At least, according to a list I came across today. It’s not the worst list in the world - but of course I do have a couple complaints.
1) Foundation (Foundation Novels) - Isaac Asimov
Haven’t read it. Heard of it of course. Is on my “read before I die” list. That’s a long list - way more than 32.
2) The Time Machine (Signet Classics) - H.G. Wells
One of my favorite books of all time. This man is the Father of Science Fiction, as far as I’m concerned. Jules Verne is the Uncle. But I think Wells was better.
3) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick
The Blade Runner book. Has some significant differences from the movie - and is absolutely worth reading.
4) Animal Farm (Signet Classics) - George Orwell
Not really Sci-Fi. But a classic novel nonetheless. Should be required reading for everyone who lives in a Democratic society.
5) The War of the Worlds (Modern Library Classics) - H.G. Wells
I don’t like it when “definitive” lists put 2 novels by an author on twice. But if it’s warranted for anyone - it’s warranted for Wells. This and Time Machine are so unbelievably ahead of their time, they make 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, From Earth to the Moon and Journey to the Center of the Earth look positively mundane.
At least, according to Ralph Nader. Why people have ever listened to this guy, I have no freaking clue. They should stop encouraging him. Why anyone would vote for him is beyond me. Nader said:
“I haven’t heard him have a strong crackdown on economic exploitation in the ghettos. Payday loans, predatory lending, asbestos, lead. What’s keeping him from doing that? Is it because he wants to talk white? He doesn’t want to appear like Jesse Jackson? We’ll see all that play out in the next few months and if he gets elected afterwards.”
“I mean, first of all, the number one thing that a black American politician aspiring to the presidency should be is to candidly describe the plight of the poor, especially in the inner cities and the rural areas, and have a very detailed platform about how the poor is going to be defended by the law, is going to be protected by the law, and is going to be liberated by the law,” he said. “Haven’t heard a thing.”
So in other words, Nader is saying that every and all black candidates should have the exact same political outlook and strategy. By that logic, Nader and McCain should be on the exact same political page, since all old white guys aspiring to the presidency should have the same priorities. Nader is exhibiting some pretty screwed up racism here - he’s saying Obama isn’t black enough. Typically, racists would begrudge Obama for being too black. I’ve written about this before, and once again Obama is caught in the middle of an absolutely ridiculous argument.
Nader expects Obama to act a certain way, just because he’s black. In fact, not only does he expect it - he practically demands it. Nader can’t conceive of a black man running for president to act in any way outside his expectation. Since Obama breaks Nader’s “black man for president” mold - he must be a phony. And that should be offensive to just about anyone - Nader has pigeonholes that everyone needs to fit in, and if they don’t - they’re being phony.
Hopefully, by now, the liberals that voted for Nader are realizing that the man is a complete loon and has no business upon the national stage.
Everyone’s favorite religious wacko, James Dobson, has pretty much invalidated many of his own moral arguments. And it seems he’s too short-sighted to even realize it.
It seems that Mr. Dobson has taken umbrage with some comments made in a speech by Barack Obama. He went on his radio show and did his best to tear apart Mr. Obama’s arguments against governing by the bible. Of course, this speech took place in 2006, so Mr. Dobson has either been holding this in, or not paying attention. Either way, I find the basis for his argument part peculiar and entirely hilarious. To summarize the comments of Mr. Obama:
In the speech, Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, suggests it would be impractical to govern based solely on the word of the Bible, noting some passages suggest slavery is permissible and eating shellfish is disgraceful.
Sounds perfectly reasonable to me, and I’m sure, to most people. It is patently absurd to govern a 21st century society on a code of laws written two to five thousand years ago. Those people would have no clue how to socially interact in our society, nor would we in theirs. So what does Mr. Dobson have to say to this?
In the comments to be aired later Tuesday, Dobson said Obama should not be referencing antiquated dietary codes and passages from the Old Testament that are no longer relevant to the teachings of the New Testament.
Oh. Good. Gracious. Me. Did he just say that? He did. He just stated that passages from the Old Testament are no longer relevant to the teachings of the New Testament. Well no freaking kidding! So much for biblical literalism. But do you know what other major current social issue is rooted in the exact same set of laws that the shellfish prohibition comes from? Yeah - gay marriage, and homosexuality in general.
Jesus never talked about homosexuality, never condemned it or even frowned upon it. Yet every evangelical Christan seems to think the bible rails against homosexuality over and over. But it’s hardly even mentioned in the bible, and where it most specifically is - is in the Old Testament. Right around the part about not eating shellfish, stoning your wife and not wearing clothing of two different fabrics.
This is one of the things that really gets me about people who try to force all of society to conform to their religious beliefs. They pick and choose. They take the parts of the bible - for whatever reason - they want to follow, and ignore the rest. They cherry-pick whatever they feel will support them, while ignoring the context. It’s been a very long time since any major Christian sect followed the rules of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, in whole. And for good reason! As Mr. Dobson said, they are no longer relevant to the teachings of the New Testament.
Dobson takes most issue though with Mr. Obama’s message of tolerance:
Dobson also takes aim at Obama for suggesting in the speech that those motivated by religion should attempt to appeal to broader segments of the population by not just framing their arguments around religious precepts.
Yet this is the wisest thing in the Obama speech. Dobson complains that Obama is trying to appeal to the “lowest common moral denominator” - but that’s not a bad thing. Not all of us have the same moral base. Not even all Christians have the same moral base, since they interpret the bible in different ways. To suggest that YOUR moral base is more correct than MINE is offensive and divisive - and that’s exactly what Obama is suggesting we shouldn’t do. If you are motivated by religion - great - but if you want to do something other than preach to the choir, it’s high time you took a step back and tried to figure out where everyone is coming from, and work within that frame. I will happily agree with most right-wing evangelical Christian that murder is wrong. I don’t think that’s defined by the bible though. And clearly we may disagree on the definition of murder - but whatever murder is, it’s wrong.
Dobson seems to think that Obama believes fighting for something you believe in is wrong. It’s not. But it’s arrogant to believe that everyone should agree with you because YOUR religious text says they should. And it is irrational to believe that society is immoral just because it disagrees with you and a book. All Obama is saying is that if you wish to discuss topics with a wider population, then your argument shouldn’t reduce to “The Bible says so.” Dobson disagrees - because the bible says so.
So yeah, true to form and what should have been totally obvious to me from the start - I should not have scheduled the MySQL Developer I exam for Friday the goddamn thirteenth. The first omen was when they called me earlier in the week to tell me that my testing center no longer existed, and that I had to schedule for a new one. I should have taken the hint, but no, I’m not that smart. I simply moved it to another site and proceeded as usual.
Anyway, went in, took the test, and gloriously failed it. It was harder than I expected. I was 3 questions short from a passing grade. Now you could say (validly) that if I was more knowledgeable, I wouldn’t have been so near the cut line. But, since I had to guess on a handful of questions, you can also say that if I had better luck, I’d have passed. So yeah. That was pretty depressing and disappointing. I plan to keep studying, now that I have a better idea of what’s asked, and take it again in 2 weeks or a month, thereabouts. I think what really got me was the “choose as many as apply” questions - even if I knew 2 correct answers, if I wasn’t aware of the 3rd I miss the whole question. I dislike that, it’s very frustrating to know how to do something, but just not know all the ways of doing it.
Did it end there? Of COURSE not! So while I’m stewing at home (both from heat and from dismay), my ex calls. And technically, she wasn’t my ex, because her last conversation with me was basically “I don’t want to break up, but I need some time to think.” That “time” lasted around 3 months. I gave up on her after 2 weeks. So, she calls, and I’m thinking, “WTF, why today of all days….” She tells me she wants to break up. I laughed and said no kidding, I kinda figured that out over the past 3 months. So she came over, we exchanged apartment keys (and I got my photoshop book back, hooray!) and I shut the door with a “See ya.” - though I don’t plan to. I really didn’t need that aggravation. Friday the damn thirteenth, strikes again.
So that night, I went to a party. I knew pretty much no one there, so it was definitely an exercise in “don’t be an introvert Kevin, and don’t embarrass the host who invited you by being retarded.” And shockingly, I did fine. I had plenty to drink, but not too much, and I was able to converse with pretty much everyone I encountered. No matter how cute I thought they were, in one case, so go figure. So Friday was a day of highs and lows, that’s for sure.
Now it’s Monday, I’m sore as hell from broomball, and I’m having really pretty violent mood swings. On the one hand, I’m really excited from having played sports competently - one I’ve never played before. On the other, I’m really depressed and distressed over the MySQL test and the fact that sometimes I can be incredibly charming and social and other times, I’m apparently boring as sawdust and as appealing as burnt toast. I can’t figure out how to get it all together, how to, on command, impress the people I want to impress (or even find them in the first place). Highs and Lows. That’s all I got right now - and it’s quickly become mostly lows again. I was hoping passing that test would give me a much needed motivation boost - but instead it’s just made me feel like an incredible failure.
So last night, for just about the first time since I snapped my ankle, I went and did something severely athletic. I dug out my knee and ankle braces, got some basketball shoes and went to play broomball. I hurt in all kinds of ways now.
I am so out of shape, I couldn’t play offense at all - going up and down the rink would completely wind me. So I hung back and played defenseman, and rather competently, all things considered. This also marked the first time - ever - I’ve set foot on an ice rink. I’ve never ice skated (or roller skated/bladed). So this was a pretty new experience. But thanks to my years of playing NHL Hockey for the Sega Genesis, and watching a few hockey games in my time, I understood the basics. Plus playing defense wasn’t all that different from playing defense on a basketball court, and I’m real familiar with that. A few people asked how long I’ve been playing, and were pretty surprised when I said “as long as we’ve been standing on this rink tonight.” So I wasn’t bad, just a non-factor on offense. But that’s OK - there should always be at least one guy back, two if possible, at all times to help the goalie.
So yeah. Running around on ice is difficult, and having never done it, keeping my balance was pretty tough. I went down quite often, and have the bruises to prove it. Plus not having done anything to stress my ankle or knee in years, they swelled up pretty good. I’ll probably have to take some anti-inflammatories before I go next time. Last time it took me about a month to get in shape to play basketball - and I did it by running a mile every day. I don’t know if I can do that again, but I’ll need to figure something out so I’m not sucking wind 10 minutes into playing.
All in all though, it felt pretty good to do something athletic, even though I’m going to be absolutely dead tomorrow. Since there’s no jumping, it’s actually easier on my ankle and knee than I expected, easier than basketball. I just gotta learn to stay upright a little better. There’s nothing soft on an ice rink, it turns out.
Why have I not posted much on politics of late? Because it’s been excruciatingly boring. McCain is busy being old and not running against anyone. Obama has been busy marking time until Hillary finally gives up. And Hillary has been somehow, for some reason, trying to convince anyone she hasn’t been out of the race since March. I called this for Obama weeks ago, the math just wasn’t there for Hillary. At least most people are now on board with Obama as the winner - though Hillary still isn’t, bafflingly. She has said she’s open to the VP slot though, which is pretty much a concession. In my opinion, Obama would have to be outright insane to take her as his running mate. And so, now that we have the top 2 settled - let the veepstakes begin!
On the R side, what does McCain need? Well we need to look at where he’s positioned. He’s near the middle of the spectrum. He has been at odds with the far right wing of his party for some time. But do we really believe that they will stay at home and NOT vote for him? Do we really believe that the far right would rather have Obama as president? No way. So even though Huckabee has been positioning himself as the top Veep candidate for some time - he’s redundant. McCain can carry everyone to the right of him - because the alternative for them is worse.
Obama has shown a knack for stealing the swing/independent voters that used to be McCain’s biggest cheering section. So McCain needs someone that will bring those people back to him. It will piss off the right wing of his party even more, but if he can lock up those folks that jumped ship in the primaries to vote for Obama, he wins the Presidency. I’m not real familiar with the lesser-known Republicans, but he will choose a governor or representative (unlikely he’ll choose another senator) who will appeal to a broad swath of the middle. Someone clearly right-of-center, but with a fresh face. And probably much, much younger than himself (though it’d be impossible to get anyone older). Obama has his message of change, hope and youth. McCain will choose a running mate that will try and steal some of that back to the R side.
So what does Obama need? Not Hillary - he needs less contention. He needs someone that compliments him. And he needs someone that won’t overshadow him. I’ve long thought that Bill Richardson had the inside track on this - he’s liberal but not too liberal, he’s got Latino crediblility (another problem for Obama) but he’s not scary to prejudiced white people (which has also shown to be a problem for Obama). But Obama faces a couple of real challenges from McCain. First is national defense. McCain - and the Republicans - have long used this scare tactic to sway people to their side. And this will be no different. So it would be good if Obama could find someone to shore up his international relations and national defense problems. The guy for this? Wesley Clark, pretty much hands-down. He is virtually unassailable in this, and has higher-level military experience than McCain himself. However, the war and national defense issues are actually starting to fall on the back-burner (or at least into the #2 slot) behind the economy. As the US economy continues to sputter along (and maybe even dive soon?) it becomes increasingly an easy target for politicians to score points. Who’s the Dem economic issue master? Dare we say it…but John Edwards. Again you ask? Yeah. He was actually the more popular of the Kerry-Edwards combo, in the end. Now, I’d be skeptical of this choice, but there’s already some evidence to back this up as a great choice for Obama with the ability to hand him some states that McCain would otherwise carry.
So there you go. The first Veep discussion. Let’s see how it all turns out!
Time for a little self-improvement check-up. The patient is not exactly in the best health. Since laying out my plan for the future in February, events have conspired to slowly but surely drag me down from that self esteem peak. I am now in a trough, at best. Referring back, my Plan was to get a MySQL certification. I have lagged, procrastinated, studied in bursts and lulls. Technically, I had planned to take the Associate exam by June 1. I have not done that. However, I also decided (back in March) that the Associate exam was largely redundant, and to just go for the Developer Exam. Target date for that was Sep 1, but I really have no excuse for not moving that date up to June 1. No excuse but laziness, lethargy and general malaise, that is. Since my self-motivation has failed me miserably of late, I went ahead and scheduled the first Developer exam for June 13th - just 10 days away. So there’s my deadline for the first test. I have to now study so that I don’t lose money/time/face and pass the damn thing. I think I can do it. I really, really hope I can. Is it was for me, of all people, to be scheduling it for Friday the 13th? Most likely not. But them’s the breaks.
So, there’s my plan - in a couple weeks I’ll either maybe have a reason to feel a little better, or a reason to feel a lot worse. Guess I’d better start studying (again)…
Yeah. I’m back in the doldrums again. I mean that very specifically - I am in a stagnant pool in my life. Again.
First let’s roll back to my last “real” post about the haunting in San Francisco. On a random whim, and after much debate, I said “screw it” and called Kyra, fully expecting her not to answer. But lo and behold, she did. Sadly, she had just hopped on the ferry (a mile from my hotel) and was on her way home after work. So I couldn’t see her that night. But I was able to spend 45 minutes the next morning talking and catching up a little. It’s amazing how fast we get along, even after a gap. She instantly makes me feel comfortable, appreciated, liked, special - whatever you want to call it - and I honestly hope I can find someone who makes me feel that way again. Soon. But it was really nice to chat with her, even for a short time. It still amazes me that our personalities mesh so well, even though we’re so totally different. Who knows when I’ll see her again, but at least I know she’s out there.
Which rolls into the whole personal stagnation - the dating pool seems to have dried up, and I’m once again facing an inability to find a match. I don’t understand online dating (or why I’m such a failure at it) and I don’t have really any good ways to meet people “in real life” so I’m at a real loss.
Work is work, I’ve had some success and some setbacks so far in the past month or so, but the run-up to SF and the trip have spun my whole personal achievement schedule off course. I’m way behind on both personal and professional goals for the year - I’ve failed to take the MySQL Cert exam before June 1. I MUST get it done in June. Unfortunately, with the whole ego-bruising personal life problems, I’ve really lost motivation in anything else. I’m just down. I need a kick-start, I need SOMETHING to motivate me. Right now I’m stuck in “oh, what’s the point” land. And I hate it. But once I’m in a rut I tend to stick in the mud.
So that’s 2008 in a nutshell so far. A slow downhill slide to here. Is this the bottom, or merely a ledge? I dunno. People tell me things will get better, and they’re probably right, but at the moment - it’s little consolation. It’s not like things are BAD, its just that I had higher hopes and plans for 2008, and I’m disappointed in both reality and myself.
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