Jopsy's JOurnal of PSYchotic ramblings...

Summer Issues

2008-06-24T14:08:00.000-07:00

Haven't had much to say lately. Things are serene and satisfactory, personally, though I'm a bit sad that George Carlin is no longer with us.

I recently heard a quip, I forget where: "If God opposes gay marriage so much... why is the mid-west being punished instead of California?" (referring to the flooding).

I'm sure there are those that will think that it was their job to stop California.

I'm still somewhat befuddled by the nay-sayers, those defense of marriage, 'one man one woman' types.

Why is it they fail to understand that Gay marriage is quite simply None of Their Business.

Whom I trust, whom I confide in, whom I sleep with, whom I love... whom I CHOOSE to build a life with (or not)... is no one's business but my own (and whomever might be directly involved.)

If that partnership resembles a lifelong loving commitment which government and religions normally refer to and treat as 'marriage' ... then it would be dishonest and deceptive to call it anything else... regardless of the personal arrangements of fleshy bits.

The possibility to produce offspring 'naturally' is not a requirement for 'marriage'... if it is, then the marriages of infertile couples should be annulled... and no woman past menopause should be allowed to marry.

"The Bible Says..." ... many other things that modern society flat out chooses to ignore as irrelevently outdated. But people still look for those loopholes that allow them to exploit other humans under their God's laws. Salome Witches... Canaanites... Heretics... Muslims... anytime grabby greedy people get ambitious they use religion to empower their faithful... and prey upon the 'outsiders'. How 'Christian'.

So... two men are seen holding hands walking down the street, and some five year old child will ask why. Not because it's unusual... but because children ask 'why?' about EVERYTHING. Does it do "violence to children" (as the pope implied about same gender parents) to see two people holding hands affectionately? No.. the fear is that the children might think that that behavior is 'acceptable' if exposed to it. God forbid.

But 'acceptability' has nothing to do with Gender Identity and Preference. (note: Being 'gay' and being 'transgendered' are NOT the same thing. I know men who wish they were women who also happen to have little to no interest in men.) People harbor 'unacceptable' longings for things they can not have, whether it's being a different gender, or the love of someone unavailable or incompatible. Attraction to another human being ranges from unwavering repulsion to lascivious obsession, with a large middle area of "just not interested either way".

Can some people choose to form a lasting 'loving' commitment with someone they are only marginally attracted to? Certainly. Can that happen if there's an unwavering revulsion? Rather unlikely.

What I must conclude from the "hide the gays from our children" types is that they want their potentially gay child to grow up in ignorance, and to 'settle' for someone they find utterly unattractive. I'm sure that'll make for a lasting marriage.

I've said it before... somewhere... "If you want to defend marriage, do something about the divorce rate first."

Obligatory trite cliche: "Blowing out someone else's candle doesn't make yours shine any brighter."

Griefers

2008-05-06T15:56:00.000-07:00

A few non-ranty thoughts about 'Griefers'. (a slang term used to describe a player in a multiplayer video game who plays the game simply to cause grief to other players through harassment.)

Griefing, has many parallels to bullying and verbal assault. Most griefers will stay within the letter of the law, (but ignore the spirit of it), which makes it difficult for authority figures to intervene decisively. It is not uncommon for victims to feel that calling for help shows weakness.

Griefers attack people's self identity, their pride, their values. Like an angry drunk at the bar, spoiling for a fight, they'll play nice long enough to ingratiate themselves with a target, and then, bit by bit, turn nasty. Most often, they rely on small subtle comments that provoke over-reactions from their intended target.

The goal, usually, is to make the confrontation seem to be the victim's fault.

Often the victim will pick up on this tactic and fight back even harder trying to take the high ground in a battle where they've already been knocked off balance emotionally. The more the victim cares, the harder they struggle to 'win' the conflict, the more they expose tender targets for the griefer to hit... and, ultimately, the more hopeless the situation becomes for the victim.

Griefing is almost a martial art in its own right, requiring balance, focus, objectivity, practice, discipline, knowing your opponents weaknesses and exploiting them, etc, etc.

Recognize the signs of a potential griefer early. When they bait you with taunts, ignore them or laugh them off by agreeing in a jovial self-deprecating way.

Only a master of articulate wit has a chance of one-up-ing a griefer sufficiently to win a battle, but the war is still lost. The griefer, having found a worthy opponent, will return and attempt new gambits.

Engage in combat with a griefer at all, and they win. They've made you play their game, not your own. Even if you one-up them until dawn, they've hijacked your focus, your concentration, your time and effort for however long the conflict took place.

The only way to 'win' against a griefer is to recognize that their jibes and taunts for what they are, and disregard them. Unless, of course, you're spoiling for a fight yourself, in which case, enjoy.

Make like a Tree

2008-04-11T10:39:00.000-07:00

... and leave? This morning a landscaping crew came by and chainsawed down the palm trees lining my street. True, they were just poles with little poofs at the top, offering only a little shade and a little absorption of traffic noise... but now my street looks just that much more bare and sad. =(

If this is a pre-cursor for them sinking the utility lines, fine, but I'm still grumpy about it.

Yayzerama!!!

2008-03-28T14:27:00.000-07:00

Everybody's favorite Linden, Torley Linden, just submitted a new video tutorial to the official Second Life blog!

*VIDEO* Tip of the Week #28: Particle editing magic!

Which was filmed at my Particle Laboratory learning center! Woohoo! =)

Thank you Torley!

Okay fine

2008-03-23T15:30:00.000-07:00

I'm *finally* feeling recovered from the twelve-day cold from hell, and in time for a nice warm dry allergy-tickling Santa Anna. Yay.

A few micro-rants:
* McCain's "Senior Moments" are terrifying. Please, no more morons in the White House.
* Bush gutted the executive intelligence/surveillance oversight group. More shameless CYA.
* Easter and Spring are bringing the "anti-gay-marriage" bigots out in record numbers.

I recently watched 'Southland Tales' (by the same guy that did 'Donnie Darko' of which I'm fond). I'm not sure how I feel about Southland Tales so far and will give it another shake to be fair.

It certainly embodied the distracted chaotic self-entitlement and absurdity that so much of the world seems wrapped up in. There are times when it feels like the inmates have taken over the bus... too busy fighting over the driver's seat to notice the "Bridge Out!" signs.

Anyway. If the beginning of spring is this hot... what will summer bring?

Oh... and to top it all off... someone seems to be spoofing email spam about "Replica Watches" as me. Great. Grrr....

Colds and Spam

2008-03-13T10:46:00.000-07:00

So, what's it like having my free time optimized for a whole week now? Honestly, with colds, fever, chills, sweats, coughing etc... no different than taking a week of sick time. But with less guilt.

Feeling somewhat better now, and catching up on email now, I'm beginning to notice that blowing the spam out of my mailbox is not unlike blowing the snot out of my nose. I use SpamAssassin, which works reasonably well, catching about 75% of the garbage. But that still leaves me about 50+ spam messages a day to wipe up with tissue.

And, of course, it's spring.. the time of year when a young spammers fancy turns to thoughts of sending offers of cheap v*1g-ra.

yay.

*HONK* sniffle snort.

More GOP hate, part 2

2008-03-11T10:39:00.000-07:00

Sally Kern has issued a statement regarding the feedback she's gotten from her speech. (here)
And once again, I'm sending email. Not that I expect it to make any difference what-so-ever, but merely because it feels good to bark back:

To: sallykern@okhouse.gov

Beliefs do change over time.

Take USURY for example: "Hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not live: he hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him." - Ezekial 18:13

It's one of the few things that actually caused Jesus to fly into a violent rage, knocking over tables, kicking money lenders out of the temple. It's not only that they were in the wrong place... what they were doing was deemed a sin, period.

Only centuries later was usury re-defined as "loaning money and charging excessive interest". (A change that was no doubt dearly paid for by money lenders.)

So, how many of the constituents (you know, the ones you personally represented with your hate-speech) were left homeless because of the sub-prime mortgage crisis? How many have gone bankrupt, indebted to consumer lenders because of medical expenses that their insurers refused to cover?

The 'money lenders' have completely taken over our great country and are squeezing it dry.

And yet there you are... wasting time attempting to keep suppressed and invisible the most attacked and non-retaliatory minority in American. Way to go.

You want to get biblical on something? Go attack the people that are immorally extorting Americans with unfair lending practices.

Picking on gays is for cowards. Do something important with your life and attack the REAL sinners: the money lenders, the banks, the insurance agencies, the credit card companies, ...

Or have you chosen to represent them instead, because they helped you get elected?
If so, that makes your 'moral' position utterly empty and revoltingly hypocritical.

More GOP hate

2008-03-09T16:46:00.000-07:00

Date: Sun, 09 Mar 2008 16:57:00 PDT
To: sallykern@okhouse.gov
Subject: The Homosexual 'agenda'

The "homosexual agenda" is simply to stop getting maimed and bullied
by closed-minded intolerant bigotted black-hearted pretend-Christians
like you.

It is your kind of hate-speech that encourages and tacitly endorses
those that attackkind-hearted patriotic homosexuals in our country.

May God forgive and heal you of your hateful heart.

( This is regarding your speech, recorded in:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFxk7glmMbo
if this was NOT you, or your words, please disregard this email. )

Ups and downs

2008-03-07T12:56:00.000-08:00

Spring Sneezes (or a cold) have pretty much made a wreck of me today.

Which balances out the 2 week early delivery of my new laptop. =) WooooOoot!

Emancipation Day

2008-03-05T16:50:00.000-08:00

Gone now are the familiar duties, routines and obligations.

From today forward, I am my own boss. =)

The New MBP

2008-02-26T14:55:00.000-08:00

Woot!! http://apple.com has finally announced the rumored refresh for their MacBook Pro line of laptops, just in time too, since the one I've been using will staying behind once my employment situation changes.

Pro-FISA nonsense

2008-02-22T09:15:00.000-08:00

http://www.gop.gov/ has a new video, that sends chills down my spine.

I'd rather live with the threat of terrorists than live in a police state where my own government can declare me an enemy combatant and vanish me without charges... just because I accidentally surfed to the wrong website.

FISA is anti-American. It gives the executive branch the power to spy on any politicians, of their own party or the competing party.

If you think that power hasn't been and won't be abused for political advantage you're not paying attention.

This is SUPPOSED to be a democracy... not a series of rigged elections pre-determined by unethical criminals who put their own political power-hungry goals ahead of the advancement of our nation.

Let's keep it that way... just say NO to retroactive immunity for telecoms that assisted in illegal wiretapping.

-------
P.S. Happy Birthday to George Washington and a specific someone that shares his Birthday. =)

Record Lows

2008-02-20T17:29:00.000-08:00

Amazing, beating Truman's 22% pathetic approval rating during the worst of the Korean War... Bush is the first president to have an approval rating drop into the teens! Worse even than Nixon during the Watergate scandal! Wow!

And just why is that?

FISA - illegal wiretapping - Homeland Security/Secret Police?

Debt, Deficit, Sub-prime mortgages, oil prices, healthcare?

Global warming denial, mis-use of the scientific community, relaxed EPA regulations?

Signing statements, recess appointments, nepotism, lame SCOTUS appointees?

Blaming Iraq for 911, ignoring Bin Laden, botching the Iraq occupation, Walter Reed?

Gitmo, Waterboarding, rendition, enemy combatants?

Links to corruption, scandal, enron, Tom Delay, Duke Cunningham, cronyism?

Threatening Iran, mis-use of the intelligence community, Valerie Plame?

Scape-goatism, Loyalty-first, some how mysteriously silencing the democratic voices?

Rumsfeld, Cheney, Rove, Paul Wolfowitz, hanging Colin Powell out to dry

FEMA?

I went looking for a list of scandals directly associated with or aided by the Bush Administration and found a list with 313 items, most of which I recognized.

Can anyone find a list of 313 good things that have come from this presidency? I liked the "Do Not Call" list... um... what else...

How quickly we forget unforgivable scandals, especially when we are given new atrocities to be outraged with each week that goes by. If it weren't for the smallish number of "My country right or wrong" right-wing loyalists and profiteers benefiting from cronyism, Bush's approval rating would likely be sitting at zero percent.

Whoever gets elected next has a phenomenal mess to clean up.

Phobia

2008-02-14T13:21:00.000-08:00

An openly gay 15 year old has been declared brain dead after being shot by a classmate Oxnard. The 14 year old shooter was described by another student 'as a calm, smart student who played on the basketball team. "I didn't think he was that kind of kid."'

So, did the 14 year old fear he was going to be forcefully sodomized by the effeminate older boy? Was he a brainless queer-hating jock? Neither sound too likely to me in this case.

So vile is the stigma of being labelled "queer" that some young men will go to absurd and irrational lengths to prove otherwise, whether they're straight, latently gay or 'questioning'. Perhaps, the shooter believed the victim was going to 'out' him, who knows.

'Out' is an appropriate term. It doesn't just mean "in the open", it also means "away from or not included".

'Coming out' means rejecting traditional 'normal' conformity and embracing another 'alternative' set of values, beliefs, ideals and behaviors. This event can cause an irrevocable severing of connections with some family and friends. Insults from strangers are easier to withstand than the glares of betrayal, disappointment, disgust from those nearest and dearest.

It's no wonder the suicide rate among 'questioning' teens is so high.

Nor is it any surprise that some choose to never face 'coming out' at all, and lead double lives, pretending to be happy, normal and straight. One little white lie after another turns into years of deception, and possibly, destructive infidelity.

The problem, as I see it, is our society makes such a big issue over "coming out". We need to live in a world where gender preference is no more remarkable or unusual than, say, a preference for a certain hair color, or whether mushrooms are preferred on pizza or not.

No amount of "God's Law" can justify the quantity of Gay-bashing, teen-suicide, infidelity, discrimination, and broken families that result from policies that perpetuate homophobia.

If fear of being labelled 'gay' is actually what triggered the savage event that ended Lawrence King's life, then we as a species, need to seriously re-examine what kind of values we're giving those that will follow us.

The Dharma-Mifflen Initiative

2008-02-08T17:10:00.000-08:00

Someone got lost on the way to The Office. =)
(click image for larger version)
(My apologies to the cast and networks mangled in this spoof!)

The inevitable sequel will be posted at some future date. Stay tuned...

The Particle Laboratory

2008-02-04T16:00:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about re-modelling my Particle Laboratory. The "floating raft" is nicer now that it has the "flying glacier" look. (Strictly seasonal, was more flying tropical island like in warmer months).

Here is the lab now in all it's cluttered glory:

and here's the slightly more structured "sci-fi very low orbit space station" style I'm thinking of moving towards:
As always, nothing ever is set in stone, it's all, (ahem) "up in the air". ;)

Dream home...

2008-02-02T18:01:00.000-08:00

If you know me, and a certain car issue, this will seem right on target.

In a dream last night, I was out for a nice long walk, through San Diego's "Little Italy" area. As happens in my dreams it wasn't exactly right, it was mixed up with someplace else, in this case, the Hamptons in NY. In this charming, beachy urban themed neighborhood I saw a house and then gasped, "Oh my god... I bought that house a year ago! How could I have forgotten?"

Sure enough the key on my keychain fit the front door, which was unlocked anyway. Inside was clean, but barren. Light wood floors, open airy rooms, I was filled with the pride of ownership... and a nagging concern that was justified the moment I went upstairs and ran into about ten squatters lounging about on floor mattresses. They were all between 20 and 30 years old. They looked like the cast of some MTV reality tv show actually.

I woke up at that point, and am still wondering how I would have handled the situation.

Fie on FISA

2008-02-01T01:09:00.000-08:00

Keith Oberman has an absolutely delicious, logical, laudable rant about Bush's threat to veto any extention to FISA that fails to include immunity for telcoms.

Dim the lights, put aside any distractions and enjoy.

... now, if only a certain occupant of a certain White House, were watching it with us.

The Sub-Prime Solution...

2008-01-30T16:09:00.001-08:00

I've just had a weird flash of insight... I've been worried about the 'bubble' that national and consumer debt has built up for months. How can I best defend myself against the mess that will follow when that finally bursts?

Well, I still don't have any good answers to that... but I'm suddenly feeling less worried and here's why:

Banks sell their bad debts to collection agencies. Those agencies collect what they can and then write off the rest. They pretty much treat it as "high risk investments".

I'm feeling certain that somewhere along the way, someone had the brilliant idea to dress up those bad debt "High Risk Investments" as good credit... and found a way to sell them off to foreign nations and companies.

I would not be at all surprised if our own government was complicit in this considering the influence of the money lobbyists.

Q: What kind of securities did we promise China in return for the money our government has borrowed?
A: The revenue from all these sub-prime mortgages, of course.

What a perfect Enron-esque scam!
That is... until China decides to come collect on that bad debt, of course. Hmm.

p.s.: Apparently I'm not the first to think this up 60 Minutes made mention of it too.

Zen and Sniglets

2008-01-30T12:09:00.000-08:00

How's this for Zen: Last night while I slept, I dreamed that I did NOT dream something.

(well, actually, I was dreaming that I woke up unable to remember how I had gotten home from a party I dreamed I was at earlier, and then realized, (while still dreaming) that I hadn't forgotten or blanked it out... it had never happened at all).

Very disorienting. It's like forgetting something you never knew in the first place.

Anyway. Today's post was brought to you by the words 'Scriptard' and 'mobiopath'

Scriptard, (like Blingtard) is derived from 'retard'. Which to me not only means a discernible mental deficiency, but it also means "slow". Blingtards wear so much digital-glitter that it makes computers struggle to render it all. Scriptards... are poor scripters that cut-n-paste other people's scripts together into a big lag-tastic monster, and then wonder why their virtual world is so sluggish. ;)

Mobiopath... a more 'gang' oriented form of sociopath. Someone who thinks it's okay to ignore laws, ethics, morality, common decency, etc... so long as they loyal supporters to back them up and help them lie their way out of trouble.

Whoops...

2008-01-29T17:47:00.000-08:00

How do you blog? Do you make outlines, notes, plans... do you save and hash out a draft and when all is perfect finally hit that 'Publish' button?

Or... are you more like me, an unformed idea just insists on being let OUT! You dash some words together, think it looks good enough and so you just slap that 'Publish' button the moment you're done? And then, of course, you re-read the drivel you just typed, now that it's out there for everyone to see, and panic. You whack that 'Edit' button as fast as possible, correcting punctuation, removing duplicate words, changing entire sentences, etc.... all with manic urgency.

The (obsolete) term "posthaste" seems all too appropriate, I think.

And... thanks to Adam Marker in Second Life, for both the discussion that sparked this entry... and for pointing me at a very silly YouTube clip spoofing 'current issues' in Second Life, called: Hitler Explains SecondLife

Team Fortress 2

2008-01-26T01:53:00.000-08:00

I've been enjoying rounds of Team Fortress 2 enough to look into tossing together a map or two... here's a snapshot of my very first tf2 map in action (I only started playing with 'Hammer' the world editor this evening). Oooo dramatic spooky lighting. ;)

It'll get better, I promise.

Row vs. Wade

2008-01-25T14:05:00.000-08:00

This week marked the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, and there's been a modicum of newsy things about the issue. From pro-lifers complaining that Bush and the GOP candidates only gave them lip service, no real support during the annual protest to rather amusing youtube clips of interviewers asking passionate pro-life demonstrators "If abortion is illegal, what should be the punishment for a woman that has an illegal abortion?" (Nothing quite like seeing activists who've been crusading for years stumped with a simple question. Answers ranged from "Uh, never thought about it!" to "I think they've suffered enough")

Anyway. No child should be brought into the world by a mother that does not want it.

Life without love is not worth living... and forcing someone to be born unloved should be a crime.

... and ... for the obligatory Nifty-Link-du-Jour: "The ZoomQuit II" (drag the slider on the top right left or right to zoom in/out!)

Well darn.

2008-01-22T14:19:00.000-08:00

Heath Ledger died today? =(

That rather bums me out.

Trunk Monkey! come cheer me up!

Usury Suspect

2008-01-16T15:46:00.000-08:00

I couldn't resist. After watching "Maxed Out" and "In Debt We Trust", both of which seem to have the same very obvious message, I'm just amazed at the number of people that still let themselves be lured in by the temptation of easy money. Even when I was in my 'poor' phase, sharing a one bedroom apartment with four guys and surviving on ramen and peanut butter, I still managed to avoid depending on credit to get by.

Looking at consumer lending in America today, I get the impression that the mafia and the banks have joined together and bribed/pressured law makers to their will. It's just sick, and building a new kind of bubble that will burst in ways that will make the Enron scandal look mild.

"Never trust anyone trying to sell you free money." -- me.
(Google doesn't list the quote anywhere, so I'm gonna say it's mine!)

(and, no, I did not use "Helvetica" in the image in this post. ;)