People Seem To Have Been Hoodwinked......

After reading one of the latest Rasmussen Reports Scientific polls, I have come to accept, though not easily, that most people tend to believe the government tells them the truth. The poll that I am referring to was taken in the wake of a recent terror attempt aboard an airline flight bound for Detroit. The polls indicates that 46% of Americans now think that airport security is not strict enough. I repeat, not strict enough. I was totally blown away by this recent poll. It seems that people trust the government to increase the asinine "security" already in place. Here's an idea! Completely overhaul it, and bring in law enforcement professionals to train your TSA agents properly.

According to this law enforcement professional, the way in which "random" searches are carried out will never catch someone intent on hijacking or blowing up an airplane. Now we have Janet Nopalitano, the head of homeland security telling us that letting a bomber on an international flight was the system doing what it's supposed to do. I'm going to repeat what many all over the radio and web have said, and that is the TSA has never done anything to  prevent or stop the progress of a terrorist attack. It has been upon the passengers of flights and law enforcement in the air and on the ground who have shouldered the weight of the TSA's real job.

Another problem that the government is making is the decision to charge the bomber in federal court, and not in a military court. This article discusses the legal rational behind the Obama Administraions decision not only to charge this recent terrorist as an American, but all of the Guantanamo detainees. To make it plain and simple, al-Qaeda trained this guy and pretty much everyone else who commits acts of terror against the United States. Even though they don't where uniforms, they are still armed militants. They are the jurisdiction of military courts.

Good Tidings To All

Christmas is now over, and part of me is glad for it. I have made some major life decisions over the break, and I am eager to go and get to work. I know that some of you may find going back to your jobs to be a downer, and rightfully so. But after having a good holiday to get rested up and get a renewed prospective on life have done a lot of good for me.

A new dynamic this Christmas season for me was the extreme lack of feeling the same "spirit of the season" that I used to feel as a kid. I was trying to bring those feelings back, but found that I could not. I don't know if many people experience this, but what it allowed for me was to ad something new to my holiday. Growing up, we all know Christmas as the time of year when we get tons of crap and think we should have gotten more. You would be right in telling me that just a few posts down I was ranting about all the things I wanted for Christmas. All I can say is that it is healthy to hope for things in your life, but it is not healthy to get mad when you don't get what wanted. Often we think we want something, and then once we have it, it looses it's luster. There are other things that we should have in life that are not "things". We should use this season to cultivate familial relationships, to learn how to give(if you're me, that means learning it again), and most important, to learn who Jesus Christ is, and what the holiday really means.

You've never heard me say much about my religion, but I wanted to say a little bit now. I learned a lot this last month. It was not told to me by some preacher or anything like that. But what I did learn was what I remember from being taught as a child about the life of Christ and what he  did for mankind. Christ's mission was so profound, that no man could ever effectively teach what He did by himself. But let me tell you what I know. Christ gave, so we must give. He served, so we must serve. He used His time and money wisely, and so we must do the same. What Christ gave us was the ultimate example for the perfect life, and during this season which bears His name, we must learn what He did, and do the same. That is what we need to do to effectively celebrate Christmas. This brings a different spirit, the Spirit of Christ.

So even though I didn't feel the same 'ol Christmas "spirit" that I felt as a child, I found something else, something that I hope I will continue to build upon for the rest of my life.

This Explains A Lot

I'm going to tell you a tale. This is not a tall tale. It is absolutely true.

Last night as I was trying to mosy on over to netflix to catch a movie, I could not get there. It was totally weird. I tried other sites, including Amazon.com. What was really odd was that I could get to many web site, but at the same time, the number I couldn't get to increased. I thought it had to do with one of our ISP's(we have two and load balance). So I went about my business, and got my highly qualified brother(CCNA, CCDA for those of you who know what those certs are) to look at it, and he told me it was totally weird as well. Well that was a load of useless.

Turns out that there was a DNS attack on a number of shopping websites last night, totally rendering those sites incapable of being viewed by the outside world. I still don't know if I can really say that netflix was involved in all of this, but it certainly turned my on to the larger problem, but who knows. What's really important is that some shmoe cost these companies a lot of money. I don't know whether to congratulate him for his craftyness, or condemn him for such an illegal act. Actually, I'll do both........ But then again, it really caused me alot of grief. Ya, the guy is an official deuche.

No Wonder Kids Seem Crazier These Days.....

In a recent article, it was shown that 2 of the top 5 Google searches this past year where "sex" and "porn". I'm not going to give a hypothesis as to why there were this many searches of both of these words, but I am going to say that something is making these kids not curious, but perverse. Kind of disturbing.......

No wonder kids are crazier these days....

Things I Want For Christmas

I realize that Christmas is a time for giving, and I love to give, but the "inner child" wants lots and lots of swag! I'm greedy, I know, but wouldn't a blog post about how giving instead of receiving be just kind of boring? And I couldn't show off awsome pics. That really spices up the look around here.

1) Marc Ecko Watch. I don't care what it looks like, how much it costs, or anything else aside from it being a watch made for a man. This company really knows what looks good.

2)Marc Ecko Hoodie. But not just any hoodie. A StarWars clone commander hoodie. This thing zips all the way over your head and make you resemble a "real" clone trooper.


3)Anything to do with geekdome; If you took a look at some of the stuff I can see here, I would totally be thankful for life.

4)Star Trek, District 9, Terminator Salvation. All three really brought the geek out in me.


Well, if I listed anything else, I'd be reaching. I already have all my XBox gear, the TV to back it up, and netflix. I guess I just gotta be thankful for what I have. And thank you for indulging my two year old "I want that" complex. I just happens this time of year.

It's weird how things work out

I'm not going to bore you by regaling you with the subtleties of life, but I am going to tell you that life seems to be weird sometimes. And it's not that society is creating this feeling in me, but rather, the culprit seems to be myself. Let me explain, and you can listen for what you find may be similar to yourself.

I hate school. I hate going, doing the homework, group projects, the works. And it was worse this last semester because of a job that kept me in a constant state of fatigue. I was hating life more than at any time before. But now, however, having been done for two weeks or so, I find myself missing some of the things involved with school. Mostly the structure. I go to community college, so some may not see any set structure to their lives while going to school, but that is what I found. This is beginning to sound crazy to myself a little bit.....

Anywho, it really is weird how things tend to work out, and how we may start missing the things we like to hate. But I guess that's how we are wired.

Sell-Out? Or not....?

Am I or am I not a sell-out? I believe that is for you, gentle reader, to decide. I have actually been trying to tastefully place ads all over RandomBrainwork.net in order to see if earning money were possible. I hope it is. I spend an inordinate amount of time do a lot of back end work to keep this place going.

My purpose, however, is to asses from you, my four loyal readers, to let me know what is tasteful and what is not. Please not that if things are deemed to flashy and in the way, that it will be left alone. Maybe you'll accidentally click on it.... Hehehe......

Why do we even try to make friends with this guy?

For a long time now, I've been wondering why we try to make friends and support Hugo Chavez and his communist regime. He took over Venezuela and changed it's constitution so that he can stay in his position indefinately. That pretty much what Castro did in the 1950's. Now he wants to kill capitalism in the whole world. He says it's the enemy. What he's trying to say is that he wants a country full of slaves to his will. Chavez is becoming an enemy that cannot be ignored. Chavez made his comments about killing capitalism here. 

Now Chavez is making threats against the U.S. Over his government owned news network, he said that there was a U.S. spy plane that "violated Venezuela's airspace" and that he will shoot down any other that does.

Here's the problem. We have a lot of U.S. military activity in the area due to the drug war. U.S. planes are bound to get close at some points in time. And they don't intend to spy. Chavez is just taking pot shots at us to try to provoke a violent response. Why does Obama even try to make friends with this guy? He's even insulting Obama himself. This a dangerous guy, and we need to keep an eye on him, not make friends with him.

Come On, People!!!

For alot of you, what I'm about to share with you may seem like simple logic. While I concede the point that some people have made, to me, it's too stupid to ask a set of people to change just so we can get more people into a certain profession.

Now to add some context to my lamentations.

In this recent Wired.com article, Stanford professors have concluded after conducting a study that the "geeky" and "nerdy" stereotype associated with computer science has driven women from choosing that as a profession. I don't see a problem with that. Often people create a subculture that they attach to a profession or class. The "subculture" as it were, often contains it's own slang and a set of shared experiences that we cannot presume to dictate. I don't go into a beauty college and tell them that if they are going to get more men in the profession to just throw out some comic books in the lounge. It's plain stupidity. Leave things the way they are. It's when we meddle where there is no real harm being done that creates huge problems.

And for all those who need to be "scientific", my observations are merely that, observations. Don't tout what I say as me presuming to be the end all of truth on this matter.

They Don't Build 'Em Like They Used To

A truer statement there never was. 

So now that I got my artful writing out of the way, I'd like to tell you of an amazing journey, that took all of five minutes of true travel time, but in virtual procrastinator style, took a month to prepare for and lot of BSing myself more time. There are those who took my 'putting it off' style with great patience, and they know who they are(That's you, Dad).

My preparations were all about 'thinking through' the conversation I might have with the person at the other end of the line. Things like, "I've got a 32" westinghouse lcd tv that doesn't show picture, it only plays sound. I don't know if it's faulty circuits...." and on and on that approach would go. Another, "My TV's broke. What's it gunna cost to fix it?" That was the other end of the spectrum of potential scripts that I would use for this task.

Today is the big day, I would tell myself. This I did many times over. Maybe it was a month I did that. But today it was actually true.

I looked up some repair shops (On a side note, don't rely too much on fancy repair directory websites, dexonline is the place to go). Back to the story.... I called the first one on the page. This is how it went: "I've got a 32" westinghouse lcd tv that doesn't show picture, it only plays sound. I don't know if it's faulty circuits...." at this point I was cut off. "Hol, hol, hold it right there. Just so yer clear, kid, I can't tell ya nothin' about what it's gunna cost fer yer repair. I need you to know that all we can tell ya over the phone is what it's gunna cost ya fera diagnostic." Me: "Sorry, I got it. How much for a diagnostic then?" The man replied that it was $50 dollars. Not too bad of a price. I then thought, 'how could I be that stupid, thinking they could tell me the problem like they were a genie or something.' That's not too bad an idea, training repair men in mind reading..... Back to the story, sorry....

My next call was a little awkward. Let's see if I can catch the mood of it in writing. After a few rings into the call, a lady answered. "For allin V epair......" and she stopped abruptly and tapered off at the same time. How do you do that? It's impossible. But, it was done magnificently well.I was amazed at this, but I said nothing for a whole second which felt like ten. Then I stammered out, " what does a re, ah, diagno, ah, what'll it cost for a tv diagnostic?" $75 dollars was the answer. All I said then was, "Okay... buy". Pathetic, Daniel, just pathetic.

So that was my adventure for the day. The moral of the story? Don't think too much about a task so simple a monkey could do it.

I'd Sleep In That Bed

This is the most awsomest bed in the whole wide world. I got the picture from the Official Starwars.com Blog, but they found it at Kayla Kromer's facebook, where she displayed her creation for all to see and covet. Check it all out here, or here. 

Cha Cha Cha Cha Changes!

Although I believe it willfully ignorant of me to think that there are people who actually read this, I will still mention the fact that I decided to make some changes to the layout of my blog. There were many things that I wanted to do with it, but alas, my plans are too far-flung to achieve at this point in time. I must stick to what I can do; and that is to write, to find interesting and note-worthy things to fill people in about, and to write well(repetition originally unintended, but now I think it has a ring to it, and those who think it doesn't, you're probably right).

Now, some real news. For a lot of you who know me in person, one of these great changes is that I have left my employment at UPS. It really was a good job, but not a good job for me. I don't have the same physical capabilities that I once had. I know that sounds funny coming from a 22 year old young man, but due to certain chronic conditions, my body could not handle the very physical work required of an employee at UPS. They truly have worker satisfaction at heart(my bosses at least), but I couldn't keep up.

The college semester is now over for me, and I am in waiting for the next one. Due to continuous fatigue that has hampered me for the last little while, I haven't done very well at school. That should change, hopefully..... I still have a lingering hatred for homework and sitting in class. One wonders how he graduated high school. At any rate, I now know my limits and can carry on in a more efficient manner.

So now all you people got the scoop on me. Consider this the worst Christmas Card you've ever received.

By the way, I'm glad they put spell checkers in web browsers now or else I would never remember the "i before e except after c" rule. You almost got some obvious misspelling right at the end of the last paragraph.

What A Day

'Tis true that a few days ago was my birthday, and in honor of the occasion, my parents took me out to diner. PF Changs was the my restaurant of choice. All the food was amazing, but what really caught my taste buds was the chocolate cake that they served up afterwards. It was up there with some of the best cakes I've ever had.

And just so you all can know what the purpose behind this post is, well, it's purpose is just to brag about a delicious meal and the great cake afterward. It was very photogenic as you can see.

Cheers.

Requisite

Yes, I feel that it is required of me to post everyday, even if the subject I choose seems totally arbitrary. I paid the money for a domain, so now I gotta use it I guess......

Any way, today's obligatory post finds itself in the middle of a cool new sci fi series on ABC, simply titled "V". Without taking too much time to explain what it is about(I gotta go to bed), V stands for visitor in the series. The plot line is fairly simple in theory. I'll try to explain it the way the truest valley girl would know how (simply because that would be easiest for me). "So, like, there are these people, the human race or something like that, and one day, like, these alien ships come out of nowhere, and totally fly their ships into earth. Then the bottom of the ship, like totally turned into a mirror or TV, and this woman started talking to the humans. So like, the humans tell the aliens that we're their friends and stuff(say that like a question), but the aliens really aren't. It was, like totally weird stuff."

And now, to spare you the annoying valley girl speak. Simply put, V is a smart series that has the potential to go for a good seven or eight seasons on TV. It's a very engrossing show. The writers seem to be pacing everything very well. They give us enough new plot every show to keep you pumped up, but at the same time they don't let cat out of the bag to soon either. The writers seem to have a trick up their sleeves every show so far, but the real magic will be to keep it that way. Like I say, there can be life in V for a long time coming, but the writers really have a big job to keep things moving and building.

Scientific Polls Don't lie

According to a new Rasmussen Poll 55% of Americans oppose the idea of a federal bailout for the struggling news industry. I'm not going to say much more than that, but I did find a very interesting dichotomy in some polls that cover similar ground. In another poll that Rasmussen conducted, where people were asked if they found the network news agencies as reliable, 55% say that they "now are at least somewhat confident" in them. "By contrast, just 25% are at least somewhat confident in the reliability of news reports from bloggers and Internet journalists", the same article went on to say.

In my mind, this is a plain and simple oxymoron. People say that they don't think that news found online is reliable, yet the large network news agencies are failing because the news is beginning to circulate on the web because more people find it all reliable. To say otherwise you would be lying to yourself. How do you think people will react to the polls I just cited? I don't know. You could argue many different ways. But this is what I think. If people can recognize the name, you got instant credibility. If they don't, they chalk you up to being some conservative zealot(Hey, that's what I am!)

Most People Can Tell If You're Lying

And those White House party crashers are not an exception. In a recent CNN article it was revealed that the Salahi's had crashed another party earlier in the year; the President was also in attendance. When it was discovered that they were there without tickets, they were escorted out by security(not secret service). The article clarifies that at this earlier dinner the Salahi's had no access to the President at any time.

Now, on to the mild satire and analysis.

The Salahi's claim that they are not, in fact, publicity hounds. I beg to differ. If, in fact they are not publicity hounds, then why did they hire a publicist to make their statements for them, as shown in the article. The Salahi's are facing possible criminal charges, and yet there seems to be no lawyer involved. I wonder why that is.....?

Number two point: The Salahi's are in fact publicity hounds because they insist that no news organization do a profile on them until after they do interviews and conduct "press junkets". So these people are taking a whole week to do interviews and be on the news, trying to show themselves as innocent bystanders. If it was me, and I honestly thought that I was invited to this dinner thingy via an email that turned out to be meaningless, I would seek my privacy because of embarrassment. But not the Salahi's. They are getting all the press they want, getting news organizations to bend to there will. It's infuriating. Insulting to my vaunted intelligence.