I read an article the other day about how 95% of blogs are considered abandoned because they haven’t been updated in 120 days. This site falls into that category of 120+ days without an update (before this post), but I don’t really consider it “abandoned.” I didn’t start with any expectations of money or readership, which is good, because I lack both in significant quantities.
I suppose in some ways that’s the reason I don’t have much to say here; there’s little motivation. I don’t really want to just gripe about politics or be one of the many nameless voices reactionarily hurling (maybe this post qualifies, I don’t know and it doesn’t really matter, and is “reactionarily” even a word?). I rarely feel the need to talk about my day, as many people do.
Most days I don’t have much interest in posting for a couple reasons. The first is that I don’t feel I really have anything interesting or exciting or original to say. Calling the President an idiot loses its luster after a while (unless his name starts with a B and rhymes with “push”) and I don’t really have any interest in doing that anyway, as it serves no real purpose. I don’t feel I’m a particularly good writer (like using “I don’t feel” so often, maybe I should have gone with “think,” but which one to change? Either would probably be fine, but I didn’t pull the trigger.), and I don’t even know offhand whether or not the comma should be before or after the parenthetical aside, so I just put it where I thought the pause should be.
The second is that, as I said before, I have little motivation. I get an occasional comment, but for the most part, I’m pretty much spouting into the void, and it gets old. I could spend hours formulating a post, adjusting the sentence structure, working on the flow, and rearranging ideas until I’m happy with it, then click “Publish” and have zero to show for it. No interesting dialogue, certainly no federal policy changes. I definitely appreciate Beast’s comments, as they are pretty much the only ones I get, on the rare occasion in which I actually post.
So why bother with all the time and effort? Maybe I’d be better off tweeting my random thoughts, not bothering with proper sentence structure or coherent paragraphs. Maybe I’d be better off shuttering this blog and forgetting about it; it’s barely using any of the 120GB of space I get with my $5/mo hosting plan, and the domain is included, so it’s hardly breaking the bank to keep it up. Maybe I’d be better off starting another sentence with “Maybe I’d be better off,” or maybe not.
I can’t expect anyone to pay attention to this if I don’t update, and I don’t feel like updating if people aren’t paying attention, so I suppose I’ll have to either update more regularly or walk away.
Dear Mr. President,
I have not always agreed with you, nor have I always disagreed. That’s how things go, especially in politics, but I appreciate your efforts and your willingness to undertake the challenge of the most difficult and scrutinized job on the planet.
My hope, as you leave office, is that those who have chosen to make you a scapegoat get some closure and move on. Pointing fingers does not solve problems, and a continuing partisan crusade of blame (rather than finding a way to fix things and move forward) does not serve the interests of we, the people.
I fear that many have unreasonable expectations of the incoming administration, which were completely and strongly encouraged during the campaign. Again, that’s how things go, especially in politics.
Best of luck in all your endeavors, Mr. President.
Sincerely,
Me
For anyone who may be confused about the term “sandwich” or how to make one, fear not, for McDonald’s has you covered. They have applied for patent WO/2006/068865: “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING A SANDWICH“.
Yes, Kathryn V. Proper, Henry T. Ewald, and Paul G. Simmons have come up with the novel idea of “making a sandwich, which may be a hot or cold sandwich, quickly by pre-assembly of various sandwich components and simultaneous preparation of different parts of the same sandwich.”
From the description:
The methods may include one or more of the use of preasseribled [sic] sandwich fillings, assembly of garnishes in advance of a customer’s order or while ether [sic] portions of the sandwich are being heated using the sandwich assembly tool, the simultaneous heating of a bread component and the sandwich filling, placing the bread component over the tool containing garnish, and inverting the tool and bread combination to deposit the sandwich garnish onto the bread component.
Is that a really long-winded and terribly-spelled way of saying “we make it before you order it so it can sit around until we microwave it”? What’s wrong with using your hand to put the “garnish” on? And what sandwiches have an ether portion? I must be ordering the wrong thing.
Oh, and FYI, from BitLaw:
Section 101 of the U.S. Patent Act sets forth the general requirements for a utility patent:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvements thereof, may obtain a patent, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
In other words, for an invention to be patentable it must:
1. be statutory,
2. be new,
3. be useful, and
4. be nonobvious.
Does it stack up?
Look at this dancer. Is she spinning clockwise or counter-clockwise? Keep looking. Does she change directions? Can you make her switch?
Found here.
I’m sure the nipples are necessary for the effect. Or maybe I’m just imagining.
“The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”
- Winston Churchill
“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”
- John F. Kennedy
“When great changes occur in history, when great principles are involved, as a rule the majority are wrong. The minority are right.”
- Eugene V. Debs
“Democracy is worth dying for, because it is the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man.”
- Ronald Reagan
“As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.”
- Abraham Lincoln
“Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.”
- George Bernard Shaw
“Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”
- Winston Churchill
“Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.”
- E.B. White
“Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country.”
- John F. Kennedy
Saw an interesting quote today:
“If you don’t have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run away from. You make a big election about small things. Ohio we are here to say, ‘Not this time, not this year, not when so much is at stake.’”
-Barack Obama, Oct 27, 2008
Ok, so John McCain is the one without the record to run on? Seriously? Obama has spent half of his one term in the Senate in a presidential campaign.
Paint your opponent as someone people should run away from?
“He voted with Bush 90% of the time!”
“We can’t afford John McCain!”
Check.
Make a big election about small things?
“Change!” (without explanation)
“Change!” (without definition)
“Change!” (without qualification)
Check.
Not this time, not this year, when so much is at stake?
Oh wait, that’s a big fat hypocritical FAIL.
Every once in a while, you see something that makes you say “WTF?”
Police: McCain volunteer made up robbery story
I like the quote from Maurita Bryant, the assistant chief of the Pittsburgh police department’s investigations division: “We have robbers here in Pittsburgh, but they don’t generally mutilate someone’s face like that. They just take the money and run.”
They probably know how to spell ‘B’ too.
Columnist Orson Scott Card has written an open letter to the local daily newspapers of America. It’s a good read, find it here (with an excerpt below):
Would the Last Honest Reporter Please Turn On the Lights?
Your job, as journalists, is to tell the truth. That’s what you claim you do, when you accept people’s money to buy or subscribe to your paper.
But right now, you are consenting to or actively promoting a big fat lie — that the housing crisis should somehow be blamed on Bush, McCain, and the Republicans. You have trained the American people to blame everything bad — even bad weather — on Bush, and they are responding as you have taught them to.
If you had any personal honor, each reporter and editor would be insisting on telling the truth — even if it hurts the election chances of your favorite candidate.
Because that’s what honorable people do. Honest people tell the truth even when they don’t like the probable consequences. That’s what honesty means . That’s how trust is earned.
So now that both parties have laid the groundwork for their fraud lawsuits if they lose on November 4th, I suppose we can sit back with some popcorn and watch the fireworks. If Obama wins, we get to watch the Republicans screaming about ACORN and how the Democrats let Mickey Mouse vote and stole the election. If McCain wins, we get the Democrats screaming about how the Republicans suppressed the black vote and stole the election. Either way, we have adults acting like children, and the worst part is that they’re the ones who are supposed to be running the country.
It’s interesting how the campaigns characterize the voting demographic here in Nevada. Here is a rough outline for a typical Obama radio ad:
Hi, I’m [name], [hunter/fisherman/something related to guns], and for me, there’s nothing better than [hunting/fishing/something related to guns]. This election, it’s important that our next President respects our 2nd amendment rights. Barack Obama will let us keep our guns. He supports guns. Barack Obama supports our right to have guns and shoot guns and defend ourselves. He has a plan to rebuild America and keep our jobs here, but McCain is just like Bush and wants to send your jobs overseas. Let’s keep our jobs and our guns. Vote for Obama.
Paid for by Obama for America.
The best part is that there have been several different versions with several different people, and they’re all the same. I’m convinced.
Is the election over yet? I’d like to get back to my guns and hunting and fishing and guns.
Historic bailout bill passes Congress; Bush signs
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
-T.S. Eliot, “The Hollow Men”
