scottsimpson.net

“There was no proper plan for a terrorist attack and the fire department radios did not work, causing the death of my son,” Regenhard said. “Is that leadership?”

Um, lady, I don’t know you, but I’m kinda glad I don’t. First, let me get the obvious stuff out of the way: all death is tragic. Her son died, and that’s a sad thing, and if you read this and think I’m trying to demean that, please go away. I’m not. The reason there was no plan for terrorist attack (which is sort of untrue.. there was no plan for jet planes being used as missiles to attack tall buildings… which in the scope of common sense before 9/11 would have been rather easy to overlook) is that a plan for terrorist attack was in the planning stages. And the reason the radios didn’t work is called physics. P-H-Y-S-I-C-S. Emergency radios normally work in peacetime because very few are communicating at any given time in a certain area. When there’s an incredibly dense population of radios, all trying to transmit, things get garbled. Thank the FCC for part of that, and sheer volume for the other part. Thank also the fact that large radio transmitters were destroyed by the collapse of the towers. So don’t blame Giuliani’s leadership, lack of (at the time) pie-in-the-sky foresight, or failures of modern physics and electronic design. If radios had worked, there could very well have still been people trapped, etc. If the planes had been deflected (to where? Manhattan is so densely populated that they would have to hit something), had a million things gone differently, no one can tell what might have happened. (such assumptions are called contrapositives and are logically invalid) Nobody knows what might have happened. I don’t practice Santeria… I ain’t got no crystal ball…

Someone needs to explain condiments to me. Ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, pickles, and especially pepperoncinis. They’re all disgusting, they’re all unhealthy, and they all ruin the flavor of things. So why use them? Vote No on Condiments.

I ate at Jack in the Box today, because I have very few other options. There’s Starbucks, but the one here doesn’t have sandwiches and salads (to my knowledge). Mexican restaurants abound, but I’m a little hesitant to go to one and sit down by myself (I’m kind of against having food-service alone). And the Japanese place is too expensive for casual daily indulgence. But if anyone ever hears me say “I’m going to Jack in the Box” and it isn’t for a Chicken Fajita Pita or a salad, make me stop. I had a Sourdough Jack today .. and it had ketchup on it. What is that? Sourdough.. good. Bacon.. good. Tomato.. good. Jack cheese.. good. Burger.. well, it’s a necessary element of a burger, isn’t it? And then there was the ketchup. Salty, pungent, and ruinous… there’s tomato on the thing already, what’s the point of ketchup? Down with ketchup. It ruins so many good things (eggs with ketchup? seriously, now…)

I brought my Powerbook with me today, on the news from a tech that he could attach it to the wireless network here, but that was vetoed by his boss. Which is fine, I’d probably do the same in his shoes. Have you ever thought about how useless a computer is without internet access? (aside from a process control system or the like)

I started going to the gym last night, and it was good. I ran, and it was good. I did some weights, and they were good. I sat in the sauna, and it was good. I sat in the steam room.. and it was hard to breathe the superheated vapors. Now, the muscles around my elbows hurt, which means I’m heading in the right direction vis-a-vis my skinny chicken-arms. Fine, chickens don’t have arms, but you know what I mean. Thank Mike for that term. I also started reading again last night. I’m five chapters into A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway. I have literal stacks of classic books that I bought on sale and now I’m finally getting around to reading them.

But now it’s time for my apple, with all those wonderful neurotransmitters and sugars. I’ve heard an apple is better at keeping you awake and alert than the same volume of coffee. I must investigate this. Seems apples are better at everything…

So I’m back home. Got home Saturday evening about 5 and started to unpack. Had a great home-cooked dinner and went to sleep. Sunday brought sleeping in and visiting grandparents and another tasty home-cooked dinner. And then I started work on Monday. I’m back doing what I was before, web design, flash and this time some Java to boot. But I have a new cubicle. It isn’t green anymore. It’s gray.

I was watching Colonial House (PBS) last night and I couldn’t help thinking about reality television as a whole. Jean Baudrillard posits that we live in a ‘society of the spectacle’ where we are disconnected from ‘real living’ by the fact that we experience everything vicariously, through images in media, and that we create these images to suit ourselves and entertain ourselves. (He had some interesting things to say about 9/11, most of which can’t be directly disproven … what were the attacks but a show for media, designed to evoke a certain response?) Anyway, I digress. I came to the conclusion that some reality television is alright: the original few seasons of Real World where people get to know each other and work toward the fun intangibles like understanding and tolerance, shows like Colonial House where modern people choose to attempt to live in a different chronological frame, and legitimate competitions like the Olympics. The others are zeitgeisty nonsense fluff, and they’re becoming increasingly disturbing. Fear Factor was pretty bad, regardless of whether or not it’s safe to eat bugs and worse. Then we had the horrid dating shows where contestants competed against each other, often viciously and by lying, to win the privelige of dating a guy who wasn’t really all that attractive to begin with. Following that, we had the shows that actually dealt with legal contracts, with such shining gems of cinematic filth as ‘Who wants to marry my Mom’ and its ilk. Now we have husbands trading wives (attention conservative Christians — go after these people, leave the same-sex-union folks alone).

This disgusting voyeurism needs to end. It’s perpetrated by lazy people living vicariously through their television sets. And we’re surprised that obesity is a problem — actually living burns calories, watching people live does not. America needs to get off the couch and out into the world around us before we destroy it via reality-tv-show-wars or reality-tv-show-pollution. (Who can pollute Lake Superior fastest? Who can invade small nations in the least amount of time? Here’s the kicker — Iraq thinks it’s on a TV show! Oh that’s right, it is.) Forgive my cynicism in this arena, but the study of International Conflict impels me to look at war from a different perspective — of the irrational conduct of two parties who, on principle, refuse to work out their issues peacefully. Sounds like a great reality show to me.

Yeah.

And go, Massachusetts for both legalizing same-sex marriage AND coming up with a provision to curb abuse of the same. Tell your friends to vote against the Constitutional amendment and urge them to write to people in power suggesting the same. The Constitution has never been amended to restrict rights (except Prohibition, which was later repealed). Furthermore, it has been amended to extend rights on numerous occasions. The Constitution is not a toy to be amended at a whim by the leaders politic. And last I checked, ‘Constitution’ and ‘Bible’ were very different things.

yes, i know my blog hasn’t been what it should be lately. this is due in large part to the fact that i’m ridiculously busy. over the summer [read: next week], i’ll *only* be working full time, so i should have time to update this [and create a new design].