And now for something completely worthwhile: Space Ship One pics

Sometimes it's a great thing to have played a minor part in something wonderful.
  ¶ 11:24 AM 0 comments

  A cheering up sort of blog

I post this stuff because it cheers me up, later. My lines are in italics.

Mike Taht wrote:

Sometimes I think you're more ADD than I am. What of your postmastering book?

I'm careful.

I only front things that are possible.

I do front things that will tax my abilities to my imagined
maximum, because that is how I grow.

I've spent my whole life thinking about technology and not about making money.

Money is what you go to work for. I think you have made the incorrect assumption that a lot of us have. That Money=Wealth.

Money^[^.=]Wealth.

( I think I got that right)

Anyway.

Money is the stuff you pay bills with. Wealth is quality of life.

I know folks (as do you probably) that bring in something deep into poverty level wages, who have an excellent quality of life, by the same tolken, BG has more available Money than anyone, and will always be snot sucking shitdog.

Money is what you earn, Wealth is what you create.

You can create wealth by making money, and some folks are really good at it. But as much as EVERYONE LOVES to quote Dr. Deming, most folks also like to only look at the points they like. Almost everyone who claims to be a Deming leader, simply ignores this point:

"Create constancy of purpose for continual improvement of products and service to society, allocating resources to provide for long range needs rather than only short term profitability, with a plan to become competitive, to stay in business, and to provide jobs."

Where in there does it state, "Make me rich" ?

It doesn't.

And that's the point.


Frankly I've been kind of spiraling into blackness lately - My startup is in a tight place,

Of course it is. As long as they keep writing the check, you
can keep showing up.

Soon as the checks stop, go get some other check.

my own project is stuck at square one,

You know this one:

"Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats."
-Howard Aiken

It can sit there, until you decide to push it forward.

my other projects are stalled,

And will remain so, until you can get to them, it's okay. I didn't mention all the forestry projects I have going, heh ;-)

it's getting dark out,

Brother, it does that every single day, you aren't sundowning yet, are you?

my aunt died sunday,

I read her epitaph at the-edge
I enjoyed it, and meditated on it for a while.
Well done, sez I.
A weathly life, well lived.

josh is probably off the wagon and has disappeared in NYC,

I've never grokked vampires, horror movies, werewolves and all that rot. Frankenstein was kinda interesting because of the philosophical questions raised, but this other crap, never did anything for me at all.

I've seen a few trendy (post-matrix) vampire movies for the hell of it, it's mostly all garbage. But what ever in the heck is the (heh) morbid fascination with this shit?

Now, it's true I have gotten drunk on borrowed money (money borrowed with other intent as well) and I've done a few other shameful things in my lust for drugs and alcohol.

however, I've never stolen for these purposes, I've never commited violence upon the "innocent" to these ends, or any other for that matter. I've never (I hate this word)
victimized anyone (aside from the obvious care issues) over my addictions. Heck, I never even turned a dime profit on a deal. (Somehow I thought myself morally superior for this).

I think on vampires and werewolves a little bit. Big co-dependancy issues there, eh?

In the fairy tale versions of these stories, there is always a "cure" for those bitten. In the darker stories (more realistic) the ones most affected must drive a stake, silver bullet, your choice, whatever into the beast that once was a loved one.

These fucking monsters will kill you if they have to, and sometimes they have to. Watch yer ass around a vampire.

The "good" werewolves will lock themselves up during the full moon. So they will do no harm. I think we call ourselves "recovering" But we never recover. Only those who think they have recovered are really at risk. There is NO FUCKING CURE.

and I'm overreacting to basic stimuli

Sounds like a seratonin issue. I'm all about that these days.

The best "we" have to offer, is ssri drugs. That's not the real fix.
I'm REALLY not going into this, but if you like, you can go read;

http://www.mwilliamson.com/5htp.htm

You may find it germane.

I've been trying to work out what I want to do that's simple, and validating.

Okay, good plan.

I know a lot more about myself than I did two years ago.

Yeah, good,

I think I need to get myself into a situation where I can share the energy of some kids doing something worthwhile.

Okay, good, do that the other part that isn't taken up by the 40 hours you spend "at work". Good concept.

Or I need to just quit doing this and live somewhere I can survive cheap for a while.

Okay, A recharge isn't a "bad" idea, right out of the box. Might be a good
idea. Your what? 40,42? Shit boy, you ain't even started yet.

"But I know people that have, , , , "

So what? They ain't choo! You iz you. Whatever dey did has no bearing on what you did holmz.

"If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;"
~ IF, Rudyard Kipling

Ever notice how closely it ties to this?

"Much of present-day software-acquisition procedure rests upon the assumption that one can specify a satisfactory system in advance, get bids for its construction, have it built, and install it. I think this assumption is fundamentally wrong, and that many software-acquisition problems spring from that fallacy. Hence, they cannot be fixed without fundamental revision--revision that provides for iterative development and specification of prototypes and products."
~ No Silver Bullet, Frederick K. Brooks,

And the next paragraph begins with what -taken either in or out of context- could very well be a zen koan;

"grow, don't build . . ."

BING!

I could go home to NJ, but that won't solve much.

That would depend, wouldn't it? on what the variable "much" represents.

If what needs to happen, is that mtaht needs to throw up his hands and say "Shit! I've fucked up!" and start again at the beginning, then so be it.

Yer still alive boy, you still have time. Much has past, yes, but much still to come.

  ¶ 10:40 AM 0 comments

  Waking up to more of the same

After making my prediction (below), I went to bed certain I'd wake up to a united Republican government. Although the electoral vote remains in doubt in three states, Bush has won the popular vote. As much as I distrust electronic voting machines, I doubt, however, that fraud could account for 4m votes - but we'll never know.

Now the wednesday morning quarterbacking can begin!

A) Kerry should have spent more time on the West Coast. Sure, it wouldn't have picked him up more votes locally, but a few big rallies here in a friendly center for national media attention probably would have helped nationally.

B) The Democratic party does have to swear off billionaire bots from the NE if it expects to connect to the mass of people it supposedly represents.

C) The Republican party now has the mandate of God and country to do what they like with both. God help us, because no one else can.

D) The youth vote didn't materialize. Note to self: Any time a campaign starts talking about needing the youth vote, it's sucking air.

E) The independent vote went Kerry; if you add up all the votes that went to other parties, it wouldn't make a dent in BushCo.

F) Campaign finance reform didn't work, again.

G) The guvernator's election in California last year, and subsequent campaign appearances, gave Bush a Terminator II respectability.

H) Democrats forgot that Florida contains a little more population than just that of Dade and Broward counties.

I) Republicans remembered that buggery buys nothing in the bible belt.

J) Jacksons count - Republicans outspent Democrats by 2 to 1.

  ¶ 1:18 AM 1 comments

  Too close to call

But I'll call it anyway - Bush takes New Mexico & Florida.

The Florida win takes him over the top.

Going to bed now. Tomorrow's just another day, you know?
  ¶ 7:46 PM 0 comments

  2000 votes planted in Philly before the polls opened

2000 votes planted in Philly before the vote opened... a report later discredited by Philly News...

Election 2004, the lawyers' and reporters' employment act.  ¶ 8:09 AM 0 comments

  The 97% solution

"People don't want war...but [they] can always be brought to do the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger." - Hermann Goering, 1946 (German General of Aircraft, morphine addict)

Ever since 9/11, we have been a nation divided by fear. After 9/11, I turned my television off, permanently, and stopped being bombarded by broadcast political rhetoric. Instead, I drove past Mark Bingham's parents' house every day, and reflected, in silence, on what it truly meant to be human.

If it were up to me, I'd have bade that every American on a plane with a cell phone and a sharp object to keep them ready: to defend our rights, and liberty, and freedom; if necessary, to die to preserve those things.

That's this American's response to terrorism. I'm not afraid of Bin Laden - and because I love freedom - I'm willing to read the complete text of what he just said as I know I'd stand my ground, and give my life for freedom, if I had to.

Now: Normally, I'm a green leaning libertarian. I registered democratic last year to vote against (D) Mike Honda in the primary... and I later learnt I was no longer in his district. Gerrymandering in the age of computerisation has reached an obscene low - and that's why I favor proportional voting - not that either party favors it.

Bush is too far right - Kerry too far left... and neither has bothered to have a coherent thought about the three issues I care about most - Asteroid exploration, digital rights and copyright reform.

When I see the national review advocating a single party state, my blood boils. When I see Democrats tearing down the lawn signs of Republicans, my hope for sanity fades.

If I could have one government program funded by either party, it would be to have the Internet's babelfish language translation service extended to translate Hebrew, Arabic, Hindi, Chinese, and American.

The debate thus far has borne no relation to the important issues facing the nation... except Vietnam. It's just two members of the same statist party fighting over whose friends will get favors.

I oppose the tyranny of minority rule by either side. My loyalties are to truth and reason, not emotion. Where passions boil, reason tends to suffer.

So, my vote, this election, is for a representative federal government. Call it a political anti-trust action, because I trust neither party. The prospect of either American party holding all the reins of power frightens me far more than Bin Laden ever could. Both our parties are captured by statists - my position on the negatives of creeping federalism is captured by Eric Raymond's "Why I'm not a left/liberal right/conservative" - and my positions on the positives are largely unprintable in a family weblog.

Ordinarily, I'd just throw up my hands and vote for Badnarik. But:

With the Republicans in control of the House, the Senate split, and Kerry in charge of the executive body, only the policies that both sides can agree on will come forth. With both parties sharing power in the federal government (or, rather, continuing to contend for it), the will of 97% of the voting public will be represented through the next four years (given the present 49%/48% split). If the situation were reversed - with, instead, the Democrats threatening total control of the three parts of elected federal government - I'd vote Republican. That's not the case. That's why I'm voting for Kerry.

If you can not defend a single party state: At least be confident that Kerry can perform the job as President. You're still not confident? Ah, there's the rub.

I now open the floor to debate. Comments?

Labels: democrats, election 2004, msm, republicans, terrorism

  ¶ 1:37 AM 1 comments