Category: general

The treasure hunt was unsuccessful. We went to Jacobsen Park to look for a letterbox, but it was nowhere to be found. Faye said the area looked washed out from flooding, so maybe the box was swept away. Maybe it was taken by someone. Who knows what might have happened to it since it was first placed in 2003…

While Connor wasn’t all that upset that we didn’t find the letterbox, I was pretty disappointed. When I get home, I want to try and find the letterbox at Butt Bridge (god I love that name). Hopefully that one will actually be there.

However, the day wasn’t a total wash (ha, ha). Connor and Logan loved the playground area, and we did some good walking, and the forest trail where the letterbox was supposed to be was really pretty. (I’d like to ride my bike in there.)

Speaking of trails, Boone (backup guitar for the super-awesome metal band Battlecry) said there are great trails at Veteran’s Park, off South Point Road, off Nicholasville Road. I have no idea where that is, but I’d like to try and check it out before I go home.

We also had a nice picnic (of Wendy’s food; I had a salad) along the pond, and got to watch a guy catch a fish. After the park, we went back to AJ and Faye’s and played in the sprinklers and had a cookout. Mmm, hamburgers. And then we had popcorn and watched Mary Poppins, interrupted by my running back to the parents’ house to hear Battlecry play “Hands of Fate” and “Machine”. After that I watched two more episodes of Lost with AJ, including “Walkabout”, which is his favorite episode. It was amazing. I actually knew what was going to happen, due to unfortunately reading an article with a spoiler in it, but the way they did it was simply brilliant. I can see why that show has addicted my friends and family ;>

Today has been more sedate. I got up a little later than usual and didn’t even take a shower. I stayed in my bedclothes until after AJ arrived for work and Faye, Connor, and Logan came by to drop Logan off while Connor went to his screening for kindergarten. At that point I decided to change into some workout clothes, because I was thinking of trying to find Veteran’s Park and go biking. However, I never got around to that, instead catching up on some news and playing with Logan. While Logan napped, I websurfed and talked some with AJ. I also called the alumni association to see about setting up a time for career counseling, but I got an answering machine ;P I then sent an email, to which I have not received a reply.

When Logan woke up, I carried him down to where AJ and Dad were, and found that Ben was there too, and they were all three getting ready to paint posts for Grandma’s new fence. We all went outside, and not long after that Faye and Connor appeared through the fence. I headed back to their house with Faye, Connor, and Logan.

We ran through three sprinklers, getting thoroughly soaked, and then blew bubbles for awhile. Then we swang on the swingset while Connor sang a song that went something like, “X, I love you. X, you belong to me”, where X was “Heather”, “Mommy”, or “Logan”. The tune was a theme from a TV show, but he’d made the words up himself. Logan, on the other hand, kept saying “Truck!”, except he pronounces it more like “Twoo-AUCK”. That seems to be his favorite word. (Another extraordinarily cute thing about Logan is that when he answers in the affirmative, he doesn’t nod or say yes. He says “Sthure”.)

After that it was time for the boys’ dinner. I came back here instead of eating with them so I could spend some time with Mom :) On my way in I passed the boys (wait…which boys? My brothers, I mean), who had managed to paint 9 posts and were starting on the 10th. The fumes from the tar-like paint were pretty bad, and they were preparing to take a break. I made tentative plans with Ben to go driving around the countryside tomorrow.

And that’s it for now.

Maybe I am too attuned to racism and possible racism, but this quote from Cory Doctorow really surprised me:

When these $40 Pac Man hats ship in July, you’ll finally be able to live out your Pac Man cosplay fantasies as your head becomes a living white dot for the Pac Man to devour.

Sure…if you’re a pale-ass whitey!

This is like calling the color of a pink crayon “flesh”, or pale tan nylons “nude”.

I was reading an article about disintegrating relations between Japan and China, and this quote struck me as interesting. The parentheticals were put in by Reuters.

“If we can successfully coordinate the dates, (Chinese) President Hu (Jintao) and (Japanese) Prime Minister (Junichiro) Koizumi may be able to hold a meeting later this week” in Indonesia, when they visit the country for the Asia-Africa summit, the minister said.

Now, in Japan, they say “Koizumi Junichiro”, but in this article, they put his given name first. Typically when we (in the West) talk about Japanese people, we put their given names first. But China apparently managed to keep its name order intact, even in our rendering of their names.

There are all sorts of intriguing things to notice in how we discuss other countries. The fact that “Japan” isn’t even the name of Japan, for example. “Japan” was how a Portuguese (I believe) person pronounced the name given to Japan by China, back when trade relations were first pursued. The Japanese call their nation “Nihon” or “Nippon”.*

Before Japan was Nihon/Nippon, the majority called themselves the “Wa”. Now, of course, Japan has embraced “Japan”, though typically only for advertisements and other pop culture artefacts.

(The h -> p/pp transformation is common, also occurring in the counter for minutes, e.g. “ippun”, “nihun”, “sanpun”, “yonhun”, “gohun” for 1-5 minutes, respectively. The more clever may notice that the p is single after a consonant and doubled after a vowel. Also, note that I am using a different romanization style than About.com. In Japanese, h/f is written with the same character, and understood culturally to be the same sound. Some romanizations will take the instances that sound more like an f and write them as f to aid in our pronunciation. Example: “Fuji”)

When I first woke up this morning, it might have been a decent hour. However, I rolled over and slept until around 11.

I futzed on my laptop a little and ate some oatmeal. Then I had a small cinnamon roll. Then Mom and I went out to the bank, Sunshine Grow Shop, and Wendy’s, for money, herbs, and Dad’s lunch respectively. When we got back I messed on the computer some more (I was trying to fill out that survey) and then Connor came over. I played with him (on the computer, then hide and seek in the basement, then listening together to band practice) until he had to go home for dinner at 7. I hung out with the band for another hour or so, and then they broke for the day and I headed back with AJ to his house to see Connor before bedtime. I ended up doing a lot of spinning around in a circle with him and Logan. I mean a lot. Logan kept smiling up at me, “Hand?” and grabbing my hand, even when he was so tired/dizzy that he kept falling over when he tried to run in a circle. It was so cute. I don’t know if he remembers who I am, or if he is just a really really friendly child.

He is a sweetiepie, whichever it is.

I read two books to Connor (The Ant and the Elephant and And To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street), and then the boys went to bed. I settled in and watched the Lost pilot with AJ. I actually can’t remember if we watched the next episode or not. It’s a neat show, but also very weird. Definitely interesting. Lots of loose ends that I’m looking forward to seeing explored, if not tied up completely.

It was sad to see Weiss bite it, though.

I also would like to admit to getting really uncomfortable during the more tense scenes. You know me and tension…:P

After that it was 11 pm, so I came home and played pool with Dad for awhile. After he’d won his third game (I’d only managed to win one), I gave up. We listened to some music, and I played basketball on Connor’s new (well, Christmas new) ESPN Game Station. Then I finally came upstairs and read today’s webcomics, and now here I am.

And I’m really thirsty. Think I’ll go get a glass of water.

Ahhhh. Much better.

My drive was okay. It could have been better. There’s this one spot (in either Knoxville or Chattanooga, for some reason I can’t remember) where there has been construction going on literally for years. I can sense it on approach now. Everyone starts slowing down, and then suddenly traffic is at a standstill. It goes at a crawl for miles and miles. I actually took a picture of the reason for the problem. After a long time, you get to a point where all traffic (five lanes or so) is forced to merge into two lanes. I believe at one point it all went into one lane, so I guess that’s progress. There’s a big crane there, and I guess they are still working on that side of the road. I’d show you the picture, but it’s still on my camera, and my camera is in the other room, and when I leave this room and go in there it will be to go to sleep, not to make more work for myself. So there you go. ;P

The second big thing that annoyed me about my drive was going on a wild goose chase near the Knox County border (also in Tennessee). I saw a sign that said there was a Chick-Fil-A at the next exit, so I went on the exit. I followed the sign that told me to turn left. And then I just kept driving and driving and driving. Finally the road came out at a big shopping center. I looked around and still didn’t see the Chick-Fil-A. I thought that maybe it was down the road some, so I turned right. I drove and drove and drove and didn’t come across it, so I decided to give up and get back on I-75. There was a sign that said “To I-75”. It also had a little white sign on it that said “ALT”. I followed the sign.

I drove for a long, long time, following the ALT signs. I wondered where, exactly, the road would reveal an exit to I-75. I passed rug shops, places selling statues, old country stores, and other ancient structures that would have thrilled me had I not been hungry and worried about finding my way back to the interstate. I also went over a neat bridge and through a small town center. After a very long time of this I finally decided to just turn around and go back the way I came, because I knew that would lead to 75.

When I finally made it back to that shopping center, I got in the turn lane to go back towards the highway. Sighing with relief and resignation, I gazed across the intersection and waited for the light to change.

There, right in front of me, was the freaking Chick-Fil-A.

So I managed to get over there and got myself a nice sandwich, fruit cup, and Diet Coke. Then I called Mom and complained to her about my ordeal. After that, I went inside, changed my shirt (it was too hot for long sleeves at this point) and bought myself an ice cream cone.

The rest of the trip was fine. I had to stop in Jellico for gas, which is right before the Kentucky state line. Crossing that, I noticed the new signs indicating Ernie Fletcher as governor. There was also a big sign that said “Kentucky: Unbridled Spirit”. So I guess that’s the new state slogan, eh? I kind of wish I’d gotten a picture, because the signs looked fairly neat.

After a zillion more miles of driving, I got into town and headed to Grandma’s house. She and Uncle Steve were there. I sat and visited with them for awhile. Both of them were looking really good, a lot better than they’d been awhile ago. We talked a little and then went into the yard and walked around some. I took pictures of the flowering plants, of course.

Finally it was time to head home. I headed down New Circle to Harrodsburg, since Nicholasville had been backed up due to a car wreck. Harrodsburg is now four lanes for quite a stretch, well past Southland Christian Church. This is nice and weird at the same time.

Turning onto 169, I admired the rolling green hills dotted with farmhouses and horses and trees, and said aloud, “I love this. I hope it always stays like this.” I don’t know if it can. New developments are cropping up all over the place closer to the bypass and across the street from my parents’ house. But for now, the road is really beautiful.

I kind of wish I’d gotten a picture of the “Welcome to Nicholasville” sign, too, because it looked pretty with the flowering white tree next to it, surrounded by green fields and blue sky.

And then I was finally home.

I spent some time with Mom first, and we talked awhile out in the swing in the backyard, watching the dogs loaf around the yard (and the lawn mower guy accidentally plow straight down the neighbor’s hill and through the fence). I went and read a book to Connor and said good night to him, and then came back and ate some spaghetti that Mom had very kindly made for me. We watched TV together, and had some dessert too (a neat fruit and sour cream mixture, and then–horror–yellow cake with chocolate icing). And finally I called Sean, told him good night, and went to bed.

Tomorrow, Connor and Faye and I (and maybe Logan?) are going on a treasure hunt. I’ll supply more details after the fact :)

For now, it is time for sleeeeeeeeeeep.

Yes, I do have better things to be doing on a nice lazy Saturday afternoon at home with my family, but this questionnaire looked fun :>

1. First Name: Heather. (Imagine that.)

2. Were you named after anyone? No; the story I was told was that I was “as pretty as a flower when I was a baby”. Actually, I told that story to all the parents at some sort of talk about your name presentation in first grade. (My favorites from my school friends were Gwendolyn, who was so named because G is the seventh letter of the alphabet and she was the seventh child; and Nute, who was named after Knute Rockne, but they spelled it Nute so kids wouldn’t call him kuh-nute.)

3. Do you wish on stars? I get performance anxiety when I see a falling star, and can’t think of a wish until it’s gone ;>

4. When did you last cry? I remember bawling a little over something relatively recently, but I don’t remember what or when.

5. Do you like your handwriting? Not really, but my mom says it’s neat-looking.

6. What is your favorite lunch meat? Hrm…I dunno, I kind of like it all. I get those little single-serving packs from Land O’Frost and Carl Buddig.

7. What is your birth date? May 30, 1978. Gemini, Year of the Horse. Make of that what you will.

8. What is your most embarrassing CD? I don’t know, I’m not really embarrassed by my musical tastes. I grew up with brothers who made fun of pretty much anything I listened to, so I basically decided that I like what I like, period, the end.

9. If you were another person, would YOU be friends with you? I’m not sure. I like to think that I would be able to deal with myself, but I can be something of a smart-aleck, and I have trouble not taking things seriously, so there could be some strife there. It’d be a learning experience, though!

Umm…where’s #10?

11. Have you ever told a secret you swore not to tell? I don’t remember ever swearing not to tell anything. I have been told not to tell people stuff, and I make an effort to follow those wishes, but ultimately I find secrets annoying. If it’s something that I really shouldn’t say to someone, I’d rather you just not tell me, either. I personally will sometimes say “Don’t tell so-and-so,” but in those cases it’s more of a “so-and-so might get mad at me if you say something to them about this, but I can live with it if you tell them anyway”. I don’t think I’ve ever explained it that way to anyone, though, so hopefully that’s not a horrible surprise to my friends ;>

So, in other words, I can’t promise that I won’t tell a secret. This is not because I lack respect for people, but because I lack respect for my own memory. Having to keep secrets takes a lot of time and effort. “What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.” I prefer to just tell the truth all the time and not worry about deceptions. In a pinch, if I’m not sure if I am allowed to say something about a certain issue, I will just not say anything.

12. Do looks matter? Yes, but so do other things.

13. How do you release anger? Blogging, or chatting, or talking with people. Doing something physical also helps, like walking around or biking.

14. Where is your second home? Japan!

15. Do you trust others easily? I pretty much will trust people until they give me a reason not to, but this isn’t total trust. For example, I would not trust someone I just met to house-sit for me.

16. What was your favorite toy as a child? I had a little stuffed bear named Brownie who I took everywhere when I was little. One day I took him to dance class and lost him :(

17. What class in high school do you think was the most useless? At the time, I thought P.E. was useless. We only had it freshman year, though, and now I wish we’d had it longer, because I could have used a better foundation in physical fitness. Honestly, what I really think was useless about my high school experience was the “blocks” system. We broke our year up into two semesters, four blocks each. This was technically supposed to add a class to our roster, but since AP classes had to last the full year (as required by some law or education rule or something), and since I took a lot of AP classes, I actually had a lot fewer classes than I could have otherwise–each AP class ate up two blocks. Also lasting all year were electives like band and chorus. So, you see, the block system was absolutely worthless.

I’m pretty content with all the classes I took in high school, otherwise. I just wish I could have taken more.

18. Do you have a journal? I used to keep private diaries, but I got out of the habit of it somewhere during my teens. Since starting this online journal, I’ve written quite a bit about myself and my life, and I’m really happy to have it. I think the interactive nature of the journal, plus the fact that anyone anywhere can read it, makes it more appealing to write in.

19. Do you use sarcasm a lot? Sometimes.

20. Your nicknames? He-chan (people in Japan would get a kick out of this), Hea Hea

21. Would you bungee jump? Nah. It’s that whole “connected to the ground” thing.

22. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? Not usually, no.

23. Do you think that you are strong? Yeah. I’m built Ford tough.

24. What’s your favorite ice cream flavor? Chocolate chip cookie dough.

25. Shoe Size? Why does every questionnaire include this question? It’s pretty boring. I’ll just say 8 this time.

26. What is your favorite lipstick red/pink? I don’t wear lipstick, but I’m pretty sure that red wouldn’t flatter my complexion, since I’m so pale. You never know though. (I certainly don’t.)

27. What is your least favorite thing about yourself? My tendency to be an asshat. (In other words, I think I’m being clever, and I let myself be a bit too much of a smart-aleck, and it hurts people, or could potentially hurt them.)

28. What color pants and shoes are you wearing? Grey pants (the ones that didn’t fit not so long ago, and are now baggy), and black clogs.

29. What are you listening to right now? My mom, typing. She’s always got business work to do.

30. Last thing you ate? A cinnamon roll my mom made. She used Pillsbury Crescent Roll dough instead of making them from scratch this time, but they were good. They were also pretty small, so it didn’t ruin my diet.

31. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? I’d like to say Burnt Sienna, because that is the coolest color ever, but I don’t know that I’m really a Burnt Sienna type. Scanning a nice handy list of Crayola’s colors, I pick: Midnight Blue. (Hmm…am I really cool enough to be Midnight Blue? Maybe I’m more of a Periwinkle…)

32. What is the weather like right now? Clear sky, warm, with a light breeze.

33. Last person you talked to on the phone? Audra, to set up when we’re getting together next week. (Probably Wednesday.)

34. The first thing you notice about the opposite sex? It depends on what side of them I see first! If I’m seeing them from a distance, then I notice their build first. If I’m seeing them up close from the front, then I notice how their face looks. From the back up close, it’s build again. I don’t really focus on butts and legs or anything like that; mainly I’m looking for the entire package, plus whether or not I like their facial features.

If it’s online, the first thing I notice is their writing style. Online, I consider capitalization and punctuation to be part of someone’s style. So, for example, someone like AJ, who insists on using capital letters and periods even in regular chat, gets a mild “anal/archaic” connotation from me. ;> I honestly have no problem with all lowercase (like Hai) or leaving periods off (like me), and stringing a huge bunch of phrases together (separated only by carriage returns) doesn’t bother me either. I think chatting is a different form of communication than writing–it’s really closer to speaking, so it isn’t bound by rules of prescriptive grammar.

However, I am pretty judgmental when it comes to things like blog posts, because those are more akin to essays or short stories than they are to speech, and therefore must follow standard rules of style. So if I come across a poorly-edited blog post, my opinion of the person is altered. I think they are either lazy or unintelligent ;>

I actually have become strongly attracted to people based solely on their writing.

35. Do you like the person who sent this to you? No, I hate her! ;>

36. Favorite Drink? Water. But not Dasani. That shit is nasty! (I am not, however, too good for tap water. I drink tap water all the time. This Dasani thing, it shocked me. I don’t know what they add to it, but it leaves my mouth totally dry. That’s totally not the point of water!)

37. Favorite Sport? Biking.

38. Hair Color? Blond.

39. Eye Color? Blue.

40. Do you wear contacts? Not anymore. My contacts are really old, and they dry out quickly, and they’re a bother anyway, so I don’t mess with them now. However, my glasses got a chip in them recently, so I will have to go to the eye doctor somewhat soonish. If they have that deal where you can buy one pair get one pair free, I’ll have to decide if I want another pair of glasses, or if I want to get more contacts…

41. Favorite Food? Another repeat question…just go look at the other quiz ;P

42. Last Movie You Watched? Star Wars. I watched it the other day. :D

43. Scary Movies or Happy Endings? I don’t like scary movies. But I don’t necessarily need a happy ending. :P

44. Summer or winter? They both have their good points. I’ll keep them both, if you don’t mind.

45. Hugs or Kisses? Hugs. I have always loved being held.

46. What Is Your Favorite Dessert? Anything chocolate, really. (But no freaking coffee flavor; I hate coffee.)

47. Living Arrangement? A rather nice apartment, where I live with my husband. No pets or anything. We have a primo location in town, right near a very active shopping center and lots of restaurants, but I’d like to be closer to downtown, due to all the cool architecture and the beautiful riverfront area, and North Augusta, since it seems like all my friends either live or want to live there.

48. What Books Are You Reading? The One Tree (Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, book 2). I have a bookmark in Master and Commander, but I haven’t picked it up in months. It’s the kind of book whose writing style you have to get used to before you can read it rapidly, which is the way I like to read. (I never could get used to Moby Dick. I managed to read it in a day, but it gave me the biggest migraine in the world.)

49. What’s On Your Mouse Pad? Yoda. But I don’t use the mouse pad anymore because I have my mouse down on my keyboard tray.

50. What did you watch on TV last night? Mom and I watched one of her tapes! I love watching TV with Mom. We watched 7th Heaven, Smallville, and Alias :D

51. Favorite Smells? Sean’s cologne/aftershave (I’m totally smitten by it), freshly cut grass (I know, how cliche…but it’s such a great smell), babies

52. Stones or Beatles? The Stones, definitely…for some reason, I just don’t like the Beatles. I do like Paul McCartney, though.

53. Do you believe in Evolution or Creation? I believe that we are learning as much as we can about where we came from, and that the theory of evolution is the best thing we have to explain it so far. I do not, however, think we are anywhere near having all the answers.

54. What’s the furthest you’ve been from home? Japan.

And now, to go eat something, and listen to my brothers’ band practice :D

I’m leaving this morning for Kentucky. Hopefully I’ll arrive around 2 pm, but that all depends on traffic. :)

How are we going to survive?!?!?!?

Mohammad Ali-Hassan, governor of the southern Iraqi province of Muthana, is very rude. Even if you accept that his comment is coming from a position of “You helped destroy our country; now rebuild it properly,” this still seems extremely uncharitable:

“I am disappointed with the outcome of Japan’s reconstruction assistance. The projects that have been implemented so far are below our expectations,” Ali-Hassan said in an interview on a local television network.

I mean, what is that? A guilt trip? “How dare you not build everything we want yesterday!”

Will Japan just roll over after such a Gaijin Smash?

Snagged from Chris, who got the same result…

Your Famous Blogger Twin is Wil Wheaton

You’re a friendly, funny guy (or girl) next door With more than a touch of geekiness

Hai linked me to an awesome set of editorials about teaching English in Japan, from a guy in the JET program. An excerpt:

Mousey tried to kancho me today. This was kind of surprising, as I hadn’t had any attempts in a while.

Y’see, kancho is mostly an elementary school thing. I’m grateful to say, kids grow out of the “Hey! Wouldn’t it be fun to stick my fingers up someone’s butt?” phase somewhere around 12-13 years old. So it’s rare to get any kancho attempts from the ninensei or sannensei. The ichinensei on the other hand…while they’re not particularly prone to it, they might bust it out for special occasions (like “welcoming” the new foreign teacher). April is particularly dangerous, because that’s when the ichinensei enter jr. high school straight from elementary school. New school, new asses, it’s like unlocking hidden levels in Ass Raider or something.

This is from an essay entitled “Ass Wars Episode VI – Return of the Kancho“, but believe me, there are many, many more. I wholeheartedly recommend them :D

From AikenOnline:

Allen Brodie, a former chairman of the county’s Human Relations Board, said the city is promoting gay and lesbian lifestyles by erecting litter cleanup signs along Park Avenue that are sponsored by the “gay and lesbian community.”

“I do not believe (the sign) should be allowed in such a place of prominence,” he said. “It’s in the downtown district where children ask questions. We need to try and encourage the best quality of life we can.”

The signs should be placed in a more discreet location or removed altogether, he said.

[…]

Mr. Brodie, a past member of the Aiken County Council, insisted that moving the sign would not be discrimination. It’s unfair, he said, to force taxpayers to pay for the signs, which are purchased by the city.

Mr. Brodie said he didn’t mind parkway signs sponsored by groups such as the Garden, Rotary or Sertoma clubs. But the gay and lesbian sponsorship of a parkway crosses the line and becomes a moral issue, he said.

“This sign, to me, it falls in a different category,” he added.

What a dill-hole.

I’d like to compare two Slashdot stories. I’ve reproduced the text exactly to make my point, but to get the links you’ll have to visit the articles. Fair enough?

Survey Reveals Americans Support Blog Censorship

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday April 13, @08:14PM
from the I-have-too-many-freedoms-please-take-some-away dept.
renai42 writes “A new survey has revealed that Americans overwhelmingly support strong censorship for blogs, even though a substantial amount have never actually been to one. Eighty percent of the 2,500 respondents did not believe that bloggers should be allowed to publish home addresses and other personal information about private citizens. However, more than one-third of respondents had never heard of blogs before participating in the survey, and only around 30 percent of participants had actually visited a blog themselves.”

and

Tracking Your Taxes

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday April 13, @10:22PM
from the tax-spam dept.
CTealL writes “Apparently Intuit thinks it’s okay to share information about taxes with third paries. According to this article, Intuit is using a third party tracking technology on all tax forms submitted to the IRS. “We could capture your name, your Social Security number or any other information that you willingly pass to a Web site,” acknowledged Matt Belkin, who serves as vice president of best practices for Utah marketing giant Omniture, which tracks the online activities of people using Intuit’s TurboTax. The IRS disavows any knowledge of this, saying “The IRS does not take a position on Web tracking tools.” Makes you wonder where your tax information is going…”

Let me get this straight, samzenpus. It’s okay for a single person to share someone else’s private information…that’s freedom of speech. But a corporation? Nooooooooo! Evil Big Brother!

I’m really having trouble seeing the difference here. Is this just me? Let me break it down:

A blogger publishes your home address. On the Internet. Where anyone can find it. It’s very likely that the context is bad, too–“Send hate mail to the senator about his new bill! Here’s his home address!” or “Here’s the home address of a doctor at an abortion clinic!” or “Here’s the home address of a guy we hate for no good reason! Hey, you live nearby? How about we form a mercenary group and go beat him up?”

Maybe I’m just sensitive here because that last one actually happened to Sean. (He fortunately didn’t get beat up, but it is really scary to see people talking about it.)

Okay, then, let’s compare that to a company capturing your personal information when you do your taxes. While they’re not publishing it on the Internet for all to see, this is still dangerous because of the possibility of identity theft.

I really don’t want to play down the threat here. But how can you say that this is horribly, horribly bad, and then say that bloggers should have the right to publish similarly potentially harmful information?

This is an overwhelming example of how some people are extraordinarily permissive when it comes to individuals (yay for the common man!), and extraordinarily hard-nosed when it comes to corporations (down with faceless industry!).

I realize that it seems dangerous to say “Bloggers should not be allowed to publish home addresses,” because you are telling people what they can and can’t do, which scares the daylights out of people here in America. It opens up the possibility for “censoring” other things, like things you don’t agree with.

Except that that’s ridiculous and would never happen. This is America. Look. Protecting someone’s safety is different from taping someone’s mouth shut about a political ideal. Sure, there might be someone who says “Bloggers shouldn’t say bad things about President Bush,” and someone might even try to pass legislation forbidding it…but will that legislation ever actually pass? No, people. Again, this is America.

But our personal freedoms can only extend as far as they don’t encroach upon the freedoms and personal security of others. We cannot have total freedom. (A million liberals just gasped and keeled over.)

People are different. We have different goals and motivations. Our goals invariably come into conflict with other people’s goals. We can’t have it both ways, and we certainly can’t have it all ways.

Something’s gotta give. We have to compromise.

So no. If it happens that a lot of bloggers out there are publishing people’s personal information on the Internet, then I would have no problem with someone introducing legislation to restrict it. (Let me just say here that I highly doubt anything like that would pass, either.)

But in the long run, I imagine such a thing will never become necessary. When those survey respondents stated that bloggers should not be “allowed” to publish personal information, I’m sure that their thoughts were not “We’d better write some laws as a preemptive strike!” That’s not how things work. A problem arises, and then we decide whether or not we need to solve it with new laws. Those survey respondents likely had no idea whether or not personal information was actually being shared–remember, the majority of them had never even seen a blog. I imagine their thought process to be something like, “Wow, there are people out there putting other people’s home addresses on their websites? That’s not nice. They shouldn’t do that.”

And they shouldn’t, and I hope–and believe–that most don’t, and that there will be no need for legislation. I have faith in the ethics of writers, and I have faith in the ability of the Internet community to self-correct.

This new attendance-taking scheme is rather brilliant. (Of course, it would be more brilliant if the professor actually knew the students’ names, and took an active interest in each and every one of them. –Puh-hahahahaha! Sorry, I forgot that we use the stupid Roman classroom system for a minute there.)

Judas, don’t be a dick.

The Narutrix! O_O (I suggest using the animemusicvideos.org link, because this video got BoingBoinged.)

A conference for women bloggers! I wanna go!

Here is a cute way to learn about Hindu gods, if you’re interested.

I need a WordPress plugin. Basically, it would manage things I am doing (reading, listening to, etc). The main area would display “currently”, with links to “things I have X and recommend” and “things I have X and do not recommend”, with the option of an actual review to go along with the rating. There would be an option to add in items by date, so that if I read Ender’s Game in 1999, I could mark that down.

A reader could then see all books I have ever read, and how I felt about them.

Oh, and this plugin would of course provide thumbnails and links for the items, chosen by me.

See, I’m good at coming up with ideas! If only I could code…

So, does such a thing exist? Will it exist anytime soon? I’m counting on my Internet and/or WordPress savvy readers to help!

I managed to make it out this morning for some pictures along some of Augusta’s prettiest roads.

I saw some beautiful things out there, so I’m glad I can share them.

Lately I have really begun to see my limitations as a photographer. Part of it is the lack of certain options on my camera, but a major issue is that I really have no idea what I’m doing. If I want to get any better, I’m going to have to take classes or something.

That said, I did manage some reasonably nice shots in this batch. I hope you like them.