The first three years of my career's new phase are almost over. It's been an amazing ride, capped by an amazing denouement.

Holy cow.

I just had to record this somewhere. Today I saw my first example of del.icio.us spam.

Been a while, snickerdoodles.

So I'm minding my own business yesterday at lunch, heading to the driving range for some practice and listening to NPR. They're covering the John Roberts confirmation hearings in DC and they have a Republican senator from Kansas, Senator Sam Brownback, talking about the hearings. He proceeds to make a complete douchebag of himself.

The conversation got around to Roe v. Wade and the interviewer, Nina Totenberg, asks him if he sees the right to privacy as a constitutional right. He says he doesn't and he's always amazed that people find a right to privacy in the constitution and don't find a right to life in the constitution.

This is so asinine that I can hardly believe it. It's a straw man (my new fave term) that makes for such an idiotic argument when light is shined on it. The idea of someone not being able to find a right to life in the constitution is the dumbest thing I have heard in a long time. It's the classic so-called "pro-life" argument that if you're not so-called "pro-life" you believe in murder. Well, I call bullshit. It's a manipulative argument that relies on the listener to surrender all judgement and simply follow along a line of reasoning as it derails.

When I think about it, the so-called "pro-life" argument is essentially that life begins at conception. Can you find anything in the constitution that says life begins at conception? Not only does that line of reasoning derail, it dissipates in a puff of compassionate comprehension.

Senator Brownback went on to say that people are assuming there is a right to privacy and it doesn't really exist in the constitution. So his recommendation to people who think a right to privacy is important, pass a constitutional amendment to that affect. Hey, that's a great idea. We'll work on that and you start working on a constitutional amendment that says life begins at conception. (tongue bursting through cheek.)

Here's my take on the constitution. It has great meaning when it's seen as descriptive. It loses meaning when it's seen as prescriptive. It simply describes what our country is about, it's guiding principles. It does not prescribe specific behavior.

Look at me. I expect my nomination to the Supreme Court in the mail.

I love my Lovely Wife. I'm currently listening to a CD she made for me and the song "Jack Ass" by Beck is playing.

I'm pretty excited about sports coming up here! Football season is starting soon, with preseason games going on now. Lovely Wife and I watched a bit of a Vikings (vs. Chiefs) game last night and it was like a breath of fresh air! We are both very excited about the season starting. Also, hockey is coming up soon, which is welcome after the year off they took. Heck, if they wanted a vacation, they could have just asked!

Played golf with my awesome father-in-law yesterday. I shot a 108 and played pretty horribly. Not a horrible score, though. I hadn't practiced the entire previous week, so not so bad a score with that in mind. I'm going to do some practice this week, though!

Heard from a good friend when he was describing the way he used to live that never worked for him: "Ready! Fire! Aim!"

I've heard this idea in the past. This time it hit me and I've had it rolling through my brain ever since I heard it on Wednesday evening. There's a slogan that I like to use in my life that is the three A's: Awareness, Acceptance, Action. It relates to my friend's idea, where it would look like the following: Awareness, Action, Acceptance. How backward is that?

I work on practicing the principle of acceptance before action in many areas of my life: my work, my marriage, my kids, myself, and golf (!).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/barnesquared/31313798/

Here's the quote:

"It is an odd thing, but everyone who disappears is said to be seen in San Francisco. It must be a delightful city, and possess all the attractiveness of the next world."
-Oscar Wilde

Oh my mornings coming back
The whole world’s waking up
In the city buses are swimming past
I’m happy just because
I found out I’m really no one
-"At the Bottom of Everything", Bright Eyes

Here's my reactions to the 2001 analysis I posted about earlier today.

1. I
1. Who says it's Africa? It kind of looks like Africa. I'm not sure it must be Africa. I always liked that it's ambiguous.
2. It's kind of strange to show the monolith growing out of the earth, when it is described as "deliberately planted." Was it planted like a tree? In the movie, you can hear the tools being used to install it, although you never see it. It just appears in one moment and I would guess, from how it looks, that it's well anchored.
3. Here's another question for you: where did the monolith go? Why don't you hear about it in the next part of the movie? Did the aliens come back to get it? If so, when?
2. II
1. "Kubrick doesn't explain its [the monolith's] 'meaning'"? Its meaning is explained visually, not verbally. It is order within chaos. There are no straight lines in the apes' world. There is no perfect black. There is nothing unfamiliar. That is,until the monolith comes.
2. One of the apes' characteristics is "courage"? What about the first watering hole scene? The apes basically get all the water they need, get screamed at by the other tribe, scream back, and move away so the other tribe can drink. Not a courageous act. The apes are not courageous until they gain their tools. Then they are courageous. Heck, one of them (Starwatcher) kills another ape in the second watering hole scene. Come to think of it, is that really a courageous act? More like a violent act than a courageous one.
3. Who is this "sinister new character"?
4. These are some very interesting points about man being a child in space. I hadn't explicitly noticed it before. I saw it visually without identifying it verbally.
5. I also hadn't explicitly noticed the human form of some of the spaceships. That's interesting. I'm not sure it's consistent, though. the Pan Am shuttle isn't particularly human-looking, it looks more like a sleek 747. Neither is the space station.
6. At the Tycho site, there is one human who shows awe and wonder, Floyd. Although he also participates in the awe-less and wonder-free activities of the other humans.
3. III
   
1. Why did they make Discovery's exterior grey instead of white? I like it white!
   
2. Seeing humans through HAL's eyes is an interesting approach. It would have been very interesting if they contrasted it with HAL's statements in the interview, where he is asked about his relationships with humans and defines them as "stimulating." That's a loaded word. If I were interviewing HAL, I'd ask him to say more about how his relationships with humans are "stimulating." Maybe I'd cross-examine HAL on this point. "What exactly do they stimulate in you?"
   
3. "HAL makes a mistake"? This is a significant problem with this analysis of the movie. HAL doesn't make a mistake. (Of course, this Buddhist says there are no mistakes.) HAL deliberately says the AE-35 is bad when he knows it's not. He wants Bowman and Poole cut off from Earth so he can launch his plan to take over the mission. It doesn't matter what he has to do to accomplish this goal.
4. The breathing part is interesting and it misses one more thing that drives home its point. It misses the sound effect of the air pumps working inside the space suit. This is one of my favorite points in the movie.
5. The humans think HAL is in error (about the AE-35 being bad), but he really isn't and he knows it. This is the humans' error. This is why they underestimate HAL. They think he's benevolent and made a mistake, whereas he has his own motives they can't see or accept. Once Bowman sees HAL's motives clearly, then he accepts and believes what is really going on and what HAL really is. His eyes are opened and his heroic acts ensue.
   
6. What about the video that's uncovered when Bowman deactivates HAL? This is a crucial plot point that is completely missed in this analysis. This shows why HAL was confused. It also may be HAL's final peace offering to Bowman. Something like saying, "Sorry, but it wasn't my fault. Look at this and you'll see what I mean." Or maybe it just comes on automatically because they have reached Jupiter.
4. IV
1. "The fourth dimension"? What the hell does that mean? Why get into this dimensional stuff? It's a real place, it's just been created by the aliens for Bowman.
   
2. I'm not sure about the wine/wine glass analogy. Seems a little flimsy.
3. I like the depiction of the Starchild. The music during this part is horrendous!

So there you go. 2001 fanboy signing off.

I'm preparing an extensive commentary to be posted here on this explanation of 2001. I'm a huge fanatic, so expect some serious fanboy weirdness.

Just got back from vacation with the family and had a wonderful time!

We did a bunch of fun things, like a water slide, boating on the lake, hanging out in the hot tub, making and eating yummy dinners, and talking with family. It was amazing.

Played nine holes of golf while I was there, with my brother-in-law, and we had a great time. I shot a 54, which wasn't so bad when you see that I hadn't practiced the whole week beforehand.

The episode of The Gillmor Gang that I'm currently listening to is one of the worst I've heard. I've been listening since last year and this one is dreadful. People talking about "users remixing content on the fly" ad nauseum. I've heard talk about this crap for years and years now and it's never gotten anywhere near the level of usefulness that anyone describes. And no one challenges these talking heads about why we've been talking about the same thing over and over and over and over again and it never happens like they say it does and will.

Leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Steve, you dropped the ball on this one.

Bloglines asplode this morning! I got on after my shower and Bloglines showed one tree item: "Feeds." Nothing else. So, what do you do in that case? Click on it, of course! Then, I waited and waited and waited while Bloglines tried to download every single feed that I have, all 281 of them. My Safari went bezerk.

So, just what the heck was going on with Bloglines this morning?