Matthew

So I encountered my first real harbinger of the core of the upcoming commercial holiday frenzy: Christmas music. Playing in Centerway Square.

It was sort of neat- I was walking and heard something that was familiar and out of place... something moreso than the street dressed up with lighted snowflakes, a big lighted tree, Salvation Army bell wringers (who were out last week), and Santa's little house thing in Centerway Square... this familiarity pierced through me as I stopped and focused to realize what it was: Christmas music emanating from the speakers in Centerway.

So it begins.

I guess I am a bit surprised. Seeing that stores in the area were in full Christmas-retailing regalia BEFORE Halloween was even taking place, and Market Street all dressed for Christmas weeks ago, I would have expected the Christmas music to have been piled into the mix. But no... we were spared.. not quite as long as I would have liked (remember when Thanksgiving used to be the barrier? Personally I'd prefer December 1st or later... maybe even not until the 12 days before Christmas. That's an ideal range).

And it isn't that I'm anti-Christmas music or anti-Christmas... I'm just anti-Christmas-for-a-quarter-of-the-year... there's a bit of economics involved (and no, not the retail kind... if I'm anti-Christmas, it is anti-retail-Christmas)... and those economics are that of utility. If I ENJOY something.. I will enjoy it less if I'm exposed to it 24/7 for weeks on end. If Christmas is supposed to be special and memorable... I'd much rather be exposed to it for a short period of time, it would feel special, it would be special... I'd derive more enjoyment from it... the shorter timespan would be memorable.

But as it is now, I find myself more resistant to it... even shunning it, in an attempt to hold it off until it gets much closer, so as to enjoy it then, rather than now.

And not to deprive others from their Christmas-all-year orgy, but hey, if you have to do it... do it inside your own homes... don't ruin it for others.

In other news... I've just commenced on the 3rd season of my Star Trek: Enterprise re-viewing. Seasons 1 and 2 are much much better than I remember... Season 3, which I had memories of being downright fantastic... so far seems on par with 1 and 2 (being pretty great)...

Last night I found myself strangely inspired to start plotting out one of my courses for next semester, so I have a few note sheets of ideas for various projects, as well as the underlying motive for variability in activities.

So I was at the store yesterday, and there in Aisle 12 (the one with the children's books instead of the highly acidic and predominantly nutrient free corn syrup-infused candy) were a selection of various books on a variety of different themes, all of course focused on one event: Christmas.

Putting that annoyance aside, in the absence of all the "Partly Cloudly with a Chance of Meatballs" books, there were the way-too-early-holiday replacements: A Car's Christmas (yes, the Pixar film "Cars" now star in a book about Christmas, mmmm commercialism), that new Disney "A Christmas Carol/Story" (whatever it is called, with Jim Carrey in it). Among others.

Something I found curious but noteworthy-- across many of these overly commercial and clearly out of purview (Cars -> Christmas? yeah... a bit of a stretch), was the following phrase: "Ready to Read".

Makes me think about instant dinners that are "Ready to Eat" or "Ready to Cook"... a sense of instantness in their gratification. Cool... so now there are books that are "Ready to Read"... I always hated having to wait for them to ripen before consuming or ferment on library shelves. I can just, bam! Open them up and start reading them.. what a novel (heh) concept.

Then, my overly wearied eyes from blatant commercialism did appear, but an age old classic, one starring the famous 8 tiny reindeer.

But, stamped with the modern-day seal of approval, this incarnation of Rudolf carried with it a different wording, one of perceived mild caution: "Reading with some Help".

And I thought to myself... how very ironic?/sad... a likely fallow book about a recent Pixar film's automotive characters starring in a book about Christmas is tagged "Ready to Read", inciting the lock-step parental purchasing decisions, perhaps over the CLASSIC Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer... all because Rudolf, while it can be read, requires some "help".

Granted, in a way this is a good sign.. it means they didn't dumb down or change the wording of Rudolf... and thinking about it, yeah, there probably are some words in there that might be somewhat more "difficult"... but there's substance. I wonder how many parents will choose "A Cars' Christmas" over "Rudolf", because Cars is "Ready to Read".

Which would be more "fun"? Oh, nevermind... Reading Rainbow was canceled because the public funding available was geared towards "learning how to read" vs. Reading Rainbow's "making reading fun" mantra.

"Reading with some Help". ... "Ready to Read" ... "BUY BUY BUY CHRISTMAS BUY BUY BUY"... and it's only now mid-way through November... still well over a month before the overly pre-celebrated day.

Hey, it is nice out today. Nice enough for a bike ride. So that is what I will be doing presently.

For a couple years now, on our campus intranet information portal, twice a year, I see a message come across the "important IT notifications" section that says something of the following:

"Due to the governments decision to experiment with daylight savings time, we will again experience some calendar discrepancies during the period from 2:00 a.m. October 25 to 2:00 a.m. November 1. You should closely check events in your calendar for that period of time, especially re-occurring events, for one-hour differences. If you change a re-occurring event make sure that you only change it for "this one only." If you need to enter a "new" re-occurring event during that week, enter it as a single event for that week, then enter it again as a re-occurring event after November 1."

Dang, that darn government of ours and the nerve of them MESSING with daylight saving time... who do they think they are messing with some God-given attribute of time keeping?

Like I said, I find myself endlessly amused by this... IT complaining that the government is artificially messing with daylight saving time... when the fact of the matter is that the very notion of daylight saving time IS an artificiality to begin with. Annoyed with a change brought about a-top a change they endorse, endorsed by the very entity they are now complaining about changing it.

I mean, personally, I celebrate daylight saving time ALL year around... and I for one am glad that it is a bit longer now (I think I calculated before, maybe even a bit longer than non-daylight saving time)... and for no reason other than that is the time keeping that is in effect during the summer.

I was musing this morning about some of my pro-environmental longevity endeavors, and did a quick checking to discover the following:

October 29th: Gas Station visit
September 27th: Gas Station visit

Nearly 5 weeks. wooo.

And my new celebrated attempt:

September 16th - October 16th: ~ a month of having my cell phone off.

You know how liberating it is leaving one's phone off for an entire month? Not that I ever had it on when I didn't want it on... but just being disconnected from that means of communication for such a length of time. It was so enjoyable. I look forward to doing that again in the near future.

It is surprisingly warm out today. I went to Wegmans to witness a clash of their been-up-for-a-while Christmas decorations with family/kids Halloween events in the aisles at Wegmans... everyone (cashiers, customers, kids) was dressed up. Playing skeleton bowling all lined up in their costumes in the produce section, or the Christmas section. I wasn't sure what to think, but I guess it was scary to realize that most of these people were likely okay with the presence of Christmas and it's only Halloween. So overexposed to commercialism that it just doesn't phase them anymore.

You know what sucks? Getting sick.

And you know what also sucks about that? Not exactly knowing what it is you're sick with (at least for a week).

And it sucks to have temperatures, night sweats, and generally wanting to sleep all the time.

And then you are told you have mono. And that really sucks.

Then it sucks to endure it for two weeks, doing everything in your power not to let it sap away your last semblance of a minimal night's rest rendering one effectively a brainless zombie.

And it sucks to think that this is supposed to go on for up to 6 weeks (and then you read horror stories on the internets of people having it for 4, 5+ months).

But you know what is awesome? Getting fed up with mono on day 13, realizing it is attacking your last shred of sanity by denying you sleep, even your usually reliable late afternoon nap which grants you an amazingly long 2-3 hours of sleep without waking up drenched.

And when you get fed up, you do something about it.

As it would turn out, and quite awesomely... mono, as all lipid-enveloped viruses, has somewhat of a fatal weakness to the presence of mid-range fatty acids. You know, the stuff that ISN'T GENERALLY IN OUR DIETS... we get the other range fatty acids... fried and bad food, and the attempts at good food that we eat (Walnuts/Fish --> Omega 3 fats)... but, mid-range is, by and large, un-A-vailable. Doesn't help that the general wisdom is that all fats are bad and that we should avoid them, even and especially foods that naturally have fat (but natural fat, not added fat).

You know what does have a good plentiful natural source of mid-range fatty acids? Coconut Oil. Do a google search for "alternative mono cures" or the like, and it is mentioned time and time again.

Coconut oil, eh? $8-$16 a tub at Wegmans in the natural foods section. 3 tablespoons a day (ie one with each meal). Day 13 and feeling as if you are slowly losing this battle to mono... so I said:

Quantum torpedoes- Armed and locked on target.

Bringing photon cannons online. Locked and ready to fire.

And in a glorious battle run fit only for the USS Defiant, I opened fire with a good natural dose of mid-range fatty acids. You know what? The evening of Day 13 I enjoyed a with-it-ness that I hadn't felt in... oh, 13 days.

And then I continued the onslaught... day 14, 15, 16, 17, and here we are, on day 18... not even marking week 3 of having mono, and I'm once again enjoying walks outside. I'm enjoying swallowing without pain. I'm looking forward to going to bed knowing I won't be up a gazillion times needing a shower. Since day 13 pretty much back to normal and feeling pretty darn good.

And I can thank the consumption of Coconut Oil? I'd like to. And I shall.

The doctor basically said "just rest, endure it. 6 weeks." And here I went and annihilated it in under a week. And the only reason I didn't do it sooner was I was managing to live with it to my standards. Otherwise I likely could have ended it sooner. Oh well. I'll know better for any next times.

...and that's pretty darn awesome.

I'd also like to thank the supporting cast:

- Baking Soda
- Apple Cider Vinegar
- Blackstrap Molasses
- Cayenne Pepper
- CoEnzymeQ10
- Flax Seed Oil
- Sesame Seed Oil (oil pulling)

That have introduced me to new possibilities of staying healthy and balanced, in ways I may not have been doing before.

I'd just like to say that Cayenne Pepper has some potential power to it. I think I have a subluxation built up over the last week, and I could swear this morning I felt it stop cold when it hit it. Some amazing nervous system action that Cayenne Pepper. But hey, it drinks okay with orange juice in the morning.

I love it when, after spending a week of break, my weekday chronometer gets ahead of itself, so that on Wednesday I thought it was Thursday, and Thursday -> Friday. It made today feel like one big great bonus day.

And you know what is annoying? Lack of manufacturer specification that a product of theirs uses GU24 bulbs. Now I know, only after searching and finding a GU10 and thinking *that* was the answer. But no... GU10 is smaller than GU24.

Then to add insult to injury, I cannot seem to find anyone manufacturing GU24 LED bulbs... only CFLs.

I got the high score in tetris, for the moment.

How long does it take to transfer 351GB of data from an XFS-formatted filesystem available over gigabit ethernet to a 1.5TB USB HD formatted with HFS+? 6 hours. Granted a lot of unmentioned variables, but that was one of my major projects today, along with reformatting a Dell machine to factory settings, and toying with playing with the Linux Terminal Server Project.

The weekend is now here... yet it has been an amazing week. Time to go read.

My posting frequency seems to have dwindled this past half year; certainly there have been plenty of potential variables which can be attributed towards such a current outcome. But, in general it just seems as if I've been able to adequately indulge my inspirations on other mediums, especially inspirationally and educationally as of late (even if there was a large likelihood that a bulk of the intended audience didn't understand it).

Things I've recently experienced (recent being somewhat of a stretch.. I guess potentially going as far back as my previous post):

- I finished (just today, actually) my awesome Star Trek: DS9 viewing with the series finale. It was a good, good run. And a part of me is sad to have completed it, knowing there isn't anything of comparable value to follow it up with. Other good things exist, sure, but there is no other DS9.

- Adobe Photoshop CS4 is a pain to deal with in non-sanctioned environments. But I got the sucker to work-- "running" under my case sensitive main install, via the "run it out of a case-insensitive DMG", symlink it up like crazy, plug in the /etc/hosts -> localhost hacks, and it does run. And adequately. Missing a few of the fonts, but nothing that has prevented me from doing what needs to be done (and fixing the font problem is only a matter of figuring out how to properly get the system to recognize fonts I just blatantly copied into the systems font directory). But I did it. Based it off all the CS3 information, a little dtrace magic (actually that was just in my attempts to get it going on the case sensitive filesystem... which if it weren't for the license validation would have worked).

- 3-4 days into my break week, and I've made a working "smart board" using a Nintendo Wiimote, some free software, some almost-free software (but free software certainly exists), and an Infrared pen via the construction of a simple circuit containing a SPST switch, a 2 Ohm resistor, a 1.5V AA battery, and a Radio Shack IR LED (940nm!). Second version ended up working substantially better than the first-- my IR pen currently lives within a gutted whiteboard marker. Not the prettiest thing in the world, and I have to press the end of the battery to get the wire contacting all the way, but it does work. The big difficulty is finding a place to put the Wiimote... in my house I don't have the immediate ability to affix it to the ceiling as I would in a computer lab (which will substantially reduce the instances of blocking it preventing the thing from working).

- I've commenced on my next Star Trek viewing (come to think of it I can really only pull off three more, counting the one I'm about to describe-- the other two being the Original Series and the Animated Series), kicked off by watching the series premier while projected onto my ceiling and having the speakers blaring--- and that would be Star Trek: Enterprise. I've not watched it since 2004 when it went off the air... so just like the others, I should be able to get a decent fresh perspective on them.

- I've remembered that, although I can understand a lot of the theory and method behind circuit building, the simple fact of the matter is the most challenging thing for me is soldering. I still seem to be missing something central to the whole process, and it takes me excruciatingly long amounts of time to accomplish something when soldering is involved (typically from all the solder points breaking due to them not being as strong as they should be). But with enough time and effort, it will get done.

What else? Sleep is beckoning, so that is all for now.

This is likely my first post this month. Almost half a month has transpired since my last one. And many eternities have taken place since then.

All of which are too descriptive to etch now onto this palette in the temporal availability I have at the present moment (which is to say, with sleep setting off proximity alarms, not a lot). I went from sunshine out and in to just sunshine in, and water around to water from above; sleeping without walls to sleeping with windows. Singing in a duet to back to performing solos.

I am energized, random, half-bemused by gdb as I attempt to alter the Photoshop CS4 installer to prevent its calling of the function that checks for case-sensitive filesystems (so I can attempt to install the darn thing, which is only a freakin' demo, and actually get it working before the actual box with serial number arrives so I can use it for something), and procrastinating and bike riding and pondering countless possibilities.

I am invisible, yet apparently present.

A former classmate regards me as the smartest person they know. I am always heartened to realize I wasn't just some forgotten background piece.

Just about halfway through Season 7 of DS9. It has been a darn good DS9 viewing since I commenced it... whenever the heck that was :)

That's all I've got for now.

I always think it is neat how, seemingly unknowingly, after not touching something for a while, when you finally come back to it there's a neat mathematical difference in the time.. like coming back to it on August 28th when you last touched it on August 14th.

That is all.

I love how there are still fireflies out, and it is the beginning of August.

That in itself is nestled with blissful ignorance. For some reason so much of the world around me seems to be obsessed with the notion that "summer is almost over" because it is August. When technically, if we were only going by the pure physical season, we still have a little under two months.

But as far as the eternal summer goes, it is boundless.

I was pleased to be amongst that energy tonight, just sitting outside, in the quite, comfortably cool summer surroundings. A few stars poking through, an occasional lightning bug, random fireworks going off down the lake... and even managed to trip the outside light with my inner light for a few minutes, enjoying some fantastic darkness (where I was the light, instead of some fixed light source).

A nice peaceful end to what started as a blah rainy day (and let me tell you-- when trying to roll out OSPF on a network and it deciding not to work for seemingly stupid reasons, was certainly welcomed).

Summer is here, and the time is right, for dancing in the street.

Something I found unsettling the other day, when meeting with a student, was something resembling the following:

Me: "So you looking to be full time or part time?" As a previous conversation a couple months ago with this student indicated a strong likelihood of going part time.

Them: "Full time, to get financial aid and so I can keep my apartment I'm planning to get. I need to be full-time to qualify for the apartment rent assistance program."

On one hand, I've got to give this individual some credit.. he's come a long way from where he was... and has gotten a job, and is looking to further expand his horizons with living out on his own in an apartment of his own. Some good experiences and lessons to be learned from this.

So, one might think "yay for government assistance!"

At least, on the surface, in the short term.

But then I start thinking about it more... trying to pull back the layers.

Via some government programs, students get financial aid to go to school.. and in this case we see a government program supporting full-time students renting apartments to live in.

People that taken advantage of these programs do develop an important skill: how to follow rules, including any loopholes in them.

And following the rules might seem like a very important skill to have, especially in the short term. But what about the long term?

... oh, what are they doing 5, 10 years from now? Have they even thought about it?

How many expect to still be relying upon these government programs to maintain their so-called advancement in quality of living?

Can that really be considered advancing if it is merely being granted a bicycle, allowing them to go 25MPH, where before they could only walk, at 3MPH, on the road of life where the supposed big wigs are cruising at 65MPH?

And what's more, is although they may not have this metaphorical bike that is capable of 25MPH on flat terrain, 35MPH on the downhill, they will usually only take it at 15MPH. A nice, calm, consistent pace. The government provided the bike, they're now going 5 times as fast. And there's incentive to stay at 15MPH... if we follow these rules, the government will still help us out.

But what about going to the full potential of the bike? What about taking some risks and getting it up to 35MPH on the downhill? What if that violates the rules...

A common mentality I have seen from some students, not limited to financial aid recipients, but quite pronounced from them, is the good ol' "What do I have to do to pass?" Because failing would mean a rescinding of financial aid... requiring them to pay back all the money they just spent on candy from their financial aid checks.

The all-too-common mistake that is made at this juncture by administrators and politicians, is to point a finger at it and say, "look! a loop-hole! Let's plug it!" and pass some new rule saying "you shalt not buy candy with your financial aid monies"

So they stop buying candy with the financial aid money. They buy a prepaid gas card instead.

And, oh... maybe then buy candy.

Then, when that exploit is discovered, a new rule, either:

a) preventing the purchase of prepaid gas cards

or...

b) allowing only gasoline to be purchased with prepaid gas cards (thereby potentially impacting an originally independent initiative entirely unrelated to the financial aid process, but now has been slapped with regulation because of the financial aid abuses).

And there are more and more examples that stem from this... where the solution is to affix a band-aid, and not address the core of the problem-- the foundation that is riddled with holes.

We see the same thing with Microsoft... how many hotfixes and security patches are available on a regular basis? Especially for things like the RPC subsystem. Or Windows SMB. And when an exploit is discovered, how it affects this broad range of versions... Microsoft is a clear example due to its complexity inherent in Windows. It is a natural side-effect.

What about throwing out the old and replacing it with something new?

What about throwing out the old idea that government, that created the original problem to begin with, through its own inability to see the problems it would create, and replace it with a new (and even older concept): Repeal it and do nothing.

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Alan Grayson is looking to be a new rising star of common sense in the House of Representatives.. a Democratic representative from Florida, he seems to take a very hands-on practical approach to certain matters economic, especially when he can fire shots across the bow of the Federal Reserve.

This YouTube clip is a great example, and what's more, even without being familiar with complex economics terms, one can clearly follow his rational progression of questions asking "where's the money?" and more or less calling shenanigans.

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The persistent threat to idea is tradition, and the worst thing that can be budgeted is consistency.

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Think of something with high monetary value-- a painting or treasure. Let's say there is one of them and it is worth $1 million.

What would happen if there were then 1,000 of those same items. So instead of one painting worth $1 million, there were 1,000 identical paintings. No print number... just 1,000 exact authentics (let's say we have a replicator, for the case of a painting, or for any other item, merely rolling more off an assembly line, like an exotic sports car).

Would people still value the no-longer-as-unique item at $1 million? Or would it be worth somewhat, if not more significantly, less? Perhaps not adhering to a mathematical scale ($1 mil/1000 = $1,000), but I wouldn't be surprised to see resulting costs be in the thousands vs. million.

What just happened? The quantity increased, or inflated.

What if those "paintings" were a unit of currency? As in, people bartered with them... originally, although practically inconvenient if only having one, it would be quite potent in value-- that $1 million painting could be traded in exchange for goods and services.

So if there were, say, 1000 paintings valued at $1,000 a piece, something that is valued at $2,000 would take 2 paintings. Right?

Okay, let's say that this 1,000 painting scenario existed for a while, people have traded with these paintings.. services rendered, payment (in paintings) issued. People establishing wealth, retirement, savings.. or just general purchasing power. Expectations and measurements set with the trading power of these paintings, as a unit of currency.

Now, let's say that there's a centralized entity established by the government put in charge of managing economic growth. And they want to spur further production in some sector (new industry, commerce, etc.) so they "create" 1000 more paintings, creating 2,000 paintings of currency in existence.

At first, this may seem to be a good thing.. there's new flexibility in the currency arena... these new paintings distributed to the businesses/entities that are being helped to stimulate further growth. No money changes hands from those currently holding existing paintings. All good, right?

Well, what happens when those 1,000 new paintings start circulating?

1000000/2000 = 500. So now, theoretically, each painting would be worth $500, instead of $1000.

As additional paintings enter the market for trading for goods, more demand is placed on those with goods, perhaps inventories exhausted, and additional efforts need to be undertaken to keep up with this new demand (hiring more people, buying more equipment = more cost to the producer, which would raise prices).

Suddenly, what cost $1000 and used to be satisfied with 1 painting now, when all paintings have entered the main circulation pool, will cost 2. That's a doubling in cost for the consumer.

In a very real way, this is a cost, or tax, to the consumer- they have to pay more than they used to for the same stuff.

Yet, it is hidden in nature. There hasn't been a direct tax. No new tariffs were enacted. Instead, secretly behind the scenes, new currency is just released to the wild. It even has the nice side-effect of not being immediately felt... instead, costs gradually fluctuate up. Those who get the new currency reap immediate benefits, then in the end the consumer ends up hurting more with higher costs (as wages will likely increase to mirror any so-called "cost of living" adjustment after such costs of living have gone up).

Good thing we use real, actual money, right? And that we don't have any sort of secretive government-created agency that centrally manages and plans for economic matters, nor aren't stupid enough to just print up money on a whim.

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And to explore a pet peeve: Ignorance via Political Correctness.

I think my core pet peeve is the notion that being offended is bad, and that we must ensure everyone is as unoffended as possible at all times. And that in itself offends me :) I personally have realized some of my greatest potential and activism over things due to being offended (what is offense, other than an uncomfortable realization of some truth we've clung to as fact being shown that it may not be impervious to scrutiny, or may have some pretty big holes in it-- not to say that that one should welcome offense, as there are certainly bad things out there... but, this petty avoidance of it because it might upset someone? Talk about instant status quoruming). But that's not the point of my current rant :)

So, as an example of what I find to be an Ignorant Political Correct stance is this notion of "Administrative Assistant" vs. "Secretary".

I've always had a problem with "Administrative Assistant".. but for years I couldn't figure out why. I could recognize that it was an attempt to smooth over some sort of inequal discrimination... and that "secretary" was somehow a bad or derogatory term in the current environment (secretary = female paper pusher, which I do have a problem with that mentality).. but something just didn't seem right.

Earlier this summer I was able to have a conversation with some people about this.. once again indulging my enjoyment of looking closely at the words themselves.

Secretary = Secret-ary

We all know what a secret is: not open or public; kept private or not revealed

But what about the "-ary" suffix? A quick check of the latin shows: a person who, a thing that; a person who is a part of something

So, in its fundamental sense, a "secretary" is a person who is part of something that has something to do with secrets. A secret holder. And all of a sudden this starts making a lot more sense. We have a "Secretary of Defense", "Secretary of State"... clubs and organizations have secretaries...

What's more, looking up the definition of secretary reveals some more interesting meanings:

- a person who is head of an administrative department of government.
- repository: a person to whom a secret is entrusted (bam!)
- a desk used for writing (ah, so it would not be all that surprising to see definitions also of "an assistant who handles correspondence and clerical work for a boss or an organization").

So then, I start having a problem with the use of secretary being misplaced. Obviously the corporate culture would frown, but I frown at their own misuse of secretary and insincere desire to fix it by merely putting a patch over it instead of actually fixing the problem (let's just change the name! secretary -> administrative assistant).

Then, an intermediary frustration: "secretary" is 4 syllables. Runs right off the tongue.

"Administrative Assistant"? 8. EIGHT freakin' syllables. Go on, say it five times fast.

There are likely far better titles out there to be used if we are so insistent on using labels. "Receptionist", "Office Technician" (doesn't sound as pretty, but arguably accurate), maybe even "Office Assistant". Heck, "Adjunct" has a definition of "a person who is an assistant or subordinate to another".

But then, I realize something else... if the whole notion of changing the title "Secretary" to something more "Politically Correct" was to mend some grievous discriminatory stance in business culture, is "Administrative Assistant" any better?

Oh look, we've just gone from a title inferring a trusted person holding authority (Secret Holder), to a clearly limited and subordinate position. Not to belittle "work around the office for the person who is in charge", but that is considerably less than someone who collaborates with, and fulfills an administrative role, vs. being nothing more than an assistant.

Admittedly, if people really wanted to, they could endlessly argue that everyone is an assistant.. but anyway. They're just pessimists, and need to find things not to be angry about.

What's more.. is the disturbing trend I've seen in the role that Secretaries/Administrative Assistants play these days. In fact, I've on more than one occasion witnessed the death of the Secretary, and birth of the tame, docile, and faceless Administrative Assistant (just one more "Human Resource" to be allocated).

So in that regard, I *am* glad we no longer call them secretaries... because they're not. And I am sad there's not an importance in maintaining real, actual secretaries. I think we've suffered as a result.

And I also wag my finger disapprovingly at those that set the current example of representing that facet of the administrative culture-- for propagating the very aspect why there was a motivation by the politically correct to use the term "Administrative Assistant"... let's not actually fix the problem, no.. let's just change the name and pretend the problem no longer exists.

That then leads me into a pondering of why the current administrative culture feels the need to centralize power instead of distribute it. Why is it considered important for someone to be the "top dog", instead of being but one person who coordinates the operations of an organization among a group of people? Centralization always is more certain, allowing people to wrap their heads around something.. but introduces the opportunity to have a short term fixation on control and surface appearances, thereby harming the longer term efficiency and prosperity that a decentralized arrangement would seem to more intuitively provide.

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I've had a developing rant on health care coming, but I don't know if it is entirely ripened yet.

My rant in brief:

- The call for universal health care.
- The fact that health insurance costs too much, and is rising.
- There are people without health insurance, because it costs too much.

And exploring why that is:

- Health insurance is, in itself, a form of currency.
- The more of it there is, the more coverage, the more it costs.
- People who go to a Hospital Emergency Room with a cough raise costs for everyone.
- The medical industry passes the costs back to the consumer.
- More people get plugged into this health care system... misusing it for regular maintenance.
- People more and more generally HAVE to utilize health insurance for general maintenance-y things (like checkups), because simple doctor's office costs have skyrocketed just due to the complexity of the system and general uses of it for things it wasn't designed for.

A good analogy I like thinking about when trying to reason with this whole health care thing:

- We need car insurance (not saying I agree with that, but that's an entirely different rant). Does car insurance cover oil changes, inspections, and fill-ups at the gas station? Or are those things considered maintenance-y things and expected to be covered by the owner?

Obviously there's a lot of flak out there now... from the "UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE FOR ALL!" crowd that yells at screams at any prospect that congress may not enact some sort of legislation, ANY legislation, so long as they can associate "UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE FOR ALL!" to it; to the "hey, maybe we should actually READ this before enacting it... see what people think..."; to the "single payer" approach that seems somewhat more thought-out and at the same time unpopular with representative's lobbyists from big insurance/big medicine, to the "hey, look at how messed up this is... maybe we should just yank it out and let it be" crowd.

I think the best solution is one that focuses on the long term viability, and not which one makes a group of people more electable in the short term (or what they consider the "long term" of "next year or so"). And it concerns me that there's this larger than I'd like force that is all about "let's get this thing passed that nobody has read or understands NOW NOW NOW".

---

As seen penned on a label for a bathroom hand dryer...

"Dryers SUCK!"

Then in an irresistible manner just beneath:

"No, they BLOW."

hehehehe.

So it was my annual watering of the tracfone-- where my airtime was approaching the time for renewal, and I proceed to spend the only money I spend on my phone for the entire year. One of the reasons I love tracfone so... it works, it doesn't have bells and whistles (well, I guess one could get a phone with bells and whistles, but that you can get one without, also makes them great), and I don't have to put up with bills or contracts or whatnot.

Anyway... I decide to check out their website to renew my airtime, and pick up some more minutes. I slapped on one of those "double minutes, for life [of phone] plus 800 minutes" dealies, along with 400 (x2, so 800) more minutes. They have a neat little ecommercy thingy on their site where you just check what you want, the quantity, enter any promo codes (didn't have any this time around), and of course the phone's serial number.

Clickety click. Yes, this is what I want. Click.

Fill in payment info on their secure form. Click.

Here's your info, are you sure? Yes. Click.

Doodly doodlydoodlydoodly.

Hey, you got it! Print this out. Click here to add the minutes to your phone. *Click*.

I then waited to get the usual screens of numbers that I'd have to meticulously enter in my phone.

Then--- BEEP. My phone beeps, I pick it up and look at it--- "1 yr airtime plus 1600 minutes added".

Bam! 2084.1 units in total.

And only $14.85 a month if one were to break it down.

Thank you, tracfone. You don't annoy me with bills, and now you make continuing working with you quite transparent, as it should be.

If only so many other things worked so well.

Here's some ideas:

NYS Registration and Inspection stickers--- rig up some nifty e-ink thing and RFID chip with some sort of smart encryption (maybe some sort of public key cryptography where state administration/law enforcement has a key that allows them to read the data to verify, but garages/DMV have keys that allow them to write data, for the purposes of updating the inspection/registration info). The e-ink display would then show the correct information... no more having to scrape off the old sticker and putting the new one on.

Of course, the general administrative ineptness would likely lead to the laptop with the unsecured private key being stolen... so then they'd put a stop to it, not because the idea is not sound, but because they can't pull it off effectively, and therefore that must mean the idea isn't sound.

Wouldn't it be neat to have some sort of public/private key cryptography keychain on *a* smart card? Think about it--- some sort of swipeable card standard where all these vendors could participate, eliminating the need for all these independent cards for unique situations.

I'd *love* having just one card for Wegmans, Library, School IDs, maybe even Credit Cards. The trick would be to have it be optionally non-RFID-able (ie swipeable only), or something that can only transmit very small distances. (Last thing I want is for some "e-pick-pocket" to rub by me swiping my data-- but that's also why encryption would be the key).

Trick is, do we have the capability to utilizing encryption on these plastic cards? Obviously there is processing that would need to be done... although maybe if these cards also have e-ink surfaces (so they can display what they are, or let people decorate them), there'd be some notion of a power source and therefore additional hardware.

Wouldn't that be neat? I'd pay $100 for a card that could be used transparently with my other cards (ie especially if swipeable, so vendors with existing card functionality wouldn't have to do a major overhaul-- the "smart" card could work with their existing setup).

The problem I've always noticed with the insecurity of RFID setups is that if one has the capability, they can just read it.. which means the information is there, plain.

I don't know why they don't consider placing the data there encrypted, instead of just in plain text.

And instead of being all concerned about trying to track it and being all big brother-like, just worry about implementing it to transparently supplant the existing setup. The whole tracking bit would likely be the big cause of the insecurities, so they should just stop. Technology is there to assist us, not control.

I'm amazed at how so many people seem to think it is the opposite (to control us, while being as inconvenient as possible). The world might be a better place if the former was the philosophy, rather than the latter.

... the internet started off as a wide open network without so much as a second thought towards security. As it became more and more popular, security has always been a response-- new vulnerabilities discovered, new ways of accessing data through undesired means determined, all based on a system that started off assuming trust among its members. And while I understand the resulting untrustworthy environment caused by letting the masses on the internet, I love the resulting innovation that is has created over the years.

Makes one wonder if there couldn't have been a different approach taken if instead of trying to control the insecurity with lots of artificial control, if it couldn't have been approached in more natural methods.

Meh, random musings. Ooh.. shiny light....

You know what is *REALLY* weird?

Like, very very really weird?

Ads, on the DISNEY channel. Granted, I know the Disney Channel has had ads for a number of years now (but when they were just starting was when I stopped watching the Disney channel, all those years ago).

I noticed a little earlier a recognizable pattern from some background noise coming from the next room that was "High School Musical" movie version on TV (on the Disney Channel). So I thought I'd observe this a bit closer.

And wow. If I already wasn't amused by "High School Musical" (which has always felt like an overly produced-to-sound-good musical). Oh, the blatant stereotypes, the labels, the entirely-on-the-surface-isms.

And those ads... those seemingly self-serving Disney Channel ads. They're all FOR the Disney Channel. All of them. Why have ads? In the form of segmentedly regular commercial interruptions? I never quite understood that.

But, the thing I DO enjoy about High School Musical is that, despite having something that feels entirely manufactured to fulfill all the perceived attributes of a musical, it DOES actually do a good job hitting that surface feel good factor.

It must be musical night tonight on TV... GREASE is also on.

You know what is really neat? Conversation that is deep and captivating and enjoyable.

Spending time doing fun things with people and exploring the very edges of actuality with honesty and truth.

Going for a ride on cloud 9, and have it be right here at ground level.

Where, despite the uncertainty, the notion of risk evaporates and creates possibility.

And no matter what shows on the surface, a smile is perpetually glowing underneath.

It is always reassuring to realize, year after year, this time of year, the natural development of tendency to shirk on notions of obligation, specifically those pertaining to upholding some self-induced notion of promoting certainty and foundation as glued together by specific discipline on my behalf.

When there is otherwise no good compelling reason to fling myself at a task or event (in a seemingly clock-setting fashion), and am faced with an otherwise exciting (from an energetic perspective) day that might bring some thunderstorms and general nice weather, why go through with it? No schedules have been set, no expectations seriously broken, and with just enough visibility to evoke supportive cheers from some corners.

Is it just the nice weather? The ability to sit outside while I type this? The sun cascading off the thousands of ripples in the north-bound waves as they get prodded on from summery breaths from the south?

Or maybe the fields full of fireflies I encountered on my adventuring last night?

Yes, fireflies. Out. In full constellation-mimicking regalia.

Everything is seemingly saying to me to not follow the established pattern. Shake things up a little bit.

Don't worry if it's not good enough, for anyone else to hear... just sing, sing a song!

Half as an effort to retrieve mental coherency and induce some mild level of discipline, and half as a genuine presence of composing energy, I bring you the my first June rambling of 2009.

Heh, I almost said "first June rambling of the month"... that would have induced a level of unnecessary redundancy, now wouldn't it? But you know, upon thinking about it more, how unlikely would it be to encounter such redundancy in places out in the world?

I've had meandering thoughts the past couple of days of slightly desiring to write a small treatise on socialism and some of my perceived shortcomings with a lot of the general movement's talking points. Especially "rights", particularly in the form of "health care is a right".

For some reason, I saw that mentioned and got that "something doesn't feel right" intuition that is akin to noticing a spelling error and not yet fully recognizing it.

A quick google definition search turns up the following definition for "right" in the current context:

- an abstract idea of that which is due to a person or governmental body by law or tradition or nature;

Which I also find troubling... a right is "due" to us? That hints towards entitlement, which over time can certainly be abused. Something that has me recalling something of Ghandi's.... his "Seven Blunders", which he characterized as the source of that which causes violence and plagues humanity:

- Wealth without work.
- Pleasure without conscience.
- Knowledge without character.
- Commerce without morality.
- Science without humanity.
- Worship without sacrifice.
- Politics without principles.

To which his grandson Arun added an eighth:

- Rights without responsibilities.

Aha... along the lines of my source suspicion of the issue at hand. If something is expectedly "due" to us, would that not preclude the notion that we may not work to ensure it is properly cared for and earned and sufficient? (These last words admittedly poor)

If we are DUE health care, just by being us, and we go on with our poisonous vices (smoking, drug abuse, sedentary lifestyle, un-nutritional diets), is that not being irresponsible in the face of our so-called right? Do we still honestly deserve this right if we care not to do our best to reduce our reliance on this right as an entitlement and instead treat it as a privilege? And not a privilege of position or stature, but that is a difficult point to argue without further defining my musings into the disagreements between the socialistic and capitalistic mindsets that are commonly at battle.

Something I could ramble on, however, is the long term vs. short term notion of a "health care right": ensuring we all have tangible health care seems like a short term thing... granted, it is fought for in the notion of providing care in times of need for those in need, but it always seems to fall short of the long term prospects- to have that very framework there, available when needed. Far too often it seems so many have become reliant upon the apparent NEED to have health care, as a sort of crutch to support their bad lifestyles, so that when they've blown out their liver from heavy drinking, they can be somewhat spared-- their mistake buffered from its ultimate consequences, perhaps at the cost of everyone else's support making the whole framework a reality.

In concept I don't have an issue with "health care"... the prospect of facilities that cater to one's health. In many ways, we've had health care for ages--- as long as we've had healers and doctors, of all varieties.

It is this notion of "health care" == "health insurance" I find questionable. Not a fault of the many people fighting for it, for in the short and narrow view they are reacting to a cause induced by the state of the world (and the opposing party reacts in kind, on the same narrow short playing field).

I think it is the whole "insurance" concept being equated with a right. Insurance being instantiated as a buffer, which all-too-often gets taken for granted and replaces reality with a false sense of certainty... for if something were to "happen", you'd be "covered", as the insurance takes care of everything.

On the other hand, a web page on rights dated from 1999 seems to take a different approach to the concept of a "right":

"A right is the sovereignty to act without the permission of others. The concept of a right carries with it an implicit, unstated footnote: you may exercise your rights as long as you do not violate the same rights of another—within this context, rights are an absolute.

A right is universal—meaning: it applies to all men, not just to a few. There is no such thing as a "right" for one man, or a group of men, that is not possessed by all. This means there are no special "rights" unique to women or men, blacks or white, the elderly or the young, homosexuals or heterosexuals, the rich or the poor, doctors or patients or any other group.

A right must be exercised through your own initiative and action. It is not a claim on others. A right is not actualized and implemented by the actions of others. This means you do not have the right to the time in another person’s life. You do not have a right to other people’s money. You do not have the right to another person’s property. If you wish to acquire some money from another person, you must earn it—then you have a right to it. If you wish to gain some benefit from the time of another person’s life, you must gain it through the voluntary cooperation of that individual—not through coercion. If you wish to possess some item of property of another individual, you must buy it on terms acceptable to the owner—not gain it through theft."

(http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/973633/posts)

Then we get into the whole intangible arena that pondering of "rights" can bring and entail. I guess the angle I'm getting at is less of an actual, well-defined thing that is a black and white matter and more of a concept that requires constant evaluation and re-evaluation with each new and continuing scenario. That whole "responsibility" aspect to the purported "right". We fight for and are responsible for the right we enjoy, but only so long that such care is taken, for anything beyond seems to breed corruption, redundancy, and other waste.

I'm quickly defocusing from my focus on this thought... but to quickly jot down my underlying idea:

- capitalism: an economic system based on ownership and value.
- socialism: generally defined as an economic system where the state owns everything and provides to the people.

While there are problems with capitalism, it is hard to say that capitalism doesn't generate responsibility. People must work for their value.

With socialism, things are supplied to you. You've not necessarily done anything to earn them. As is typically human nature, that which is common and familiar gradually becomes invisible and taken for granted.

A common criticism of capitalism is of the "rich keep getting richer, and poor keep getting poorer", which while I'm not disputing, is often convoluted with the influence of "cronyism" and "corporatism" onto the capitalistic model... those who attained success lose sight of such success and grasp onto it so tenaciously that they resort to doing whatever possible to ensure they don't lose it-- especially by inducing artificial means of maintaining that "success". This shouldn't (but often is) confused with being a natural part of capitalism, but instead is capitalism being exploited and mutated into something unnatural of its original state.

So, human nature corrupts capitalism, and human nature leads to abuses of socialism.

But- one aspect that seems seldom explored is a true and evolutionary opposite of this whole "value"-based economics.

What if, instead of constantly evaluating the world through the eyes of scarcity and value, we possessed fundamental views of sharing and liberty? What if there were no money, no currency, so no innate desire to hoard or collect or collect status symbols?

Granted, a bit difficult, especially for anyone reading this, as we've all grown accustomed at some level to "value"-based economics. So in that light this would also prove to be a failure in the short term.

But there's that short term thing again. With some exploration, perhaps something could be concocted for the long term.

Random bits...

Thanks to Hulu, I watched a Get Smart movie, "The Nude Bomb" last night.. having previously read critiques on it lacking the general Get Smart magic, I could see what they were talking about, but the movie also had a strange "Austin Powers"-y feel to it. In the end, when one lacks agent 99, it just doesn't seem like Get Smart.

In addition to just starting on Season 5 of DS9, I somehow felt possessed to start watching Babylon 5. Also provided via Hulu, I watched the pilot episode. Slightly alluring, but to me it seemed I had to suspend belief a bit plot-wise... the characters seemed too drawn up... maybe that was intentional. Seems enjoyable, but not as much as Star Trek (or DS9 specifically).

There have been some wonderful moon rising skylines the past couple of days (when rain and clouds haven't been coming to visit). Bold white moon crescent against a sharp deep blue sky, traced from the ground by the green but darkened treeline.

The past few days I've found myself attempting to start on a Commodore VIC-20 emulator. Also been an enjoyable reunion with arrays and passing them to functions (instead of doing it all with pointers and dynamically allocated memory).. even if I eventually rewrite it all to use the latter method, it's been fun exploring some aspects of the implementation from this angle.

Currently it is exhibiting some unknown problems with the stack pointer when popping from the stack.. it changes to some seemingly wrong and ever changing value each time I try it. Current suspicions are side-effects from passing an array to a function which gets passed another couple levels deep through other functions.

A new pet peeve of mine I've apparently been developing... well, maybe not so much a pet peeve yet as I can't say I'm noticeably annoyed- maybe slightly amused... anyway: when I hear people talk about a "problem" and their solution to or rationale of the problem is based on very shaky concepts or, as is more likely the case- a weak grasp on the problem that the common solution is to weave in lots of artificial complexity.

The recent one that I've been encountering is a television advertisement (read that as ad'ver-tiz-ment, and not ad-ver-TIES-ment) that is some public health or drug company thing about diabetes (there's another great dual pronounciation--- die-a-beat-us, or die-a-beat-eez)... this statement in particular:

"There's no vaccine for diabetes"

I don't know, I find that statement troubling for some reason... based on the logic of:

- if the predominant "epidemic" of diabetes in this country is from overweight sedentary people consuming far too many sugars and fats and general bad lifestyle-y activities that overloads one's pancreas, that isn't an infectious disease, that's a consequence.

- if I hold my breath until my brain suffocates, is my lack of breath a disease that could be cured with a vaccine?

clothdoll sent along an amusing link involving star trek and meerkats:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=vt_related_1&listing_id=25630260

Highly recommended.

The last couple of days I had been amusingly helping to stretch out what started as something that in most circumstances would not have evolved into a full-blown conversation with many participants, and has blossomed into this beautiful maelstrom of topics, as draconicwitch put it:

"when did this get drawn into a long discussion on bread, satan, diets, and newborn babies choking on bread?!?!"

And then I start seeing contributions to the conversation that seem to indicate not everyone was realizing the inherent humor of the situation.

Hulu released some sort of desktop app-y thing that I had a chance to download and play with... heralded by some as "the end to cable TV as we know it", I took it for a swing, and ended up watching two episodes of the classic Battlestar: Galactica fullscreen as a result (the last ep, followed by the 2nd to last episode). Oh, how I love the classic Battlestar: Galactica.

All I can say is... I hope it catches on a lot more... having more near-universal abilities to watch what you want, when you want, where-ever you want.. would undoubtedly introduce the need for innovation in new shows to attract audiences.

Mid-May for me is the start of a long awaited season for me, one which incorporates summer, bike rides, and camping out every night. It is a magical time of year, where I can, with renewed vigor, resume my pursuit of nothingness, and rejuvenate from a year's worth of nitpicky tangible baggage that so many around me that I encounter seem bent on creating out of some misguided perception of necessity.

Saturday commenced this grand season for me... featuring not only a bike-ridingly-great morning rummage saling around Campbell (where I bought nothing but acquired a shrink wrapped LP record of some semi-local PA polka band from 1976 for free), but dodging rain (and getting hit with it a bit while setting up my tent), and encountering my first thunderstorm of the year (apparently quite the storm, with lots of branches down and people reporting funnel clouds in Waverly).

The change of scenery also put me in direct indirect (what?) contact with TV once again (specifically of the "audio drifting in from the next room" variety).. and let me tell you... if I thought TV was down the tubes before, one evening of audio sampling has taken that to incredible new heights. The big amazing new mind-blowing thing (I'm focusing on current commercials for the moment) is incredible instances of broken logic. Attempts at trying to sell the mindless user stuff, where the rationale for buying it seems (to me) obviously flawed if one were to think about it (so that much scarily mean that a lot of people aren't thinking).

I wish I could remember the specific ads and find links to videos of them... absolutely incredible.

I also enjoyed watching "You've Got Mail" (the ending first, then from the start to the end, as the station apparently had nothing better to do than to air it back to back)... even though I saw it before, it's been a while.

I went and saw Star Trek today at the Glen Theater. First time there, and it's a pretty neat little place.. gives the impression that it can act as more than a movie theatre-- they had a mini-stage of sorts that could like host staged-entertainment.

What's weird about Star Trek is how everyone has been saying good things about it.. usually to the extent of "it's good..." where a LOT can be read into the ellipsis.. not seemingly a "but..." but something associated with that "good".

Well, I now know... and I may also have to respond with just "good..." myself, with intentional emphasis on the ellipsis. Maybe sorta kinda like how the FireFly movie "Serenity" was, with fans going in after the series being rewarded with a movie, and to experience how that played out (not in the direct key people get killed way that fundamentally alters the notion of continuance after that point, but the activities that puts one in a deeply inquisitive mode, which isn't a bad thing). The interesting thing is, with all that said, both instances were done seemingly well enough not to create a sense of distaste. It may not have been what I would have wanted to happen, but it wasn't unenjoyable either... hmmm. "good ..."

Strange... last post was around 15 days ago... but my mind has had virtually no shortage of rambles and rants and ideas flowing through it... just nothing that was coherent enough to write down.

Encountered a video on the internet that is of a music video.. the claim to fame is that it was filmed in one go... right along with the music... no external modification. I found the lyrics also insightful... and has a nice musical crescendo adds an interesting flavour to the whole thing making it more enjoyable, not to mention the singer using his voice in places as a means of syncopation & rhythm (but not senseless noise for percussion-- lyric'ing the entire time)... supposedly a "rap" song.. which while I can see the foundation of that criteria, I think it is somehow more:

http://nyellee.com/wordpress/?p=190

One episode away from finishing my Star Trek: Voyager viewing... I forget when I started (sometime last summer)... almost a year to view it, and although I am sad to see no more additional episodes to watch, I am glad to have watched it... again, for the first time (in a way)... I certainly have enjoyed it far more this second time around than I did the first.. one of those things that I wish they would have just kept at... a perpetual Star Trek in the 24th century... so what if they almost retell the same stories again and again... it's the underlying message and thought-provoking nature and creativity and imagination that is explored and expressed... personally I really don't mind having supposed fundamental storylines retold again and again with different characters in different settings... as they add new twists and flavours each time. And to continually hear stories of cooperation, sharing, compassion? I think that's a good thing.

I've found myself increasingly befuddled by people.. my meanderings into the faceted depths of possibility leaves me baffled when people persistently (and unknowingly) exist purely on the surface of existence, almost taking care not to accidentally explore alternatives.

Today I was in a meeting, and a new "thing" was introduced. Amusingly, this "thing" was less of a proposal and more of a in-place policy (sort of goes in the face of this environment's general overly suffocating reliance on government, and yet wasn't really brought up or made a big deal out of that it was in violation of such)... and this "policy" seemed to have some pretty meaty logical and actual holes and problems with it.

Like, this was schemed up by other committees and bodies of people tasked with exploring solutions to a problem (I daresay that many of the people involved aren't as directly involved in the process they were assigned to fix, creating an instant problem of not really being able to understand the problem, thereby immediately crippling any solution they come up with... but supposedly that's why they come up with a solution to SUGGEST, and get critiqued, not immediately set into action, but oh well...), and it seemed to so many present that it was such a poorly thought-through solution that it would end up further aggravating the very problem it was supposed to fix (ie a solution by name only, not intent).

What's more, is the person who was relaying this news seemed taken aback... that how could "all of us" be "greatly dismayed" after all the "hard work" that went into "planning" this "solution" (I started quoting with a purpose, then forgot and just kept doing it as a means of highlighting, with no real pointed explanation in mind). That they seemed almost offended and upset seemed very uncharacteristic of them is what really caught my attention.. I couldn't believe the blind one-sidedness; and the lack of comprehension when (I felt) very rational criticisms were spelled out. They just weren't received... refused outright as if they were unsubstantiated or were concerns very unlikely to happen (and yet ferociously defended their views when some rather glaring shortcomings were presented by those in attendance).. a very one way sort of thing.. for all my rantings about meetings and governance, at least the theoretical intent is to allow people with different viewpoints to come together.

Even if the end result is a horrible mash-up of grossly incompatible ideas into a "deliberated solution" that fails to work, at least it is discussed (again, "discussed" being with "blunt sticks" etching barely comprehensible words into the sand, but still).

So to see the very foundation of this structure break down by virtue of one-sidedness is what I locked onto... I guess I had held onto unrealistic expectations of the individual... hoping they were still of an open enough mind, and able to at least fathom other viewpoints (regardless of whether or not they were agreed with..), but no, to see this behavior out of them started giving credence to what some pessimists told me a few years ago, of the "they're one of THEM now" variety... which I knew was bound to happen (not so much becoming one of THEM, but to slowly become blinded to the mindsets and perspectives they once upon a time possessed... just from being out of it for so long).

On a completely unrelated note, I wrote on a front and back sheet of scratchpad paper last night, rambling on the notion of "leadership" (which had somehow wandered into my mind at some point through the day and thought to remember to write it down). I've been tempted to consider the idea of compiling/writing/whatever a book of sorts (less of a book, more of a collection of thoughts), on the topic of "expectation". Its aim would be intangibly philosophical, not intending to immediately tell a story or change viewpoints, but offer a forum allowing people to consider other perspectives (I find the stark inability to be non-considering of non-preferred perspectives to be quite troubling), where even if they don't change their viewpoints, they can at least (hopefully) be able to better word their views in arguable ways, instead of relying on shallow (and inherently circular) rationale showing them only in a stubbornly shallow light.

So yeah... "expectation".. and I'd ramble on about things like leadership, offense, normality, faith vs. religion, moderation, extremes, tolerance, intolerance, conservativeness, liberalness, equality, liberty, control, freedom, busy-ness, society, and maybe even get to nothingness. No definition will be left unmanipulated or reconsidered.