Sunday, November 17, 2002
I just got back from giving my sister a ride back to school (Queens U in Kingston). Luckily Rob let us borrow his SUV so the drive was relatively safe. Anyway, on the way back I was wondering just what it was that makes Andrew WK tunes so damn catchy, and I realized what it was: the “laugh track”.
Have you ever watched a comedy from before they used laugh tracks? Notice how they often don't have the punch that modern comedies have? Well, next time you hear an Andrew WK song on the radio, listen carefully and you'll see that in every single song a cheering crowd, singing along with the music, is mixed in at a low level. Subliminal advertising! Since we tend to instinctually like things better if other people like them too.
I really love the snow! When I got back, Jon, Rob, and I went back in the fields to drive the ATV. We should probably be more careful because I'm pretty sure that if Rob is injured his mother will murder us, and if Jon gets injured, it's not like he has health insurance.
It started with just doing laps at high speed around the field (where the truck is parked in the photos above), but then we decided to try out the swamp… You can get quite a run at it, but there are giant (three or four feet high at least) bumps, so if you slide slightly or hit the ramp too fast, you're in serious trouble. I had one small wipeout (caught on tape, below), and then a more serious one. Jon also had a giant one that had him slightly airborne and on the handlebars for probably close to twenty feet before he toppled off.
The link above is a link to a video. Please note that we didn't shoot this on purpose to post or to emulate Jackass; so don't get any dumb ideas in your head (that said, if you do get a dumb idea, I'd love to see it). The swamp is very soft and wet so we knew our chances of getting seriously hurt were slim to none.
Sunday, November 17, 2002
It's snowing fairly heavily here, and it's quite cold, so I think the snow may stay… I hope not, because I'm supposed to go up to Jonny's radio show tomorrow morning — it's supposed to warm up tomorrow, but if it doesn't, I'm pretty much stranded (the Jeep still needs the top and the diff dealt with, plus it's more of a short range vehicle)… Rachel's Porsche is running summer racing tires and is most definitely not safe in this weather.
I do want to mention that I'm getting a lot more complaints lately about the various edge/hate gangs on IAM (the element of sXe that consider it some kind of universal holy quest, not most straightedge people of course). It's not going to be tolerated. If you harass someone because you've got issue with them “breaking edge”, let me give you a simple piece of advice: mind your own business, grow up, and lead your own life.
And the rampant passive homophobia on those pages isn't going to be tolerated either. You might think it's funny to call each other various gay slurs as insults, but it's not. Think of it this way: what if from now on, every time someone does something immature, people say “oh stop being such a straightedge idiot”. Obviously that would make you feel very unwelcome here, even if it was said as a joke.
You want to do it in your own home, fine, I'm not going to stop you, and there the context is clear. But it's not happening here. There's no way I'm getting tricked into paying to engender a homophobic atmosphere.
Saturday, November 16, 2002
You'll remember that I have a number of times made the argument that I think it's rather shocking that a school would expel pierced students, since it makes the statement that having piercings is so bad that a person doesn't even deserve an education. Well, quite a few people have forwarded me this story about the US army firing gay linguists, including six that were Arabic translators (who are in desperate need right now). So according to the US army, keeping gays out is more important that protecting the safety of the nation. Nice priorities. Well, when America gets a few more towers knocked over, at least the relatives of those victims will sleep soundly knowing that no “fags” protected them??? Is that what the world is coming to?
Russia has admitted to nuclear theft, including some which is full-on weapons grade (most was just enriched uranium fuel, great for dirty bombs). Odds are it's Chechnyan rebels that have it, but you never know — the last batch of stolen uranium they retrieved showed up in Mafia hands in Italy. So it really could be anywhere… Maybe it's even in your city. I don't say that to scare, but I should point something out. In Florida (hurricane central), something like one in five households follow the Red Cross instructions to have a three-day “grab and dash” pack, so aid in emergencies is drastically strained. I'm not saying build a bomb shelter, but people should know what to do in emergencies and be at least a little prepared.
I do recommend reading Pat Buchanan's column in USA Today as well as his column in the American Conservative. I think we all know that I disagree intensely when it comes to most things, especially religion and immigration policy, but his general common-sense-liberty arguments are very solid. (Although his comment that the US made “great gains” in the war of 1812 shows a profound lack of understanding of certain elements of history — but I do understand that it was at least a war with the intent of directly benefitting America, which I think was his point).
Personally I think America should just start flying the Gadsen flag and walk away from this lunacy.
Friday, November 15, 2002
I just checked my Amazon.com wishlist, and I clicked on the “see purchased items list”. First, I got “Indian Vegetarian Cooking at Your House” today in the mail — it looks awesome, so thank you to whoever sent it. Every cook book I have from that publisher is top-notch.
Anyway, according to Amazon I have received all of the following stuff. I have not received ANY of it, even though they claim I have, so if you are the person who sent them (thank you), please do complain to Amazon so we can get it straightened out. My mail is forwarding to me just fine, and I've been receiving new packages, but none of the following got here:
- Woodstock – 3 Days of Peace & Music (The Director's Cut)
- World Hunger: Twelve Myths
- Popol Vuh: The Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life
- Forever Changes [2001 Deluxe Edition]
- 20,000 Secrets of Tea: The Most Effective Ways to Benefit from Nature's Healing Herbs
- The Illustrated Story of Copyright
- Resurrection: Myth or Reality?: A Bishop's Search for the Origins of Christianity
- Men Among the Ruins: Post-War Reflections of a Radical Traditionalist
I'm really sorry — I don't know why these didn't get to me… And I was really looking forward to those (the only reason I found out about this is that I was going to buy one of the books on the list and I wanted to make sure no one had sent it).
PS. Amazon does have my new (Tweed) address on file, so any current stuff should be getting sent there without any difficulty. I have no reason to believe there are problems with my mail… I'll try and call the post office in Dragon City tomorrow on the off chance they're holding some of my Toronto mail.
Friday, November 15, 2002
I'm working on a year-end megapoll that'll generate some very useful demographics about the IAM community — I want to pass the media some good information about us for a change… I do admit that using IAM as a sample set is a little misleading though. Because of IAM's membership/screening process, as well as the main site's philosophies, I think that the user base here is probably smarter and better off in general than other sites. Nothing wrong with that though! Show your best face, right?
BTW, when I do finally post that, I'll also post the full source code to the polling module so anyone who's concerned can see that I'm collecting it in a way that strips identifying information (since it will ask some very personal questions).
While working on that I was going through old polls and old emails (including funmails). The image on the right, a traditional Ganesh tattoo (a very peaceful Hindu tattoo made with Hindi script), was the cover on September 18th, 2001. I received about 90 posts from people telling me that they felt it was inappropriate for me to post such an image “given the horrible attacks that had just occurred”. (Since we all know that 9/11 was committed by the Hindus, right?)
At about that same time I was talking to some biker “affiliates” of mine and they told me they were going to take a break from doing “civilian patrols” of the Claringon nuclear plant (they'd gotten in some trouble for getting spooked and shooting someone's dog) to go bomb the Sikh temple… I tried to explain to them the difference between Sikhs and Muslim radicals, but they didn't understand it. Luckily I think they got drunk enough that they didn't bother.
I was also going through my old polls, and earlier this year I did a poll that said something like “given Canada's support of terrorist nations and large ethic populations, should the US launch a military invasion?”. A full third of respondents took the poll seriously and would support an invasion of some sort… I don't know, but to me that's pretty shocking… Does that mean that the general population can be convinced to do anything?
On a totally separate note, I just realized that I need to add something else to my iam.to-do list — I have been putting off finishing iam.crush for something like a year now. Definitely needs to be done!
It is just as difficult and dangerous to try to free a people that wants to remain servile as it is to enslave a people that wants to remain free.
- Niccolo Machiavelli
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Whoever lays a hand on me to govern is a usurper and a tyrant, and I declare him my enemy.
- P.J. Proudhon
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