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More Important Than “Making History”

Ross — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 17:58:38 +0000

(Written last night, as the votes were tallied)

I've been sitting here in front of the television since about 7 PM, and I can't tear my eyes away from all the election coverage. There's something oddly gripping about watching the numbers come in while the news anchors all expound on what they mean in a never-ending round-robin of projections, exit-polls, and small talks.

My first presidential election wasn't all that long ago – I didn't turn 18 until the summer of '97, so my first experience with the electoral process was the bizarre and oh-so-mind-bogglingly complex election of 2000. Needless to say, I voted for Gore and was more than a little bit soured on the whole process as I watched the preliminary results roll in, only to come down to hanging chads and Supreme Court decisions over the vote recounts in Florida. The 2004 election wasn't much better, what with the depressing thought of 4 more years of Dubya stretching out ahead of me as it became apparent that Kerry was not going to be able to pull out a win over the incumbent. Third time had to be a charm, right?

This campaign season has been one of the most divisive things I've ever seen hit the U.S. People around me pretty much stopped talking politics entirely because people were so polarized on the issues/candidates that discussion faltered and tempers flared before points could be discussed. However, this election has also been one of the most inspirational things I've ever seen, with incredible numbers of new voters joining in, and many people finally taking the time to learn about their candidates and their policies.

I have no problem with people having dissenting opinions – that fosters discussion, education, and communication that can lead to improvements in all areas. What I have a problem with is ignorance, apathy, and all the things that stifle progress and the improvement of everything around us. Those are some of the things I've seen start to disappear in this election season, and I can only hope that they continue to be eradicated in the years to come.

Yes, Barack Obama has made history. But in my mind, continuing to work on developing an educated, thinking, and socially responsible public is something so vitally important that after we finish taking a few minutes to look backwards and pat our collective selves on the back, we need to look forward, past making history to making changes that we can be happy to live with, and that our children will be proud to see occurred in our lifetimes.

NaBloPoMo 2008!

[NaBloPoMo 2008 - #5/30]

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QotD: Mind Eraser

Ross — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:43:10 +0000

If you could, which film would you un-watch or which book would you un-read?
Submitted by Kate.

My first thought was Lady in the Water, as I'd love to forget that something like this even existed. But then I realized that by "un-watching" or "un-reading" something, you'd be setting yourself up to watch/read it again. So my only motivation for un-watching/un-reading something would be to reexperience the amazing/incredible emotions/thoughts I got out of the medium the first time around. Here are some of my top choices that I'd want to watch/read again, for the first time:

Films:
1. The Usual Suspects
2. The Spanish Prisoner
3. The Shawshank Redemption
4. The Star Wars Trilogy (eps 4, 5, and 6)
5. 12 Angry Men (the original)
6. Fight Club
7. The Indiana Jones series
8. The Matrix
9. Memento
10. Sin City

Books:
1. Anything by Robert Heinlein
2. Neuromancer
3. Slaughterhouse-Five
4. Ender's Game
5. Moby Dick
6. Snow Crash
7. The Talisman
8. Watership Down
9. The Lord of the Rings series
10. Almost anything by Spider Robinson

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Vox Homepage – Just The Way You Want It

Ross — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 22:49:52 +0000

As promised, I spent some time over the past week putting together a Greasemonkey script to reorder the modules on the new Vox homepage.

After the feedback people left, the new order I ended up using is:

Left Column                      Right Sidebar 1) Posts                         1) QotD 2) Comments                      2) Vox Hunt 3) Neighbor Activity             3) Team Vox News 4) [This is Good] Explore Box    4) Tips Box 5) Vox MSN Advertisement         5) Themes Box                                  6) Advertisement                                  7) Find your friends box

which can be seen in the screen shots to the right, here:

Want to install this script for your own use? First install Greasemonkey, and then get the script here. (Instructions to install Greasemonkey can be found here.)

As always, if you have any comments, feedback, or suggestions, or notice any bugs, please leave me a comment or send me a note. I'll do my best to stay on top of any issues that arise.

Also, to those people who left me feedback but didn't get the exact order they wanted – I'm willing to make a custom version of this script just for you with the modules in the alternative order that you wanted. Please leave me a comment as to whether you still want the order you suggested, and I'll send you a PM with the location where you can download/install your custom version of the script.

Enjoy!

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Political Pun(dits)?

Ross — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 18:21:50 +0000

Actual conversation w/ my wife this morning over the Iowa Caucus results:

Dee: I'm getting so depressed that our next president is going to be some sort of former Baptist preacher or the like.

Me: What, you don't think a Democrat has a chance this time around?

Dee: I wish I could say yes, but it just seems all the voters in this country are all about religion, and vote purely on that basis.

Me: Well, from what I've heard, the major Democratic candidates have been pushing their religious beliefs, too. I think they have a chance to sway some of the votes from those voting just on religious basis, and then they've got others to support them, too.

Dee: I wish I could think so, but I just don't have faith.

Me: Were you making a pun at 6:45 in the morning? Isn't that a little early for puns?

Dee: No, I never pun on purpose.

Me: Ah, so all your puns are punintentional?

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QotD: En Route

Ross — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 19:22:45 +0000

What is your daily commute like? What is the weirdest thing you've seen on that commute?

Submitted by E.

I'm slammed here at work, and it's not much better at home right now, what with getting ready for the new baby. So my QotD answer today is just a repost of previous entries I put up a while back. See? I'm prescient – I answer the odd QotDs before they're even announced!

Commuter Pic 1

For the original Chucky post, go here.

Ducttape

For the original Duct Tape post, go here.
(For the record, I saw Mr. Duct Tape's car the other day, and his window is still going strong.)

Jackknife

For the original jackknife post, go here.

NASCAR Race Against Traffic

For the original NASCAR post, go here.

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QotD: Everybody Change!

Ross — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 23:43:20 +0000

If you could get everyone in the world to change their behavior in one way, what would you have them do differently?

Submitted by Ross.

I checked what some people have already posted for this QotD, and there are some great answers out there:

By far, the most popular answer seems to be people wanting everyone to be more tolerant of others, which is always a great answer – more tolerance equals less hate, less violence, less problems. This is something I always am hoping for.
There are a number of variations on this theme, from people that said we shouldn't be trying to change people, and accept the way they are, to people who want others to listen better, be more courteous, practice good manners, etc. All of these types of actions are things that grease the wheels of society, and I couldn't agree more that they would be great to have people do better or more often.
Some people said they want everyone to recognize/acknowledge God/religion/etc. I'll assume this isn't a blind cry for religious conformity, but rather people who are focusing on the tolerant and accepting aspects of their religion and how the world would be a better place if people incorporated these actions into their lives…
Some people focused on the environmental actions, hoping people would be more green. This would definitely help our world out, even if it isn't EVERYONE who changes their behavior in this way.
There were a bunch of other, more personal things out there that all had merit – definitely go check out what people have posted to see some thought-provoking answers.

As for me, I decided to consider one that I haven't seen people mention yet. I would want people to be more appreciative of the humor and good in everything around them. If some people had a better sense of humor, or didn't take things so seriously, or just plain appreciated the good aspects of their lives, I think the world would be a better place.

I don't think one single action is going to change our problems with violence, war, poverty, disease, etc, but if we can change part of our outlook, we might be able to start making a dent in some of these problems in a way we didn't think we could, before.

As a challenge to you – one time in the next week or so, when you find yourself in a situation that makes you angry or sad or upset or otherwise negative – stop for a moment and try to view the situation in another way that seems humorous, or lets you appreciate the things you do have in your life in spite of the situation. If your change in outlook doesn't fix the issue outright (it probably wont!), did it at least help in some way?

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QotD: Radiohead, In Rainbows

Ross — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 21:18:42 +0000

Radiohead release their seventh studio album today and it's only available online and you set your own price. Will you buy the album? Do you buy the idea?

Not only do I buy the idea, but I bought the album. Being the cynical/cautious type, I waited until I started hearing reports today of people getting their download codes and made sure people were NOT reporting getting their credit card info stolen. (Yes, I know the website is linked from Radiohead's main website. Yes, it's a secure transaction. Did I mention I'm cautious?)

Anyway, I made the purchase this morning off their website. (FYI, now when you make the purchase, you get the download link immediately on your purchase page, rather than having to wait to have it emailed to you.) A few minutes later I had the album .zip file on my computer and the tracks in my media player.

It's a little early to tell, but overall I think this is a GOOD album from Radiohead. There are a couple tracks that definitely stand out, to me, as tops on the album: "Faust Arp" and "Jigsaw Falling Into Place". I gave everything preliminary ratings, and there's only one track that probably won't make it into regular rotation for me ("Weird Fishes/Arpeggi").

In Rainbows

I love the idea of the proceeds from my purchase going to the band rather than to a record label. I REALLY love the idea of being able to pick what price I want to pay for the album. From what I have heard, the album price average people are paying is around $9, so in general, people are being cool and stickin' it to the RIAA, who doesn't get anything from this album. But the actual price is up to you, down to $0.00 (although you'll have to pay a 45 pence processing fee, which makes your overall acquisition cost ~ $1 USD if you're a real cheapo, or just want to check out the album). EDIT: I just read that it costs the band approximately $3.40 to distribute the album (not sure if this just covers the bandwidth/hosting, or if this also includes production costs somehow). Either way, it sounds like anything above this magic # is profit for the band.

I'm sure the tracks will be out and about in the interwebs in the near future – here's my contribution of my 2 favorite songs…check them out and see what you think.

As an aside – my credit card fraud department just called me up to make sure I had made the purchase for the album – it seems since the processing is done by a company overseas, they were a little suspicious of the purchase. I just told them I was testing their system. :-)

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QotD: World’s Best Beer

Ross — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 23:56:43 +0000

What is the best beer on planet Earth?

Submitted by Remmy Van Hornie.

I had a whole big plan to taste-test 300 different kinds of beer to answer this QotD, but it has been foiled by my lack of funds to buy said 300 types of beer.

On further introspection, however, I find this question to be unbelievably biased. What about all those types of beer from planet Mars? And with the limited scope of this question, we can't even bring into the debate whether the brew from Jupiter counts, (even though what the residents there call beer more closely resembles Earthly cider).

This QotD represents the very same narrow-minded mindset that has to date kept us out of the Intergalactic Union. Yes, take pride in your planet, but don't take it to full-scale Globalism. Just like the raging bouts of Nationalism in our planet's history, this can lead to unhealthy consequences for you and the planet at large.

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QotD: Total Trust

Ross — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 20:52:10 +0000

Who would you trust with your life?

Let's look at this a different way. Who have I trusted with my life?

Airline pilots, too many times to count
Crazy Indian cab drivers
The Meineke mechanics who rotated my tires during an oil change and then forgot to tighten the lugnuts (yeah, when I started to drive out of the parking lot and the rear left wheel almost fell off, I decided not to trust them ever again)
The EMT crew and ER doctors and staff who helped after I collapsed at the end of a road race
My investment services company (oh wait, that's my life savings, not my life…doesn't count)
My parents
Myself, every time I get behind the wheel (surprisingly, so far I have warranted this trust)

EDIT: I forgot to answer the other half of the implied question – Who have I not trusted with my life?

Poor Mojo

That drunken knife-thrower who wanted to use me in his act
Anyone who thinks they can drive while inebriated
Anyone who would pack a parachute for me
Any medical professional who hasn't seemed competent and willing to keep me in the loop on the status of my own health and any related issues
Mojo the helper monkey

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QotD: Once More, With Feeling

Ross — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 17:02:20 +0000

What one year of your life would you like to re-live, if you were given the chance?

Submitted by Ross.

Calendar

I actually debated submitting this QotD for a while. I was sure some people would treat it as a springboard for arguments about the paradox of changing your past and therefore not experiencing your current present. I was sure many people would respond with some variant of "I wouldn't change a thing". And I was hoping some people would interpret the question differently and go off on tangents that were both interesting and introspective. Only time will tell if any of these actually come to pass.

However, the way I wanted to answer this question, if it ever came up, was to focus NOT on re-living a year to change my actions and experiences, but to re-live a year to relish those same actions and experiences.

With this in mind, I considered my Freshman year in high school. I had just moved to a new city, knowing absolutely nobody in the area. I tried out for and successfully made the varsity squad of the cross-country running team at the school, and suddenly had friends who were Juniors and Seniors. I went from a 100 pound weakling to a 145 pound runner and earned three varsity letters for Cross Country, Indoor Track, and Outdoor Track in that first year. I earned good grades and was introduced to a lot of great literature.

But even though this year shaped me as a teenager, it was only partially responsible for shaping who I am today. My Senior year in college, I balanced my time between school, friends, delivering pizza, and DJ-ing for a local radio station. I came to love music more than I ever thought I could, and learned the real pleasure of spending money I had worked my butt off to earn. I started to realize that priorities were a good thing and that even though I could survive on a 36-hours awake, 12-hours asleep schedule, it wasn't really conducive to an educational environment (or many other environments, for that matter).

Or maybe I'd like to re-live the year I got married. Wait…wedding planning plus grad school and masters' thesis project…okay, the wedding and honeymoon were great, but I'm not sure I'm willing to re-experience them if it means I have that other stuff to re-do too.

Or the first year after my daughter was born, watching her turn from a small wriggly newborn into a beautiful baby and a happy little girl? Sounds great, and I would pick it in a pinch, if it didn't come with the 6 months of colic-y crying and the worries about not getting her to sleep in a crib. No, I think I'll pass on spending nights sleeping on the couch next to the battery-powered baby swing. I'll save those for this next baby, if they're needed.

It's really hard to pick just one year I'd want to re-live. I think in the end, I'll have to pick my 8th grade year when my family was living out in Camarillo, California. Since we knew we would only be there for a year, my family packed in trips and activities throughout the entire year. I spent my summer on the beach, getting baked a deep brown by the sun as I learned how to surf in the Junior Lifeguard program. I hiked through parks and biked to school every day. I won my school's spelling bee and got 6th place and an almanac at the regional competition. I graduated as valedictorian of my middle school and wore bright red pants for my commencement speech. I ate dates that fell from the date palm in my front yard. I played hours of Sonic the Hedgehog on my friend's Sega Genesis. I learned how to play roller hockey, even if I was never very good.

I spent each day that year living in my own little world, but it was okay because my world included all the parts of the real world that really mattered. I think if I could re-live one year again, it would be that year, if only so those memories were refreshed in my head right now, fighting the fading that occurs from the passage of time. But looking back on this entry, I think re-living that year is what I've just done this morning, while writing this piece.

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