Enjablog

LOTD from TLD: Are the Browser Wars Back? - How Mozilla’s Firefox trumps Internet Explorer. By Paul Boutin

Also… testing out the new options blogger has to offer. Let me know how you like the java thing. I’m not sold on it yet, but I’ll consider any feedback y’all have to offer. Thanks! :) -j.

Edit: Never mind… too confusing or something…

Stupid and stupider

I can’t believe how stupid these kids are. They’re cheating on their girlfriends and talking about it in the newspaper. Yeah, you’re a smart one, dude… you’re going to read it to her so she won’t see your lies? She has parents, family, friends, eyes of her own! It’s not like she’s not going to be able to read it herself. And she’s going to Duke, while you’re going to try and get your grades up to go to a “football college”? Right. You’re going to get your butt dumped on the curb by the end of the night. Jackhole. And even if she doesn’t figure it out, no way you’re going to make things right by her parents. Idiot. If you’re going to cheat, do it right and don’t get caught. If you’re going to claim to have standards, don’t put up with that kind of behavior from the person you’re dating. If you’re going to complain that your boyfriend/girlfriend’s cheating on you, dump him/her and move on with your life. No one is worth the heartache. Soulmates shmoulmates. Someone who is your “soulmate” doesn’t treat you like crap. I know… easier said than done. But whatever. Respect yourself. My message to teenage society:

Boys — Don’t be jerks. If you want to date/sleep around, don’t lie about it; if you’re a real player, women will want to be around you anyway. If you want a girlfriend around, don’t be an asshat.

Girls — You’re not special. If your boy was a jerk before, he’s still a jerk now. Don’t put up with his crap. We’ve heard it all before… “You make me feel so special.” “When I’m with you, I can’t imagine myself with anyone else.” “I think I’m falling in love with you.” Gag. He’s not a project and he’s not going to change for you. He’s not different because of you. He may be different around you because he’s trying to get in your pants, but he’s going to change for himself; he’s going to change whenever it damn well suits him.

Kids these days! *Shakes fist menacingly* Nancy, you almost had it right… “These boots were made for kicking… And that’s just what they’ll do. I’m gonna kick the living snot right out of you.” Ok, maybe a little bitter today. Have a cookie. Toodles! :) -J.

Ok, so I lied. I’m posting again before this gets even more outdated… Most of you have probably seen it by now, but in case you haven’t, ITP pointed me toward the latest ad on Bush’s blog last week. They have since then updated the video to have a little disclaimer thing at the beginning, but it doesn’t help their case much. If any of you out there can explain to me why they would want to publicize this, please let me know. My first reaction was to bust out laughing. I am not at all sure of their intentions, but I’m going to hazard a guess and say that they weren’t trying to make me laugh. I know I’m biased, but I can’t imagine that anyone who was undecided before seeing that video would be swayed by it. The things I noticed:

1. They’re giving the Dems airtime.
2. They are talking about the things Bush has done wrong.
3. They include Nazis.
4. Bush looks creepy in that picture.
5. They show no clips of Bush saying anything at all.
6. Even including Nazis, they can’t make Bush look like a good leader.

In response to the Kerry campaign saying:

“The fact that George Bush thinks it’s appropriate to use images of Adolph Hitler in his campaign raises serious questions about his fitness to spend another four years in the White House. Adolph Hitler slaughtered millions of innocent people and has no place in a campaign that is supposed to be about the future and hope of this nation. The President’s use of these images during a month that evoked the memory of World War II is remarkably insensitive to the sacrifices of the millions of people who lost their lives during Hitler’s reign of terror.

“The Bush Campaign should immediately remove these hateful images from its website and apologize for using them. The use of Adolph Hitler by any campaign, politician or party is simply wrong.”

The Bush campaign had this to say:

“We agree.
* Where was John Kerry’s disgust when he hired Zack Exley - the man responsible for encouraging the production of these ads as part of a MoveOn contest - to run the Kerry campaign’s internet operation?
* Where was John Kerry’s sense of outrage when Al Gore, just Thursday afternoon, compared the Bush Administration to the Nazis saying, “The Administration works closely with a network of ‘rapid response’ digital Brown Shirts who work to pressure reporters and their editors for ‘undermining support for our troops.’”
* Where was John Kerry’s anger when Al Gore in May spoke of “Bush’s Gulag”?
* Why has John Kerry not denounced billionaire and Democrat Party donor George Soros for comparing the Bush Administration to Nazis. Soros stated, “When I hear Bush say, ‘You’re either with us or against us,’ it reminds me of the Germans. It conjures up memories of Nazi slogans on the walls, Der Feind Hort mit (’The enemy is listening’).”
* Why has Kerry not spoken out against filmmaker Michael Moore who last October compared the Patriot Act to Mein Kampf. “The Patriot Act is the first step. ‘Mein Kampf’ - ‘Mein Kampf’ was written long before Hitler came to power.”

We created this web video to show the depths to which these Kerry supporters will sink to win in November.”

Right… but see, they didn’t make the moveon ads. The contest was for other people to make them. Also, they’re comparing him to a Nazi because of his actions. Patriot Act:Mein Kempf :: Bush:Hitler. Sure, they’re being extreme in their comparisons, but not completely unfounded. Now, the Bush campaign is grouping Hitler in with the dems, but on what grounds, exactly? And, especially for those people who haven’t seen the moveon ads, what message are they trying to convey? I, myself, have not seen this ad, even though I have been to the moveon.org site to view the contest ads.

And apparently, that ad was removed over 6 months ago. PRESS RELEASE: Wes Boyd, Founder of MoveOn.org Voter Fund, Sets Republican National Committee Chair and Record Straight:

Said Boyd, “None of these was our ad, nor did their appearance constitute endorsement or sponsorship by MoveOn.org Voter Fund. They will not appear on TV. We do not support the sentiment expressed in the two Hitler submissions. They were voted down by our members and the public, who reviewed the ads and submitted nearly 3 million critiques in the process of choosing the 15 finalist entries.”

Finally, in light of the psychological warfare in progress, I find it ironic that (courtesy of Fahrenheit 9/11) the current administration is constantly bombarding us with yellow, orange, and red alerts with things to be worried about and attacks on the horizon and then they proceed by concluding their argument with, “This is John Kerry’s Coalition of the Wild-eyed, who have nothing to offer but fear-mongering.” Hey, Ben, is that ironic? :) -J.

First things first… My big brother’s coming home today! Also, happy b-day TB! :)

Hung out at the HOY Saturday night. Played Balderdash, read my book, went to eat at Five Guys. Wandered out with ITP on Sunday to go watch the Booz Allen Classic. This is the second year I’ve gone out there to see Intwine golfer Cameron Beckman play. I’m gaining on him… Maybe next year I’ll actually get to see an entire hole. Ok, so we got out there a little after 10, like SPJ told us to. He was in the first group and they were playing a little faster than estimated. ITP and I, however, did not know this. We decided to start from the 10th hole and see if we could catch up. They were probably only a group or two ahead of us, right? Right…? About three miles later, we caught up to see the last three strokes of the 18th hole. I did get to meet the infamous Intwine golfer though. Very exciting. Aside from the whole golf thing, I was impressed that he easily signed a golf ball. It seemed like that would be a difficult task. Met a few of the TJ Class of ‘98 parents who were out watching the “excitement.” Saw a couple of the Intwine boys with females in tow and then headed out.

Went to the new Chipotle in Chantilly and watched Gilmore Girls with ITP. Then spent the afternoon reading and napping. Well, ok. Mostly napping. :) -J.

Open letter to the chick at the Chantilly Chipotle who closes the burritos:

Dear Chipotle Lady,
You seemed to be having a lot of difficulty getting that burrito closed the other day. Was it a one-time occurrence or does that happen to you consistently? It seemed to me as though there was too much filling in the burrito. :-O Yeah, I know. Me? Saying there was too much in the burrito? You couldn’t close the burrito. If you’re going to end up throwing away a handful of filling because it squished out of the burrito, maybe it would be beneficial to just not put so much in it. Or if you do, shift the filling around so it’s centered before you start closing it. Don’t waste precious Chipotle sustenance. We’re all counting on you.

Thanks,
Loyal Chipotle consumer

So you can just not be happy at all! Nyah! Ok, so I noticed that a certain person said that I post “like a bazillion times a day.” Blogger claims I average about 10 posts per week. So that is explicit evidence to the contrary. Hehe… Anyway, he’s not the only person who has said something to that effect, or to the opposite effect… People complaining when I don’t post. Or asking if I died when my blog disappears. You know, the usual. I shouldn’t justify these complaints with responses though. I’m just babying you all and letting you think that your opinion matters. Anyway, so the plan now is to post only once a day (haha only… like I’m weaning myself off of crack.). And, no, that doesn’t mean I’m going to put up uber-posts once a week or something when I get the inspiration to write. That means I’m going to build up a backlog and they’ll get posted when I don’t have the inspiration to write. As a result, my entries will be outdated and uninteresting. Oh wait… I guess the latter part won’t be a result of when I post. ;) Anyway, that is all. You should leave me a cookie. I’m hungry. Your opinion is important to me. Please leave a cookie and it will be responded to in the order that it was received. Thank you and enjoy the rest of your stay. :) -J.

LOTD: Scaled Composites - Tier One / SpaceShipOne Home Page — Take a look at the video of the flight last week!

LOTD from my sis: SAT Scores

Ok, so I know there’s the whole scaling thing now, so the scores aren’t exactly comparable and standardized tests aren’t always accurate in evaluating a person’s intelligence. But the kind of intelligence that this particular exam measures as it applies to skills necessary to run a country… I would really feel more comfortable if our President weren’t so completely lacking when it comes to basic intelligence. I would also be curious to know what the breakdown of his score was, but I guess that’s really irrelevant anyway. Bare minimum, I would like a president who is smarter than me. (No way I think I’m smart enough or experienced enough to run a country, but come on… I know enough to know which one of these do not belong when we start looking at groups of international leaders and our president is the one on television saying “Bring it on!” when addressing a war.) But that aside, if you’re going with the idea that the President is just a figure head and as long as his cabinet is intelligent and can keep the country in order, why would you pick some idiot riding along on his daddy’s coattails? Pick someone who has good stage presence and can pronounce two-syllable words correctly.

Anyway, enough of that. Just came across another site a few minutes ago that seemed kind of interesting. It’s still a work in progress, but it’s a website about how Kerry sucks, but people should still vote for him. The lesser of two evils. Woo:

JohnKerryIsADoucheBagButImVotingForHimAnyway.com

I ventured out to watch Fahrenheit 9/11 last night and, as everyone else has been saying, it is a very powerful movie. Most of the information provided I had heard about before, like the connection between the Bush family and the Bin Laden family, the financial reasons behind the war, and the fact that Bush has been wanting to attack Iraq since before 9/11. I did not know that Bush sat around for almost 10 minutes reading My Pet Goat along with a class of kindergarteners (not even reading to them… Someone else was reading) after he was informed of the attack on the twin towers. I also did not know that flights were approved to allow the members of the Bin Laden family currently in the US to leave and return to Afghanistan, while all other flights were canceled. I think Moore did a good job of connecting the dots and, though the movie was definitely leading, it does force you to question the actions of the current administration, whether you agree with his conclusions or not. It’s hard to say, “Michael Moore is a liar” without actually doing research to prove what it was he was misrepresenting. I believe that no matter how unflatteringly he portrayed people, those people did an equally poor job of portraying themselves. For the most part, he merely compiled clips of things people said on camera.

To me, the striking part of the film came from the footage of the war, moreso than the conclusions he drew from the information he gathered. Intellectually, I understand there’s a war going on and this means that people get hurt, people hurt others, and people die. But actually hearing some of the soldiers talk, the music they listen to to get them in the mood to kill, watching the civilians cart away the corpses of family members and neighbors, and then seeing children wounded from attacks and soldiers missing limbs and trying to live their lives when all they do is try to make it through the pain to face the next minute… it’s numbing. When he first begins talking to the soldiers, I think they are portrayed very negatively, which, on the one hand is disrespectful to these people who are doing their best follow their orders, but on the other hand, he didn’t bad-mouth them; he showed what they said. It’s not representative of all soldiers, and he does later show a more human[e] side of some other soldiers. Psychologically, I understand that killing is not something we are normally raised to do. So, in order to cope with this dissonance, they have to separate themselves from the lives that they’re actually taking. The way they do this is demonizing the people in their minds. They’re trying to help these people, and for some reason the people they’re trying to help don’t like Americans. They must deserve what they get then. It must all be justified. Sure, civilians are hurt in the attacks, but those casualties are “worth” it in order to get the bad guys.

I did find it a little surprising that Hussein’s actions toward the Iraqi people were completely glossed over. Maybe the media has mislead me, but it seemed like things couldn’t have been as completely happy and chipper as the film portrayed them to be prior to war. Anyway, I don’t think that I really had a point and I’m tired of writing now. My opinion: I would recommend watching this movie. If you don’t like Michael Moore, you will know what was addressed so you can argue the points that he made to people who follow him blindly. If you do like him, think and make your own conclusions. Don’t be a lemming. :) -J.

Stolen from ROD: Counterbias.com– Flawed but powerful, Fahrenheit 9/11 tells a heartbreaking story of war

Spent my entire evening fighting over the parking policy they enacted a few months ago. Another excessive meeting. Three hours. They wouldn’t enforce their rule about one person talking at a time. They wouldn’t close subjects. They had to let everyone speak for as long as they wanted and as many times as they wanted on everything. So, anyway, three hours later and we have decided to re-evaluate the issue. But the big gossip of the day (yes, that’s right… gossip, not rumors) is that there are drug deals going down all over the neighborhood. That’s why there are always cops trampsing around. I had no idea. They actually hang out on all the corners of my jogging route. I guess it’s good that I hate running. Wouldn’t want to mistakenly break up some drug deal. At least now I know where to go if the need arises though. I mean, one of the main reasons I’ve stayed away from illegal drugs up until now was laziness. Why go out and find yourself a reliable dealer when I can sit at home and watch Gilmore Girls for days on end? Oh wait… That’s right. I can’t even remember the last time I took advil. So much for that theory.

Back on the lawyer issue, I received more encouragement today:

go to law school. c’mon, please? we’ve got some engineers, computer people, political/environmental people, we had a teacher, and some people who pseudo work for the govt, and a med person in the group, now we need a lawyer. it’s like happy meals, collect all 4!

Ever drive to work and happen to pass a police officer with his gun drawn? Huh. Neither had I, until today. Today’s blog is dedicated to all the people whose occupations require them to take lives and face mortality so we can live with our rainbows and butterflies and not have to think about the horrors of death. Including, but not limited to, police officers, soldiers (and military assassins), executioners, EMS personnel, people who clean up roadkill, ninjas, meat farmers, employees of Bovine University (Ok, just kidding… but I was just trying to not be so completely serious about everything.)…

Anyway, the point of this entry was to share with you the events of my morning commute today. I was driving along, la la la… when I see flashing lights. Ok, cop, whatever. Wait a minute… there’s no car in front of the cop. There’s a car pulled over in the left turn lane. Huh..? The cop is standing with his gun drawn pointing down into some tall grass off the side of the road. Whoa. Surreal. I wonder what’s going on… A woman, who I assume belongs to the car in the turn lane, is standing behind the car on a cell phone completely traumatized. At this point, I’m picturing some scene from Cops and want to know what’s going on. Someone drunk on a Thursday morning? Someone hyped up on narcotics and trying to run away from the police? Nope. The fact that there was only one officer present should have clued me in, but I wasn’t really thinking it through. Just observing the situation. Anyway, as I got closer, I saw that it was a deer he had his gun pointed at. In the made up situations in my head, he only had the gun out to show his authority and gain control of the situation. He wasn’t actually going to use it. In the few seconds it took me to pass that scene, I could see the hesitation in his eyes, the pain that the deer was obviously in, the swarms of people who would drive past and not even notice or care… Kudos to you for choosing euthanasia. :( -J.

I was reading Carter(henceforth RandomOrkutDude)’s blog and his latest entry was on pregnancy books. So, I thought… Maybe… I’d look on amazon and check. Of course: Parenting for Dummies. It seems to me this should be a pretty short book. “Do not procreate.” I like that this isn’t just a stand-alone book:
Sex for Dummies (because, well… you’re going to need help.)
Raising Smart Kids for Dummies (After all, you couldn’t get the first two steps right… you can use all the help you can get.)

Ok, enough with my cynicism. Have a magical day! :) -J.

Ok, so I don’t actually expect anyone to read my ramblings yesterday. The gist of it was that I need a new goal in life. As of the previous post, I have made 500 entries since switching to blogger (which probably puts me close to 600-650, overall). Having met this huge milestone in my life, I feel like I should strive for something greater. Something more challenging… Something educational! Yeah, yeah… I’m weird and medically insane. Ideas welcome. :) -J.

I was talking to BFF last night and after some discussion, she decided that I should be a lawyer. So, ok… I pick fights with people a lot and I’m angry about stuff on occasion, but I’m not sure about the whole lawyer thing. I am, however, looking at taking some classes. I would prefer for them to go toward something, if possible, but I just don’t know what yet. What I want to take or what I want the classes to go toward. Interests include, but are not limited to, Cantonese, Spanish, car repair/maintenance, game theory/econ, political science, engineering law, genetics, neuropsych, behavioral psych/medicine, technical journalist (engineering, psych, or possibly medicine), meteorology… Yeah, I have no idea what I want to do when I grow up. I mean, I like my job now, but I don’t particularly see myself staying there for the rest of my life. Actually, I can’t imagine doing any one thing for the rest of my life.

I used to have this plan that I would break my life down into chunks of 20-year careers. First 20 years, learn how to walk, talk, and read. Second 20 years, engineering… The whatever floats my boat thing. Haha get it? Sigh. Never mind. People in the maritime industry use that phrase way more than you would expect, considering they all think it’s corny and dumb. Third 20 years, biochem kinda stuff. I’m not sure what though… I always liked genetics and biotech, but that doesn’t really seem like one of those careers that I could just switch into on a passing whim. Granted most *careers* aren’t like that. In any case, after that, I would probably teach for a while. Until those rowdy kids drive me completely insane. Assuming I live that long. And that I’m not already insane now. So far, I’m right on track. Doing well with the walk, talk, and read part. (I can’t believe you’re still reading. Keep going!) Doing the engineering thing. Probably not going to go for the professional engineering(PE) license doober, since I’m not working under a PE now and, as far as I know, they’re still working on an Ocean Engineering PE exam.

Anyway, that all seems unrealistic now. I still think being an astronaut would be cool, but factoring in the getting married and making babies part of the deal, I’m behind schedule for joining NASA. And I don’t think I’m ready for private industry X-Prize kinda stuff. That being said, I could still do a transitional career thing. As long as each proceeding career is somehow related to the previous, I don’t think it would be as drastic as completely changing industries. Enter: law school. It’s one of those fields that overlap with so many other industries. I would get to argue and yell at people; how could that not be fun? (Seriously, are you that bored?) And academically, that seems like one of those memorization curricula. (If anyone knows better than to make such a terrible stereotype, please let me know.) I like to read. I like school. Maybe I’ll just pick up one of those LSAT prep books and see how much I can learn.

Hehe… Even better. I just googled LSAT. It says it’s a 4-5 hour exam with 5 sections: Logical reasoning (arguments), analytical reasoning (games/logic puzzles), reading comprehension, experimental, and writing sample. And for the most part, the writing sample is only read by whatever school you apply to. Otherwise, they don’t do anything with it. Wow, that sounds easy. I mean, the hardest exam I’ve ever taken… Actually, strike that. I was going to say that the hardest exam I’ve ever taken was the FE (Fundamentals of Engineering) Exam, but that’s not true. I still hold that the Aerospace Propulsion class I took was the hardest class I had to take and the final exam for that would have been the most difficult exam I ever took. (Have five points and a gold star!) The FE exam was the most mind-numbing though. Eight hours of testing. Two blocks of 12 sections. Woo. At least that wasn’t difficult thinking though. It was just fast-paced. And the memorable quote from that day: “I hope this part doesn’t have math; I hate math.” It’s a friggin’ engineering exam. Of course it has math. (Aside from the fact that both parts of the exam covered the same 12 sections. Dimwad.)

Ok, so I’m looking at law school now, just because I did some research to update my blog. That’s kind of sad. That and the only reason I started actually thinking about it and then writing about it was because BFF said she needed a friend who is a lawyer. I guess I could be that friend. Anyone else need someone with a specific occupation? Why meet new people when I’m not doing anything else anyway? ;) Hehe. Anyway, leave a message if you have career suggestions for me. I’m open to new ideas and I’ll probably loaf around for another year or so catching up on reading before I actually do anything anyway. I still need to start making a dent in my reading list. It keeps growing though… I think I’ve averaged adding about a book every three days or so. It takes me anywhere from 2 to 5 weeks to finish a book on my list. I’m never going to catch up. Never. That and I have no time anyway. And yeah, yeah… I know… I always find time to do whatever it is I feel like doing. I schedule my life like there’s no tomorrow, but am booked three months ahead. Anyway, gotta go get a head start on life. Have a good night all! :) -J.

Some people… are just plain crazy

Also, LOTD: 1-D tetris

Got a phone call from Planned last night. He is out of the box. Got back to civilization last night, will be returning to SC soon, and then will have a week of leave.

I came across this site a few years ago (20:02 02/20 2002, I believe…), but didn’t realize the dude worked for google. Go google! :) -J.

World’s Longest Palindrome? 15,139 (no, 17,259) words