Continued Appeasement of Dictators

Once again, North Korea has committed itself to reprehensible acts and the world is standing around like “wow, I cannna believe they done did that thar.”

I think one thing that we as a species should have figured out by now is that a bully, when left unchecked, will continued to be a bully, especially if he thinks he has a bigger stick with which to beat you. The North Korean regime continues to be a thorn in the side of the so-called “free world,” and after repeated acts of war it would seem that pretty much everyone is content to just let him carry on about his business of murder.

I hate the thought of committing the country to another war, and I do believe that, as it stands right now, we're clearly over our heads financially and probably cannot afford it, but that doesn't seem to be stopping Congress from spending on so many other programs and entitlements... so why not? Things like this are a major reason behind my opinion that a national health care system is unaffordable – it isn't simply that it will increase taxes (which it likely will), but that we need to use the money more on matters of being prepared for crazy people like Kim Jong-il to do evil things... or else we have to keep letting such people do those evil things with impunity.

Also, for the record, it shouldn't always be the United States that is compelled to “do something” about these people. To the rest of the world: What the hell is wrong with you people? Why won't anyone else do something about this bastard? We're kinda busy right now, could someone else stand up and take some of the work off our hands for a change? South Korea only puts up with it because the North does indeed seem to have a bigger stick than they do, and we (nor anyone else) is willing to support them fully.

The world really is a crappy place... if only it were so easy that we didn't have to make choices between letting evil people reign terror on others or putting people in harm's way to stop them.

Related Articles:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/11/23/skorea-nkorea-fires-artillery-island/

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/11/23/nkorea.skorea.military.fire/index.html?hpt=T1

Business as Usual

There are times when I seriously think that companies, particularly news companies, seem to be intentionally trying to alienate their online readers through intrusive advertising. I understand they need to make money, but this has gotten to the point of lunacy – to the point where I've been experimenting with various ways of disabling advertisements and even completely boycotting sites on which ads cannot be blocked to my satisfaction.

This got started a few days ago when Fox News hit me with a new kind of ad that takes an screen-capture of the site and then uses an animation to slide the page down (like it is lying down) so that a nearly full-window ad can be played. I don't know what the ad was for (the only thing I pay attention to is the frustration in figuring out how to close it, not the content of it). The ad's “close” button was almost exactly the same color as the ad's background, so it was nearly impossible to see. Obviously, I wasn't incredibly impressed. By the time I had closed the ad, I had decided that I didn't really need to read any articles on Fox News, and have even removed the site from my bookmarks.

So I started checking out CNN and noticed they too have started using some pretty odd tactics with their ads, although nothing quite so infuriating as the Fox News example above. Most of their banner ads will expand from a tiny bar to a half-window length billboard when the page loads completely. What this means (for me, anyway) is I'm just starting to click on the link to the article I want to read by the time that the ad enlarges, moving my link out of the way and putting the expanded ad right under my cursor (meaning, I click on the ad by accident because everything has moved).

These tactics are abhorrent and clearly illustrate either how greedy they are or how badly they are hurting financially. In either case, I have found an interestingly easy little trick to kill most of the ads (including Fox News' evil in-line ads – you know, the ones that underline seemingly random words in the articles and show you ads ever if you accidentally hover your cursor over them?).

I have set my Chrome browser to disable JavaScript except on sites where I have deemed it “safe.” This list includes sites like this blog, Facebook, Twitter, and Reason, where the ads shown are done so in a tasteful manner and which I have deemed necessary for operation (Facebook doesn't work very well without JavaScript, and Twitter won't work at all), while I leave it disabled on pretty much every other site. Amazingly, Fox News and CNN's ads have gotten a lot less distracting, and in many cases have disappeared altogether.

Do I feel bad that they are going to lose a little bit of ad revenue? No, not really, especially if it means the difference between controlling the garbage content displayed on my screen or not. Fire the assholes thinking up these advertising tactics and I'll turn my JavaScript back on.

The Life that Didn't Know it was Alive

Yesterday the official word came down from my wife's doctor that our pregnancy is over. I'm not sure how the doctor put it (because I don't have any option of leaving work for this sort of thing without attendance penalties, so I wasn't present), but it all comes down to a single word:

Miscarriage.

Okay, I guess technically speaking the miscarriage hasn't occurred yet as my wife continues to carry the poor life that once was but will never be. I guess that is supposed to be rectified today via surgical procedure... Anyway, those who know me probably understand that this sort of thing is difficult for me because of my particular views on when a human life (or really any life, I suppose) begins. Not that I blame anyone, I simply find it very depressing.

My wife seems to be dealing with it pretty well, but I have a feeling it just hasn't sunk in yet. I'm figuring that will change soon, so I guess it is good that I will have probably gotten past my own sadness on the matter. Dalton seems to be doing OK too, but insisted on writing about how the baby died for his “free writing” handwriting practice.

So a sad time in Hickersonia this week... Hopefully better news will be forthcoming...

What Constitutes Law if Judges Can Apply Anything?

I noticed an article today that I'm a little confused about regarding an Oklahoma legislative decision that supposedly bans the use of Islamic “Shariah” law. The article is echoed, albeit somewhat differently (of course) by other news sources, so I'm going to post the two that I found most relevant.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/11/08/oklahomas-ban-shariah-law-blocked-critics-say-attorney-general-failed-respond/

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/11/08/oklahoma.islamic.law/index.html?iref=allsearch

The CNN article is somewhat more informative, stating that the amendment will “officially disfavor and condemn the Muslim community as being a threat to Oklahoma,” which I can somewhat agree with from the standpoint of the First Amendment. It continues, claiming that it forces “Oklahoma courts to rely on federal and state law when deciding cases and forbids courts from considering or using" either international law or Islamic religious law.”

On the second point mentioned above, I am very pleased and wish most States would apply similar laws. No document signed or created outside the boundaries of the United States should carry any force in our legal process, nor should any religious text be utilized on it's own as if it codifies law. Each state has it's own law codes, as does the federal government, and those statutes should be the only source of legal authority in the nation.

So I agree that singling out any one religious group is almost certainly in violation of the First Amendment. That said, I think that the legislators should seriously consider returning the issue to their voters after eliminating the specific references to Islamic law. The same effect can be had without singling out any one religious text – or are they afraid that they can't be generic without having their new legal weapon aimed back at themselves???

Hmmm....

Did That Make You Feel Any Better?

There is occasion from time to time when I feel like breaking things. I haven't quite figured out why, especially considering that it doesn't really make me feel any better, nor do I like cleaning up the resultant mess, but it is true all the same. Tonight at work was very much one of those occasions. Of course, the evening progressed well up to a point, and I really could find no fault in anything up until the bitter end... but that end came, and has since went.

It is a reasonable thing to be expected to do a job until it is done. I respect the fact that every day certain things need to be done, and sometimes the occasion call for more things – or all possible things (as pertaining to a series of job functions) to be done, before the work is considered finished. In tonight's case, all on-inventory product had to be put away completely before we could leave because we're going to work tomorrow morning doing inventory counts.

Of course, I use “we” in the above sentence loosely. We as meaning me, mostly, and a few team leads and supervisors. How I ended up in that group is beyond me, but I was left with certain tasks that, with a group, could have been completed within 10-15 minutes. Instead, I spent over 70 minutes because it was decided that I was “already on it,” so no one else was needed.

Of course, I will concede, to my own credit, that very few others would have been willing to take the time to do what I was doing and do it accurately. That said, however, I do not feel that I was given the appropriate level of respect (not to mention compensation) for the hassle involved in completing those tasks and staying until 10:30 PM whilst being expected to go into work tomorrow morning at 9AM.

Completely unacceptable.

Of course, I also must concede, much to my frustration, that I would have probably still been there until 10:30 tonight even if I hadn't been pulled in 10 different directions, expected to do the jobs of others, and talked to as if I'm insignificant. One of the two cars remaining in the parking lot as I sped away belonged to one of my team leads who was still feverishly working on our normal duties, the so-called “Look Fors.” Don't ask. Anyway, I imagine he was just as frustrated as I was...

In fact, I may owe him an apology now that I think of it... I wasn't trying to be a particularly nice person near the end of the shift...

Tariffs on Imported Candy Reach Record Highs

Well the Trick or Treating thing was fun this year. We ended up doing it twice because one of our friends' neighborhood was doing it on Saturday whilst my wife's family's locality was doing it on Sunday. Of course, this meant that I hung out “with the guys” and passed out the candy while the ladies took the kids out.

Numerous cheap lagers were consumed, of course. I have paid for that a little this morning but my coffee is seems to have, thus far, compensated adequately.

But for all the hassle involved in drinking those lagers, we do reap some benefit:  My son's candy haul was rather impressive. Duties paid on the imported sweets should yield to the King a nice sugar high from time to time. Yes, I have been teaching my son the concept of taxation through the taking of a certain percentage of his candy each Halloween. *evil laugh*

Tomorrow's election should be kinda interesting. I don't really have a whole lot to say about it at the moment, being that I've resigned myself to the idea that the two major parties are worthless... suffice to say, my votes will be placed firmly within the territory of the Constitution and Libertarian parties (depending on which is presented as an option) and with the Republican candidates only when no other option is available.

I know there are many expecting some sort of major reversal in Congress this week as a result of the election, but I don't really expect any “change” even if a massive number of Republicans replace Democrats... it is only if we oust these two self-righteous legions entirely that we have the potential to truly see change in the behavior of our government. Fiscal responsibility has not been the strong suit of either major party in decades with even the best facade of such plagued with cronyism, corruption, and so-called “pork barrel politics.” I guess what I'm trying to get at is that no one should be holding their breath in anticipation of anything special or new...

And now, hi ho hi ho, off to work I go...