my general disgust with music right now...

I wrote a lot on my MySpace blog about how pissed I am with music, especially hip-hop right now...no, more specifically, popular hip-hop right now. I was thinking about this Lionel Richie (yes, Nicole's dad -- yes, of The Commodores -- yes, that song from the Starburst commercial) video that I saw last week called "I Call It Love".

It turns out Mr. Richie has a big Arab following. In another case of good music breaking barriers, ABC News did a story on the Iraq's love for Lionel. I think it's intriguing. The man behind one of the first songs I ever sang "Brick House", which is prophetic in so many ways, is big in the Middle East. I wish we could all get together and sit down and pull out our iPods, crates, CD cases and/or boxes full of tapes and just listen to music. We would realize that our artificial divisions (yes, nationalities are artificial) don't matter as much as what binds us as humans.

The Goal of Terrorism? : Scare people

Terrorism is created to scare people. Terrorist acts don't have to kill people, they just want to scare them a little bit. Have you ever been in a relationship where you were with someone and they were ignoring you and you say "well, so-and-so in the office finds me handsome/beautiful". Of course, you wouldn't run off with Emily or Armando from the office but you put a little thing on the mind of your significant other "hey, maybe I should pay more attention to my relationship..."

Multiply that by a few thousand and voila! Terrorism.

This article states that the media and the powers that be are playing right into the terrorists hands by using rampant fear-mongering for personal gain. It's not unlike politicians using the "tough on crime" talk to garner votes.

It's all bullshit. It doesn't deserve more of an explanation.

Women's Liberation is Men's Liberation as well...

This is part of why I am down for feminism.

http://www.jwa.org/feminism/_html/_pdf/JWA067a.pdf

Wow...

I have seen an amazing thing.

Last year, when I went to OSCON, I met Miguel de Icaza (the GNOME master). During OSCON, he had a keynote address about the new generation of GNOME technology..and it involved wobbly windows. I saw it and I couldn't !@#$!#@ believe it. I have been waiting and waiting to put this on merman (my computer's name...my laptop's name is trapjaw).

You have to see it...here and here.

Vista, eat your heart out.

T-Mobile...are you listening?

Now this is the phone I want!!!

-Derek

Ohio...where are you?

Ohio claims that they want to prepare their students for the 21st century.  They do it by empty mandates such as this one made by Governor Taft, outlined in his State of the State address this year:

First, require all students to take rigorous course work that will prepare them for the workforce or college – this means four years of math, including Algebra II; three years of science, including biology, chemistry and physics; four years of English; three years of social studies; and at least two years of a foreign language. To give families and schools time to prepare, the core curriculum should apply to students in the graduating class of 2011.

That's all very nice Mr. Taft but do you know that we have a hard time keeping teachers as it is, especially in math and science.  You are creating more need for teachers in districts that you are still unfairly funding.  You and former Governor Voinovich are to blame for this and should be jailed until there is an equitable means to fund Ohio schools.

After that, you could do what Indiana is doing.  Instead of rendering unto Microsoft, you could take the Linux route in placing computers in clasrooms.  For what high schoolers learn on computers, whether it be word processing, use of a spreadsheet or a web browser to web design and development, the rudimentary principles (and sometimes the apps are the same -- e.g., Firefox) are similar enough to translate.  In some applications, such as programming, Linux is superior because of the number or programming language options available at little to no cost.

  If Indiana can do it, we can. 

How bad is it to steal Jobu's rum?

  


isss very bad...

Hundreds of Britons expected to fuck themselves...

What more can I say..Read the story here

Malls and Development

An article on Ohio.com , talks briefly about the rise and fall of Rolling Acres Mall and how it isn't unique to Akron.  One only has to look up Route 8 to see that Rolling Acres's bigger sibling Randall Park Mall has had problems since its' salad days in the late 1970's and 1980's when both were the new kids on the block ( Rolling Acres opened in 1975 and Randall opened in 1976. )

Why are malls like Rolling Acres and Randall Park beleaguered when smaller malls that predated them like Richmond, Chapel Hill and Summit Malls have survived? What can we learn from their fates?

Giffels asks:

One of the great themes of our age is the upward spiral of consumer
culture. The question underlying that theme is how far it can be built
up before it can no longer sustain itself.
The local answer: Rolling Acres.

Also,

Every so often we have to stop and wonder: how much is enough? How
is it possible that all of these businesses can survive while feeding
on the same host? And what does it say about us that we seem to need
this many places to spend money?

This is one of those times to wonder.

If there is a time to really think about development of retail in our region, it's now.  I think that our failures (and, yes people, Rolling Acres is a failure) have more to teach us than the successes because who is to say that Montrose won't be the next generation's failure? 

Someone long ago probably stood at a then-makeout point for Kenmore teens on the Akron/Barberton border and thought that it would make a great spot for a mall...thirty-one years later, we see how that turned out.

Why I am glad that I don't believe in the death penalty

As some of you might know, I got selected for jury duty the week after Memorial Day. Instead of some shoplifter in a dollar store or something equally benign, I am considered for a capital murder trial. Not just a regular murder trial, a capital "this person could die" trial.

Not just any trial. This trial.

There are a couple of reasons why I am glad I wasn't on the jury:

1. I don't believe in the death penalty.

Why not? I believe that, quite frankly, too many states fuck it up. What else can you call it when innocent people die? It's bad enough that the victim dies innocently. Adding to that by killing the wrong person in retaliation is not the smartest thing in the world. Also, there are considerable racial and class rammifications in sentencing in capital cases which no one wants to look at. Also, execution of the mentally retarded (which is one of our president's hobbies as governor of Texas) is totally inexcusable.

2. I don't feel that I have the right to determine if another human should die.

With the notable self-defense exception, I don't feel that I should hold someone else's life in my hands. Sure, Clarence Fry is more fucked up than a Pinto in a NASCAR wreck but I am still not God.

The World Cup...

I have been trying to watch some World Cup action and I have, now that the US is out, have enjoyed it. Unfortunately, Ghana lost the defending champ, Brazil, 3 - 0 today in the round of 16. I have been pulling for Ghana since they beat the Czech Republic and I rooted strongly for them against the United States ( Bruce Arena is a horrible sport and should be relieved of his duties. Come on, 1 goal?!? The Italians shot just as many balls in the US goal as the US did in 3 games?!?! Fifth best in the world? I don't see it...).

According to this article, the strong performance of Angola (who got 2 ties) and Ghana has inspired folks all over Africa. Coupled with the fact that South Africa will be hosting the 2010 World Cup, the time for the rise of African football is coming. I am an international soccer newbie but seeing all of the countries putting great teams together will only make the World Cup more exciting. And, if this can create some dialogue on equal footing, all the better.

First Flock Public Beta is out...

The first public beta for Flock , a web browser based on Firefox (with some really neat social networking tools added ) is available for Windows, Mac and Linux.  In fact, I am using the Linux version to type this post. 

Yummy goodness...

technorati tags:flock, software, web 2.0

Blogged with Flock

The Americans and their Cars

Out of all of man's inventions in the last 125 years, nothing has changed the landscape of the world (and, especially America) like the car.  Some of you may be saying "whoa there, what about TV? Radio? The Salk Polio Vaccine? American Idol?"  Specifically, the propagation of the car.

The car is repsonsible for a lot of our pollution.

The car has irreparably changed housing patterns, facilitating the birth and growth of suburban America. Twice. (after both world wars)

The car has even changed how we watch TV.  Have you ever wondered why TV shows premier episodes in September? Think about this: when do new car models come out? Exactly, the fall. Car and car-related companies (e.g, Texaco) financed early TV programming.  

The car (along with the Cold War) is responsible for America's rollback of public transit (included in this is passenger train and intercity bus transit).  Eisenhower felt that America should have a national network of highways to facilitate easy travel between and among metropolitan areas in the event of an attack.  The attack never came but the freeways are still here...and so are the orange cones and resurfacing projects that only get more and more costly and time-consuming...remember what aspalt is made of.  Oil byproducts.

Did I mention oil? We won't even get into that.

Cars have been usurping control of our lives for years.   When are we going to take it back?

Ghost is for the Parents...

This is what Ghostface Killah had to say about parenting in this interview...

Listen, man, you got to chastise your kid. If you dont lay your foot down, your kid is going to be [saying], Fuck you. And you going to be sitting there crying [in a high-pitched voice]: Oh, what have I done; I havent done nothing to this boy. And that little motherfucker barking on you [in a little boys voice]: Nah, fuck you, mommy. Im going outside with my friends. I dont give a fuck what you say. Parents get that when they dont put they foot down. Niggas got to start going hard on they kids again. Aint no law and order any more. I am not saying you got bust your kids ass everyday, but you got to go back to the ole remedy. I dont know about you, but I used to get my ass whipped, and that kept me on a straight path. If I did something wrong or said something wrong to somebody, fuck around and get popped in my fucking mouth, and thats just what it is, G.

I have always believed that parenting is a benevolent dictatorship. Some parents are too benevolent (the parents on Maury and some are too dictatorial (think Carrie's mom from Carrie). It's about that balance. Kids will be kids but if a kid gets out of pocket the way a grown person would, you have to remind them...no one talks to you like that, ESPECIALLY not your kid. Spanking, denial of privileges, that's up to you to decide. But you have to punish them...otherwise, they will think that they can fuck up with no repercussions. That's just not how life is...unless you are Ken Lay or Dubya.

why I love and hate reading Roldo...

I read more of what Mr. Roldo Bartimole said here and this article is a prime example on why I love AND hate to read what he has to say. First, why I love to read his writing:

• He challenges the reader to find out what some of the things he talks about means
  
• He pulls no punches
  
• He does not talk down to his readers
  

Now, why I hate reading his writing:

• He paints Cleveland as a city where the rich continuously take advantage of their "stroke" to deny resources to the poor and needy

Oh...wait, the rich in Cleveland do do that...

Never mind about the hate part.

Jesus Christ: Lord, Savior....killer app?!?!

This article on CNET talks about how technology is driving how people worship. Imagine, a BSOD during communion..."we need to put some money in the collection plate to pay for a copy of Windows Vista. Praise Bill...err, I mean Praise Jesus.". I don't really have a problem with churches modernizing their methods of communications (podcasting of sermons would be really kick...umm, butt) but this is crazy:

Perhaps America's best example of the tech-savvy house of worship is the Houston-based Lakewood Church, which last year recorded a weekly attendance of 30,000. Pastor Joel Osteen needed the Compaq Center, a former basketball arena that was once home of the National Basketball Association's Houston Rockets, to serve as his chapel.

Osteen employs three massive video-display screens to project his image to people sitting in the nosebleed seats. Illuminating the walls and the giant globe spinning behind Osteen's pulpit are Altman Micro Strips, strip lights that use a range of tungsten halogen lamps to create different lighting effects.

Here's my question: what about Free/Open Source Software in the church? I have seen a couple of bible apps in Free/Open Source but not much else. If you are trying to save money while maintain functionality, Free/Open Source would be the way to go.

Praise the Lord and pass the install disks.

Performancing...the best thing on earth.

I am posting this blog entry using Performancing.  This is probably the coolest  Firefox add on I have seen...

(slobber....)

I don't normally....

I don't normally post about my own posts...but this is what happens when you are entirely to (expletive deleted) silly for your own good...

things that rhyme with 15

Reese, I know you will laugh....

name change...

As I was so humorously informed at the Cleveland Webloggers Meetup, chasing the dragon was a reference to smoking heroin. Not surprising considering I lifted it from a Steely Dan song, ("Time Out of Mind" if you are wondering). In light of this development, I chose a new name...something that's a little more me.

Enter, a subset of derek.

subset (noun): a set each of whose elements is an element of an inclusive set.

Source: Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.

So, a subset of derek is merely part of a whole. I am pursuing a Bachelor's degree in mathematics, as many of you know. Subsets are merely parts of a set. Subsets are also crucial to proving set equality. If two sets are subsets of each other (meaning that there is no item that can be found in A that cannot be found in B and vice versa, given that A and B are sets, of course) then they are equal. This reminds me of a problem that I need to be working on...

Later all...

come on...

This article from The Register talks about a New Zealand Microsoft ad geared towards students. I would describe it but you have to see it. I can't really do it justice. You can see it here.

Come on, sex with geeks isn't that bad...