Tag: postaday2011

Didn’t Vote? Shut Up!

On By WinstonIn Global Issues, Humor, Personal Responsibility, Politics, Society, ValuesLeave a comment

So our provincial election is over.  Dalton McGuinty and the Liberal Party returned for a third round but with a minority this time.  That just gives them a handy excuse for anything they promised but don’t deliver on.  All of that is irrelevant because so few people showed up to vote.  We could have elected a totally imaginary party with an untouchable majority just off the no-shows.  The rest of this post speaks directly to those eligible voters who didn’t bother.

How Stupid Are You?

I get that you think the system is broken. The fact is, if you didn’t vote, you’re the one who broke it. That’s right kids. If you didn’t vote, YOU are what’s wrong with the system. Sadly for you, your whiny sense of disenfranchisement is now the mainstream.  You aren’t all special and superior because you alone see what’s wrong anymore.  Good news though, it’s not just the voices in your head.  Over half the people in Ontario are now officially as stupid and lazy as you.  Okay. Maybe you aren’t lazy and stupid.  I bet you’d prefer to think of yourselves as disenfranchised.

Well, suck it up buttercup, you aren’t.  The only person trying to disenfranchise you is you.  It’s not the government, or the corporations, or aliens, or the Illuminati/Templars/Bildenbergers, it is YOU!  It’s the truth.  You are your own worst enemy.  If there was a “New World Order”, and if I worked for it, I’d send out Thank You cards to everyone who didn’t vote.  You people are better than gold to an evil megalomaniacal group.

Did you ever hear of “Arab Spring”?  Those people gave their lives to bring down corrupt, repressive governments and dictators.  That vote you just threw away.  Someone in Somalia would have died to have it.  In the Middle East, thousands died so millions could have the freedom to choose their government.  Your refusal to vote spits on the grave of every person who died so others could have that opportunity.  An opportunity to get involved in remaking their world the way they want it to be.

The people of Syria, Egypt, Libya etc. didn’t protest in lieu of voting.  They protested so that they could vote.  They died so that next election, or the one after, other people could cast a ballot with more than one name on it.  They protested and died so that their children will have the freedom to select a government that reflects them.

So go ahead and whine, gripe, complain or whatever.  It doesn’t matter, because you don’t matter.  If you refuse to use your voice when it might make a difference, then the rest of the time, you’re just white-noise.  Annoying, but inconsequential.

Cheers, Winston

Another Glorious Autumn Day

On By WinstonIn Loving Life, PersonalLeave a comment

Yes, that is part of what made my day glorious.  Followed two of these through the bush of about twenty minutes.  Took a ton of pictures.  Really low light on the edge of dusk under the trees, so jacked up the ISO.  Made things a little grainy, but hey, it’s not a shot I get every day.

Other than that, spent the day with Lynn and Chester.  Sat by the lake on our campground and took pictures of my dog.  Went into Perth and took pictures of the park with the fall colors, people napping in the sun, etc.

I don’t have time to convert them to .jpg, so I’ll post more of them tomorrow.  Suffice to say, another wonderful fall day.

Cheers, Winston

Observations In A Traffic Jam

On By WinstonIn Humor, Personal, SocietyLeave a comment

Lynn and I drove back into town from our trailer to vote. Unfortunately, we came in at rush hour. Or in this case two hours of not rushing at all.

The upside, such as it is, is all the time it gives to people watch. People in dense, slow moving traffic tend to do some strange things. As with the following.

Item One: Lynn noticed people smiling at us and making “kissy faces”. It took a few minutes to realize these were actually intended for our dog Chester. He was cruising along with his head out the window. He’s so cute people just automatically smile at him. We just caught the leftovers as they pulled past us.

Item Two: A man opens the door of his SUV, leans out and spits. He closes the door and drives on. When traffic brings us alongside, he takes his toothbrush out of his mouth and talks to Chester. Every time we end up next to him he’s still brushing his teeth. For the next several minutes. That man LOVES his oral hygiene.

Item Three: A man driving along texting. Phone in one hand, typing with the other. Steering with his knee? His toes? I don’t know for sure, but apparently he didn’t get the meno about the new law making it an official no-no.

And we had time to chat about what we plan to do in our house after we close up the trailer for the season. Just crept along enjoying each others company

For once, twice the drive time actually gave twice the enjoyment.

Cheers, Winston

Summer’s Over, Autumn’s Waning. Loving Each Day, Not Complaining.

On By WinstonIn Loving Life, Personal, Self AwarenessLeave a comment

I know this picture doesn’t look like, but it’s getting close to the end of the season at my trailer.  I’m going to miss it.  It’s peaceful, quiet and incredibly relaxing.  As you can see, it’s just plain beautiful.  Today was a gorgeous, sunny day.  The first after several days of rain.  So Lynn and I took out our cameras when we walked our dog.

We took our time.  Shot some photos, chatted with our neighbors, and sat in the sun and just enjoyed the day.  It doesn’t get any better than this.

In case anyone is curious I love chipmunks.  I think they are probably the cutest rodents on the planet.  So I try to get pictures of them every chance I get.  Today, Lynn and I lucked out and got some excellent of shots of these two.  Apparently, a mother and a not yet independent offspring.  They were very cute together.  With Lynn’s permission, I will see if I can post a couple of her shots next time.  She got some incredible ones as well.

Did I mention I LOVE chipmunks?  Seeing these two made a great day even better!  Nothing like spending a day with my wife, my dog and beauty of nature.  A perfect day:-)

Cheers, Winston

Anonymous Has A Plan To Save The World

On By WinstonIn Global Issues, Media, Personal Responsibility, Politics, Pop Culture, Society, ValuesLeave a comment

Apparently Anonymous has a plan to change the world.  Yay!  I’m so excited I can hardly keep from gagging.  For those not paying attention, that’s called sarcasm.  Why would I not be more supportive of a group trying to change the status quo and make the world a better place?  Fair question.

If I thought they were likely to make the world a better place, I’d be more enthusiastic.  If I thought their plan might work, I’d be more enthusiastic.  If the guy wasn’t wearing a V for Vendetta style Guy Fawkes mask while reading his little rant/manifesto, I’d have less of an urge to kick him in the “man-bits”.

A Guy Fawkes mask, really?  I think that annoys me mostly because I enjoyed the movie so much.  I might also point out that the actual heroes of the movie didn’t wear masks.  Of course that isn’t what Anonymous wants to hear.  According to them, their power lies in the idea that they are anyone and everyone.

Well, I can tell you they aren’t everyone, because they sure as hell aren’t me.  Oh sure, I share some of their concerns.  Corporations should be good citizens and take a leading role in charity work and community building.  Consumerism is out of control and we care more about things than people.  We need to close the gap between the very rich and the very poor.  Elected officials should have the interests of ALL the people in mind, not just the ones who gave money to their “war chests”, and never put their party above the people.

There are some key differences though.  I don’t think their protests are going to do anything at all.  I don’t think their plan is going to make even the tiniest bit of change happen.  Why?  Because I don’t think they understand the problem.  They complain about the uber rich and corporate greed and the deficit and consumerism and all their other issues, and they miss the truth.

The truth is, it’s not “them”.  It’s “us”.  We are the problem.  One of the terms I hear in connection with this is “Kleptocracy”.  This is just the sort of delusional misinformation I would want spread if I was one of corporate heads they claim to hate.  The idea is that those running things are robbing the people blind.  That we are in fact being run by thieves.

Truth be told, it’s actually a “Meocracy’.  We’re  being run by people who put themselves and their interests first.  Whether it’s corporate heads, the shareholders who drive them, or the unionized employees who demand more, they’re all me.  “Meocracy” is screaming for tax cuts because you don’t need the services they pay for, then screaming when the services aren’t there when you want them.  “Meocracy” is talking about poverty and starvation from the comfort of your home, with a full belly, a cellphone, laptop and big screen TV.

“Meocracy” is what drives our society.  The reason Anonymous isn’t going to change anything is simple.  Anonymous is the pinnacle of the “Meocratic” movement.  They are the ultimate expression of the denial of personal responsibility which is the hallmark of a “Meocracy”.  They see everything as someone else’s fault.  “People don’t starve because I didn’t feed them.  They starve because corporations didn’t feed them.  Billionaires didn’t feed them.”  This is the Anonymous mindset.

You can’t demand change.  Well, you can, but it won’t work.  The protests and other drama won’t change peoples minds.  If you really want to change the world, I’ll help you get started.  Give up your cellphone and your cable and your internet connection.  Take that money and give it to a homeless shelter, or a soup kitchen, or a reputable charity.  Do that every month.  Only buy domestically produced goods.  Stop supporting third world sweat shops.  Get involved in grassroots politics. Stop giving your money to corporations who don’t treat their workers fairly, or their communities with respect.  Educate voters.  Educate candidates.  Educate yourselves.  Stop believing your own press.  You’re not more enlightened than anyone else.

Do all of these things for five years.  Consistently.  Then  you can come and tell me your plan to change the world.  Maybe by then you’ll have thought up something more useful than protesting against things that mean nothing.  Maybe by then you’ll understand where Anonymous has it wrong.  What’s needed isn’t to band together against some powerful and corrupt “other”.  Change will only come when understand that the powerful and corrupt are us.

Here is a simple fact.  Apple has more liquid capital than the U.S. government.  They are immensely wealthy.  Does this mean that I’m going to give up my iPhone and boycott them as punishment?  Don’t be daft.  They haven’t done anything wrong.  They are a corporation.  Their job is to make money.  They just happen to do it very well.  They didn’t force me to buy their phone.  Me, I made that decision.

It was “Me” because I live in a “Meocracy”.  Apple, Microsoft, Chrysler, Hitachi, Acer, none of them are responsible for where my money goes.  I could as easily give it to a soup kitchen, but I choose to give it to these and other corporations.  It’s my money, and my choice.  That’s the lesson Anonymous needs to learn.  Changing yourself is your prerogative, changing me is mine.

You can’t force people to change.  No matter how much you might think they need to.

Cheers, Winston

From Netbook Blues To Happy News

On By WinstonIn Personal, TechnologyLeave a comment

If you read this regularly, you may recall that I’ve adopted my daughters orphan net-book. Windows Vista was dead slow on it (go figure), so I installed Ubuntu Linux as a dual boot. After some tweaking and poking, I convinced it to do most of what I wanted. Mind you, part of that success depends on understanding that it’s not going to do everything my daughters new quad core notebook does (again, go figure). Among other things, it’s never going to transcode video. Trust me on this.

Short version: It worked like a charm, until it didn’t. That is a phrase that can be applied to so many things, isn’t it. In this case, I knew exactly what had happened, I just had no idea how to fix it.

The problem, as is so often the case, was of my own invention. I was at my trailer and decided to install an application across their very erratic wi-fi. Signal drops, install crashes, I’m left with some partially rewritten config files and a pile of error messages. Ubuntu is not Windows. Thank the Geek Gods for that. Despite this colossal blunder, Ubuntu still works. I can do anything I want to except install things.

That’s not so bad. How often do I really need to install things anyway? Turns out, the answer is: More often than you think. Especially if you plan better after your mistakes. Let me explain how that works for me.

Because I was becoming unemployed, Lynn and I decided to spend some time at the trailer before the season ends. Since my net-book doesn’t have a dvd drive, I decided to rip Battlestar Galactica to digital format to take with me. I spent all that time getting the thing to play video, I may as well enjoy it right? I rip the first disc, test it out and decide it looks terrible. But it plays, so I know I’ve got the right format, codec, etc. I increase the quality and rip the next three discs before we leave.

Now I’m at my trailer unemployed and planning to enjoy some BSG. They won’t play. The increased quality and resulting filesize is apparently more than my little net-book can handle. This is the better planning part: test the new settings before ripping three more discs. Hindsight as they say is always 20/20.

No problem I think, I’ll just go online and download a transcoder and fix that. Except of course, I can’t install any new software because of the previous issue. That’s just inconvenient. So I grab Lynn’s laptop, download DivX and start transcoding things. Turns out, it’s not going to finish anytime this week. She might want to use her laptop before then so I cancel the job. But I still want to watch BSG.

That leaves me with two problems. The same ones I had before. Ubuntu won’t play my huge video files, and I can’t download any kind of fix for it. So I do what I always do and ask Google. I copy and paste the error message and run my search. Then I do it again and then I start to get grumpy. Turns out none of the answers I found covered my particular problems. So I opened up my braincase, rummaged around in the dus ty, unused part labeled “Figure It Out Yourself”, and set to work.

Four and a half hours, two cups of tea, one diet coke and some truly creative profanity later: Success! I am now able to install software again. That allowed me to install the xfce window manager. It is very simple, and so less resource hungry. I also installed the Kaffeine video player which is again smaller footprint. Between them, I am now able to watch BSG without having to wait until I get home to redo them all. YAY!

And that folks, is how you go from Netbook Blues To Happy News.

Cheers, Winston

When Different Is Deadly

On By WinstonIn Discrimation, Education, Personal, Personal Responsibility, SocietyLeave a comment

Fourteen year old Jamey Rodemeyer from western New York has allegedly killed himself as result of bullying and harassment over his sexuality. At a school dance attended by his sister who had just been to his wake, the dance organizers played his favorite song in his memory. Some of the students present chanted, “better off dead”.

Remember when you were a kid and someone said something mean? You’d report it to your parent, your teacher, whoever and you always got the same line. “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” It’s a lie.

I was bullied as a kid. I committed the same crime as Jamey. Not homosexuality, the bigger crime. I was different. I was the only kid in my school who didn’t have electricity, or running water, or a phone. We didn’t have a lot of money, so most of my clothes were hand-me-downs. No electricity meant I didn’t watch sports, or the newest hit TV shows.

Yep, I was different, and some of my fellow students let me know every chance they got. I’m here to tell you, those words hurt. I’ve had my nose broken, my jaw dislocated, and been beat down once or twice. All of those injuries healed up and faded one hell of a lot faster than the hits my psyche took.

My parents and teachers were a product of their time. The stock answer was “Sticks and stones…..hurt me.” My Dad’s preferred answer was to stop whining about it and stand up for myself. My Mom was sympathetic, but pretty much followed Dad’s line of “Beat up the bullies and they’ll leave you alone.” Not the most helpful advice ever. Mostly because I weighed eighty pounds, but also because beating someone up because they said something mean tended to have repercussions.

I’ll be honest, there was a while when I thought it would be preferable to be dead than to endure another day of it. But I managed to endure it. I built myself a mental hole, crawled into it, and I stayed there. I’ve spent the last twenty years digging my way out again.

I can understand why Jamey did what he did. Sometimes it gets to be too much. There’s no way to fight back. There’s no where to go. There’s no consequences for your tormentors. Dead is the only out. At least right then. Later, with a different perspective, I understand some of my other options. Jamey will never have that luxury.

But the truth is, Jamey didn’t take his own life. He was killed. As surely as if they put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger. He was killed by every person who called him “fag“, or “queer“, or “girly girl“. He was killed by every person who heard them and didn’t call them out on it. He was killed by the guidance counselor who’s helpful advice was,”Stop spending time with girls.” He was killed by a society that allows bullying. A society that celebrates the cult of popularity where if you aren’t popular, you’re nothing.

He was killed by a society that allows students at a school function attended by Jamey’s sister to chant “better off dead”, and one student gets suspended.

He was killed by a society where it’s okay to make a fourteen year old boys life a living hell. He was killed by OUR society, where different is too often a synonym for victim. Where different is too often deadly.

Cheers, Winston

Just A Quick Random Thought

On By WinstonIn Enlightenment, Personal Responsibility, SocietyLeave a comment

If the end justifies the means, what if there is no end?

Does anything ever truly end?  If not, then where is the justification for “by any means necessary”?  If the means are justified by a non-existent end, it seems safe to say they were in fact unjustified.

If there were no ends to justify those means, then those who authorized those means did so without justification.  The justification they offered in the form of “the end”, was actually false comfort offered only because they understood the lack of any better.

Anyone saying, “the end justifies the means”, knows the means are wrong.  They are simply too lazy to find a better way.  They claim that the means will bring about the desired end.  History proves that there are no endings.  There is only the infinity of continuity.  Each event builds on those which have gone before and in turn serves as a foundation for those which come after.

Ends don’t justify means.  People justify means.  Like anything else, a means in need of a justification is a means in need of changing.  We only justify things we know to be wrong.  We justify our abuse of the environment, the abuse of our fellow humans, our wars, our greed, our selfishness and a million other things we know we should change.

With no actual end to hang the blame on, it becomes clear that the means must rely on us for their justification.

Something to think about.

Cheers, Winston

EA To Sell Gamers To Advertisers.

On By WinstonIn Media, Pop Culture, Society, Technology, Uncategorized, Video GamesLeave a comment

The nice people at Electronic Arts (commonly know as EA) are rolling out a new service called “Legend”.  Sounds impressive right?  Well here’s the thing, it’s not.  At least not for gamers.  Or is it?

Confused?  Sorry.  I’ve got some mixed feelings about this one myself.  First, let me tell you what “Legend” is.  It’s an analytic tool which EA will use to provide advertisers with detailed usage habits of it’s products.  This would allow advertisers to be much more specific in their marketing efforts.

From the corporate side, this is a potential goldmine.  If it works as (you should pardon the joke) “advertised”, there isn’t a marketing department in the industry that won’t want a piece of it.  On the player side, my first instinct is, “Oh goody.  More ads shoved in my face while I’m gaming.”

But maybe I’m looking at this wrong.  Not that that ever happens, but maybe this one time.

Maybe this time, they’ll start to get it right.  What if they use this marketing data to develop a functional “less is more” approach?  How about using this new analytic to create ads which are more effective, and can therefore be less pervasive.  That could work out to being good news for gamers.

Only time will tell.  But if the vendors in Fallout New Vegas start trying to sell me a “Simpsons” t-shirt to go with my new “West 49” board shorts, then I’ll decide whether or not it’s a good thing.

Cheers, Winston

Psychology IS A Science

On By WinstonIn Psychology, Science, SocietyLeave a comment

For a long time now, people have been saying that psychology isn’t an actual science. This is based on the standard “scientific method”. This method requires repeatable results from repeatable processes. Seems like a good way to do things, and it is. When it works.

Psychology is one of the places it doesn’t work. Does that mean it’s not a science? Of course not, and I can tell you why. There’s another science that suffers from the same issues. What you may wonder would that be? Meteorology. What you may wonder do they have in common? It goes like this.

How about working with such large data sets that repeatable processes become impossible? How about dynamic systems where huge percentages of the relevant variables change constantly? The scientific method is predicated on the ability to control the variables in an experimental setting. That level of control is not viable in either meteorology or psychology. So how do you establish scientific validity for a field that doesn’t play by the rules?

Well, it’s not easy. First off, you need to change the criteria for “scientific” studies. Instead of requiring control, acknowledge that control is an illusion. There’s no reasonable way to duplicate any one person’s experiences, so an expectation of reproducible results is ludicrous. This is a more localized version of the problems meteorologists have predicting weather. Too many variables. Too little processing power.

Global weather systems and the human psyche are phenomenally complex systems. Expecting them to fit neatly in to labs makes no sense at all. The fact is, both systems are based as much on observation, as if/then logic. By wasting less time questioning it’s validity, we free up resources to push forward the study of psychology.

All sciences took time to achieve legitimacy. Few have as much raw data to work with. None are as dynamic as the human mind. Not even the weather, and I think it’s pretty obvious they still have some glitches to work out there.

So yes, psychology is a science. Not only that, it’s probably one of the most complex sciences there is. That’s why it’s not all neat and tidy and sorted out. That doesn’t mean it never will be.

Cheers, Winston