrestricted. I finally had our local DSL service activated. Before that, i was using dial-up, which wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't had to wait till after midnight to use it. We only have one line, and my grandma didn't want to miss any calls, so I would have to wait until night time before anyone could log on. Then my mom and/or little sister would get on for a few hours. I was never able to get on before midnight. I finally broke down and opted the 50 bucks a month it costs. I guess it's worth it. I tell everyone it's 'I'm a happy camper now'. :-D

What's so great about being stiff?

Well, I guess if someone ever came up with a reasonable answer to that question, we'd all be walking stiffs. Then again, maybe some of us already are. The question is, how to tell if you're a walking stiff. I remember a show about some astronauts who were in a space shuttle when the world blew up. The took an opportunity to go back in time to try stopping the event. I think that was a show where they didn't really know who were the bad guys [aliens] and who weren't. I really liked it. It was on the SciFi Channel, or Showtime, but I think it got canceled in the first season. Bummer.

Writing prompt by http://writingfix.com/dailypromptgenerator.htm.

Writing Prompts

Do cartoons have long term effects on us? I don't know whether cartoons have long-time effects on us or not. I do know that for the longest time I craved a live action Scooby Doo movie. In fact, I wanted to write the script, and did begin on at one time. As it turns out they finally did make a Scooby Doo movie, though Scooby himself is still a cartoon. My story was nothing like the one that came out, but both concepts did move the characters into a modern setting. In all, I was satisfied with the movie and it's sequel. Today, I no longer crave a live action Scooby Doo.

For a while now, I have been interested in using writing prompts for my blog. The preceding was just such a prompt from WritingFix.com. It wasn't exactly what I was looking for, but it will suffice. I hope this will help me to write blog entries more often. I won't set a goal, because I really don't have that great of an interest in keeping this blog up, especially since google got a hold of Blogger.com. It's pretty-well gone to shit since that happened. :-( Well oh.

Something else that might rekindle my interests, is that i finally got regular internet service here at the house, so I no longer have to be dependent on public access points (such as the local [socialist] library). I have DSL. When I'm online, I'll try to be logged into the usual instant messengers; Yahoo! (waldowoc), MSN (the new account uses my Yahoo! email address as the username), AIM (waldowoc), and ICQ (249301444).