Gender: Male
Status: Single
Sign: Virgo
City: Ithaca
State: NEW YORK
Country: US
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Friday, September 29, 2006
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The red blood of America is starting to clot.
Category: News and Politics
12:29 PM
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Saturday, September 16, 2006
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Sunday, August 06, 2006
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the road to ithaca...
Category: Travel and Places
This was demoted from the front page to a blog post for archival purposes :-)
It's a visual journal of my travels to ithaca, ny.
enjoy.
3:37 PM
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Tuesday, June 20, 2006
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Social Networks + Scientology = blog post.
Category: Religion and Philosophy
Social news and bookmarking communities have really caught on with the dedicated digerati on these here massive inter-webs. Digg and Reddit are two such sites that are impressively gaining popularity and have arguably surpassed techno-news juggernaut Slashdot in preference. Any_hoot, the point of a social news site is for the readers/people/pubic to post links to sites and stories in which they think are relevant and newsworthy. It is a type of "citizen journalism" enabling a democratic editorial twist on traditional news delivery. Users of these communities then vote on the links (or stories) that their peers have submitted. Popular stories float to the top and are promoted to the "front page" ultimately signifying that "hey, this some 133t shit yo!"
Remember, the posts aren't stories in and of themselves, they are just links to the actual story... so, in the end, by following the link trail, editorial credit is always given. The fun part, however, is reading the comments from the community member's original post (sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes vanilla), and then reading the inevitable "my dick is bigger than your dick" bashing of each other discussion that is quick to ensue.
Anyway, sites like Digg and Slashdot have become so big and so popular, that some websites hosting the stories which users have submit end up being knocked off-line because of the many, many, crazy monkey digerati that are clicking their curiosity all to hell to view the latest and greatest "cool news story." This has become such a phenomenon, that new terms such as "being Slashdotted" or having the "Digg Effect" have become common amongst those in the know.
Why explain this incredibly interesting sociological effect of computing?? Well, because, every now and then these social communities expose controversial (read: interesting) stories that mainstream media would most-likely not cover.
Which brings us too... the point of this damn post. A college student researched and wrote about Scientology for his college graduate project. It was titled "Scientology is not Science" and hit the social news communities (like Digg and Reddit) pretty strong. As described above, this caused it to attract a superabundance of eyeballs. I am sure a few pairs of those retinae belonged to the uber elite Scientology cult fellow church members... and those highly enlightened Scientologists weren't havin' any of it.
Currently you will see this fine notice when trying to access the article: http://codebot.org/notice.html.
As my recent college professor had recently reinforced, it is healthy to rage against the machine every now and then... so, here it is: the article in its entirety (courtesy of the sublime Google Cache). Until the bright and open folks over at Club Scientology serve me with a healthy cease and desist order, enjoy. w00t!
Scientology is not Science
posted by sysrpl on Saturday June 17, 2006 8:32 PM  I researched Scientology for my college journalism graduate studies project and here's what I found. Scientology hurts people a lot. It hasn't stood the test of time, which makes it more of a cult than anything else.
As it's core tenet, Scientology teaches that all the bad things in the world come from negative life experiences. For example, if you were bitten by a dog as a child, without realizing it you might develop an irrational fear of dogs (preventing negative life experiences is why they insist their babies be born in complete silence). Using special auditing techniques and e-meter technology, both of which Scientology claims L Ron Hubbard created, they believe they are able to remove these bad thoughts from your body.
This premise of Scientology, when explained as being part of science, seems reasonable enough to get people started in the cult.
In actuality though, both auditing and the e-meter existed before L Ron Hubbard created them. Auditing was an early type of psychoanalysis experimented with in the early part of the last century. It was soon discarded when the experts of the time came to the conclusion it had no real lasting therapeutic value. The e-meter is based on the same technology as a primitive lie detector.
At first they introduce you to courseware and studies using seemingly innocuous subjects such as tapes on how to have a happy marriage, and how to control youre eating habits. Where things get really weird is when they teach you to hate psychology and require you to pay money, lots of it, for the courses and auditing sessions. These materials and sessions are required to progress up the Scientology ladder.
As you progress up the ladder, the church begins to reveal more information about itself to you. They contend it cant be revealed to you all up front, because the information is so powerful, that if you were to hear about it with an unprepared mind it would kill you (it's that powerful). What they begin to reveal is that all the negative energy trapped inside you are actually thetans, and that thetans are wandering immortal souls carrying past life experiences.
If at some point you cannot continue to pay for the courseware and the auditing sessions, you will be offered a thousand year contract to serve the church for free, in lieu of the fees. You see, the church begins to teach their followers that by following the courseware they will eventually become immortal, and a thousand years is pittance in comparison to forever.
Working for the church is something that can turn quite unpleasant. It's like an army structure without the organization. Superiors abuse and degrade their workers. They make them do the worst jobs, and can have them locked away using a special confinement technique.
Eventually the courses teach you that once you reach the state of "clear" all thetans will have been purged from your body. After "clear" you progress to an OT (operating thetan). As an OT you will begin to develop supernatural powers (John Travolta is a high level OT).
It's in the OT levels that the church begins to tell you the true story of the universe. They teach you that the thetans were actually hundreds and hundreds of billions of interplanetary space beings placed on Earth by the evil galactic ruler Xenu. They were killed by Xenu when he placed their bodies around volcanoes (somewhere around Hawaii) and bombarded them with H-Bombs. Their souls attempted to escape after death, but Xenu anticipated this and had machines ready to capture them. The souls were taken to giant 3D cinemas and brainwashed into believing all kinds of bad things, like the story of God and the devil. Finally, Xenu released thetans into the atmosphere, where they began to clump together and make their way into our human ancestor's brains.
To protect all of this information, the church uses its vast sums of money to litigate into oblivion those that speak out against the church. They have an entire dictionary of terms and plays to use against people. For example, if you were in the church and knew someone critical of it they would label you a PTS, or potential trouble source. The outside person would be called a suppressive person. As a PTS you are required to get rid of the suppressive person. This leads to the Scientology policy of disconnection.
Another trick Scientology uses is spying, threatening, and record keeping. See, the contents of your auditing sessions are kept by the church. They have all your deep dark secrets, and if you ever leave and are perceived as a danger in any way, they won't hesitate to threaten you with this information. Watch the scary video of Scientology doing it's spying.
Scientology is dangerous cult. They have ruined lives and killed people. If your are interested in learning more the many true life stories of people hurt by the cult, search the Internet. Just don't join their cult.
3:54 PM
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Friday, June 16, 2006
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The best team... ever.
Category: News and Politics
Hey guys, just a heads up... don't forget to vote.
With a force like Cox and two Balls you just cannot go wrong.
4:32 PM
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1 Comments - 1 Kudos
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Sunday, June 11, 2006
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An Inconvenient Post
Category: News and Politics
I just got back from watching Al Gore's new book-turned-documentary: An Inconvenient Truth, and I have a couple things to say. -
The film is highly watchable and very well produced -
When it comes to our environment, we are seriously fuct.
I'm not going to pretend I know all the facts. I'm not going to pretend to be all righteous and preachy. But I really, really encourage all of you to watch the film. So you can be introduced to the issue... see what my new homie Al has to say... and then, judge for yourself whether this is something you want to be proactive about. A lot of what is discussed is simple data showing the effects of the problem. Everything is presented in an easily digestible manner--rarely getting technical. The point is not to bombard the bewildered herd with overly complicated info. The film has punchy jokes and cute animations and a lot OMG and WTF moments. Unfortunately, however, the solution to the problem is... well... inconvenient. It requires all of us to do a bunch of things, small and large, to make a difference. Things like buying energy efficient light bulbs and appliances. Relaxing on the thermostat. Replacing furnace and air condition filters. Using less hot water. Using the a clothesline rather than a dryer. Unplug and reduce use of electronics. Walk more, drive less. The list goes on. Totally inconvenient, right? Well, that might be the reason why none of us can commit to doing anything about this--now very clear--problem. Though, I've decided that my next car is going to be a hybrid. Anyway, I really want you to see the movie. If you want to go but can't find someone else that wants to see it, I will definitely see it again. If you don't really want to see it or are maybe interested--I'll get you a free ticket, and even drive. Really. This is one of the ways I feel I can contribute, so let's go. (secretly, the main reason why I love the movie, is because there is an Apple notebook in like every other shot. In 2003, Gore joined the board of directors of Apple Computer, so he is pimpin the shit out of their products.) Also, Gore founded and leads a network that serves as an "independent voice" for the 18 - 34 year old demographic "who want to learn about the world in a voice they recognize and a view they recognize as their own." You can find it at current_ tv. So hey, don't do it for me, don't do it for you... do it for little Grace babies, and their kids.  (yup. I totally just played the guilt card.) Some other awesome looking documentaries are:
Who Killed the Electric Car? opens June 28, 2006 - trailer
Sir! No Sir! opens June 16, 2006 - trailer
and OMFG, a documentary about professional crossword puzzle players: Word Play.
1:45 AM
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Tuesday, June 06, 2006
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Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. Over.
Category: Religion and Philosophy
Just some FYI FUD.
(in case you forgot)
11:36 AM
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Sunday, June 04, 2006
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I'm the son of rage and love.
Category: Music
There aren't many bands that are able to release a record that rocks harder than all their previous offerings. Usually a band will either fall short of expectations or just fail to capture a fan like they had in the past. Green Day, however, is an exception. They have consistently delivered albums that kick my ass. Their latest studio record is something like two years old--but I was recently reintroduced to it when I watched their DVD, "Bullet in a Bible." It was a nice refresher that reinforced my love for the crazy punks.
American Idiot was released in 2004, about four years or so after their previous album, and while it still rocks--hard--there are noticeable evolutions and maturities that come across in their music and lyrics. As the title may suggest, they leveraged their position as rockstars and pushed out a relatively political-rich album. I never really realized it until I watched the DVD. They questioned whether or not it was even a good idea to release such an album... but in the end, they said "fuck it. if they don't like it, if they hang us--who the fuck cares." (even though it is easier to say that now, after a successful album... but we won't go there :-)
Anyway, the DVD is fun and really puts you in the moment. Some people might think that Green Day sold out. Some will probably watch the DVD and see how very "MTV-ish" and over-produced it is. It shouldn't matter though, because their music still rocks. Yeah, the filming technique definitely tries too hard to sell them as punk-rockers. And it definitely has a manufactured grunge look to it. Complete with the fast/shaky zooms, irregular-framed content, black/white throw backs, and purposed blurs--but it is entirely understandable. That is what people want to see. That will get the eyeballs. If you want to communicate with someone, speak their language, right?
Political or not, Green Day puts on an awesome show. Seriously: one of the best I have ever seen. Kris and I saw Green Day a few years back at the Pop Disaster Tour when they played with Blink-182 and Jimmy Eat World (another awesome band). We were both blown away by Green Day's performance... we left early during Blink.
So, I recommend watching the DVD... oh, and if anyone lost their disc and wants a back-up copy, lemme know.
Two cents.
blog title credit:
Green Day, Jesus of Suburbia (0:02)
11:59 PM
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Sunday, May 21, 2006
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This guy is my hero
Category: Blogging
First, a little history...
(entirely debatable)
October 4, 1957, Russia launched Sputnik. This scared the shit out of the U.S. Pissing in our pants, in 1958 we created the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) to regain dominance in technical innovation.
Stuff happened.
In 1969, ARPA ran a first-test of the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) which allowed multi-machine communication by chunking large data into smaller packets. This ARPANET was a very primitive form of what we now know as "the Internet."
More stuff happened.
In 1983, a technology called TCP/IP enabled universities and academic folk to communicate through a virtual wide-area network which arguably signified the birth of, yes, wait for it... "the Internet."
Even more stuff happened.
As the Internet gained popularity, some guys over in Switzerland created what we know as the "World Wide Web." Yes, the Web and the Internet are different things... the Web uses the Internet to function. Though, these days the terms are pretty much interchangeable.
Anyway, we love capitalizing on everything, so, starting in the early-to-mid 1990's, commercialization of the Internet commenced. This led to the "Look at my cat, Miss Whiskers" home pages, and all sorts of dancing hamster madness. After a short while, trends started to emerge; notably, personal "web diaries" began to gain ground. Quick to be hip, these diaries became known as Web Journals and Web Logs. Later, redubbed Weblogs--then further reduced to simply: blogs--these online journals gained much popularity and were the perfect outlet and supplement for the then dial-up-restricted web user. As bandwidth increased, so did the need for a richer medium of information access. This cry for more interesting content led to the formation of the "audio blog." This exciting new phenomenon took shape as downloadable mp3 files that users were able to copy to portable digital audio players, and enabled them to listen to their content when and where they wanted to... typically, "on the go." Soon after, technologies were developed that enabled users to subscribe to these audioblogs. Essentially, the audio file would be pushed to their devices rather than requiring the user to request the file from a server. Think: getting a magazine subscription via mail versus going out and picking up a magazine.
This new type of "audio push" was likened to a "broadcast." While this was happening, the Apple iPod was gaining immense popularity and was the choice device to listen to these audio blog broadcasts. So, through a synergistic mashing of words, the audio-blog audio-push-broadcast sensation was dubbed: "Podcast." And today, they are very popular with the kids on these here interwebs. There is an absurd amount of podcasts that pollute the bit and bytes of the Internet ranging from knitting shows, to parenting, to politics, to (of course) technology.
While I am a happy camper with the podcast, others simply demand more. Never happy, we find that the demand for an even richer medium starting to rise. Hence, the birth of the video podcast (or video blog, vblog, vidcast, vcast, vodcast, etc... a name has not yet "stuck.")
While I enjoy the idea of a video podcast, they are not my favorite form of information distribution. They require too much attention. With Podcasts, only your ears are tied up. Like a radio in a car or at work, you can do a lot while listening to music. But once the video element is introduced, both your eyes and ears are required, and your productivity comes to a halt. This is OK, if that's your objective (a break, for entertainment, etc)... but typically, I listen to podcasts while working, driving, or as some other secondary event. However, I still enjoy a video podcast every now and then.
And this, my friends, brings me to the whole point of this damn post.
Ze Frank from "The Show" hucking filarious. No, really. Straight up charisma and classic comedy. He casts a daily video about random whatevers he feels is important to talk about... he totally cracks me up. I've shown him to others, and they didn't quite get it... So, it might be an acquired taste. But if I ever need a laugh, or a break... I'll tune in to his daily shtick.
He casts only on weekdays, but for a good example, check out his piece for May 19, 2006. Hah!
Regularly you can see his daily shows on his front page:
http://www.zefrank.com/theshow
Disclaimers:
- QuickTime is needed
- Video [no longer] starts automatically (it's safe!) And hey, if you actually read this nonsense, add a comment or some kudos... it's a social experiment. sucka.
9:52 PM
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Friday, May 19, 2006
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What up, dogg? No, really... look at this dog.
Category: Pets and Animals
Check out this dog that was on Oprah. His name is Faith. Born deformed, he was trained (with peanut butter!) to walk on his hind legs--just like a human. Wow. Watch Faith in action and prepare for a warm and fuzzy feeling.
4:32 PM
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