Ramblings from the Path of Bones

Welcome to your future

2010-10-20T14:10:00.002-05:00

Heard about the riots in France? Greece? Demonstrations in the UK and Ireland? I can't say that I've looked everywhere, but in looking over the national news lately I can't say that these stories have been highlighted by media outlets around here. And why not? The media doesn't want to make a big deal about these stories because they are a glimpse of what we have to look forward to here. They are

Man

2010-05-24T21:41:00.004-05:00

I need to blog more ... lately though I've actually been avoiding the news it's just too depressing that so many people are so out of touch in this country. Though I suppose it shouldn't really be that surprising. I saw a poll that had been done recently (of course I can't find the article now), but in generic terms what it found was that 70% of Americans over the age of (I think it was) 50 had a

Myth of Corporate Greed

2010-04-13T15:26:00.002-05:00

Corporate Greed ... I'm sure that you've all heard the term. It seems to get thrown around a lot, particularly when economic troubles are in the air ... it is used as the explanation of what is wrong with everything in our economy. Companies laying off workers? Corporate Greed. Companies raising prices or fees? Corporate Greed. Companies going bankrupt? Yup, Corporate Greed.There's a problem

Capitalism

2010-04-05T20:19:00.001-05:00

As most of you know I play computer games as a hobby (some might say as an addiction). Frequently I play those often maligned games known as MMORPGs or MMOGs (Massively Multiplayer Online (RolePlaying) Games). One of the more interesting aspects of MMOGs in general is the aspect of anonymity ... which is to say that since there is little to no real world repercussions to any given action people

Departing on a new Path

2010-04-05T15:32:00.003-05:00

... but not leaving this one either. I just recently (as of a few minutes ago) decided to get off my duff and do something that I've been meaning to do for a while now ... start a blog in order to talk about things less related to this world and more related to the virtual worlds of computer games.Not going to say much here other than to let you know that I'm adding a link in the link section to

Ranting about Healthcare

2010-03-26T13:26:00.005-05:00

Most of you are probably sick of it ... and others probably won't bother to read it. But I've been seeing and hearing the same counter arguments repeatedly so I figured I'd write my response in a central place.'Government makes you buy car insurance, it's the same thing.'No ... actually there are several differences. First, driving is not a basic human right, life is. There is nowhere I need to

Peace?

2009-12-15T13:32:00.003-05:00

"For true peace is not just freedom from fear, but freedom from want." - President Barack Obama, in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech.I do have to give President Obama credit for writing a good speech (or at least hiring a good speech writer), but I do have to take exception to the above line because of the message that it sends ... and the message that I believe that Obama fully intended

4 years - 4 novels

2009-11-29T22:35:00.005-05:00

Well ... kinda.As most of you know I have for the last couple of years participated in National Novel Writing Month (http://www.nanowrimo.org) each November. Specifically I have participated every years since November 2006. Each year I have challenged myself to write a 50,000 word (or more) novel within the 30 day framework of the month of November. And as of today I have completed my 4th

Keepers

2009-10-15T04:00:00.000-05:00

I have said in a comment to the previous rant that there may come a time when society as a whole needs to say 'if you aren't earning your keep, you aren't worth keeping.' Some people that have heard me say that elsewhere have told me that I was 'cold' or 'heartless' for thinking of such a sentiment.Is it 'cold', 'heartless', or 'uncaring'? If viewed by those that feel that man has an obligation

Health Insurance and Costs

2009-08-23T14:24:00.000-05:00

First I’m going to apologize for the fact that this post is likely to ramble a bit and cover a couple of different topics that have been bouncing around in my head. This is what happens when I leave things too long and things build up on each other….First, health insurance, or more specifically why it SEEMS to cost so much to so many people. I say seems there because when most people really

Postal ObamaCare

2009-08-13T22:50:00.002-05:00

Okay ... so President Obama, in an effort to defend his stance that a 'public option' insurance plan can compete successfully with private insurance, toted out the US Postal Service. Basically saying that the fears of the government insurance plan would run private insurance companies out of business were unfounded because the Post Office hasn't run UPS or FedEx out of business.Now the million

You have GOT to be kidding me

2009-07-21T16:40:00.003-05:00

Seriously ... they're kidding right? Well ... I guess they did just say that you could keep your current plan if you liked it ... they never actually said you could get a new one...Of course who believed in the whole 'leveling the playing field' and 'promoting competition' lines they kept spitting out there anyway? I mean ... come on ... the exchange ... that's the way you want to go ... insure

Pay to Retire?

2009-07-15T16:54:00.000-05:00

Okay ... my wife pointed this one out to me and ... well ... it's just too wrong to not say something about it. (BBC News Article)For those of you that don't feel like following the link the basic premise of the story is that in the UK they are discussing a plan that would require all citizens to pay up to 20,000 pounds (at today's rate that would be $32,840) in order to pay for health care

Excuse me, Mr. President

2009-07-01T12:05:00.006-05:00

I have to say that the President's foreign affairs abilities have been less than stellar lately. Iran is in turmoil over and threatening, arresting, and killing their own citizens because of an election dispute, and Obama stays virtually mute on the subject. North Korea threatens to launch a missile at Hawaii (and to wipe the US off the map if we start a way .... and doing anything so much as

Various Rambles

2009-06-22T10:40:00.008-05:00

Yes, well ... I've always been a somewhat sporadic blogger and anyone that has followed this blog will realistically know that. There have been more than a few things over the last month that I've thought about blogging, but just haven't really found the motivation to actually write them down.Which is a shame really, because now I can't remember what some of them were ... and I had some serious

Material World

2009-05-18T13:53:00.006-05:00

Looking at the current economic crisis ... and both government spending as well as the general consumer habits over recent years it can definitely be said that 'we live in a material world' as the song goes....But what has taken it to the level that it has reached? Certainly throughout the ages people have sought a comfortable life ... but what was it, when was it, that the norm shifted from

Of superheroes and countries

2009-05-15T15:30:00.002-05:00

As I was sifting through a site of collected quotations (The Quotations Page) I came across several great quotes ... filing many of them in a quote file for future use. One quote in particular caught my eye and got me thinking in a way different from the others."About Superman and Batman: the former is how America views itself, the latter, darker character is how the rest of the world views

A beautifully (clouded) mind

2009-05-05T11:14:00.005-05:00

Before I start this I'm going to define a couple of terms so that it is clear how I am using them ... these terms are often thrown around and used as political labels and, as with many words in the English language, their meaning is sometimes a moving target. To give fair credit I am taking these definitions from local Atlanta radio host Herman Cain.Conservative - Person who believes in increased

The sky is falling!

2009-05-04T12:37:00.003-05:00

I'm sure you've heard about it by now ... I mean it has dominated the news for over a week already. The H1N1 virus, more common called the swine flu, is the flavor of the month for health scares that ... based on how much media attention and coverage it is getting ... is going to wipe out the human race in the next year.Um ... okay ... whatever.Seriously, let's put this in perspective. The United

The 'right' to health care

2009-04-30T15:10:00.004-05:00

I'll keep this short ....There isn't one.You do not have a 'right' to health care ... it is not the government's JOB to provide health care. I will grant you that legislating that a doctor or hospital can not deny health care based on race or religious beliefs would be reasonable, but I believe that is already covered under existing laws.Why isn't there a 'right' to health care ... because it is

The bipartisan 'change' in DC

2009-04-27T14:18:00.009-05:00

Okay, I said before that I'm not going to get into a breakdown of Obama's 100 days. I did, however, run across a couple of articles that I felt were worth mentioning. First was the NY Post's 100 days, 100 mistakes and the second was CNN's Bipartisanship didn't last long in Obama's first 100 days.The first is a long article, but worth a read, the second has a few clips in it that I want to make a

100 days

2009-04-27T10:02:00.003-05:00

Actually I'm not going to write anything about President Obama's first 100 days in office .... if you want that there are going to be plenty of news stories and analysis columns out there with out me throwing in my 2 cents worth. I think most of you can probably figure out my opinion of how the present administration is going without me having to specifically spell it out.What I am going to

The day after

2009-04-16T09:38:00.002-05:00

Well ... tax day is come and gone again. Hope everyone enjoyed their chance to write out a check and pay the government for their continued incompetence. Yesterday's rant was perhaps a bit cut short, but a power outage at the office really cut into my day, so I didn't get a chance to cover some of the things I wanted to. We're going to move forward though and discuss some of the comments I've

Happy Tax Day

2009-04-15T21:06:00.003-05:00

Things are a little crazy at the office today so my time to ramble is a bit limited, but I didn't want to let today go by without saying something about the tax system in this country.The fact that this system ever got passed is a testament to the shortsightedness of people.'Well lets get a tax system that punishes success with harsher punishment for greater success. Even better lets take the

Deep Six the Pirates

2009-04-09T10:43:00.004-05:00

As I'm sure by now most of you have already heard, pirates have boarded a US ship, taken a crew of US citizens captive, and subsequently been thrown off the ship by the same US crew. Presently they are holding the captive of the ship hostage on a life boat that is out of fuel, floating on the sea.The US has a navy ship in the area watching the situation and waiting.The ship itself is now out of

Still alive and other random thoughts

2009-04-08T12:32:00.005-05:00

Man ... I can't believe it's been this long since I last blogged. I'm not going to try and make excuses; I've had plenty of opportunity over the last 4 months to post, I just haven't felt particularly bloggy. Not that I've really been doing anything particularly productive in that time .... just letting myself slide back into my old lazy habits.Likewise I'm not going to say that I'm going to get

People

2008-12-17T15:10:00.002-05:00

... make me crazy sometimes ... okay ... most of the time.The weather here has been .... dreary, to put it nicely. And yesterday it was a gray foggy drive into work ... and that was at one in the afternoon. And yet, with crappy visibility, wet roads, and poor driving conditions half of the idiots on the road didn't take basic safety precautions. Look, I'm no angel behind the wheel. I generally

I'm back....

2008-12-11T14:44:00.005-05:00

... again.Wow ... this year has really blown by and it's December already. I have some more normal rambling to do, but for now I just wanted to catch up on the last several months.September saw the launch of WAR a fantasy based MMO set in the Games Workshop Warhammer setting. As a long time player of MMOs, Painter of GW models, player of Warhammer Fantasy RPG (back in the day) and player of the

The Palin Choice

2008-09-09T18:19:00.006-05:00

McCain followed Obama's acceptance speech by announcing his Vice Presidential pick the next day ... I'm sure everyone has heard the name by now - Sarah Palin. Well ... I think that's a decision that took everyone by surprise, but I think it's a good thing and made for the right reasons.Let's step back and take a look at this for a minute - John McCain turned the election on its proverbial ear

On Conventions and Campaigns

2008-08-27T15:02:00.007-05:00

Well it seems that we're in the political convention phase of the election. Where all the Democrats gather together for a big pep rally behind their candidate for a week and then all the Republicans gather to do the same thing for their candidate. In theory this is where the candidates leave the generalities behind and get down to the meat of their plans for this country.Right now the Democrats

In our own hands

2008-07-02T15:28:00.005-05:00

Okay ... a friend recently linked an article to me from CNN about a man in Texas that shot two people that had apparently broken into his neighbor's house. (CNN Story)The article mentions at one point that activists were upset that the shooter "took the law into his own hands" .... Well ... for those of you that may have forgotten, the power of law comes from the citizens. It is both our right

Political Smoke

2008-07-01T13:54:00.005-05:00

Okay ... it's an election year, so as can be expected in my line of work I've been seeing a lot of political garbage. We do a lot of post production work for various political candidates around the country in our little facility, and I get to work on most of them. As I've said before this has made me a tad bit jaded as can be expected ... it also helps me see a little more of the political smoke

Rules

2008-06-24T14:15:00.007-05:00

Okay ... recently I stopped by a McDonald's to get out of the heat while I waited for someone to come pick me up after my car broke down. While I was waiting I saw the rules posted on the playground area for the kids, and I just had to wonder where this country's discipline has gone. The rules (from memory here so may not be exact) were:Please do not run in the playground.Please do not wear shoes

It's just a flag

2008-06-11T09:21:00.005-05:00

I came across this article while skimming through Neal's Nuze (boortz.com) for today. For those of you that don't want to follow the link to read the article I'll give you a quick summery:A California high school Principal has announced that the school will be canceling the school paper next year after the paper ran a picture of a burning American flag, along with an pro-flag burning editorial

Change

2008-06-06T05:47:00.001-05:00

Okay ... The Democrats have chosen their candidate (barring a sudden shift in the super-delegates before or at the convention) and so now we can go forward into the general election as Obama vs McCain.The democrats have rallied behind the champion of 'Change' and yet most of them don't know what 'change' he represents. They will say (have already said in fact) that McCain will simply be a '

A new month

2008-06-05T06:59:00.003-05:00

Well ... it's been nearly two months since I last rambled here. I'd like to say that I made my two month 80,000 words in 61 days goal, but the fact is I didn't even make 40,000. This is even more sad because of the fact that I was at 35,000 at the end of April ... a little behind the target, but close enough to easily make it up in May.I'd like to say that it was work, or that I got really sick,

Masters and Serfs

2008-04-09T19:09:00.003-05:00

[NOTE - the numbers and amounts in this article are not official numbers and are used strictly for sake of argument.]Okay ... an opinion piece in the local paper happened to catch my eye today and I just can't let slide. The letter was in responce to a writter who had asked (as a responce to another writer) that people take the time to learn about the facts of the Fair Tax bill before trying to

Boycott Exxon

2008-04-03T15:27:00.003-05:00

The cry goes up around the country in break rooms and email in boxes everywhere ... boycott Exxon and they'll be forced to lower their prices and that will make the other stations lower their prices to stay competitive. Sounds great, let's everybody jump on the bandwagon and start buying our gas someplace else. I mean they'll have to lower their gas prices right?WRONG.First off ... you would have

April FOOLS!

2008-04-01T13:52:00.004-05:00

The post title comes from the writing 'event' in April is officially titled 'April Fools' not because this post is an April Fools day joke or hoax.....*BANG* goes the gun and off the wife and I go into another writing adventure of epic proportions.... okay maybe not but we are off and writing again. This will be my first attempt at a project in this new 'novel' software and we'll see how things

School of hard knocks...

2008-03-31T21:17:00.000-05:00

Today's rant is brought to you by the story of a young 13 year old girl who, upon arriving at her school after going to the hospital the day before for a knee injury had the school nurse take her crutches away.This story is completely insane ... and one of the rare instances where I feel that a lawsuit is justified. This is a serious case of a school nurse who simply didn't think about what she

Wandering Minds...

2008-03-30T00:47:00.001-05:00

... Okay ... I'm a putz. I had a nice long ramble typed out and went to copy it so that I could run it through the spell checker and ... I erased it completely. Turns out that had I thought about it at the time I could have used ctrl+z and recovered it ... but well we're back to that 'I'm a putz' thing. Ah well I'm sure it was needlessly boring and wordy anyway probably better that the random

New Toys!

2008-03-25T19:07:00.004-05:00

Okay I'm taking a short break from the political ranting and ravings of my normal madness and instead taking a bit of time to unwind and revel in my new toy, and as such this will be my first posting from my brand shiny new laptop.Admitedly it's not a screaming new gaming system .... but it should certainly be able to handle what I got it for - writing. The goal being that I can more easily keep

Tax Cuts and the Economy

2008-03-19T17:11:00.002-05:00

Lately both Clinton and Obama have charged up their campaigns by attacking the 'rich' and the dreaded 'evil' corporations. Playing on the economic ignorance and class divisionisim in this country (and by and large a product of the governmental school system). One of their main targets have been the Bush tax cuts which they claim were 'only a benifit to the rich'.How in the heck are they defining

Can't

2008-03-18T21:23:00.002-05:00

I have several issues that I intend to ramble about we'll see what actually comes pouring out through my fingers to the keyboard. But we're going to start with the word can't ... or cannot to be grammatically correct. People often missuse this poor word to mean won't or will not ... they will say that they 'can't' do something even though there is nothing actually preventing them from doing so ..

What we need

2008-03-07T11:46:00.003-05:00

A primary to the primaries ... that's it ... we need to draw this whole mess out about another year to a year and a half longer. We should have the candidates to be candidates in the primaries start running in early 2005 for the 2008 election season ... THAT would make this system perfect. Wait ... maybe it would be better if we had primaries to get into the primary primaries ... oh hell let's

It's the Economy

2008-03-04T14:01:00.004-05:00

No ... it's not as bad as some people would have you believe ... but we do have a correction due and it's going to be a biggie, and I doubt that who we put in office is going to do much to help.As a country we have, for the last 9 or more years, spent more than we make. I myself can attest to that to some degree.According to one report, since 1990 the number of people who held credit cards grew

The Politics of Education

2008-03-04T04:26:00.004-05:00

When I spoke last about how 'boring' politics was little did I realize the perfect example was sitting in my own backyard. (well ... okay ... really it's across town in a completely different county, but geographically speaking.....)Clayton country is in danger of loosing the accreditation of its public schools. 'But what does that have to do with politics being boring?' Everything.Because this

Boring, but important.

2008-02-28T18:48:00.002-05:00

In talking to a co-worker while flipping through the news I mentioned that I was looking for some political info to talk about on my blog ... and they asked me 'why would you want to talk about politics ... it's boring.'I just sighed and shook my head. If someone in the middle of their life hasn't figured out why people talk about politics I'm not sure I can explain it. I look at the news and I

Time and Clouds.

2008-02-26T20:22:00.003-05:00

No ... not going to make any excuses ... I haven't put down my thoughts here in ... what ... 8 months or so. Combination of being lazy and just not having anything to say. Haven't even really done all that much to keep me away from my rambling rants ... I did do NaNoWriMo last November and 'won' for a second year. Time just seems to fly away from me lately though ... even at work it feels like I

Civil War

2007-08-15T18:42:00.000-05:00

I don’t know if I’ve discussed this before or not … If I have, well figure out which one’s written better and ignore the other one, if I haven’t then we’re good.As some of you know I’ve recently been playing EVE Online, a sci-fi MMO in which the human race, after being cut off from earth and one another by a dark age, have re-developed space flight and made contact with one another. I mention

Just a note

2007-05-22T17:53:00.000-05:00

Actually don’t really have anything to rant about, but I’ve got some time while this project is rendering to drop some notes here about what’s new.In all honesty, not much really. H and I are going to attempt another ‘Novel in a Month’ next month so I sense much sleep deprivation and hectic weekends in the near future. But I’m sure that I’ll enjoy it as much as I have the last ones. (This will

Why DO we?

2007-04-27T19:31:00.000-05:00

“Why do they always send the poor?”Song lyrics from System of a Down’s ‘B.Y.O.B’ …. And a sentiment that I’ve seen in various forms in documentaries and blogs for a while as well as at ‘peace rallies’ and war protests … a certain segment of the population would like to have you believe that there is a conspiracy in this country to send the poor … oh, sorry … the ‘less fortunate’ (see my December

Tax Day

2007-04-17T09:12:00.000-05:00

Well it's tax day ... hopefully everyone has their taxes done and filed already. If not, well you'd better hurry it has to be postmarked today. I am assuming that, as usual, the post office will be accepting filings until around mid-night and postmarking them with today's date.So ... how much did you pay this year?What is sad is the number of people that will answer that question as 'nothing, I

Wow and bleargh!

2007-04-16T21:56:00.000-05:00

I really can't believe that this is my first post to the Path in 2007 .... Heck ... since mid-December 2006 .... man have I been lax.A lot has happened since last I walked the path ... most of it a blur. I swear that every year the days drag slower, but the months go faster.... Time really is an interesting filter of perception.There are many many reasons for my silence ... not the least of which

Various Rambling

2006-12-12T05:37:00.000-05:00

Well it's been a bit since I stopped writting NaNoWriMo ... No, the story isn't finished but I have worked on it a little (maybe 1000 words) just to keep things in my mind. Frankly I haven't felt like doing anything lately ... Part of it I think is coming off the intense presure of NaNo and back into 'normal' life (like my life is 'normal' to anyone but me....), part of it is the time of year,

Finished!

2006-12-01T05:05:00.000-05:00

Well ... in the sense that November is over anyway. I finished NaNoWriMo officially with 50,077 words at around 18:30 eastern on 11/30/06 ... technically I could have written more (the story is not complete by any stretch of the imagination) but after a massive push to reach the finish line I was burned out and tired and opted to relax a bit before work instead.The 50,077 word count does make me

Welcome back

2006-10-28T03:08:00.000-05:00

.... to the Path of Bones. I'm still your host, Klikhizz Grimscale.Er ... sorry about that. Feeling a tad on the silly side at the moment as I'm making myself stay up all night in order to try to switch my sleeping schedule around.As most of you already know I work in video/film post-production ... and with that sometimes comes whacked out hours (both odd working hours and long days ... sometimes

Plot? What plot?

2006-10-25T14:16:00.000-05:00

Well I know I haven't kept at this every day, but part of the reason has been that I'm lazy (but you all knew that already) and I've been working on various aspects of preperation for next month's novel writing frenzy.So I thought I'd take a break from that today and give you all a little insight into next month's project by giving you a kind of profile of the plot and a couple of the characters

Ramblings

2006-10-18T18:34:00.000-05:00

Children –Okay, I’m not a parent … maybe I’d see things differently if I was (I doubt it, but many things are possible). I do understand the need to protect children in certain situations. Sometimes I think that people take it too far and it becomes harmful … particularly when parents turn to the government to not only protect their kid, but everyone’s children.Recently I heard tell of a school

Soggy Rainy Days

2006-10-17T18:51:00.000-05:00

Yup that’s what I’ve got today … soggy rainy weather with a touch of wind. Not really cold, per say, but just gray miserable weather. You know … the kind of days that just sap the energy out of you … great for sleeping, not really good for getting anything productive done. Or maybe curling up in a comfy recliner in front of a small fire and reading a good book with a cup of coffee or cocoa.I,

Ramblings

2006-10-16T19:02:00.000-05:00

Monday-Well just some quick rambling while I wrap up my day at work today. I’ve been sifting through the NaNoWriMo forums looking over various plot ideas, questions, answers, and just general forum discussion as part of my prep for November 1st. I already know the general story that I plan on writing as it’s one that I’ve technically summarized before and now I’m just fleshing it out to a full

I havent died

2006-10-15T00:01:00.000-05:00

I promise! Seriously though … I just haven’t been able to get really good and worked up about anything recently … when I do get a little hot over something I’m usually: “but I wrote about that already, no one wants to read the same rants over again!”There is, however, something on the horizon that will get me writing here again, though it may or may not be the political ranting and raving that

A pet peeve

2006-09-16T23:42:00.000-05:00

Okay … many of you that read the ramblings here already know me and know that I work in a film/video post-production facility doing audio sync work on films, videos, and commercials. You also know that this means that during a political year (which seems to be all of them lately) that means I work on a lot of political commercials for various candidates of both major parties from around the

Death of a Terrorist

2006-06-08T19:32:00.000-05:00

I heard the news this morning that an US Air Force strike had killed al-Qaida’s Iraq leader Al-Zarqawi and I was glad to hear that he had finally met his end. But the more I listened to various news outlets the more saddened I became.They were not praising the success, but condemning the attack and the civilian casualties, small though they were.I am not a ghoul or hard hearted person that doesn’

OMG High Gas Prices

2006-04-28T09:58:00.000-05:00

OMG gas prices are high and big oil companies are making huge profits! Panic, scream, run around with your hands in the air yelling that the sky is falling.Folks … if you haven’t seen this coming in the last 20 years you are BLIND. I’m not going to say a whole lot on this as I don’t have nearly the time it would take to fully write a rant about the misrepresentation of this situation. I will,

Rocem Socem Congresswoman

2006-04-13T21:44:00.000-05:00

Okay … I’m sick and tired of Rep. Cynthia McKinney and her antics. Oh … I don’t just mean over the issue that’s had her face in the news for the last couple of weeks … I mean in general.On the one hand I am amazingly grateful that I don’t live in the area of Georgia that she represents, and therefore am not represented by McKinney. Not that any of the people that actually DO live in her district

When in doubt

2006-03-17T14:17:00.000-05:00

Well it’s been a while since I put fingers to keyboard and disturbed the ether in order to express my opinions … mostly because I was lazy and just didn’t do it, but partly due to not being able to figure out what to write about. Not that there was any lack of things to talk about but rather because I couldn’t figure out what, of all the options, I WANTED to talk about.I still don’t know where

What we've got here

2006-02-13T17:27:00.000-05:00

I’m going back now to the riots and burning buildings over political cartoon depictions of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad. Thousands of Muslims were ‘outraged’ over the cartoons printed in a Danish newspaper and rioted in various countries burning buildings, injuring (and in some cases causing the death of) people, and generally causing problems in several countries waving signs with such catchy

Funeral of a Queen

2006-02-08T01:34:00.000-05:00

[note – though I reference the funeral in the title it is only because listening to part of the funeral for Coretta Scott King is what started this particular ramble … my condolences go out to the King family and this is not about the funeral.]I want to start by saying that I do not mean any disrespect to Mrs. King, her late husband Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., or their family. I won’t say that I

And now we send you

2006-02-03T11:07:00.000-05:00

....back to your regularly expected blogging …Or, if you’ve been going over to Incoming Stuff, more than your regularly expected blogging … my wife and I are almost convinced that this sudden bout of blogging on her part must be a sure sign that the apocalypse is very very near …On to my blog today …I have a link to the State of the Union speech, but I haven’t had a chance to sit down and read

Done

2006-02-01T08:11:00.000-05:00

Well, at midnight last night (technically I guess ‘this morning’ but midnight this morning never sounds right) I typed the last two words on my novel … ‘the’ and ‘end’ to be specific. More specifically they were words 50,562 and 50,563 …In other words (pun intended … as bad as it is) I ‘won’. Though of course you could argue that 12:00am was Feb 1st and not Jan 31st anymore in which case I’ll

NEXT!

2006-01-26T19:20:00.000-05:00

Can it be that people still just really don’t get it … I mean come on … Iran starting up a nuclear program … are they really that dense? Are they really going to start pushing those buttons at this point in time?Of course the only thing that they’ve been threatened with directly is the UN Security Council. This is something like threatening a rabid pit bull with a wet noodle, and I’m sure that it

Various bits of ranting

2006-01-17T12:06:00.000-05:00

It’s Tuesday again … my time does fly. First lets get the writing news out of the way … I was on track last Tuesday … even slightly ahead … but fell behind quickly with a bout of writers block and was about a day and a half behind going into the weekend. I made up the ground over the weekend without much incident, and even got into a few good clips at the end of Saturday I was only about 1100

Morning

2006-01-10T08:37:00.000-05:00

Well it’s a new day … I’m up but not really awake yet … still working on that so please excuse any apparent wandering or pointlessness to the rant. I don’t really have anything that’s got me fired up in any case so it’s probably not going to be much of a rant, we’ll just have to wait and see … maybe once I drink some coffee.It’s Tuesday, a day only slightly better than Monday and still a long way

Random Thoughts

2006-01-06T14:16:00.000-05:00

First and foremost, happy new year everyone. As usual the holiday season was a bit of a bear, between installing new equipment at work and getting everything working (only to have something go out again yesterday … *sigh*), being ill, and just the general holiday season with it’s crowds and such.The wife and I did get out some and caught some movies … unusual for us actually but we enjoyed it.

Strike!

2005-12-22T23:31:00.000-05:00

No … I’m not talking baseball … the NY Transit workers strike. Unions are getting ridiculous. I’m not just talking about the Transit workers union in NY, but fairly much all unions across the board … they seem to be in it to kill the companies rather than protect their members.I don’t recall if it was Eastern Airlines or United that the Head of the Union stated in an interview that his goal was

Profiles

2005-12-21T23:07:00.000-05:00

[Disclaimer – any numbers, percents, age groups are grabbed from thin air as examples in order to make a point and are not the result of any form of scientific study or research unless a specific source is linked.]Okay, what is it that people have against profiling? If, statistically speaking, it was to be shown that 75% of terrorists were white males in the 25-40 age range, what is the big

Of Spies and Freedom

2005-12-21T00:05:00.000-05:00

Okay … I’m sure that you’ve read the stories about the President being raked over the media regarding his authorization of wire taps without a warrant. Oh the shock, oh the horror … oh the humanity.First off, well, I’ve personally believed for ages that the government was doing this anyway, and there is at least one news article claiming that Clinton used the power of the White House in a similar

Time

2005-12-19T23:29:00.000-05:00

Time ...Where does it go? … Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of starting my blog. Well … technically the 17th is the one year mark of the first post, but it didn’t exactly say much of anything so I don’t really count it as the first post … it was more of a place holder.Of course, the blog didn’t start off here on blogger, rather it started over on the guild portal blog site, and was

A Historical Day

2005-12-15T23:34:00.000-05:00

Yup … it was a historical day in Iraq today with millions turning out to vote in the elections today. The voting was peaceful with even the Sunnis turning out in large numbers. True, this is not the first vote that the Iraqi people have turned out for … but today was the day they voted to elect a new parliament of 275 representatives which will begin the process to select the President, Prime

So whats up

2005-12-14T23:51:00.000-05:00

With all the entries lately? Why the sudden burst of Blog entries after such a dry spell? Well I’m in training, so to speak.Starting in January I will be taking on a personal challenge to write … to write more than I have ever written before. I am taking the NaNoWriMo challenge (though not during the usual NaNoWriMo month)The long and the short of it is this … 1 novel …. 50,000 words … 31 days to

On death penalties and timeframes....

2005-12-13T23:33:00.000-05:00

Okay … I’m sure that most of you probably already know about the whole Tookie Williams story and the controversy surrounding his execution last night. I’m not going to discuss the details of the conviction here or the years of appeals or the last minute fight for a stay of execution. Those details can be readily found elsewhere. No, I’m here to talk in broader terms about the situation …Tookie

Kids

2005-12-12T23:35:00.000-05:00

Okay … most people that read this on the regular basis probably know me and already know that I have exactly zero children (unless you count my 2 dogs, Kodo and Pepper). As such this is what one would call a ‘my view as an outsider looking in’ ramble. My observations both from public observation of other parents and their children and through talks with people that I know that have children of

But the Supreme Court said we could!

2005-12-08T23:41:00.000-05:00

Okay, this isn’t what I had intended on writing tonight … maybe I’ll cover it in a section to this rant later, maybe I’ll run out of time and put it into an article tomorrow. While looking around for interesting tidbits I came across two of the words I most hate to see together … Eminent and Domain.You may be sick of hearing me ramble on about it, but if you want me to stop you’re going to have

It's Christmas, deal with it

2005-12-08T00:08:00.000-05:00

What is it with people taking offense to Christmas? I’m sorry, but guess what, it’s a holiday and this is a free country, deal with it. There is no ‘right to not be offended’ and there is no law against the public display of religion. Christmas is a religious holiday and it is a holiday widely celebrated by elaborate displays of ornaments and lights. I am not Jewish, but I’m not offended by

The keyword is Legal

2005-12-02T19:05:00.000-05:00

Okay … I’ve been quiet too long but I’ve just been too lazy to put fingers to the keys and actually rant lately. Not that there hasn’t been suitable material to rant about, or that there haven’t been things in the past weeks and months that got my blood boiling. There is always something worth a good rant … rather this was a plethora of excuses to procrastinate, a slew of ‘I’ll rant about that

Gas and Economics

2005-09-27T12:14:00.000-05:00

Some people (okay a LOT of people) have been complaining about the price of a gallon of gas. First off … the price of gas in the US is one of the lowest in the world, Europeans generally pay anywhere from $5-$10 a gallon to fill up … most of which is taxes. Second off gas prices are, in large part, dictated by the price of crude oil … this in turn is mainly controlled by OPEC as they represent

Paying for the Hurricanes

2005-09-23T13:12:00.000-05:00

I’ve seen a disgusting number of people from the President on down calling for massive federal funds to rebuild New Orleans … undoubtedly this will continue in the aftermath of the approaching Rita. But is this a proper use of federal funds? If a tree fell on my house tonight my house would be destroyed, I’d have no where to live, there’s a good chance I would have lost a good amount of the stuff

State Rights

2005-09-12T13:30:00.000-05:00

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina many people are questioning the ‘sluggish’ response of the federal aid. As I believe I’ve mentioned once already, this was partially the result of the Louisiana Governor declining the initial offer of federal assistance shortly after the hurricane struck. There were other factors, communication issues, coordination problems between state and local officials that

Katrina and the Race Card

2005-09-09T12:12:00.000-05:00

I get really tired to hearing that is caused by racism, or that people who believe that law and order should mean something are racists, or that only racists support welfare reform (or tax reform, or immigration reform, or virtually any type of reform known to man).It is, in essence, minority leaders (or those pandering to minorities) saying ‘I can’t actually debate with

People in Need

2005-09-07T12:28:00.000-05:00

This isn’t specifically about Hurricane Katrina, rather it’s about people in general, but it can certainly apply to the people affected by the hurricane. I’m not just talking about donations because while those people whose lives have been torn apart by the hurricane can certainly be helped by those and are definitely in need. I am also not specifically talking about beggars, panhandlers, or

Hurricanes and Greedy Americans

2005-09-01T07:11:00.000-05:00

I’m sure that you’ve all heard about Hurricane Katrina by now … heard of the devastation that it caused and the after effects that still continue to cause problems. Many of you also know that I went through Hurricane Andrew in South Miami in 1992, so I am acutely aware of the damage that a Hurricane can cause in an area and the needs that the people in such areas have.I’m not here to give you

Bring them home!

2005-08-10T08:17:00.000-05:00

I keep hearing this in reference to our men and women of the armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, and certainly I want them all to come home safely … with their mission accomplished.History, however, tells those that care to listen that these things are never easy … they take time, and lots of it … not a couple of years. In this age of computers and instant gratification it seems that it is hard

The fear of a photo

2005-08-09T06:27:00.000-05:00

No, I’m not referring to my wife’s dislike for having her picture taken. I am referring to the abhorrence of some groups of people (predominately black Americans) to having to show a photo ID to vote. Why? What’s the problem with proving who you are and that you can, legitimately, vote on the current ballet? What is wrong with this concept … why is it that some people dislike the idea so much?One

Strange new world

2005-08-08T12:11:00.000-05:00

It is a crazy world we live in, wars still rage in Iraq and Afghanistan … not against the Iraqi or Afghani people, but against fanatical elements within their culture that preach hatred and intolerance. Who teach that the way into the graces of god is through the murder of those who live or believe differently.But then … are we not there killing them? I can already hear you saying “Klik, are you

Welcome to the New Media Revolution

2005-06-09T13:43:00.000-05:00

What is the ‘new’ media? The Blogs, independent news organizations and various groups that are rising up to spread information with this amazing communications tool, the internet. The ‘new’ media is diverse and varied … the goal of the new media is dispersal of information. We are conservatives and liberals, business people and home makers, employers and employees.The ratings and belief in the ‘

Bring back the stigma

2005-06-08T20:49:00.000-05:00

I’ve been a bit lax on the blog front lately … I’ve had some great things come to mind, but never seemed to get the energy up to write them out. This is one of those ideas … and I may combine in one of the others here as well, since the two go together pretty well.What set me off this time was a person calling into a radio show that said “We need to do more to remove the stigma of welfare.” I

Fight for your right ... to smoke?

2005-05-13T11:07:00.000-05:00

Okay … to start with … I’m not a smoker … I’ve smoked a couple cigars, sure, but I’ve never smoked a cigarette and I don’t regularly smoke anything. My wife used to be a smoker but gave up that habit some … oh it’s been more than 6 years, and probably closer to 10 since she gave it up. In general I don’t think that smokers are the brightest bulbs in the light string, but I have to say it’s their

It's about responsibility

2005-05-05T15:07:00.000-05:00

Okay there are a couple of stories that have prompted this particular entry and I’ll discuss them individually.First … the case of the local ‘runaway bride’ … for those that don’t know the story: A local woman, Jennifer, was supposed to be married to her fiancé on Saturday April 30th. On Tuesday, April 26th, Jennifer went for her nightly run and never returned. State and Local police (and

Economics of Fair Tax

2005-04-28T15:05:00.000-05:00

Okay … before I go onto the rant about the weak criminal justice system in this country and how it got that way, I want to take a moment to bring up some points of the Fair Tax plan.I’ll be excepting most of these points from an email sent to me by the Fair Tax Organization (http://www.fairtax.org/) as it contains several points that I had not considered and I think it very well shows some of the