Qantas Airlines

Just in case you need a laugh:
Remember it takes a college degree to fly a plane, but only a high school diploma to fix one. Reassurance for those of us who fly routinely in our jobs.

After every flight, Qantas pilots fill out a form, called a "gripe sheet," which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems, document their repairs on the form, and then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight. Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humor. Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by Qantas' pilots (marked with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance engineers.

By the way, Qantas is the only major airline that has never, ever, had an accident.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.

P: Autopilot in a latitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That's what friction locks are for.

P: IFF inoperative in OFF mode.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you're right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny. (I love this one!)
S: Aircraft warned to: straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.


And the best one for last..................

P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midgetQa

Spring Cleaning!

Got a good show coming up today. Tune in about 15 minutes from now to listen to the latest installment of RizWords.

Meanwhile, I'm spring cleaning my blog collection.

The following blogs are being cleared out of my main blog account and going into what I'm calling my "Mothballs" account.

The American Libertarian : 17 Posts, last published on Feb 6, 2007
MO: Equivalent Exchange : 51 Posts, last published on Feb 1, 2007
MO: Saint's Eye View : 37 Posts, last published on Jan 11, 2007
MO: Independent Opinions : 5 Posts, last published on Jan 10, 2007
MO: I Can't Pretend I Don't Care : 12 Posts, last published on Jan 5, 2007
Smokehouse.us : 1 Post, last published on Dec 30, 2006
T. Evan Fisher for Texas House District 108 : 26 Posts, last published on Dec 14, 2006
MO: The Lubbock Liberal : 2 Posts, last published on Dec 10, 2006
MO: Views from the Cheap Seats : 1 Post, last published on Dec 10, 2006
MO: Opportunities for Peace? : 3 Posts, last published on Dec 10, 2006
MO: White and Nerdy : 4 Posts, last published on Dec 10, 2006
MO: Big Bad News : 5 Posts, last published on Dec 10, 2006
A Tedious Melody : 6 Posts, last published on Dec 10, 2006
MeatPod : 5 Posts, last published on Dec 10, 2006
RunTime's Laney Brown : 2 Posts, last published on Dec 10, 2006
RunTime's Luke Massey : 5 Posts, last published on Dec 10, 2006
PoddedMeat : NewsCube (iPod Feed) : 9 Posts, last published on Dec 10, 2006
PoddedMeat : NewsCube (Main Feed) : 9 Posts, last published on Dec 10, 2006
PoddedMeat : RunTime (Main Feed) : 9 Posts, last published on Dec 10, 2006
PoddedMeat : RunTime (iPod Feed) : 9 Posts, last published on Dec 10, 2006
ArmaSystema : 44 Posts, last published on Dec 10, 2006
rizzn.com : the Peanut Gallery : 8 Posts, last published on Dec 10, 2006
eComiks.com: Capes, Cowls, and Masks : 1 Post, last published on Dec 10, 2006
The Same Side of Two Coins : 61 Posts, last published on Dec 10, 2006

That's just way too many blogs.

Talk to you later today.

/rizzn

Podcasting and Advertising: Lining up the Interviews

I'm still waiting on confirmation from Kiptronic and BlastPodcast's PR Departments, but PodZinger has responded. In the interests of fairness, I should probably extend an invitation to Adam Curry's company as well. I haven't had a chance to shoot off an email to TalkShoe, but I'm saving them for the end, since they're usually super-responsive and are easily accessible.

/rizzn

PS: No sonogram today, but I did get to listen to my baby's heartbeat. Exciting! Just under two months left in the pregnancy!

Podcasting and Advertising: Coming Soon to these Pages

I'm currently doing a bit of research on the best mash-up of advertising and distribution for independent podcasters. I'm coming up with some interesting data. I look forward to sharing it. In the last six months, there seems to have been a significant growth in the amount of podcast ad firms. I'm having difficulty finding data talking about the podcaster experience and how many clients these firms actually have. Hopefully I'll get a breakthrough on this later this week.

Until tomorrow, Deuce!

/rizzn

On Stepfatherhood: The Emperor Strikes Back

My wife has talked me down from writing another nasty letter to my step-son's father. Al obviously had another sit down brainwash session with AJ this weekend (which is really quite industrious of the jerk-wad, since his son was only with him for a few hours).

AJ stated rather matter-of-factly a few moments ago that "Mark isn't my family."

Iris talked AJ through the process of understanding how I in fact was his family, but all I could do was angrily type a legally threatening cease and desist letter.

Given the fact that an angry argument between Al and my wife that would upset her late in her pregnancy is a bad thing, I decided to save it to my draft folder instead of sending it.

The man is either a complete moron or an insensitive jerk. Neither of these things are a positive influence on AJ, not to mention them being disruptive events for my family. Its irritating, and save for the delicate situation we're in right now what with the pregnancy, they would be actionable.

Instead, I'm pontificating into the ether about it, hoping to blow off some steam. I feel a bit better about it, knowing that the world reading my blog knows what a jerk Alvin Lloyd Lynch, Sr. is.

/rizzn

The Last Talkshoe

I've had an interesting few days jumping back into the world of Podcasting. It seems a lot of the folks I deal with regularly are on the same track, as several good friends of mine are talking about returning to Podcasting... I suppose everyone is over their broadcast burnout. I know I am, I'm rather enjoying the daily outlet of just spewing a bunch of info into the airwaves and having some of it bounce back at me.

Art and I are still slapping together the necessary pieces to bring back Out in Right Field (I think he just got the domain for it a couple days ago). Additionally, my wife seems interested in getting in on the action, and she's convinced her friends that it would be fun, too. I need some help coming up with a name for her show. It's going to be her and her three friends (Kristi, Renee, and Diamond). Trust me, they're quite entertaining once they get together and start chattering together.

Last night, I took my wife and son out to see The Last Mimzy. It's a very difficult show to review because of my mixed feelings on it. I'll probably post something here later today if I don't get a chance to review it on the podcast later today.

Bottom line, though, is that I think it would have been a heck of a lot better movie if they had simply left out the word 'pollution.' It just reduced the whole film back down to a message movie, instead of leaving it in the elevated space of quantum mechanics, nanotechnology, science fiction, philosophy and fantasy that the whole movie seemed to dwell on.

I've got a busy day planned for today, and tomorrow will be even busier - I need to take my wife to the doctor for one of her final three visits before baby Jacob gets here. I might possibly have some more sonograms to post here tomorrow, so yeah, everyone can look forward to that! :)

/rizzn

Hey folks.

Headed to Dallas. If you need me, contact me by Cel. Be back Monday.

Four Things

I don't have a whole bunch of time right now - I'm late for a meeting at 3Degree. I have four things though:

1) Is there a successful/well-known/highly trafficked political podcast network out there?

2) My RizWords podcast is officially launched. See the widget over there on the right. If you want to participate live in the next podcast, come back to this page around 3:00 CST and click on the join live link... you'll create a TalkShoe account, and get to call in on the show.

3) Out in Right Field will be launching shortly.

4) I forget number four. Damnit. I've got to go. Really.

Deuce!

/rizzn

Quote of the Entry:
"There's the doing of the thing, and then there's the Art Factor. The Art Factor comes into play when your heart and soul get connected to it, when you are able to crawl inside the thing and live in it and breathe it. If you can do that, you can pick up the art factor. Then you can master it."
- Perry Marshall

A thought

I was looking around at some things that were passed down to me, and I found this gold coin in the bottom of a box. It made me think about how the value of money was much different back then. Now a day's gold and silver are still worth the same that they were back then, but the value of paper money has gone down. I know a lot of people think that the everything has gone up, price wise. If you really think about it, the value of paper money has just gone down, so it takes more of it to pay for something.

I think I shall go back to Monex and see if they will put this coin in with the rest of the things I have invested with them. They have been around since 1967, and have the most qualified people that work for them that I have ever seen. In my opinion that is.

[This post contains a paid placement.]

Podcasting: A Gallant Return

Art and I are working on getting a show together. We were originally working on a call-in system powered by a conference calling utility, but Art happenned to stumble upon a new podcasting community/utility called TalkShoe.  It manages the call-ins as well as the live streaming and podcast feed generation - everything BlipMedia was originally designed to be, and more!

I set up a podcast called RizWords on there, named after the original BlipMedia: RizWords podcast I made back in the day (back in the day being a relative term, here.. that was only a couple years ago).  If we decide to go with the TalkShoe solution, the RSS feed will be listed on the side of the blog here.

Just a quick update to let you know what I'm working on today.  Deuce!

--
/mark "rizzn" hopkins
For my blog, profile, and wikipedia entries, simply Google "rizzn"
--
intelligent discussion: http://groups.google.com/group/rizzncom-v83/
--

Moby's Idea of a Funny Story

Or why Moby should stick to being a DJ and never ever try to be a standup comedian or a comedy writer:

oh, i got some good lindsay lohan gossip. turns out she's a space alien and is actually a composite creature made out of 50 other tiny creatures, kind of like when the little rascals stand on each others shoulders and pretend to be an adult. she's really 50 tiny space alien creatures pretending to be human.

it's true, i heard it from the homeless guy in front of milk studios and he never lies about anything. like the time he told me that the pentagon is really an aquarium for floating reptile brains. he's never wrong.

It's funny in the same way you might find The Kids of Widney High funny. Does that make me a bad person?

/rizzn

Hiya - New Design, Old Pictures

Threw up this design today for no particular reason. Took me about ten minutes to make, though, so not bad for ten minutes time. I'm getting pretty efficient at designing Blogger templates now.

Found some old pictures from when I lived in Hollywood. Check'm out. Was playing around in Picasa working on another project, and found these while I was digging around. Picasa is super effective at making crappy pictures look good. These were originally so dark that they were unrecognizable. Neat-o.

BlogSpam: Score One for the Good Guys

In the ongoing war between spammers and those who would have a useful internet, a blow was made against blogspam a couple months ago that is just now recieving some press.

Slashdot just noticed this article/study today, but it's been out since January. Essentially, Microsoft researchers have discovered tens of thousands of junk Web pages, created only to lure search-engine users to advertisements. Us regular internet users have known about these pages for ages, and have been plagued by their existence for far too long, but as it turns out the researchers noted that the vast bulk of the junk listings was created from just two Web hosting companies and that as many as 68 percent of the advertisements sampled were placed by just three advertising syndicators.'

My question is: how will this effect e-commerce on the internet? Theoretically, since it's been three months since the takedown of these sites, about a generation in terms of internet time, we should be feeling the positive or negative effects of these changes.

Theoretically, any decrease in the signal-to-noise ratio on the internet is a good thing, but in the end, all these sites ended up doing was promote legitimate businesses. Still, click thru ratios on these spam sites can't be particularly good, and therefore many a well-crafted pay-per-click campaign ended up buried due to being placed on these types of sites.

I can't be sure because I really don't have the time to research this at the moment, but the type of advertiser that Project Strider seems to have been going after would probably have been the kind that was born out of necessity due to AdSense's one affiliate per program rule. Again, this is all coming from slightly rusty memory, but I remember Perry Marshall sending out a notice a couple years ago mentioning that Google had made a change in their program that didn't allow multiple affiliates from the same program to compete against each other on the same keywords, and essentially the most successful campaign is the one that didn't get shut down (successful being the campaign with the highest CTR).

As the diagram shows, the type of advertisers that Project Strider was targeting were those that had unique domain names as doorways to common affiliate programs and PPC sites. Obviously the technique evolved to simply create lowbrow content trap sites, but I think the genesis of the site may have come from Google's original policy.

Regardless, what it means for the industry and for the end user... As for the end user, obviously it should mean improved user experience when it comes to searching the web. To be honest, marketing has moved so far forward that the sites I look to for information that much of what I want to find is hidden behind several pay-me for the info gates. For instance, if I'm looking for information on a particularly arcane programming roadblock, there are a number of forums out there that exist and seem to have my question answered on there, but require a subscription to see the response. To me this is just as annoying as seeing the same question without an answer parrotted on fifteen content-trap websites simply filled with links to other advertising sites.

As an internet marketing professional always looking for an easy buck, I think if nothing else it will force me to be more creative in my quest to create automated sources of content. I've been working on for several months a site that will surf RSS feeds and create articles distinctly different but on topic with what large crowds in the blogosphere are talking about. I simply don't have the resources and time to (or maybe it's just that I've some scruples that prevent me from) creating retarded content-trap sites like the report is talking about.

Bottom line: I'm not sure what it means, but I'm leaning towards 'its a good thing.' This isn't a common practice across a large cross-section of marketers, it's simply the actions of a few companies, and shouldn't have anything but positive effects for marketers, ecommerce sites, and users.

/rizzn

Incredibly Angry

People won't leave my damn car alone.

I've never had my car broken into before last year when my radio was stolen and my windows and dashboard were destroyed.

Yesterday someone broke into my car again, and destroyed part of the engine taking out the battery.

I swear, I'm so pissed right now I could spit nails.

/rizzn

Good Things

Dear Diary,

I had synergy today.

/rizzn

Google's AI Needs a Bit of Work

I was playing around a bit this morning with Google's Search History functions, and click the link Interesting Items. One of the things it picked (see image) that I might find interesting was the keyword term "баба марта." I was interested since it was (presumably) in Russian, and I don't do any Russian language searching, so I clicked on it. A few links down was the WikiPedia entry on the keyword, the gist of which was:

On the first of March and the first few days after, Bulgarians give to one another white and red tassels or small wool dolls called "Pizho and Penda", or "Martenitsi". Additionally, in Bulgarian folklore the name Mart is related to a grumpy old lady whose mood shifts very rapidly. Her name is Grandma Marta, in Bulgarian — Baba Marta (Баба Марта).

The tradition has remained almost the same today as it was when it began. Today Bulgarians give one another the red and white colours to please Baba Marta so that she will not make winter last. In doing so, they hope the spring will come as soon as possible. Many people wear more than one martenitsa, which they have received as presents from relatives, close friends and colleagues. Martenitsa is usually worn on the clothes pinned near to the collar or on the hand tied around the wrist. The tradition calls for wearing the martenitsa until the person spots a stork for the first time in the season. This bird is considered a harbinger of spring and is evidence that Baba Marta has been pleased and is about to retire.

Needless to say, I'm not all that interested. Thanks for trying, though Google!

/rizzn

On Stepfatherhood: Reloaded

I just wanted to take a second and thank all of you for the loads of letters and IMs I've recieved in response to my post about AJ's father, Al. I appreciate it, and your words were very encouraging.

The comments ranged from the Star Wars-esque ("Your the true father, Mark, only you!"), to the common sense ("Love AJ the best way you can. Your love will carry more weight in the long run than the confusion of the moment."). All of it was much needed, and I'm glad I can count on my friends and family being there with sage advice when I require it.

I am re-focused, and will be able to deal with Al in a calm and rational manner as well as dealing with my step-son in a way that does not indicate the conflict that Iris and I are experiencing with his father. Most of you said the same thing (and I think you are unfortunately correct): there's not much I or Iris can do that will change Al's behavior towards his son, and us attempting to correct him or educate him on what he's doing will only exacerbate things.

As for what AJ has decided to call me, he is back to calling me 'Dad' now, and seems to have forgotten or at least set aside what Al said to him.

Talk to ya later folks. Got another gazillion lines of code to write today.

/rizzn

PS: Special thanks to Val and Jeff.

Retarded Political Update

I really can't say why I did this yet (I'll tell you later), but I did a Google Trend search today that turned up the following information.



So, as it turns out, John McCain is roughly as popular as "Yer Mom" jokes.

/rizzn

A Lot of Interesting Tech Stuff

There's just a ton of stuff I want to talk about and do with the blog lately and just don't have the time resources to do it.

• Spotplex looks cool, but I can't get them to issue me my code for my blog widget.
  
• P2P banking is here, and I want to talk about that a bit - bringing power away from the banks and back to the people.
  
• Google getting hit for a billion - that's big stuff. I talked to Joel this afternoon who amazingly hadn't heard yet, so no insider information on how they're handling it (not that I'd be able it to post to the blog anyways!).
• RAMP is shaping up nicely, I want to get new screenshots out there.
• I'm getting some great advice from my friends re: my stepson situation.
• redesign: all my sites need them.

Lots of things. Probably Thursday before I can talk though.

/rizzn

Update (5:32 PM): I'm on the warpath! 602 lines of code written on a contract job today! In less than two hours!. I'm the MASTER CODER!

Sorry. Just hadda brag a bit.

On Stepfatherhood

I don't often make direct references to my personal life, but the events of last weekend and this morning, I believe, compel me to at least journal my thoughts on the topic. As most of you know, I'm recently married (and still loving it completely, incidentally). With the addition of my wife to my family came her five year old son, A.J.

The reason my wife was able to marry me is that the father of her first child was a capital jerk by the name of Al Lynch, and as such she was not married to him. I won't reveal the intimate details of his jerkitude in deference to my wife's right to privacy, but the bottom line is that he's a selfish dolt, a condition that continues to rear it's ugly head to this day.

About a month and a half ago, AJ started calling me Dad - a decision he came to completely on his own, and one that filled me with joy. I love my wife, and I have come to love AJ as well, and to have him finally reciprocate the sentiment was something that really made my day. I hadn't expected him to start calling me Dad until Jacob was born and talking and calling me Dad.

The day after he started calling me Dad, he pulled me aside and said: "From now on, I'm going to call you Dad, and you can call me 'kid' or 'son', but just don't tell my [maternal grandmother] or my Daddy | [Al]."

The following day, he was to go spend a week with his Grandmother, Uncle and Father in Dallas. When he came back, it took several hours, but he eventually pulled his Mother and I aside to talk to us about some things his Dad had said.

"Mom, why does Daddy say you suck and you're a bitch?" AJ asked. "And why does it hurt his feelings when I call Mark Dad?"

Fast forward to this morning, two days after another two-day trip with his father, when AJ pulls aside Iris to have a discussion on whether or not he should call me Dad or not.

I'm sorry, but I don't think that a child of five years old should have to wrestle with these sorts of dilemmas. It's cruel and selfish on Al's part, and it ultimately is going to destroy his relationship with his son. I'll always be there for AJ, and I'll always take care of him, and while it hurts me that he may decide to stop calling me Dad so he doesn't offend his Father, AJ will never know that - not until he's old enough to handle that.

My nuclear family upbringing didn't prepare me for this sort of thing. At this point, I'm not sure what the right move is. Anyone out there with some serious input, I welcome your advice.

Hi there, Bye there...

I've made some strident moves in completing the RAMP program... not too far to go now and that whole project will be sewn up. I'm also working on a version 1.0 ticket management system for my landlord. He desperately needs the software, and it's more or less completed, so I'll likely be able to name my price on Wednesday when I present it. Still not sure if I'm making it a product or a service, but I'm leaning heavily towards service.

The Great Global Warming Swindle

[16:10] rizzn.dourden: wow.
[16:10] rizzn.dourden: guess what causes global warming?
[16:10] rizzn.dourden: this will blow your mind.
[16:10] smokehouse: Howard dean?
[16:10] rizzn.dourden: hint: not howard dean.
[16:11] smokehouse: Helen Thomas?
[16:11] rizzn.dourden: Close, but no.
[16:11] rizzn.dourden: slightly older.
[16:11] rizzn.dourden: and emits more radiation.
[16:11] smokehouse: Oh. the sun.

Update (3/13/2007:3:42PM): Movie found on YouTube, now.



Update (6:14 PM): Frank Gonzalez unbelievably agrees with me, for once.

I prejudged this production as some sloppy hit piece slapped together by right-wing spin doctors. Even though it took a while, it really broke this issue wide open.

Whether you are an environmentalist or one of their worst critics, you might agree with me that this is one hell of an impressive documentary filled with tons of information rather than fluff--Deconstructing Al Gore's "Inconvenient Truth", one of the cofounders of Greenpeace, international scientists, scientific explanations, the politics of environment and how some are being suckered...wow!

I STRONGLY encourage feedback.

Wonders never cease!

Mormonism and Mitt Romney

My good friend Art recently talked about Mitt Romney and his religion. To be honest, I had no idea that Mitt was a Mormon, and truly it makes little difference to me, as I'll never be in a position to influence the man's religious beliefs. Apparently, though, in the circles Art runs in, everyone is 'in a tizzy' about it. Art doesn't understand, as he states in his post, why people have a problem with the Mormons and the LDS belief structure, and why the rest of Christianity doesn't consider Mormons as Christians.

To prove his point, Art listed a set of superficial criteria comparison of Mainstream Christianity to Mormonism. The list made it appear as if Mormonism is really just another flavor of Christianity, but I'm here to tell you, it isn't.

Mormonism, much like Scientology and Jehovah's Witnesses, is a belief structure full of weird and often alien (in the literal and figurative sense) beliefs. Whether or not you can get along with a Mormon and be led politically by one is one thing. Whether a Mormon is a Christian is quite another.

If your judge of a 'good person' is whether or not they respect and aim to help their fellow man, most Mormons fall into that category (except, of course, if you're black). Black skin is a curse from God, they teach (1 Nephi 12:23, 2 Nephi 5:21, Alma 3:6, Jacob 3:8, 3 Nephi 2:15, Morm 5:15).

If your judge of a 'good person' is whether or not they are cleansed by the blood of Christ as is taught in mainstream Christian doctrine and the New Testament, then Mormons are in fact not 'good people.' That is directly to say that they are not Christians in the literal sense. Their doctrine mandates that they do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, that they should be seeking the Holy Spirit and God the Father.

Additionally, all of their doctrines I've ever read are very careful to inform their congregations that while Jesus was instrumental in witnessing to the humans of earth, Jesus's sacrifice on the cross was not what saved us of our sins' penalties. On the other hand, mainstream Christian doctrine states that "All have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God" (Romans 3:23) and that "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that they who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16).

In short mainstream Christianity believes that Christ was God's only son. He died having committed no sin so as to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins. We Christians who believe this and accept the gift of sacrifice may spend eternity with God, the Holy Spirit, the angels and Jesus Christ.

In short mainstream Mormonism believes that God the Father was a man who lived on a planet near the star Koleb (Book of Abraham 3:3-16). God had physical sex with Mary and conceived Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ lived a good life and taught all of us about God, but left a lot out. Joseph Smith came along and taught us all that in addition to eternal life, if we pray to God and behave extra good, when we die, we might get our own planets to rule as well as multiple wives instead of just living in eternal bliss and worship in Heaven (D&C 132:63, see also...).

I'm not here to tell you Mormons are evil or in any way insidious people. I do see their belief structure as quite insidious from a Christian perspective - enticing in folks with attractive rewards, but leaving out the very bits of Christianity that make it worthwhile and Holy. It almost deliberately leaves out the parts that mainstream doctrine require to gain admittance to heaven. I don't know exactly how judgement day is going to work, and if deceived Mormons are going to be punished for eternity for missing the point on Christ's sacrifice. I have a feeling that the creators of Mormonism will ultimately have to answer for their distortion of the Gospel, however.

More CPAC Stuff

With all the hub-bub about Ann Coulter's 'faux-pas', it's understandable that we all missed Moby's outrage at what Newt Gingrich said at CPAC this year. This from Moby's blog:

well, i think it's safe to say that his political career came to a grinding halt the other day [... snipping irrelevent blather ...] at the cpac conference he said this about the african-american victims of hurricane katrina: after defending the federal government he said the african-american victims were: "so uneducated and so unprepared, they literally couldn't get out of the way of a hurricane."

I'm not sure exactly how I feel about Newt's statement... On the one hand, I've been through many many hurricanes, some quite a bit more devastating than Katrina ever thought about being, but on the other hand, the man has a point. New Orleans was given ample warning. I think the mean education level of the city is a testament to the fact that Ray Nagin was allowed to be elected Mayor of the town. If the man had an ounce of intelligence, he would have mobilized the fleet of mass transportation to get the apparently indigent out of town.

On a related topic, isn't it oddly ironic that I garnered this tidbit from Moby's blog?

/rizzn

PS: I've been perusing a bit of Moby's blog. The guy is RIFE for ridicule. Look forward to a thrashing on a regular basis in these pages of moby. I mean I usually like his music, but boy is he a big dummy.

Hey Folks...

Sorry I'm not super talkative today. I'm waist-deep in RAMP programming. You'll hear more from me on Monday.

Have a good weekend.

/rizzn

UPDATE: Before I go, I need to share this with you. Try to overlook the fact that it promotes Al Gore's useless TV channel. Deuce!

Blast from the Past of the Day

Back before internet memes were called internet memes, there was the geek code.

I was so geeky, I had a geek code plug-in called SG code. I've long since lost that, but in case you're wondering, here's my backwards compatible v3.1 geek code.

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version 3.1
GB/CS/MC d+ s+++:-- a- C++++ UL+ P++ L+ E---- W+++ N++ o+ K+++ w++++
O-- M- V-- PS+++ PE++ Y++ PGP t+ 5+ X-- R+++ tv- b++++ DI++++ D+
G+++ e* h++ r+++ z++++
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

Mail Robert and make him update it.

Unopened Emails

I hate those emails that I never open. On average I have about seven or so a day. You know what I'm talking about... You open it and you know you'll have to do something about it, so you don't open it so you can continue working on whatever it is that's so important you can't be interrupted at the time. Then the email ages for weeks in the back of the inbox, long-forgotten, and you garner a reputation for being a slacker when really you're just a busy guy. It's good to know that Ninjas and Programmers share this trait.

Button Test

I signed up for Google Checkout today. This is a test of the system to see if it works. It seems to work. The button below will buy one of my comics. Only $2.00! Buy now! :)

Marketing Ideas

[15:37] dreamclutch: what about a blimp
[15:37] RznDoUrdn: hah
[15:38] dreamclutch: what if I made a 50 foot blimp
[15:38] dreamclutch: radio controlled...
[15:39] RznDoUrdn: You might run into FAA trouble.
[15:44] dreamclutch: yeah but dude ..it would be halarious
[15:44] dreamclutch: I go to this diner right
[15:44] dreamclutch: know a lot of people there
[15:44] dreamclutch: fly the 50 foot blimp above the diner and route 309
[15:44] dreamclutch: with celebitrix.com lit up on the sides
[15:45] dreamclutch: and radio control it ...
[15:45] dreamclutch: then for a finale, ..launch fireworks which are located on the underbelly of thee blimp
[15:45] dreamclutch: what do you think
[15:45] RznDoUrdn: LOL
[15:45] RznDoUrdn: make it a hydrogen blimp
[15:45] RznDoUrdn: then you have a deal
[15:45] RznDoUrdn: hehe
[15:46] RznDoUrdn: you can change your company slogan to 'blow up like a celebrity'
[15:46] RznDoUrdn: Your company mascot can be Richard Pryor

My Exit from the Libertarian Radical Caucus: Getting government out of marriage

The following was my unsubscribe message sent to the Libertarian Radical Caucus, a caucus belonging to the National Libertarian Party. Their foundation is strict adherence to Libertarian principals in promoting personal freedom (or as it's description says: a free-ranging discussion via email about the Radical Caucus and its role in the Libertarian Party).

Their moderation is spotty at best, they're highly infiltrated by liberals promoting cultural agendas instead of real promotion of freedom.

The discussion was originally about Bob Barr's support of the DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) as success for Libertarians in handing more freedom and control back to the state level instead of the Federal level.

I think I'm done with this discussion group. Rules of moderation prevent me from singling you out and saying exactly what I think of you, but since this is my parting shot, I'm not going to hold back.

I know what the legislation was meant to achieve, but when the intent behind the legislation aims for something but achieves another thing, I think it's mighty hypocritical for you as a libertarian to call upon libertarians to 'repeal it.' As I stated before, it deregulates marriage and de-regulates the definition of marriage down to the state level. This is a step in the right direction.

The only reason for the Federal government to recognize marriage is for taxation purposes, and moral gerrymandering. The federal government has no business in my romantic or spiritual life, or the lives of anyone (not to mention income taxing in the first place). Marriage is a social contract with your significant other, your community, with your family and friends, and depending on your religion, with God. If you can find a church and a community that will accept your lifestyle choice, then you should do so.

Deferring to the state on the definition of marriage makes the definition actually easier to change. Local platforms are easier to speak from than national platforms. Again, I reference the Howie Rich initiatives.

If you are supposed to be a libertarian radical through and through, you don't get to pick deregulation when it doesn't line up with your pet special interest group's wishes.

And finally, as a general aside and pet peeve of mine - I'm tired of being dismissed (by you) and accused of not "being in the same universe" (by goldrecordings) simply because I don't walk in lock step with politically correct LGBT rhetoric. The LGBT rhetoric, more than any other set of rhetoric, is full of logical and philosophical holes that thorough thinkers are expected to overlook simply because it's treason to offend someone from that special interest group. I'm not a racist, and I'm not a homophobe, and I'm not trying to justify some sort of anti-gay agenda.

I'm not here to promote liberal agenda under the guise of LPism. The right to define the word marriage is not one of the pressing social issues of our age. There are very few, if any, enslaved homosexuals being denied basic human rights, so attributing the same amount of fervor and venom to the LGBT movement as the Black Civil Rights movement is disingenuous.

On the other hand, I am here to promote civil liberties of Americans. Americans have been held without having been charged for years at at time, and it has been since way before the Patriot Act (anyone remember Kevin Mitnick anymore?). Attention to laws that abuse freedom are significantly more important than adhering to cultural liberalism and what are frankly tertiary issues.

Having said that and flouted moderation rules, I'm going elsewhere.

Peace, Love and Revolution.

/mark "rizzn" hopkins

On 3/7/07, Starchild < sfdreamer@earthlink.net> wrote:

Mark,

It's hardly just my "personal opinion." Ask any politically
well-informed person whether the people behind the "Defense of
Marriage" Act were trying to make it easier, or more difficult, for
same sex couples to have their marriages recognized. Again, please
don't quibble about the precise wording of the act. You know the effect
the legislation was meant to achieve as well as I do.

Love & liberty,
<<<>>>


On Wednesday, March 7, 2007, at 10:00 AM, Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins wrote:

> Your personal opinion of the intent behind the bill aside, it's a step
> towards, not away from, deregulation of marriage.
>
> On 3/7/07, Starchild <sfdreamer@earthlink.net> wrote:
> > Let's not mince words -- I'm speaking of the plain intent behind the
> > law.
> >
> > <<< starchild >>>
> >
> >
> > On Wednesday, March 7, 2007, at 09:31 AM, Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins wrote:
> >
> > > The "Defense of Marriage" Act does not forbid same-sex marriage.
> > >
> > > On 3/7/07, Starchild <sfdreamer@earthlink.net> wrote:
> > > > Very good; in the United States, we can start by repealing the
> > > > "Defense of Marriage" Act and other laws forbidding same-sex
> > > marriage.
> > > >
> > > > <<<>>>

Update: Susan sent a personal message to me after I unsubscribed:

That's showing real class there, Mark. *sigh*

--
/mark "rizzn" hopkins
For my blog, profile, and wikipedia entries, simply Google "rizzn"
--
intelligent discussion: http://groups.google.com/group/rizzncom-v83/
--

George Washington is not screwing around. Not even a tiny bit.

Otaku Booty alerted me to the fact "the fierce-looking design for the new George Washington dollar coin was inspired, a least a bit, by everybody's favorite YouTube video featuring a superpowered Founding Father."

I dunno. I'd buy that for a dollar. George does look like he means some business, though, doesn't he?

Digg Site Development Suspended

I'm going back to work on RAMP and suspending the development of my Digg-gaming website. Kevin suspended my account this weekend.

The LOVE SHACK, baby.

And in other news, Iris and I do a stirring rendition of the B52's Love Shack.

See what 50 years will do.

Scenario: Jack pulls into school parking lot with rifle in gun rack.
1957 - Vice Principal comes over, takes a look at Jack's rifle, goes to his car and gets his to show Jack.
2007 - School goes into lockdown, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.

Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school.
1957 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up best friends. Nobody goes to jail, nobody arrested, nobody expelled.
2007 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario: Jeffrey won't be still in class, disrupts other students.
1957 - Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by Principal. Sits still in class.
2007 - Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a disability.

Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his father's car and his Dad gives him a whipping.
1957- - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.
2007 - Billy's Dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang. Billy's sister is told by state psychologist that she remembers being abused herself and their Dad goes to prison. Billy's mom has affair with psychologist.

Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some headache medicine to school.
1957 - Mark shares headache medicine with Principal out on the smoking dock.
2007 - Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario: Pedro fails high school English.
1957 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.
2007 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state democratic party. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro's English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he can't speak English.

Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from the 4th of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a red ant bed.
1957 - Ants die.
2007 - BATF, Homeland Security, FBI called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, FBI investigates parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated, Johnny's Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary, hugs him to comfort him.
1957 - In a short time Johnny feels better and goes on playing.
2007 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison.

Ann Coulter Didn't Call John Edwards a Faggot

Showing considerable restraint given the fact that John Edwards is an insufferable egomaniac and quite often overly effeminate, Ann Coulter did not in fact call him a faggot despite the uproar of the liberal blogosphere this weekend after her speech at CPAC.

To be honest, it probably wasn't the wisest move ever for Ann to even utter the word. Just a few scant weeks ago, I was discussing a Hollywood nobody who became a big deal just for calling his coworker the f-word. I'll say now what I said then: who f'ing cares?

What she was saying was more of a commentary on Hollywood's infatuation with protecting a group of American's who they seem to think need to be separated out for racial protections when it's not their genetics that set them apart but their behavior. I don't hate gay people, I have several friends who are gay. Like I've said before, most of them regularly use the word faggot to refer to themselves both humourously and in derogatory manners. As you can tell from the context of Ann's speech, her use of the 'f-word' was meant humorously (hence the subsequent laughter).

Homosexuals weren't systematically enslaved for 400+ years, not even by White Anglo Saxon Protestant Americans. Homosexuals were never denied the right to vote, read, or own property.

So please, for the love of JOHN, you liberals, quit equating the word faggot with the word nigger. It's not the same thing.

That's all I have to say about that.

/rizzn

Paul’s Pals Perturb Polls

Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, who has explored a presidential run, doesn’t register very high in the national polls featuring 2008 presidential candidates (1 percent, tops). But there’s one place that he simply rules: the Internet.



Fans of the libertarian have stormed the Web — in ways both good and bad — to show their supportI've been talking about this for a while.



read more | digg story



Like I said, there's an interesting cyberwar going on.

Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, who has explored a presidential run, doesn’t register very high in the national polls featuring 2008 presidential candidates (1 percent, tops). But there’s one place that he simply rules: the Internet.

Fans of the libertarian have stormed the Web — in ways both good and bad — to show their support. Over at TechPresident.com — a Web site that tracks candidates’ “friends” on the popular social networking site MySpace.com — Paul is tops for Republicans, with 3,107 “friends” (Mitt Romney is second with 1,785).

But elsewhere, the voraciousness of Paul’s supporters has sparked the ire of others. The Web site 2008HorseRace.com, which features an ongoing poll for candidates, issued this notice on Feb. 23: “Ron Paul has been suspended for two weeks because of repeated use of mob intimidation tactics and multiple threats made by Ron Paul supporters against racetrack operators, racetrack officials and racetrack sponsors.” PajamasMedia.com removed Ron Paul from its presidential polls after it was discovered that someone had rigged the poll system in his favor. It has since implemented a rule that it will only include candidates polling at 1 percent or more in credible national news polls.

And a MySpace page titled “Opinion Polling” posted the following note this week: “Temporarily shut down due to Ron Paul will be back eventually.” A source said that the page’s owners shut it down because Paul supporters “invaded the place.”

Paul’s exploratory committee spokesman Kent Snyder thinks he knows why Paul’s supporters are so gung-ho for their guy. “One of the reasons that Dr. Paul is getting a lot of cyber support is because he voted against regulating the Internet,” Snyder told Yeas & Nays.

AJ, Iris and I go to the Museum

The chronicles of AJ Iris and I at the Discovery Science Place in Tyler, TX. ENJOY!

Celebitrix Reaches 300 Users

A friend of mine has been working on a new socially driven website called Celebitrix. He’s recently reached 300 users, and with a tiny bit of help (and dare I say inspiration) from yours truly, added a video post feature to the website.

Celebitrix.com is adding new and exciting features everyday. Recently we've added the ability to post your favorite Youtube or google video snippets.

Celebitrix allows you to 'Bling-It', by utilizing your products and conveniently posting them online to be viewed by some of the most interesting people. This specialized service is allowing users to search for bling nation-wide and set their own pricing for ad displays. Bling-It continues to integrate new user-friendly features to create the ultimate ad posting portal online.

Celebitrix is proud to announce the registration of 300 users as of 3/1/2007! We'd like to thank everyone who have registered and appreciate the continued support.

 

Please login and try our new features today! Click here to login

Check it out.  And be happy I finally posted something NON DIGG related.  Even I’m sick of my Digg ramblings.

 

/rizzn

Digg Apologist Skewers Wired's Annalee Newitz

SugarRae says: "I won't even go into how comparing the eBay rating system to Digg isn't even on the same planet as far as Internet marketers are concerned. But there were several points in the article I took issue with that made it obvious that while well-meaning, Annalee had missed many facets of the industry she was reporting on."



I just got through talking about Wired's hard on for destroying Digg - despite the fact that SugarRae obviously has her nose up the butt of Digg, she makes some valid points.



read more | digg story



/rizzn



Update: Techcrunch gets Dugg talking about what I've been saying the last couple days.

Wired Says "I Bought Votes on Digg"

Annalee Newitz of Wired says: "A sneaky web service offers to get you to the front page of the popular news aggregator for $1 per digg. We'll see about that."



More on this later.



read more | digg story



Alright. So by now, my readers know that my idea is an offshoot of the U/S website. So it's clear, U/S isn't my site. I think it's not a very well executed design, and thus very difficult for the users to figure out.



My design won't win any awards, but it will be usable.



At any rate, as I'm moving more into the final stages of development, I can say that this will have more elements to the functionality than U/S and will also have more safeguards in place to prevent discovery.



But in case you're asking, there is a concerted effort by Wired in the last few months to disparage Digg and pimp out Reddit. Any regular reader of Wired can tell you that for certain. So shame on them.



/rizzn