blueminneapolis

So... In a gutsy move, I've decided not to embark upon another soapbox rant today, and will instead attempt to entertain you with more traditional journaling fodder.

First off, Cheers and a very Happy New Year to you all.  My deviantART New Year's Resolution this year (as last year's remains unfulfilled) will be to average more than one deviation a month.  What's your devious resolution?  (see new poll question on journal page)

A big thank you to everyone who helped with or participated in some way in the first-ever deviantART Presents dAPresents tour featuring BT & Thomas Dolby in a Virtual Battle for Sonic the Hedgehog...  Errmmm... or was it a Battle for Sonic Virtuosity...  or maybe a Sonic Battle for Virtual Supremacy.  At any rate, it was a resounding success (meaning lots of fun was had by those who attended) and I believe it bodes well for future :dapresents: events.

On a side note, I've found I'm quite attached to a new website called twitter and would love for you all to join me on there.  Twitter is essentially an abbreviated and easier to update blog.  You simply update twitter when and as you wish with a couple sentences.  Could be a running tally of fashion disasters you've seen, or a quick log of social adventures, or quick blurbs on movies you've seen.  Its up to you.  You can post via AIM, Google Talk, twitter.com or even from your mobile via SMS (my personal favorite).  And you choose how and when you receive updates from those you'd like to follow.

I've also discovered a neat little site called MyChores which is helping me to beat down my natural tendency to procrastinate on household chores by scheduling them for me.  Its so easy, really.  All I had to do is set up an account and log in daily to check my chores and now my roommate has stopped nagging me about how often the toilet needs scrubbing.  The options for customization are pretty comprehensive.  Way to go Aimee!

And speaking of awesome things I've stumbled on in the last month, I finally watched Latter Days, a movie my roommate owns and keeps recommending but that I had never gotten around to watching.  Nick, the new beau, was reluctant about watching the movie for a number of reasons.  He was recalcitrant in naming them but I think they have something to do with his Mormon upbringing and his own struggles reconciling his sexual orientation to his faith.  I've walked that hard and painful journey myself, so I can understand its not easy to open up about it for some people.

But I digress.  The movie, I thought, was good.  I honestly haven't been more emotionally affected by a film in a long time, if ever.  Not even Brokeback Mountain hit home as much for me.  I would highly recommend it, and its one of those that bears watching the whole way through before you form a judgement of it.

I'm off.  Catch you all later!

Some very disturbing news today, my friends.  In a rather Orwellian move, the Pentagon is establishing (prompted by the complaints of none other than Secretary Rumsfeld) a unit to combat "misinformation" in the media.  This unit will not only do its best to invite its own "surrogates" (read: propagandists) into interviews and onto TV segments and shows, it will also be (this is straight from the Defense Department memorandum) monitoring the "new media" of the internet.

My friends, it was not enough that the US government was monitoring who you talked to by looking at your phone records (provided your phone company had no spine) without a FISA warrant.  It was not enough that they regularly listened to international calls placed by US citizens again, without a FISA warrant.  Now they'll be reading your blogs, comments, posts and also those of the big names in "new media" on "the internets."  (Okay so that was a thinly veiled jab at the Googler-In-Chief, but who can resist, honestly...)  Now they've got an arm of the Pentagon devoted to "correcting" the errors and inaccuracies of the media coverage on Iraq.

The real truth is that, regardless of whose body count you believe is closer to the truth (US Government: 30,000 | Johns Hopkins: 650,000), the tragic and continuing loss of life is really what ought to be the focus of media coverage.  That's what needs to stop, and so far, I've neither seen nor heard any concrete plans for ending the bloodshed.  Nothing in my life--cheaper gasoline included--is worth the pain of an Iraqi mother who loses her child to a suicide bomber in the marketplace, or the pain of a young Iraqi boy whose father was shot by American soldiers while at prayer in a mosque.

So here's what I say.  Why don't we tell them what we really think.  Why don't we tell our Senators, our Representatives, the blog-surfing public, our friends, our families, and anyone else with a vote that we will not let the government flood the airwaves and cyberspace with their sanitized version of the "truth."  Why don't we tell them that we want a real plan.  One that doesn't spend American lives and shed Iraqi blood in vain.  Why don't we tell them next week that we'd like results and not more corruption, politicking, and blatant disregard for human rights.  It happened on their watch, and they need to know just how displeased we really are.

So, whether or not you agree with me, the one thing that my fellow American deviants ought to be doing next Tuesday is vote.

Its your world, stop bitching, get up out of your chairs, and do something to change it for the better.



a for the first deviant to name that movie and another for the name of the character/actor who spoke the line i've just misquoted






this journal is based solely on the opinions and views and perspectives of its owner. this journal and the material within are NOT representative of deviantART Inc. or any of its affiliates. if you treat this journal as such, you will be laughed at. you have been warned.

What is the meaning of life?  That's the one of the first questions I thought to ask Ms. Dewey, a new online information desk with a virtual hostess.

Eliezer S. Yudkowsky states that advances in technology speed the rate of change in society which speeds the rate of technological advancement in a positive feedback loop.  I agree, to a point.  I think that while humanity has a remarkable ability to adapt to change, we will in the not too far future reach a point where our ability to cope with new technological and social changes will hit its ceiling.  At this point I think one of two things will happen, depending on how far we've gotten before we hit the ceiling.

1)  Humanity's rate of technological growth and societal change stabilizes, and growth and change continue at a steady rate, neither slowing down nor speeding up.  Until some technological or evolutionary change advances the rate/speed at which we think and act, humanity will become the a steady juggernaut of growth and change.  The future may actually become more predictable in some respects because of this.

2)  Humanity, before obtaining this "change limit", invents true AI.  (That is to say, artificial intelligence that is truly autonomous of its creators, able to exercise free will to a large degree.)  Humanity then becomes the outmoded, obsolete form of existence, in the eyes of our artificial children.  Our future becomes much less predictable in this scenario, as the actions of hyper-intelligent beings are impossible to predict with any precision using our own "limited" intelligence.

...anyways, just a thought.

It costs about US $0.24 per day to provide a free school lunch to a child in a developing nation.  

That's half the price of an extra shot of espresso.  That's three pieces of chewing gum.  That's US $7 a month.

Buying starving people food is not a solution to the underlying problem, but it is a leg up for people who need the help.  And a little help makes all the difference in the world.

So skip Starbucks twice a month.  Or cook at home one more night a month instead of going out to eat.  Buy one less new DVD every couple months.

It doesn't take a lot from you to make a world of difference for them.

So call me idealistic or naive, just so long as you do something.  The problem is solvable.  Lets finally make a serious attempt.



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