Friday, December 19, 2008

Education Platform: Reform Education Posthaste!

I have some links. Google better not block them, as I will be angry.

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS148013+27-Jun-2008+PRN20080627
[Link to Article @ Reuters]

Newscaster Assumes Government Responsibility
Government at Fault - Government NEVER Solves the Problems THEY Cause

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2008/2008016.pdf
[PDF Publication on Lack of American Education]

Government Admits THEY are to Blame - Presumably so they can be Re-elected to "Solve" the problems THEY Caused

http://www.strongamericanschools.org/american-education-standards
[Example Platform for American Reform]

The Platform Most Likely Assumes that Government will Mediate or Dictate Curricular Standard (Which is Why We are so Ignorant in the First Place!!!)

It is very important to PRIVATIZE EDUCATION!!!

If we do, WE CHOOSE the school, WE CHOOSE WHEN, WHERE, HOW, and WHY we send our children to school.

To solve this problem, and please be patient, we must:
  1. Abolish every law concerning Education (period)
  2. Abolish Mandatory Education, Public School, the Board of Education, etc.
  3. Abolish all Requirements Regarding Education Whatsoever.
When you do this, the Free Market (http://blog.mises.org/) will take over, meaning that the Employers, Colleges and Universities will then Dictate REASONABLE AND PRACTICAL means to accredit learning and acheivement.

This means that All primary, secondary, and tertiary schools will regulate themselves according to what will provide their students the most profitable careers possible.

The fact that this boom in private schools, the subsequent revolutionary techniques, technology, and teaching practices that have been suppressed by circumstances under the Government's involvement and interference will provide opportunities for students, teachers, instructors, educators, teachers, researchers, and many other industries that depend on education like that never before seen in the history of the United States.

I promise you, that if this process that I will publish is not corrupted and undermined by the political crooks responsible for our current crisis, you will see America Soar to the Top 5 in 10 Years (or less).

In my next post I will provide a copy of the Sample Platform.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Link List

Starter Sources:

(Great Articles on Economics)

(More Articles on Economics)

Particular Articles of Note:

("Liberated Money Printing" -- Free Market + Strong Dollar)

(Small, Powerful Book on REAL Economics)
(Every High School Economics Class Should Issue This Book!)

("Time, not Poison" -- Pork Barrel + Weak Dollar)

Strong Dollar vs Weak Dollar

I wish I was more knowledgeable on this subject as it is something that everyone needs to learn.

I will do my best to present to the best of capacity.

Okay, the deal with the Weak Dollar.

There have been Presidents in the past that have followed a Weak Dollar Policy.

Some of them have been popular, for some reason. Why? Short-term boosts in the economy.

What happens right after? Recessions, the Great Depression, and our faltering Economy now.

These are the things that I know and believe to be true:

First: The "Market" is an Expression of Mother Nature working in the Economy (Nature of Economics)

Second: The Market, by definition, cannot fail, only decisions on the part of individuals.

Third: The Market is not the problem, "Stimulus" "Bailout" and "Pork Barrel" Packages, and the "Weak Dollar" are the problem.

See: Stimulus, Bailout, and Pork Barrel Packages

Fourth: Having caused the problem, the politicians now vie to "solve" (delay) the problem, making it worse later (putting a band-aid on malignant melanoma).

See: Weak Dollar and Inflation

Fifth: Politicians who do the right thing usually get burned.

Sixth: Politicians love printing tons of new money, causing the value of money to plummet, and thus prices to skyrocket

See: Weak Dollar and Inflation

-- If You Disagree, there are resources to back this up. In my next post, I will provide additional reading.

Seventh: The Two Party System is entrenched, and cannot be easily broken, thus third parties are viewed as "wasting votes" or "throwing your vote away," and cannot easily gain power on their own.

Eighth: The Libertarian Party, the Constitutional Party, the Green Party, and the Reform Party would be very powerful together, but would probably squabble over irrelevant details of implementation and get nothing done, wasting time better spent.

Ninth: The Best Method seems to be, at current reckoning, to form a new party (I would call it the Fox Party for various reasons (despite the ridiculousness about Satan-Fox Superstition, or perhaps because of it...), and use this Party as a Meta-Party

This New Meta Party Runs as Third Party Candidates, and represents their cause,
and then, as Third Party Candidates, Runs as Republican/Democratic Party Candidates, representing their interests as well.
(Because, as you learned in class, the President represents the entire nation
- or is supposed to, anyway.)

I will write further on this subject in later posts.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Linux-related Article in Review - Sun Defends Open Source

How Will Companies Ever Make Money Off Open-Source?
— The question 'How will Sun ever make money off giving so much source-code to open source' - as it did in 2000 with OpenOffice.org, has most recently with Project Looking Glass and is about to again with Solaris - is the wrong one, argues Sun's Simon Phipps. 'It's a good question,' he says, but at its heart - he argues - 'lies a misunderstanding about the nature of open source software, and once that's cleared up everything falls into place much more easily.'


Sun Microsystems does a good job at relating how the open source model benefits all, including itself, by adopting an open source business model. BTW, you can find a neat Open Source version of their Unix-like operating system called Solaris at http://www.opensolaris.org/

Bottom line? I give it a 4/5 rating.

Friday, September 19, 2008

The Smartest Thing Linux and FOSS have Ever Done:

There are two efforts that have been working hard on freeing the desktop, but because the Open Source community tends to get set in its thinking like everybody else, we have lost sight of our true goal, and have been picking over more irrelevant details.

This post is going to be more substantial than some others, as this is serious. The Open Source community should not close their eyes to an excellent way to provide a clear and obvious path for average desktop users to upgrade from their current platform, to one that suits them better. In many cases, this would be Linux, but for those cases where it is not, all we can do is change it.

Introduction:

The best way to ensure that everyone has access to superior technology and innovation, and a culture blending the best of old and new, is to abstract the user's platform market share and technologies for development.

By this, I mean that third-party software developers that would usually develop software only for the dominant platform, or more rarely, the top two, should have the freedom of option to make use of current best technology.

Let me break it down further. If software developers could choose which middleware technologies and application frameworks to use, and were informed in their decision, they would probably choose those development practices and technologies found in the Open Source community.

The reason that they develop only for the top one or two according to market share, is simple:

Here is the current choice:

Spend $5 mil developing using crappy Windows dev tools for 90%+ of the desktop market,
Spend $5 mil developing using great Mac OS X dev tools for ~10% of the desktop market,
Spend $10 mil developing using both crappy Windows and Mac OS X dev tools for ~99% of the desktop market by developing the project twice, or
Spend $5 mil developing using excellent, if arcane, *NIX dev tools for >1% of the desktop market

As you can see, most people will develop for the top, or perhaps the top two despite the fact that the technology associated with 2nd and 3rd platforms are superior!

This, of course, spells disaster for Linux and Open source in general, because we will have to develop everything ourselves, without significantly attracting new users.

Open Source developers' time is at a premium, and there are not enough to go around.

Linux and other Open Source projects are too good to abandon to this situation, but there is a solution!

KDE and Java!

For many applications, you can develop much more easily in Java than in C++. This is true in more and more cases everywhere.

Sun Microsystems is making one of the smartest moves in their history, and Open Sourcing Their Implementation of Java, which would allow Open Source developers to write GPL and LGPL code in Java easily, allowing the use of Open Source Java applications over any platform.

However, even though Java is an excellent platform to develop for, they have a stigma associated with more slowly interpreted bytecode and other problems that are not there in most cases that do not involve extreme accelerated-3D or anything hardware-related.

In cases where it is the tools, utilities, and middleware (ie, widgit toolkits, window controls, multimedia frameworks, and other software-based platform dependancies), this is easily solved!

KDE made waves by breaking away from uselessly idealistic Open Source thinking, and did one of the smartest things anyone I've seen in the Open Source community do: Cross Platform KDE!

Now that KDE supports Windows and Mac OS X, there is no real reason anyone has to choose between platforms, and be forced to make a practical decision: to develop for Windows using crappy development tools and utilities. If Java were not not enough to show everyone how making Open Source platforms cross platform will break Windows lock-in and monopoly, this will!

By Making one of the best Open Source bundles of joy Cross Platform, what do you think will happen?

Some people think that simply because people using Windows who get access to excellent Open Source applications and software, will decide, "Oh, I can get these really cool apps on Windows, what the hell do I need Linux for?"

If this were true, it would only be so for the short term.

The longer term implications of cross platforming our best kick-ass apps are this:

If people on Windows chose between free kick-ass Amarok, my absolute favorite music player of all time, and some dumb alternative that only exists on Windows, what do you think I'd pick? Even if I had never seen or heard of Amarok before, and someone gave me a CD with KDE on it? I'd choose Amarok!

Other people will too!

This will be the same for every kick-ass app that is cross-platformed!

Many apps you can only get on Linux are vastly superior to paid-for Windows-only equivelents!

However, they choose Windows because databases, various documents, and other things they have been investing time and money into are Windows-only!

In addition to this, nobody older than 24 wants to try something completely new and different, while abandoning what they already have!

The solution?

Cross platform the best we have, and introduce them to the old-timers!

Slowly getting them used to what we have to offer, without throwing them into the river to sonk or swim, is the answer!

Once people realize that they do not need to pay for Windows, or tolerate it's bullcrap to make use of these excellent apps, they'll probably ditch it! and what will they download, and start investing time and capital into?

Linux! Open Source projects will see a slow, powerful tide of new, capable, and willing developers contributing code!

Third-party vendors will write cross platform apps for KDE 4, and include the base libraries on CD!

Peoples' dependance on tolerating Windows bullcrap will lessen, and lessen, and Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, and other *NIX platforms will start getting more notice by hardware developers!

This benefits everyone! Why must people fight it?

My verdict?

Cross platform everything possible, and show people they don't need Windows to get awsome stuff!

I can't wait to download KDE 4 and learn how to develop apps for it.

Now that this has developed, I know I don't need to learn how to develop for Windows.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

FreeBSD Home Gateway Experiment

I intend to experiment with my home gateway - or the older computer I'm going to turn into one - and load FreeBSD on it. Now I'm going to say here and now that I'm a complete noob when it comes to FreeBSD. I only have a little Ubuntu exposure as my pitiful excuse of *nix experience, but what better time to start, eh?

Anyway, I intend to install and configure FreeBSD for these purposes:
  • Firewall
  • NAT Gateway
  • Router
  • IPv6 Tunnel Endpoint
  • DHCP/DNS Server
  • HTTP/FTP/SOCKS Proxy
  • Etc.
I will attempt to document my progress, and the results of my foray into the world of FreeBSD, and allow others to enjoy it as I did.

Springing into New Classes

I am now a student of "Introduction to Scripting" (involving mostly .bat and .wsh scripting, meaning windows shell scripting, which is so limited and underdeveloped, it's a joke), and "Motivation and Leadership" (a class that discusses internal office politics and corporate culture - which makes me think of a petri dish on a polished mahogany office desk in a skyscraper. some interesting topics are discussed in both, however, and I like and respect both professors.)

I am doing okay, so far, and I will post an update later.

I am doing a little roughly overall, though, and need to improve my CGPA and such, so that this so-called university doesn't take my money and run with it.

Saturday, April 5, 2008

Getting Serious about Playfulness

After the date, and after doing an overnight marathon of anime via YouTube, I came to think about how I'm really not that old, even though I'm physically 20.

I might be called smart, but the majority of my psyche, if I'm using this word correctly, is below this age considerably. I guesstimate that I am an average of 16, mentally speaking.

Thus, if I am going to think anywhere in the direction of dating, I need to find another big kid.

It cannot be a mature adult, because I would not appeal to her, and obviously a high-schooler as a companion would be too weird. So, a similar case to myself would be ideal.

What I propose is this: I will seek friends (with the possibility of something more) that are 18-24 years of age, smart, but have the mental and emotional age of a high-schooler, like myself. I plan on a long friendship, and if things go well, perhaps is will blossom into a more meaningful thing.

That said, those who are aware of this proposal need to know more about me. Obviously, I should not reveal things like my exact location and other more personal data to the general audience, because that would be begging for disaster, but I can give a bio, sure.

I am male (duh.), 20 years of age, have a winter color scheme going (meaning I have dark hair, and light tan skin, which means I look good in bright red, blues, violets, all shades of grey, and other cool colors, but look horrible in yellow and orange, or green with any yellow in it), am sort of geeky in personality, am fairly handsome, but not really a head-turner, I think.

I like blueberries, computers, GNU/Linux, some Japanese anime especially the cute (as in adorable) kind, although I like Naruto, Bleach and Fullmetal Alchemist as well, gardening (especially veggies, perennials, vines such as grape, jasmine, passion vine and especially wisteria, I also like model trains (N-scale, as OH-scale is too big for me), eating with chopsticks, learning new cultures and languages (although I do not have that kind of time usually, I may try to learn either Chinese or Japanese, perhaps Japanese, since that is a big business language, and I would not need to have english subtitles anymore, and also because the Japanese seem to want us to learn their language as a people, as so would not be against my learning, I would guess.) I also like to cook, though I have little opportunity, time and skill. I like hanging out with my friends, and listening to classical, soft rock and tokyo-pop (I think that is what it's called?) music. I really like the smells of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, hickery wood smoke on Wintery air, the smell in the morning after a overnight rain, and the smell of certain books, like large 10-year-old dictionaries.

I like to laugh, am very carefree most of the time, and try to be a lot of fun (I think I usually succeed, since I have a lot of friends. I come across as weird sometimes, and sometimes I do this intentionally, just to be ornery, and I try to live life and enjoy it while it lasts. That is part of my philosophy as well.

I like camp fires, fireworks, incense, holiday/Christmas lights, LEDs, flares, lighting bugs, cobalt blue glass, prisms, lenses, fiber optics, variable-opacity window panes, glow-in-the-dark things (as long as they aren't el cheapo) and all sorts of things related to the production of light.

My favorite color is cobalt blue (or blue-blue-violet), an intense, thoughtful, beautiful color, followed by silver and black, followed by bright flag red.

My favorite foods are English clam chowder, Papa John's Pizza's "the works, regular" pizza, my mom's banana nut bread the way she used to make them, maraschino cherries, blueberry and pomegranate Italian spritzer from Whole Foods Market, chocolate-chip cookie dough ice cream, berries and granola parfait, flavored yogurt, granola breakfast cereal. Whole Food Market's organic root beer (it's much better tasting than A&W, which is my favorite regular root beer, but slightly more expensive, so moderation is required at present). I also love certain pastas, and my mom's "sketti" (spaghetti and meat sauce) is so good, it should be marketted commercially. I love garlic and onions, so the vamps out there should watch out. I also like potatoes, whether deep fried as french fries, tater tots, or potatoe chips (or crisps as the English would call them), mashed, skillet fried, or au gratin. That must be the Irish in me. I love blueberries in any reasonable form, and blueberry yogurt is great.

I love key lime pie, lemon merangue pie, blueberry cheesecake (or shortcake), and chocolate pudding pie. I love real pumpkin pie, and I like pecan pie, as well.

My favorite kind of weather is in the morning after a Spring overnight rain, where it's about 65 degrees F, with a slight breeze, bright and sunny, with a fairly high humidity. I love walking about looking at all of the raindrops on the grass and foliage, with the sunlight sparkling off of it all.

My favorite song changes, but right now it's the earlier theme song to "Negima!" (even though it's called an ecchi-type anime, the ecchi actually takes away from its appeal. I ignore those elements, and even look away from the screen at times, even though the majority of it is quite cute. I might be a guy, but even I agree there is too much bloodshed, gore and hatred in this world of ours. I appreciate the finer things, like innocence, beauty, cuteness, colors, and light, as well as education, books/literature, music, art, and such. Read my dislikes on the subject of seriously "macho" behaviors).

Some basic information about my past: I went to school at Klein Oak High School, in Spring, Texas, USA, and I did well at the TAKS test (Commended Performance in Science, missing only one problem, and History of all subjects), as well as the SAT (I was below average in Math, very high in Critical Reading, and low in Essay Writing). I took AP Computer Science, which was surprisingly easy, content-wise, but very fast paced, I think I did okay in it, but am currently unsure. I am doing so-so in college, and am planning to transfer to Brookhaven College, in Dallas.

I cannot tell you my current location, because there are people who would misuse that information. (Jerks!)

Also, I have had a troubled childhood, but I'm cool with it, and try not to let it bother me. A few leftover problems is that I am nervous when placed in certain weird situations, but during normal social situations, I'm fine.

I already have a friend that I'm dating, but as neither of us confirms or denies that we are boyfriend/girlfriend, I have to assume we are just friends, and that nothing more will come from it. I will keep my audience informed if it does go farther, so as to cancel this offer. We only went on one "date," but does that mean anything. I do not know, so I have to keep looking.

I am probably going to start a job soon working in a supermarket or theatre, but since I'm not working now, I have limited funds to use during dates. That will change, hopefully. I need to be more independent.

Thinks that I do not like: I do not like unnecessary dishonesty, disloyalty, hypocrisy (including expecting of others what one does not expect of oneself - this includes me, I do not expect of others what I do not expect of myself - whenever I break this moral code myself, I get really pissed off at myself. The self-punishment is severe). I also dislike unnecessary rules and regulations, or those that are unreasonable or make no sense. I dislike unnecessary secrecy, especially that that causes harm and misunderstanding. I dislike bigotry and unreasonable hatred, but also dislike harmful labeling and hate-mongering. I dislike the more powerful praying on the weak, but also dislike the weak taking help and respite for granted. I dislike freeloading, but cannot argue this point due to the fact that I have have no job and live with my mom. That will change in time when I become more responsible for myself. We are working on this problem now.

There are various things I want to do someday: learn Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, and perhaps Gaelic, just for the fun of it. I'm currently learning how to play the piano, but I really need to practice more often. Usually I just play, when I'm supposed to do specific exercises. I need to work on that. I'm attempting to compose a piece, but I should really learn theory, first.

I want to vacation at Tokyo someday, perhaps on a honeymoon or something (although any wife I might choose would make that choice, and if she should wish to delegate some of that decision, that would also be her choice. If she wanted to go to Paris, Hawaii, or even Hong Kong, that would be just fine.

I want to have a house with a huge backyard, so that I can have an elaborate garden, with veggies, flowers, a gazebo with vines all over it, a patio with an arbor over it, a quiet meditation spot, with statuary that would also hold incense. I plan on having a large household with many children, and seeing them through college, and having all of the things I never had, like a good childhood, with many friends at school, and a decent education. I hope for a wife that will be understanding while keeping me in line, and a career in either computers, horticulture, or both.

I may even start a business, like a garden nursery or Open Source computer shop.

Currently my goals are to complete a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering, but am contemplating other options, like pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Horticulture, instead. I am keeping that option open, but am serious about obtaining a Bachelor's in something I like to do.

I plan on remembering how it is to be a child, and to keep my inner child alive, so that when and if I have children, I can relate to them more easily, and therefore take better care of them.

I love dogs, cats, ferrets, pet rats, and parrots, and I'm usually good with animals and kids.

Almost all of the time, even with dogs that have a reputation of biting, dogs love me. Cats, unless they have a semi-feral or shy nature, don't mind my presence.

I have no known allergies.

Physical data:

I am tall and pretty thin (I am 190.5 cm [or 6'3"] tall, and I weigh 78 kg [or 172 pounds]), although now that i'm 20, I am gaining muscle.

I am very fast, and have long legs. I can jump pretty high, and should have been in track and field in high school, though curcumstances would not allow.

I have dark hair, with a grayish-brown sheen in the sunlight.

I have hazel eyes, and have had them described as "gunmetal gray with gold flecks." My eyes are one of the things I like most about my appearance.

I have a somewhat squarish jawline, somewhat like an acorn (i'm not really sure how to describe such a thing.)

I have an aqualine nose, full lips, and braces (I'm hoping those will come off soon!)

I am very expressive, and one can always tell what I'm feeling by looking at me.

Mental data:

I am somewhat disjointed in thought, and can jump from one idea to another in a moment's notice. I am very original and creative, and like to improve on other's ideas, to make them my own, but I can come up with completey original ideas as well. I can draw fairly well, and I can sing and am not afraid to, although I'm usually somewhat off key (probably because I'm trying to sing full chords, which is impossible with only one voice. One can always tell if I'm in a good mood if I'm humming or singing wordless songs. When I'm singing nonsense songs that I'm making up on the spot, that means I'm hyper, and that I'm in a very good mood. If I'm very quiet, I'm probably sleepy, slightly depressed, or both, but this is rare. I'm usually talking or working on something, usually on my laptop computer. I have a tendancy to talk a lot, and about many things, and I sometimes rant about things I think I know something about. I am told I'm funny, and I supppose I am, but I only hear this from my friends, so that may be bias speaking.

Anyway, I guess that's enough for now. Bye!

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

I've Got a Date!

I never suspected it would happen, but as we were playing a game of Free Word Association over the AIM chat network, it developed into a fairly deep discussion of weighty matters, and finally into arrangements for a date.

Wow.

The woman in question is a fine Black woman, well endowed, with above average intellect, and a well proportioned face.

She is also very sweet, funny, fun to talk to, aware of the ways of the world, and seems interested in me.

See has pretty eyes, the color of 70% cocoa bittersweet dark chocolate, and has very endearing mannerisms.

I have plans to take her to Genghis Grill, Interskate, and then La Madelaine. I hope she won't be disappointed.

I am perfectly willing to spend my own money for this, and will require only transportation from Mom.

It is currently scheduled for Friday, 6 PM to 9 PM, but is flexible. I will have to check with Mom before committing to this, as she needs to be free to transport me.

I'm very excited, as this is my first date since my high school Prom, and the lady, Rachel, is quite something!

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

My Pseudo-Domain

http://q2c2gmwf2naf4k6h.onion/

For family and friends only:

See if you can access this resource. What does the message given say?

You can have a similar setup as well, everybody can. Although it isn't pretty, because no publicly-accessible IP address is needed, neither is a real domain name, you can use Tor's built-in Domain Name-like system to identify resources on the Internet.

I wonder how to get HTTPS/SSL to work?

The Joys of Tor: Experimental Freedom

I have been tinkering with a lot of different technologies lately on my quest for Internet freedom, and one of these technologies, an Open Source one caught my eye in particular.

I doubt the government has any love for Tor, the Onion Router, as it provides fairly great anonymity for free, although it does have it's ups and downs.

It is an excellent project, as advanced experimental software goes, and you may download it here.

First of all, they call it the Onion Router because of how it works (and it usually does), basically be enabling the client to connect to a client, which acts as either a SOCK4a or SOCKS5 proxy which encrypts traffic in multiple layers of SSL/TLS (Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security), which in turn connects to a daisy-chain of "relays," servers which accept encrypted connections, and each of form an SSL tunnel endpoint for each layer, thus the name "Onion Router," as each Relay "peels off" a layer of encryption, until at the Exit Node, the traffic is returned to the state it was in (in reality, if the Tor Client it reachable over a LAN, logically if it is only running on your Localhost (meaning the same computer).

It was a breeze to set up Vidalia on M$ Windows, and the next step is to carefully regulate how applications and any plug-ins access the Internet.

When you want to be in stealth mode, you want to actually be in Stealth Mode.

So, First of all, use Firefox and Pidgin, and don't use Java, Javascript, or Flash unless you have to (disable them, via <about:plugins>. You may selectively filter Java, Flash and Javascript access-control-list-style by obtaining Noscript, oh, and use Cookie Culler to manage cookies (I need to investigate this, so I can't tell you how good it is, though Noscript is great, I use it all of the time, but remember that it uses an implicit Deny, so if it is unfamiliar with the domain name, it will Deny its access to your Javascript engine), so you don't have to disable cookies outright, or keep purging them all.

I Will keep you posted on my forays in this, as this is such a fascinating thing.

Did I mention Hidden Services though Tor, which means endless possibilities to server hosting behind Firewalls, overzealous ISPs, censored computers, organizations, schools, even countries!

Not that I'm going to do anything naughty.... ;)

Web servers under Hidden Services is only the beginning, you may host chat servers, game servers, mail servers (although SMTP is usually blocked because of the greedy spammers sending junk email to everybody anonymously, so anti-abuse measures were taken to prevent spam flooding the network.

You can host just about any TCP-based network service you can think of over Tor, just remember that heavy traffic is considered impolite, so you may want to justify something extreme by hosting a Relay, or even an Exit Node offsite somewhere, which would mollify anyone's complaints. Most people do run this stuff for you and everybody on their own time, money, bandwidth, and risk, so please give the volunteers some respect, okay?

Thanks.

Anyway, see you.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

New Class Schedule

ENGL 135H: "Honors Advanced Composition" professed by Anne Gervasi
Room 202 Friday 8 AM - 11:50 AM


NETW206: "Introduction to Switching w/ Lab" professed by Kenneth Chipps
Room 261 Thursday 6 PM - 9:50 PM



These classes will officially start this Monday, though classwork will probably not be expected to start until I walk into the classroom in reality.

The online component of the classwork is now active, however, and I have begun work in the "Threaded Discussions" (forum-style discussion prompted/seeded by the professor).

Why I'm Evil: A Rebel Just Because

Alex's Ruminations on the Nature of Evil: an Exercise of Faith

I ask that everybody ask him- or herself one seemingly simple question.

Do I choose to be “Good,” or do I choose to be “Evil”?

Most of you would immediately, and without question answer to him- or herself "Good!" as loud as the inside of you mind can handle.

However, before I lose you to your busy schedule and the influence of the true evils in your world, ask yourself:

What is Good?

What is Evil?

I propose an exercise of the mind that won't take much of your time. Take a seat, get comfortable, and let's get in a pondering mood.

My suggestion for getting the most out of this is to take each line in the below comparisons one at a time, and consider the implications of each on its own

merit, as well as all together as a whole.

Yes, I realize that I might make make some assumptions that may be invalid, but the whole point of this exercise is to open your mind to think for yourself

on each idea's own merit.

Let us compare the two by what we all are led to believe.

Good vs Evil
Light vs Dark
Order vs Chaos
White vs Black
The Known vs The Unknown
The Commonplace vs The Rare
The Watched vs The Unwatched
The Governed vs The Unregulated
The Policed vs Those Left Alone
Tame vs Wild
Push vs Pull
Fear vs Respect
Emotion vs Logic
Fast Food vs Whole/Natural/Organic Food
Megacorporations vs Family-Owned Businesses
Agribusiness vs Family Farms
Licensed and Proprietary vs Open Source
Centralized vs Peer-2-Peer and/or Distributed
Closed vs Open
The Few in Power vs The Many in Power
Men in Power vs Men and Women on Equal Ground
Pharmaceuticals vs Herb and Other Ancient Lore
Organized Religion vs Independent Spiritual Growth
Groupthink vs Individual Thinking
The Borg vs Capitan Picard
Sociopolitical Machines vs Independent Thinking
Unthinking Party Line vs Thinking Before You Vote (And Vote)
Mainstream Media vs Independent Newspapers
Spoon-Fed Media vs The Internet
Dictatorship vs Democracy
Told What to Do vs Given Advice and a Choice
Government-Run vs Community-Run
Mandatory vs Elective
Being Drugged vs Being Clear-Minded
Monotony vs Variety
Hate vs Understanding
Efficiency vs Quality
Being Brainwashed vs Doing Your Own Thinking
Being Blinded vs Being Long-Sighted
Being Muted vs Being Free to Speak
Being Trapped vs Being Free to Walk
Being Labeled vs Being Self-Defined
Being Enslaved vs Being Free

After these ruminations, I have to say that appearances really are deceiving after all. But all one has to do is take a second look to see the second side of things.

After this, do you really want to be "Good?"

What will your fate be?

Monday, February 25, 2008

Update: New Classes, New Plan

New Educational Plan:

I'm going to switch from BS - Network and Communications Management at DeVry University, to AS - Network Systems Administration at DeVry.

All of my classes will transfer, so no wasted overpriced classes, and I'm already halfway through it.

When and if I graduate from that abominable facility, I will transfer to Brookhaven College, on my way to a BS at University of Texas at Dallas.

I can't believe I let Carl persuade me to sign up at DeVry.

Never, ever, sign up at DeVry. They are overpriced and incompetent. They are a useless school, and they have a largely unreasonable staff. They act like they are picky, but they do not know how to educate, nor to work with students. The only thing that keeps them afloat is fresh meat, and I don't recommend anyone ruining their life accruing a debt over these idiots. No-one is going anywhere with a "degree" from these people.

Personal Rant:

I have now developed a slight disgust and healthy fear of my step-grandfather Carl. I will not be around him and his deleterious influence if I can help it.

He apparently knows this, as he has threatened to break down our door if we don't let him in whether to rearrange our own furniture for us, in our own apartment, which we have already arranged just the way we like it, or to make sure we didn't throw away a piece of garbage he dragged out of the closest cesspool.

Mom might be, but I am not afraid to call the cops and get a restraining order for the sicko.

He might think so, but offering me cookies and similar items does not make up for striking me on my head, chest or back. He has a history of this, now. I have lost count of the times he has done this for no discernible reason.

Either he is going far over the cliff pas the hill, or was nutty to begin with.

He was the reason we left the apartment to begin with. Neither my mother nor I could life in such a stifling and deleterious environment. You had to always watch the meats, and if you got sick with the squirts, it couldn't possibly be his fault, no, it was the restaurants we ate at, if not that, we weren't getting enough sleep, if not that, then we weren't washing out hands right. Never his precious cooking. We may know how to cook, but he selected to oldest, cheapest, on the bottom of the super-duper-pay-pennies-on-the-dollar bargain bin meats and other dubiously food-like substances he discovered in dusty corners of Walmart.

I'm willing to give up a lot to eat right.

I'm willing to pay more, and eat less. I'm willing to regulate my eating habits as a matter of course. I'm willing to cook my own foods every week at least.

All I have to do now, is convince Mom of the fact, and to also convince her that I'm not saying this because I'm not paying for actual food just yet.

There is a reason blueberries, pomegranates, baby spinach and garlic are so expensive: They actually make you healthy, just as there is a reason McDonalds "food" is nearly free: It does the opposite.

I have a new group to allow me to "push" information to you.

If you would like intermittent information from me that I deem important (things I think you would want to know) and know me from somewhere, please feel free to join my Group:






Google Groups

Alex Net

Visit this group


If the above device does not work, a direct link is here.

Well, that's it for now.

I'm going to "Torify" (implement Tor on) my friend's computer. (He's paranoid, and for good reason, what with all of the senseless wiretapping the government is doing)

This won't help much, but he will appreciate it nonetheless.

Bye.

Monday, January 14, 2008

When the Goin' Gets Rough, Sign Up for Gmail!

Richard Lance Christie, I tried sending an email to you, and it bounced back saying your mailbox is full.

We really have to do something about that.

I recommend Gmail, you get loads of space, cost is not a worry, the ads are actually pleasant and useful, and best of all, it's easy to learn how to use.

Sign up here.

According to Gmail's homepage:

"
Welcome to Gmail - A Google approach to email.

Gmail is a new kind of webmail, built on the idea that email can be more intuitive, efficient, and useful. And maybe even fun. After all, Gmail has:

> Less spam - Keep unwanted messages out of your inbox with Google's innovative technology

> Mobile access - Read Gmail on your mobile phone by pointing your phone's web browser to http://gmail.com/app. Learn more

> Lots of space - Over 2757.272164 megabytes (and counting) of free storage so you'll never need to delete another message.

©2008 Google
"

Use the address. Chat with me using GTalk as a network, and Pidgin as the client.

That way we'll never have to be cut off like this again. Okay?

I'm going to try your atl at frontiernet dot net email tomorrow, and if are still not there, I'll try the next day, and so on.

When you visited, you turned out to be everything I hoped you would.

Thank you for visiting. You did a lot of good when you did.

More than I imagined possible. I wouldn't be surprised if Goddess decided to straighten my family situation out using you directly as a cat's paw.