Holy Cow...

A New Zealand cow that naturally produces low-fat milk is producing offspring. Not a bad find from a country that is also free of agricultural subsidies.

Expanding My Horizons...

I have added myself to Technorati's listings, and now below my archives is a search bar for looking up content in my past posts. It works pretty well, and hopefully it'll help toss me around the blogging realm.

Still, if anyone wants to give me a direct donation, I will readily accept it once the check clears~

Leaps and Bounds...

You know, it used to be the United States at the forefront of human rights and, even more so, human freedoms. Now, in the 21st century, all we seem to do is catch up, or fight against the backtracking that occurred in our country.

We were founded as the most liberal country in the world, and we should continue to be so. Of course, liberal, in this sense, means classic liberal (read 'libertarian' now) and means being for freedom from government intrusion, regulation, and oppression. Classic liberalism means that one may think, say, act, and worship as they please, and are bound only by the brilliance of natural human reason and the simple golden rule.

So all that brings me to give Britain their due credit for doing what is right. And who would have guessed that the world did the exact opposite of pulling apart at the seams?

It is almost depressing that we still have not fixed what is wrong, just as Truman did when he integrated the military in nearly six decades ago. But then again, with the people who have been in charge for as long as they have, it is no surprise.

Blogger just topped itself...

Blogger did it. It has saved my soul and sanity in one shot. Those folks at Google are good people.

What is 'it' that they did?

Blogger now has an autosave function built right into it. Every minute, it saves what I've written to that point.

Faboo~

Something about Psychology...

It seems there has been a little more analysis done on how introverts' and extroverts' brains function, with each being content in their own chosen mediums. I tell you, I can definitely appreciate the former group's needs at times.

More Testing...

Okay, we have now moved past the reading testing and on to math. These kids are doing multiple choice questions regarding algebra. This, my dear readers, is the dumbest thing ever.

3x² - 6x = 0

a. x = -1
b. x = 3
c. x = -2
d. x = 2


Now, to point it out for those who have nearly forgotten our 4 years of math like myself, rather than reducing and solving properly, all you do is put each of the four potential answers in for x and you're there. That is, as my generation is wont to say, weak sauce.

Free Books...

Rummaging around the web during my free time surfaces some funny things. Here is an initial listing of places to get free books.

I tried the top of the list, which was manybooks.net, which has electronic versions of a who ton of books. I just downloaded Dostoevsky's The Idiot and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. It will just be a matter of finding little pieces of time to read those, you know, along with all the news the world produces every moment, blogs talking about the news, writing my own blog, oh yeah, and working. Lousy work keeps getting in the way (although, it has given me a few programs to play with that I would not otherwise have had in my arsenal).

Oh, and I also found this site from the free books list that my wife might find useful when loaning (or as many people say so very incorrectly, borrowing) books to friends.

Here's for my Pop...

Ah, where nerds and dog-lovers can cross paths... check these wonderful conversations out:

Many Worlds, Many Treats

Bunnies Made of Cheese


These little ditties are the works of Chad Orzel, writer of the blog Uncertain Principles.

Pay Equity via Taxation...

My wife brought to me the other day an article from the Star Tribune titled Taxing women less: Gender pay equity? When the idea was first mentioned, I admit to being a little skeptical, as I am when intentional inequity is put anywhere into law. However, it was definitely an idea worth pondering.

Through much of the article was the presentation of those who originally came up with the idea. They say that to even the playing field, women be taxed no more than 80% of the level a man does, and most likely less than that. Though this creates a discrepancy, there are already plenty of others in the tax code for marriage, children, etc. So adding one more to entice more people into the workforce would not be unreasonable.

That is the primary goal of reducing the tax rates for women. The reasoning is that by lowering the tax rate, more women could join the work force and actually increase the amount of income to the government through greater numbers of people being taxed. It is a grand idea, and I would be in favor of it if it were on the table.

The authors claim that women tend to be more attuned to changes in tax codes than men, and I can vouch for that. My wife takes into account more of that, whereas I would rather just see a bigger number on my paycheck. My theory is that women like to figure in discounts more than men ("Aren't you glad I found this unnecessary expensive item on sale!?") and taxation brackets bear similarities to that.

I think the biggest argument against this idea, as good as it is, is the reason most women do not join the workforce has little to do with money and is more of a personal choice in life. Also, if child care was not so bloody expensive, it would be far easier to justify going to work and paying that care expense. Even having just our one child in daycare cuts out a huge chunk of our income, to the point where unless one of us broke enough past even on that, she or I would just stay home with the boy instead of working and him going to daycare.

I am not sure how many women a lowering in taxation would bring into the workforce, but if the US truly needed that many more people working, I would not oppose it. I think it is a good idea and a rather viable one, and even if it turned out did not make a difference, would be worth trying. If nothing else, it would give single mothers a better shot at raising their children in a more economically stable home, and I do think stability in general is an important factor in raising kids.

That all being said, I would like to state that my opinion is the world will never have full employment equality based on numbers. Equal pay for equal work, that is certain to come, and it damn well better soon. But I do believe that there will simply be corners of employment where men should exclusively rule. Why? Because we men are expendable.

Yes, I do see women as fully capable of operating as well as men deep in dangerous mines or on battlefronts. But when it comes to the most dangerous of work, we as a species (a supposedly intelligent one at that) have a responsibility to not put the carriers of our offspring into harm's way. I do not feel this is sexist; it is just reasonable to say that men are better off being killed as they will never be capable of bearing our children into this world.

Or maybe it's close to Mother's Day and I'm just protective of my mom and my wife.

Oh My God...

How do you pirate music? Use a CD-Arrrr!

My Grandmother and the Queen...

This past week, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II came to visit the United States. This is a nice piece by Matt Frei from BBC News. I enjoy his writing and perspectives of being a Briton living and reporting in America.

The most memorable portion of the Queen's journey to the former colonies was when President Bush mistakenly said the bicentennial anniversary of our country was in 1776 rather than 1976. The Queen apparently flashed the President a look that made him blush and cringe, and amazingly utter the best line I have ever heard him use to recover his own idiocy by saying that the Queen gave him "a look that only a mother could give a child".

Aside from the obvious fact that the analogous descriptors were truly dead on the qualities of the two world leaders, I think the whole scenario says much about the Queen. She, as it was reported, was not amused by the President's blunder, as I am certain she kept her stiff upper lip throughout many rather undignified ramblings by sub-par 'representatives' in Washington. I would not blame a woman of her demeanor to think too highly or speak too loosely with folk of that ilk.

I have always wanted to meet Elizabeth II. Now, my American arrogance would want to stand tall, shake her hand, and say that it's so nice to meet an equal. Politically speaking, it is true. The United Kingdom does in fact belong to her, and our United States belongs to its adult citizens. My little rebel's slight would end right there, however, and it is because of lessons my Grandmother taught me.

My impression of Queen Elizabeth II is that she is the epitome of dignity and grace. Any room she occupies has an increased air of respect for all humanity in it. When she speaks, it is nothing but truth and wisdom. And in her silence is a pure patience without judgment. I do not feel I am far off the mark, as the Queen of England is so like my own Grandma Mary (who also has land named after her).

As children, my sister and I were given fair warning to make absolutely certain that our behavior was exemplary while at Grandma's. Now, that is not to say we were awful around our other grandparents; it was just especially important for Grandma Mary. Looking back, it was hardly because she was overly strict; it was, and still is, simply how to do things. She is a proper lady, and so ought her guests be. To be otherwise is simply rude, and there is no reason to be rude.

My grandmother is all that I have described of Her Majesty the Queen, and I learned so much of that dignity from my grandmother. It was never taught directly; it never needed to be. She simply was dignity and grace in her own existence, so it had no need to be spoken of. I am already teaching my son those lessons on good behavior and I hope I am successful enough to make her proud of he and I when she finally meets him next month.

It would be lovely to meet the Queen, to have a spot of tea and a chat of all things big and small, and to learn from her Highness as I did (and still do, bless her) from my Grandma Mary.

[Portrait by Christian Furr, who hopefully won't be terribly upset by my adding his art to my site and giving him due credit for a great work.]

The Greatest...

The day the world was saved...


Too many terrible things have happened to the world since that day. I think a great deal of them are because people then, and definitely people now, forgot what happened to get to that day.

So Dark the Con of the Techie....

Sometimes my own unconscious decisions amuse me.

Being in computer repair for a 21st century school, I will, at some point during the year, step foot into every single classroom in the building. I will converse with each member of personnel, and in those conversations, attempt to understand exactly what problem they actually encountered, which is often not at all what they are describing. Due to this, I will develop preferences for the people I would be helping.

My least favorite section of the building is one where their computer systems are of a totally different operating system, network system, and method of teaching and communication than any other in the entire building. Basically, not only are they of a different, and far more dysfunctional, operating system; they are run another third party system on top of that operating system to convolute everything going on. So instead of being completely fluent in troubleshooting an error on the normal systems, I have to hunt and peck around a system that is alien to everywhere outside that single room.

On top of that space being of poor software configurations, the hardware has its own design flaws. The desktop computers are designed to be compact, so everything inside is tightly packed, and when just enough dust gets inside or the box is jarred enough to have things bump into one another, the system is unable to power on at all.

Oh, and as icing on the cake: the people who staff those rooms are terribly annoying.

So, I do my best to avoid that whole little world. And it amuses me just how my brain decides to do it. With the way the hardware gets clogged with dust, they regularly go down. It is nothing to repair, I just open them up and use an air duster to clear it out, and the machine is up and running normally again.

Now, if I wanted to avoid that room and those computers more, I would just tell that group to get its own can of duster and clear out the hardware themselves. But aha, why would I want to do that? It's such a fast and easy fix, that it gives my life a far more tolerable condition. If I showed them how to do this quick fix, then all they would see is me struggling to fix problems and blowing them off for better things in the rest of the building. So long as I come down to do the dusting when it's required, and I'm in there less than five minutes, it gives the impression that I'm helpful and quick and obviously above par as a technician.

It is obvious to me, as well as anyone who knows me, that I am not smart enough to devise this plan. It is far too clever and devious for my pun-spewing self (I spent at least twenty minutes last night while doing dishes to figure out a gag for a Dalai Llama; no I didn't get one... yet). But my brain, that big gray organ 'safeguarded' by its cranial case, is just as potent as the next man's. So left to its own devices, it has taught me to endure a minor annoyance to well avoid any crucial criticism.

Who knew I was so brilliant? I didn't~

Fun Podcasts...

I've rummaged through many podcasts floating out there in Radioland. A set of them that I particularly like come from QDNow. My personal favorites are Mr Manners and Grammar Girl. This week's Grammar Girl podcast covered a topic I am almost certainly guilty of breaking the rules.

Using i.e. versus e.g. to either further describe something or give an example, respectively. Firstly, as some readers may have noticed, I am not a fan of adding punctuation to abbreviations (particularly an apostrophe to the plural CDs. Even though it is actually okay, writing CD's always looks like a possessive to me.)

I learned some of my non-punctuation from living in Britain where Mr and Ms do not normally have periods after them. I liked this form because it looks cleaner and does not give an illusion of breaking the flow of a sentence. Flow and tone of writing mean quite a bit to me, as it is my personal drive to write as I wish I spoke.

So yes, I am very guilty (though one cannot qualify guilt since it is an absolute (and I am going into stickler mode here)) of writing i.e. as ie, but at least I usually follow it with a comma. Although I am completely wrong, I feel that if I used the periods, I would omit the comma due to cluttering up punctuation marks.

I am almost certain I have swapped i.e. and e.g. on a regular basis, probably because I favor the vocal sound of i.e. and the fact it is used more readily in speech. I just checked my most recent Fry Side post, and I think I may have actually gotten the usage correct in the first paragraph.

Still, though I readily admit to being a proper stickler, I do not think I will be going back to check on my previous posts and edit them. I will be a little more aware of using those two abbreviations in my writing in the future. That is certain. Thanks, Grammar Girl.

An Explanation...

I was handed this little piece of greatness by my boss just now. Here's the line of my life:

I am not an "idiot." I am a person who suffers from idiocy.

Tally Ho~

The Onion Is Funny...

I'm telling you, it's good stuff.

Niftiness...

After working on that last post, I feel that this is a nifty site.

The French Elections...

Now, I will admit that I did not follow the French elections all too closely, though it certainly seems that every single person in France did. I personally was leaning toward Royal to win, as she seemed the more likely leader to side with the Union and give the EU the power it needs to become an actual forceful body in this world.

What struck me as truly amazing was the voter turnout: 85%. Now that's an election. A number that high lends itself to the phrase 'the people'. Not just who wanted to, but most everyone got out and voiced their opinion via ballot. It amazes me.

To contrast, the United States has not touched the 60% mark since 1968 (though it seems to be on the uptick, as 55% made it out to vote in 2004). I think it is a rotten shame that the centuries old shining beacon of democracy only turns out half the percentage for a Congressional election year compared to most anyone else's parliamentary elections.

It's a slightly maddening thought that someone elected by a total population, only half of which shows up, and then only half of those actually voted for them, means the one person representing the whole group was in fact chosen by about one quarter of the people. Sadly, there is no way around this, as voting is voluntary (once some has a right to it, of course) and cannot be coerced or ordered in any way. If elections are of that bent, then they cannot be considered free and therefore not legitimate.

One of my favorite ideas for how to improve voter turnout in the US is to make Election Day a national holiday. No businesses are to be open, the entire government would shut down, and the only thing to do is to vote and wait to see whether your choice of candidate won. We could even add fireworks or some other special tradition to go with the whole idea of all adult citizens going out and simultaneously doing the act that makes us a free republic. It would be such an exciting and inspiring scene, and something universally American.

And I still feel it would be even more fun to root on your local district's little old ladies counting the vote and sending in the results!

Sometimes I Hate Me...

Why do jackhammers look so good? 'Cause they're always smashing!

Better Books...

While searching for the stranger titles to add to my personal library, I came across this website selling books:

BetterWorld Bookstore

It's an interesting read to see what they're about. I just liked the free US shipping and low costs on used hardback books. Those who know me know how much I enjoy accumulating very old texts to see exactly how people thought a century ago.