The Death of One Laden

In perhaps the only good news I've heard in years, between stories of nuclear meltdowns and extensive deaths in Japan's earthquake, our southern states having record tornadoes, the economy screwing up with high gas and food prices, bad housing prices, and a host of other terrible things -- the was the successful killing of (Osama/Usama) bin Laden.

There are the naysayers, decrying that such a thing is possible without a complete republican-run operation; the disbelievers, thinking that President Obama is only tricking us in the same manner that he faked his birth certificate; the unbelievers, who believe nothing whatsoever, therefore also do not believe this; the snarksayers, such as Rush Limbaugh, who only believes what large, monstrous, cigar chomping hogs have to say (his own words); and a host of unhappy Islamists, who console themselves by pointing out that OBL was "martyred", thereby having had his holiness multiplied by 72, along with a adequate supply of virgins, or that he is not actually dead at all, but merely sleeping in late.

Also, unhappy, are those who will now "avenge" their great leader by simultaneously lighting their underpants on fire, or by detonating themselves in large crowds of innocent bystanders -- either of which will somehow translate into martyrdom and large numbers of virgins expended for their enjoyment.

There were, to be sure, those who gave President Obama some credit, reserving only the amount by which a black man can only be 2/3rds of a white man or some such racist attitude. And there is also the credit due to the actual members of the CIA and militaries responsible for being the point men in all of this. You have to give them 90% of the credit, for their lives were on the line. 

There were also the interrogations of prisoners, whether we like those practices or not; the satellites and UAVs that fly overhead snapping their shutters to provide lots and lots of 4 dimensional pictures; the computers that enable all those sensors to see through walls and map the locations of people inside thick walls. Technology of all kinds has a say in these endeavors.

But, am I happy about this? You betcha. But not just to kill one terrorist asshole. It is because we can do this, and are willing to do this stuff that makes just a few of the terrorists have to work a little harder to get away with their murderous deeds. In fact, it makes a large number of those terrorists completely impotent.

There are, however, the supposed high tech terrorists, but if they could do that stuff they would already have done it. Or maybe they are saving it for one glorious "take everybody out, including themselves" evening of insanity.

Whatever. If I am going to die anyway, it matters very little what method is used, other than botched things that make you die slowly and painfully -- like nature intended. I don't want my children to suffer these fools, to be sure, but I don't think we need to be afraid of religious fanatics in other countries. We need to be afraid of our own religious fanatics.

Days Of Our Lies

Things have gotten quite rigid between all the various parties, regimes, camps, heads of states and wanna-be heads of states -- all over the world. In my life, in the lull between WWII and 2001/9/11, where only a few horrible wars like Vietnam, Iraq-Kuwait, Afghanistan, almost all of Africa and of course, Israel, it seemed almost like the American Dream might be real, and one could drive their 16 Cylinder Family Freight Hauler around the USA with cheap gas and cheap cigarettes forever.

Well, I guess those days were actually BEFORE Vietnam, because I remember the gas wars when they tried to undersell each other: 19 cents, 18 cents a gallon. And cigarettes cost 20 cents a pack in the machines, cokes cost a dime. The days after Vietnam, and especially during, were very tragic and confusing in my teenage days. I had to become a soldier before I was really prepared for that. At least the cigarettes on board ships or from the on base stores only cost 11 cents (no taxes).

And in those days a bag of half-way decent pot cost $10, $20 for real Panama Red or Acapulco Gold. And Vietnamese pot was pretty much free over there. I Think it was probably a mixture of pot, politics and heroin -- an epidemic in the ranks -- was partially to blame for our loss. However, the full blame can be shared amongst several presidents, several defense ministers and our numerous KGB-like enemies about the world.

Ah, the good old days.

Now, in the 20-teens, there are so many wars I can't name them all, most of them civil wars, most of them we are not directly involved in. Of course, Iraq is still smoldering, with bombing deaths still echoing about their cities. Afghanistan is always at war, it seems, with either their neighbors, or amongst themselves. Their experience with Islam mixed with a Mountain Man lifestyle mixed with insane Taliban extremists and Arab Islamic fundamentalists makes for an impossible situation --  one that we should not be trying to change. We might as well try to turn West Virginia into San Franscisco -- it ain't gonna happen.

It isn't to say that I think all of our guys die for nothing in these wars -- although it is obvious that many do die for nothing. If you die taking some mountain in Whateverstan and then abandon it and then more guys die taking it back again -- how is that different than the poorly planned situations in Vietnam? They died for nothing.

But maybe we taught the Taliban a lesson (ha -- a joke -- students) by showing them that we don't like guys shooting women through the head for having sex with some guy that's really to blame for her situation. Shoot the guy, if you need to shoot guilty people. Don't shoot women -- it pisses us off.

Maybe we taught the Al Qaida assholes a lesson? Sure, that we got really nice weapon systems that can pick them off like birds eating bugs. We can see for thousands of miles, wait for just the right second and -- kaboom. Off with their heads. Yes, I know they killed a lot of our people with their clever little tricks, suicide girls, jet planes into buildings and so forth. But the are so clumsy -- killing almost everyone who is innocent and almost no one who is guilty (of whatever we are guilty of -- infidels or imperialists, whatever.)

I would be happier about these wars if we:

1. Got the main asshole we were trying to get.
2. Got out of there immediately after that happened.
3. Didn't spend a $Trillion on fighting Hillbillies with goats.

Anyway, we are still fighting these wars.

Congress is another kind of war. It also involves Hillbillies versus San Franciscans. It also involves liars and cheats and spending $Trillions of dollars on insane things like giving more money to rich people and taking money from old people and children. I know there are welfare cheats, driving their Cadillacs to the bank to cash their welfare checks. I know there are all kinds of lazy assholes that don't deserve a dime of our tax money.

However, if you are going to give billions to your rich buddies and waste trillions on wars and nuclear weapons and space weapons and so forth, who cares if a few million gets wasted on welfare whores and beggars. Don't cheat the damn children, whatever you do, whatever you call it.

And forget it if you think there is any way that I will ever believe what any politician ever says about anything, whichever party they are in, from whatever country they are from, whether they are patricians or plebeians or Bible thumping fools or Nuclear Bomb scientists or drug dealers or whoever they are. I don't believe anything you got to say, politicians!!! I heard it all already.

So many computers

When I was younger, unlike the opportunities of today's youth, I had never seen a computer except the phony ones in the movies. It was not until I was in the Navy and worked in a radio shack that I actually saw a real computer.

It is not to say that I didn't understand the concept -- I had already designed robots that could actually work in every way except for the brain and all the things that depend on brains, like eyes and ears and controling something so complex. As a child I drew all kinds of designs, in very fine detail, and in every way completely wrong.

When I did have the chance to learn about real computers, real robots and all the real problems that had never yet been solved, I dove in head first -- convinced that I could somehow solve those kinds of problems -- again, completely wrong.

I now have an infinite number of computers. Not in my house, of course, nor in my work, or even on the Earth, but in the virtual world. Every atom in the universe is a kind of little computer -- which reacts to the other atoms around it in some way that makes each atom unique. Such a large number of computers is useless, however, since there is no way I can program them all.

Even in my house, if I tried to count them all, I have literally dozens of computers. Some are like this one that I am typing on -- an old Dell that runs Linux but is attached via Ethernet to my Alienware machine that also runs Linux, and Windows7, and XP and several other Linux virtual machines. Why do I use this old Dell when I have so many others? Because it's the window I started typing in and it doesn't make any difference which one -- I can only type this fast.

But upstairs I have another laptop, and in my work backpack, another laptop, and my wife has another laptop, and my daughter has one, and her daughter has one -- all in this house. But beyond those there are even more. There are at least 3 working Android phones, several Blackberries, several LGs and even more that I'm not sure what brand they are. They are useless to anyone except for the grandkids to pretend they are using real phones and real computers, and in a way they really are. The batteries mostly still work, they can still take pictures and display things on their otherwise useless screens.

And, to connect all those things, I have an Internet connection via a cable modem, with 2 wireless routers hanging off it, an Internet phone hanging off of it, and yet more Ethernet routers hanging off that. All of those have little computers inside that are running some little form of Unix-like operating system.

Then there are the TVs, the MP3 players, the children's toys, the Wiis, Xboxes and other video games I'm not even sure what they are called.

Now, in order to use all this stuff, it has to all be connected properly, updated properly, supplied with electricity and batteries and wires and other gadgetry that makes my head spin, and my wallet sting.

So, I guess in the future some person will remember back to this time -- when computers were actually called computers, weren't just omnipresent patches of cloth in everything that is worn. When computers had to be told what to do by specialists like me who had to memorize vast numbers of infinitely petty languages written in arcane mathematical mazes by people who didn't realize what the future would really become.

In that future, not to far from now, it may even be that people forget how computers work, and that only computers will know, and only computers will know how to keep people alive -- because it is just to damn complicated for humans to do it anymore. Either that or there will be some kind of Skynet-like apocalypse that destroys our world in the singularity of cyber-consciousness.

Whatever, I have to write some code now.

Working like a fool

My job has indeed been taking my time, but that's what jobs do and why they have to pay you money to do them. The ironic things is, though, that I do the same things for money that I would do for free, except for the driving to some building where there are lots of phones, people and other distractions.

Still, I need to have people around for the most part, or go crazy. And if I stay at the house my daughter will have me changing diapers and other babysitting duties. I don't mind it too much, but the diaper part is getting a bit tiresome. So working at the office suits me OK.

My aunt just bought a new laptop to replace a dying old dinosaur of an XP system. She must learn Windows 7 and all that, but she is a smart old bird and shouldn't have that much problem. I think it is better for her anyway -- easier to keep safe from the viruses than the older systems, and it will make her use her brain, which is good for your brain.

Soon, though, I will need to give her a list of stuff that she should use instead of buying lots of junk or downloading a million things she doesn't need. In today's world it is really a lot cheaper to own computers and get software. This is fine for everybody except the people that make money selling that stuff -- like me.

New Job

I have a new job, which is wonderful when you know how long it took to get it. I have had temporary work in between, and I still write my Android Apps for a penny or two of remittance. But those things could not be depended on for money to pay the mortgage or even eat decently.

But I kept pounding the keys and eventually something came through.I may be old but I can still be useful.

Reasons For Inaction

There really are no reasons to be dead beyond being physically deceased. But many times I view the world, thinking about what I might have to say about it, unable to really think of anything worthwhile. And other times I am filed with anxiety to blabber whatever nonsense my frenzied mind can generate. 

The extinction of the planet is always an interesting topic, if not realistic as a coffee table magazine. If I just rattle of a few examples of what might extinct our species, or even just our civilization, it just sounds like desperate paranoid ramblings. Short of the Sun exploding, there is probably nothing that could just suddenly extinct our planet of all life. Perhaps all higher forms of complex organisms could be blown away by some kind of distant star going supernovae and a concentrated gamma beam irradiating us by accident. That is unlikely.

Certainly, when all factors are considered as having equal probability, then the Chicken Little type of scenario is very easy to propagate. Yet, our own actions as individuals has more effect on our survival and for the common survival of mankind. If everyone thought and acted that same, it would be very easy to either over-populate the planet or under-populate our species, either of which would be possible to impact us negatively. Yet there are so many pluses and minuses in the patchwork of humanity that there is only a slight advantage of births over deaths over the long, long term. 

Things like that are not exactly changed by individual action. I cannot simply refuse to have children and effect the graph very much whatsoever. I could also immediately commit suicide, which would also barely register above the background noise, if at all. It takes a large group, such as China deciding to limit births to 1 per household. That had unintended consequences, although it was obvious that such a culture where the male inherits all important aspects of the family, that females would be scrapped in one way or another.

Yet, even of each person in China was to disappear from the planet, which is unlikely any time soon, there would still be a very large population of humans, with a very large effect on the biosphere. And other animals, insects, plants and even other humans would quickly fill in the habitat opened up by such a huge displacement. It would not be long until all traces that China existed might disappear, yet the overall meter of life would be very little effected.

I am not happy with the destruction we do to this place. It is not simply the pollution and destruction of jungles and so forth, it is the stripping of the land of all usefulness, leaving our descendants with sludge pits filled with toxic materials. We will soon have either burned or spilled all available petroleum and other fossil fuels, although there is probably enough coal underfoot that given a strong enough disregard for surface life, we could get to that and keep on burning it.

We are not plants, which are very restricted in motion and thereby more efficient stores of energy. Humans and other animals cause net depletion of  energy, since we must move all the time to stay alive. Breathing, swimming, running and just having a heart beat -- all take energy and produce none. The balance in nature is either zero or close to zero overall. There are so many plants that invade areas we do not actively strip of life that they tend to erase history very quickly. In desert areas where plants are more rare, the more durable pieces left over from prior layers of civilizations might remain for a longer period.

Fish and other forms of ocean life tend to destory plants pretty quickly wherever they might grow, unless the plants are able to taste extremely bad, produce toxins in abundance or grow in areas where animals cannot, such is anoxic regions. Yet, no matter what, bacteria will grow. Algae will grow. There are many forms of such microbes that can survive in virtually any surface or ocean environment, and even in solid rock, so long as some moisture is trapped within.

Animals probably would never had evolved on the surface of the planet, leaving that completely to microbes and plants, except that there was such a struggle to survive amongst voracious carnivores underneath the waves. Plants could reproduce by action of the wind and rain. Insects would not be necessary in the earliest forms of plants. And since they needed no protection from insects or being eaten by herbivores, their surfaces need only to protect against microbial or weathering effects. 

Once animals reached the land, and once they could increasingly nibble and digest the plants, the plants had to develop means of surviving despite that, even to the point of giving in entirely to the fate of being eaten, and to simply use it as a means of locomotion, of spreading spores and seeds.

 Yet, still, after hundreds of millions of years, the plants mostly do nothing. The have no need for action.

The Voices In My Head

There are many kinds of pathos in the human world. Just to list them would be a boring, endless list of depressing descriptions. Even to think of them is probably harmful, like the Joke that Kills.

People are always thinking up new ways to do stupid things. I have a button on my browser(s) that causes a random webpage to be invoked. The vast majority of purely random links are family pictures with unreadable drivel written around them. The next popular things are similar to the Cat Pictures, although in some ways the Cat Pictures are less depressing than to find humans or their babies doing even dumber things.

When I think of any politician, no matter which point on which dimension they appear, I think mostly of pathological liars. I grimace to listen to them because everything they say has already been proven to be bull manure, hundreds of times over.

One of the biggest lies is "to produce jobs, reduce taxes for rich people." What happened the last time we gave them tax breaks? They fired us and moved their companies, or at least the actual labor, to India or China or someplace. So we should reward them?

Another lie, "we can borrow for this program now, and it will pay for itself."

Other lies and totally nuts ideas are that killing murderers is not itself murder, fetuses are persons, oil and nuclear power are necessary and harmless. But everyone has their opinions. Opinions don't have to be "proven true." Just look at Phox SNooze, for instance. Not a word that has been uttered beyond whatever ideology the propagandists demand.

It would perfectly logical for a politician to promise that he can make chickens lay 2 eggs at once, as well as sliced bacon for the side dish, without batting an eye. He can make cornbread from oats. His horse manure doesn't smell bad.