This is why I haven't blogged for a while...

Between Richie's illness and some heavy-duty courses I've been pretty much preoccupied, which explains why this blog has been updated so sporadically. However, I am disappointed with the grades I got. I could have done much better.

However, I'll take them, the semester's over, and one more to go.

Oh yeah, walking with the Class of 2007, in spite of the fact I have work left to do, is weird. Real weird.

Spam traps: good and bad...

Why is it that Google's Gmail spamtrapper is great at dealing with false negatives and false positives while keeping the spam out of my inbox, but DSLExtreme's spamtrapper is all of the sudden labeling the emails of people and particularly companies I have relationships with (eBay, PayPal, Apple) as spam? Also why is their webmail so goddamn slow?

It seems like DSLX is losing its mojo. I was worried when that company from Utah bought them. Now my worries seem to be somewhat coming true. My bandwidth is still pretty good, more or less. However, this spamtrapper thing is annoying. Maybe I should just leave spam management to mail.app. Whatever.

Walking with the Class of 2007, Woodbury University

OK, here's the scoop for all who want to be in on seeing me participate in Woodbury Commencement 2007. This news may not be good for those who are not early-birds...

Saturday, May 5
Commencement Breakfast
begins at 7 a.m.
Alumni Quad Walkway

Graduates assembly
8 -8:45 a.m.
New Woody’s

Commencement
9 a.m.
Alumni Quad

Here are the directions.

I'm sure I will mail out invites. However, this is here and will be up for good.

When you think of escalation or "surges"...

...think of this classic short by Ward Kimball, done in the late 1960s.

Damn, it's been a while...

Keeping on top of school and Richie stuffs and so forth means my blogs don't get much love no more. [sigh]

I will update here soon. I promise.

No Actors or Dogs Allowed

The Los Angeles Times seems to have fallen in love anew with The Gropenfuhrer. They went so far as to ask California's Representatives and Congresspeople what they would think of changing the rules and allowing the foreign-born to run for the highest office in the land.

Don't take my word for it: here is the article, preserved as a PDF.(131Kb)

Here is my humble, considered opinion on the subject.

Sure, let a naturalized foreign-born individual run for the Presidency. I would not object. However, you would have to add one proviso to that amendment to our Constitution: no person who has ever been a member of the Screen Actors Guild, the American Federation of Radio and Television Artists or Actor's Equity can hold the Presidency.

That's right.

No more former actors as President.

I'm serious here.

Who is our only President who started out his adult life as an actor? Ronald Wilson Reagan. And I'm sorry to all those who still have fond memories of the Great Obfuscator...whoops, I meant The Great Pretender...whoops again, I mean the Great Communicator. Reagan frankly SUCKED as a President. He did. He almost bankrupted the nation, the Soviet Union was teetering at that point anyway and didn't need Reagan's push to go down in a smouldering heap. And he allowed a whole bunch of evil theocrats to get a toe-hold in the GOP who never should have been there and got way too much power than they deserved.

I know this would also mean some really good fantasy candidates for the Highest Office In The Land would also be disqualified. Disqualify Ah-nuld, and you also block off the possibility of a President Martin Sheen, a President Robert Redford, a President Paul Newman, a President Warren Beatty, a President Ed Begley, Jr., or my personal dream actor-President, President Samuel L. "B.M.F." Jackson. But seriously folks. Do we REALLY want another actor in the Highest Office In The Land? Do we? Do we feel lucky?

PS: lest I be accused of anti-Actor prejudice, the title of this post is a reference to the signs that would hang up in boarding houses near the Great White Way in New York City.

Why the word "Escalation" matters.

There is a semantic war going on within this Iraq War. George W. Bush and those who still believe in his fools' crusade are persisting in using the term "Surge" to refer to the increase in US troop involvement in the war. However, the term of choice for the reality-based community is "Escalation."

The term Escalation has special meaning for those of us who remember the Vietnam War. Escalation was the favored term in the Johnson and Nixon administrations for bringing in more troops to this unwinnable conflict. Escalation is a reminder that these two conflicts in Iraq and Vietnam are blood-brothers, wars of choice which are costing this country precious human lives and economic treasure.

"Father, Father...we don't need to escalate..." -- Marvin Gaye

A surge is what happens when power snaps back after a blackout. Surge was the predecessor Mountain Dew-like beverage to Coca-Cola's Vault and Vault Zero. The word surge is meaningless to describe an escalation of the conflict in Iraq. This is an ESCALATION. Get it right.