Alendar's Blog

To the interesting people

A note of thanks. I don't think of you often enough. I get caught up in the crazies and malcontents. Its more natural for me to see the world in the light of mad firelight, as I think the primitive world must have been. The stories in Caesar's Gallic Wars of the barbarous Gauls and the rituals of African civilizations have always delighted my eager need to see the paucity of Man. Perhaps the world seems safer if its careening off the table.

But for a moment from the ravages of… Continue

Added by Alendar on October 18, 2009 at 9:27pm — 3 Comments

Is Time real?

I'm concerned about the nature of time. We treat it as a separate dimension, yet it does not behave like the other 3. We don't go back and forth along it, yet we treat it as if we were moving forward. There is no real "forward" motion. My hair does not blow downwind in the time tunnel. Motion is the change of position relative to a non-moving object. But everyone is "moving" at the same speed, so we aren't really moving, are we?? We talk about the past, but we really mean past states. There is… Continue

Added by Alendar on October 17, 2009 at 2:32pm — 2 Comments

Side affects of the worsening economy

Perhaps this is better phrased as a question, but since I'm hiding in the blogosphere, I'll phrase it as blog.

I was noticing my NetFlicks RSS feed on my profile page was stale and looked pretty silly. It still shows the last three movies I rented from them and returned unopened. I was curious about Jeeves & Wooster one day and added them to my request list, but by the time they came I had lost interest. I'm a fickle boy.

I cancelled my subscription after that in an… Continue

Added by Alendar on October 16, 2009 at 7:34am — No Comments

Science vs. Nature

Man's nature, I mean. I've read some amazing things going on in the science world. I'm sure Zendog sees it as the beginning of the Great Conspiracy to begin human experimentation, but as paranoid and cynical as I am I can't see it as bad.

They are finding molecules that fight viruses now. Imagine that! Antibiotics have been a dead end and everyone has known it, yet we haven't been able to turn away from the cliff. The drug companies love the fact that antibiotics gradually fail and… Continue

Added by Alendar on October 11, 2009 at 8:18pm — 21 Comments

What is the measure of what government should do with our money?

I'm curious what people think. The Constitution had some clear ideas about it, all based on common sense requirements. The need to raise an army, deliver the mail. I would say that the whole document reeks of common sense.

But there really aren't any good "except" clauses. Like, "except when to do so would bankrupt the citizenry". There's no real limitations put in place on spending, only that laws must be made to levy new taxes. Much of law is tax law. New taxes, new levies make up… Continue

Added by Alendar on October 6, 2009 at 12:55pm — 3 Comments

Does it end now?

Is it over? A nice run it was. This must be similar to what people felt like in the Bay of Pigs. But there's no Russian bear to negotiate with. Obama's the new Kennedy, maybe he'll show some toughness to Iran.

Israel starts shooting and we'll have at least a Middle East disaster. How could we not get involved?

We don't start shooting and we have a nuclear Iran. I've read often that Israel is completely under the US's thumb. If true, it's unlikely Washington would bless an… Continue

Added by Alendar on September 28, 2009 at 7:44am — 1 Comment

So many uncomfortable questions

I have a love of the difficult, the impossible questions. When people are deadly serious about a subject, they argue carefully, avoiding the triggering of issues they don't want to deal with. It becomes more important to affect the change we have committed to, rather than discuss it any further. The details get lost in the generalization of "for" and "against". I see this in health care, in the level of frustration at inaction.

People in favor of Obama's plan don't like to bring up… Continue

Added by Alendar on September 2, 2009 at 9:48am — 5 Comments

That's all folks!

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship." - Alexander Tyler 1787

Added by Alendar on August 24, 2009 at 2:38pm — 1 Comment

Let's play push OCNaturalDoc off the blogaroll!

Remember that game we used to play in past TBD? It was the Question list. People would stuff silly questions out like "What's your favorite color?" It took me a while to figure it out.

Actually I don't have too much against the Doc, except that she's annoying and single-minded.

I just was remembering old TBD, wondering if they still did that.

Added by Alendar on August 19, 2009 at 4:38pm — 9 Comments

Ornery

I'm ornery today. I'm anti-semitic, a fascist, a gun-toter, a liberal basher, a death panelist, a right to choice, anti-partial birthist, pro-war, anti-arab, misogynist, misanthropist, nihlist, reactionary, revolutionary, you name it.

I just can't be counted to agree on anything today. I'm anti-lung today, too. Smoke em if you got em.

Added by Alendar on August 19, 2009 at 9:36am — 7 Comments

So far, so good

I look at my days now with new eyes and try to describe them to you. But I know that they seem strange sometimes to the lonely and lost. Many do not believe I was once angsting and aching in a lonely room, a lonely college dorm, a lonely classroom, a lonely home. I was angry and confused and desperate for love.

I'm curious about those who struggle now with the same pain I once struggled with. What words could I say that would ease their pain? Do they want it eased?

The… Continue

Added by Alendar on August 16, 2009 at 7:53pm — 3 Comments

Love is a many splendored thing

Enjoying my new life with my new love Julie. She is a wonderful gift, we grow together each day and night.

Today I learn: To care, to acknowledge, to share, to accept, to be comfortable in my own skin, to understand, to be ok to be happy.

You know the hardest thing sometimes is to just accept that happiness is ok. I don't have to feel guilty for feeling happy so long.

Learning to ride the wave, the dips and crests, its all good. To have pursued happiness so… Continue

Added by Alendar on August 13, 2009 at 9:36am — 2 Comments

Bing - Two thumbs down

I'm a fuddy duddy. Yes it's true. So I forced myself to try Microsoft's new search engine Bing. I did a taste test: I searched for "FTP client torrent" on Bing. I got a list of commercial FTP client sites, and a link to the uTorrent client. Hurrah.

Then I googled the same thing. Got a link to the BulletProofFTP client with crack on Pirate Bay (still alive!). The link brought me to a torrent description. The torrent appeared to be valid, though "I did not download it, install it or… Continue

Added by Alendar on July 20, 2009 at 11:11am — 1 Comment

A challenge!

I just got today's hairy thought: Chat has, as all chats do, devolved into a dullard's grind of "how's the weather" and "hi" and "where do you live?", yada yada yada. No thought allowed zone.

Fine, but why not try to infiltrate neuronic activity into the zone? I commit myself to inserting a non-sequiter at least once a day into the chat. Something meaningless, trivial, pointless - another words, miles above whatever's going on in the chat zone.

I, as the arbiter of… Continue

Added by Alendar on July 7, 2009 at 7:30am — 1 Comment

Are you a Shell Account?

Many TBDers have planted their flags here, like the Americans planted a flag or two on the moon. We marked the territory, so we consider the job done. Were not really there, but we went there once.

The Ning TBD seems in a frozen, in-between place. So many folks from old TBD seem to be here, they've planted their flags, but they're hollow accounts, place-holders for when or if their true love sinks beneath the waves.

I am a traitor to my TBD-land, I find it easier to move… Continue

Added by Alendar on July 4, 2009 at 10:19pm — 4 Comments

Do you moderate?

your comments, your profiles, your groups' membership?

I don't. It seems unamerican.

Added by Alendar on July 4, 2009 at 8:00pm — No Comments

To Know

Have you ever noticed how in social networking, this new world, that you think you know somebody based on very little information, usually a brief post and an avatar. If the avatar is not their picture, you develop instantly a whole conception of them, vivid and detailed, whether you would like or dislike meeting them, etc. Then they post a picture of themselves, maybe a few years old, and your shocked: OMG, that is sooo not what I expected! They are white, they are gray or black or green, they… Continue

Added by Alendar on July 4, 2009 at 7:49pm — 2 Comments

I'll Regret This, but..

I've never been one to resist putting my foot in my mouth, so:

This site works. There are some features that TBD has/had that I'll definitely miss, but any successful enterprise has something about it that attracts. The bugs and performance were frustrating. The addition of purchasable goodies right before they announced bankruptcy seemed ill-timed. I didn't plop down a ton of dough, but I'm not expecting it back, I know if I took a pen from some bank's lobby they would chase me out… Continue

Added by Alendar on July 3, 2009 at 5:21pm — 3 Comments

Evil Thoughts

I would never do this - really! But have you ever been tempted to start a discussion that says something like "I love this great country of ours - God bless the USA!!!!", have a bunch of responses like "Me too! So true!", and then go back and edit the topic to say "This country is a turd!".

Not suggesting it. It just occurs to my Dark Side.

Added by Alendar on July 1, 2009 at 10:18pm — No Comments

I Could Write A Book

on Avatars, the codes we send out through careful/careless nomenclature. Some are honest, their faces wide, direct, smiling out to all: I Am Here.

Social Networks, so different from the milling pile of bars, dances, clubs, parties, introductions with no prep time. The luncheons, the Hundred Pound Phone, the personal ad. Now, we step out, faces presented at whatever optimum we imagine, crafted and spun in webs of illusion, delusion. Imagining we hide, when we merely lay bare - which… Continue

Added by Alendar on July 1, 2009 at 12:08am — 6 Comments

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