Alright, since I have been lazy and haven't made a post about it, and I've been guilted into it by the one I have pledged my minion services to, here is the official blog announcement of the formation of Baking After Midnight. Inspired by a comment made by a high school friend who I haven't seen since graduation (thank you wonders of Facebook) and encouraged by my mistress, it is a group dedicated to the wonderful idea of staying up too late and baking. Cookies, cakes, various other forms of sweet or savory nibbles, all are welcome to join.
Not really sure where it's going to go, or what is going to happen with it. It started as just a lark, a bit of a laugh between friends, but it actually seems to be gaining interest. Thinking of starting another blog, dedicated to the group, encouraging more recipes to be shared, I honestly don't know. All the good ideas have come from the Wicked one. lol As well as the very cool artwork that graces the group. Mucho thanks to her for the support and encouragement, as well as to Heather for planting the idea seed.
Dunno what else to say about things. Tell your friends and everyone else to come join Baking After Midnight.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Sports and other things of the like
I've never been much of an athlete. Yeah, I played tennis and I fenced and I was above average in both. With fencing, a good deal above average. But I have never played baseball or football or any of the other sports that the average American male played growing up. But I do love some sports, and I highly admire the idea of sports representing more than just the mere athletic contest.
The Winter Olympics were a couple of weeks ago and I enjoyed watching them more than I probably should have. It is however, majorly disappointing to see the role that professional athletes have come to embody in what used to be an amateur undertaking. It used to be amazing to watch people who dedicated their lives to perfecting a sport where the monetary gain was negligible for the simple love of the game. Pro hockey, baseball, and basketball players don't belong in the Olympics. They have an arena to shine in that is beyond the hopes of the average competitor. I can understand the draw but it detracts from the purity of the symbol of the Olympics, at least to me.
On the other side of the coin, the Winter Parlympic games have been going on over the past couple of weeks. I haven't watched much, but it is amazing to see. The Paralympics are games run parallel to the Olympic games for physically handicapped athletes. Completely different from the Special Olympics, these are competitors that train as hard as any other athlete and the sports are as cutthroat and hard fought as any in the world. I watched clips of cross country skiing where paraplegics competed with people with amputated arms. It was amazing to think about the effort that it would take to ski 20k like that. The most impressive was visually impaired biathlon. Yup. Blind shooting and skiing. It was amazing to watch without knowing how it was done, but finding out made it that much more mind boggling. Look it up. If that doesn't make you whistle, then there's something wrong with you.
Now on to other sports. I've wanted to write something about Tiger Woods for a while now, but haven't really gotten it to meld in my mind. People, get over your racism. If it was a basketball or football star who cheated on his wife multiple times, the story would be 2 minutes and then forgotten. The fact that he is the greatest golfer in the history of the game, black, and liked white women has blown the thing completely out of proportion. No one is willing to say it, but it is simple racism that has made this "story" stick around as much as it has. It isn't a shocking story of an athlete behaving like a jerk; it's a story of an athlete behaving the way athletes are encouraged to act from a young age. If anything, it should be more evidence that the classic sense of marriage is antiquated and should be abandoned.
And on to one more kinda sporty topic. NASCAR. A couple of weeks ago one driver intentionally wrecked another, and admitted to it. People were shocked that such things went on and called for massive penalties for those drivers who did such things. What people forget is that that is part of the 'sport'. Take a bunch of hyped up rednecks, put them in cars that fly, and then expect them to behave like anything other than rednecks is an idiots hope. Wrecks are the most interesting thing about driving in circles anyway. It satisfies the place that chariot racing had in ancient Rome. Can it get out of hand? Yes. Is it dangerous? Definitely. The danger is why people watch and why people do it anyway. Reasonable restrictions are already in place and there is no need for more.
Kinda along the same thread, baseball season is just around the corner. The most disturbing trend in baseball recently, even more so than the overuse of steroids, is the death of the brush back pitch. Pitchers are warned and ejecting for coming inside on batters, giving the batter the distinct advantage. Sorry people, baseball is more than just the home run. The inside pitch has been a staple since the first days of the game. It is a way of giving the pitcher some way to control what the batter does. Can it get out of hand? Yes. But there should be a use of common sense in situations where it is used.
Alright, that takes care of a rambling blog that has been building for a while. Gotta admit, it feels good to write. Hate doing it on this dying computer, but hey, that's the price right? Look back soon for another political rant. Those are always fun.
The Winter Olympics were a couple of weeks ago and I enjoyed watching them more than I probably should have. It is however, majorly disappointing to see the role that professional athletes have come to embody in what used to be an amateur undertaking. It used to be amazing to watch people who dedicated their lives to perfecting a sport where the monetary gain was negligible for the simple love of the game. Pro hockey, baseball, and basketball players don't belong in the Olympics. They have an arena to shine in that is beyond the hopes of the average competitor. I can understand the draw but it detracts from the purity of the symbol of the Olympics, at least to me.
On the other side of the coin, the Winter Parlympic games have been going on over the past couple of weeks. I haven't watched much, but it is amazing to see. The Paralympics are games run parallel to the Olympic games for physically handicapped athletes. Completely different from the Special Olympics, these are competitors that train as hard as any other athlete and the sports are as cutthroat and hard fought as any in the world. I watched clips of cross country skiing where paraplegics competed with people with amputated arms. It was amazing to think about the effort that it would take to ski 20k like that. The most impressive was visually impaired biathlon. Yup. Blind shooting and skiing. It was amazing to watch without knowing how it was done, but finding out made it that much more mind boggling. Look it up. If that doesn't make you whistle, then there's something wrong with you.
Now on to other sports. I've wanted to write something about Tiger Woods for a while now, but haven't really gotten it to meld in my mind. People, get over your racism. If it was a basketball or football star who cheated on his wife multiple times, the story would be 2 minutes and then forgotten. The fact that he is the greatest golfer in the history of the game, black, and liked white women has blown the thing completely out of proportion. No one is willing to say it, but it is simple racism that has made this "story" stick around as much as it has. It isn't a shocking story of an athlete behaving like a jerk; it's a story of an athlete behaving the way athletes are encouraged to act from a young age. If anything, it should be more evidence that the classic sense of marriage is antiquated and should be abandoned.
And on to one more kinda sporty topic. NASCAR. A couple of weeks ago one driver intentionally wrecked another, and admitted to it. People were shocked that such things went on and called for massive penalties for those drivers who did such things. What people forget is that that is part of the 'sport'. Take a bunch of hyped up rednecks, put them in cars that fly, and then expect them to behave like anything other than rednecks is an idiots hope. Wrecks are the most interesting thing about driving in circles anyway. It satisfies the place that chariot racing had in ancient Rome. Can it get out of hand? Yes. Is it dangerous? Definitely. The danger is why people watch and why people do it anyway. Reasonable restrictions are already in place and there is no need for more.
Kinda along the same thread, baseball season is just around the corner. The most disturbing trend in baseball recently, even more so than the overuse of steroids, is the death of the brush back pitch. Pitchers are warned and ejecting for coming inside on batters, giving the batter the distinct advantage. Sorry people, baseball is more than just the home run. The inside pitch has been a staple since the first days of the game. It is a way of giving the pitcher some way to control what the batter does. Can it get out of hand? Yes. But there should be a use of common sense in situations where it is used.
Alright, that takes care of a rambling blog that has been building for a while. Gotta admit, it feels good to write. Hate doing it on this dying computer, but hey, that's the price right? Look back soon for another political rant. Those are always fun.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Mistakes
"Everyone makes mistakes. Nobody's perfect." Those are two of my least favorite phrases in the English language. Yes, people make mistakes, that's just a given. But people who use it as an excuse for not attempting perfection really piss me off. However, that isn't the point of this entry. Smart people, wise people, those who try hardest for a goal make mistakes that dwarf those of normal people. It is part of what makes them great and one of their biggest weaknesses. That's why they must try even harder to think things through, especially those with influence. And now we're getting to the main point that I am trying to make with this entry. I've been mulling the ideas for several days now, thinking of parallels with the past and how we can avoid mistakes in the present and future.
Throughout history, the smartest, the most influential have been the ones to make mistakes that set progress back for years. Look at the founding of the United States. This country was founded by one of the most exclusive brain trusts to ever attempt to found a country. Unlike the monarchies, oligarchies, and tyrannies of the past, they had the foresight to frame a republic with a document that is still relevant over 200 years later. They set forth rights, duties, and a balanced government that was only imagined beforehand. It was a beautiful thing and the Constitution is still one of the most perfect documents in the history of the world. But even the true geniuses who founded this country were unable to imagine an economy without slavery. They accepted a great injustice for the sake of stability and economics. They sacrificed what was right, what a majority of the framers saw as a wrong, for the sake of holding onto the power and economy that slavery fueled. In less than 100 years the country was fractured over the issue, half the country unable to foresee an economy without clinging to the past, the other pushing the economy and future forward. The right and wrong of the issue was secondary justification.
The economy pushed by the Northern states had its own problems. The slavery was by circumstance and less formalized, but it was a step in the right direction. It was far from perfect, and is the direct ancestor of the problems we face today. The coal and oil powered industries that pushed the economy of the future are now 100 years out of date. The current powers that be cling to the past because it is simpler and they can't imagine an economy not driven by gas powered cars and coal burning power. They hide behind fear of instability that pushing forward will bring. Cost and difficulty are the excuses people hide behind, refusing to acknowledge the rightness of change. It isn't that the people in power are stupid, they are smart, but they are making the same mistakes that the founding fathers made with slavery. Yes, the attitudes are changing, but still people, smart people, cling to the past.
There are other examples that can be made, but that is the parallel that stuck in my head as most appropriate. Smart, intelligent people, refuse heath care reform because they don't see the necessity. Financial geniuses don't see the problems with the banks because they are blinded by their own attempts to cling to power and wealth. They aren't idiots, they are just fools. Progress needs to be made and what is right must be done for the sake of everyone. Those who hold back progress and who use their influence to scare people into voting against their self interest are as close to evil as really exist in the world.
Throughout history, the smartest, the most influential have been the ones to make mistakes that set progress back for years. Look at the founding of the United States. This country was founded by one of the most exclusive brain trusts to ever attempt to found a country. Unlike the monarchies, oligarchies, and tyrannies of the past, they had the foresight to frame a republic with a document that is still relevant over 200 years later. They set forth rights, duties, and a balanced government that was only imagined beforehand. It was a beautiful thing and the Constitution is still one of the most perfect documents in the history of the world. But even the true geniuses who founded this country were unable to imagine an economy without slavery. They accepted a great injustice for the sake of stability and economics. They sacrificed what was right, what a majority of the framers saw as a wrong, for the sake of holding onto the power and economy that slavery fueled. In less than 100 years the country was fractured over the issue, half the country unable to foresee an economy without clinging to the past, the other pushing the economy and future forward. The right and wrong of the issue was secondary justification.
The economy pushed by the Northern states had its own problems. The slavery was by circumstance and less formalized, but it was a step in the right direction. It was far from perfect, and is the direct ancestor of the problems we face today. The coal and oil powered industries that pushed the economy of the future are now 100 years out of date. The current powers that be cling to the past because it is simpler and they can't imagine an economy not driven by gas powered cars and coal burning power. They hide behind fear of instability that pushing forward will bring. Cost and difficulty are the excuses people hide behind, refusing to acknowledge the rightness of change. It isn't that the people in power are stupid, they are smart, but they are making the same mistakes that the founding fathers made with slavery. Yes, the attitudes are changing, but still people, smart people, cling to the past.
There are other examples that can be made, but that is the parallel that stuck in my head as most appropriate. Smart, intelligent people, refuse heath care reform because they don't see the necessity. Financial geniuses don't see the problems with the banks because they are blinded by their own attempts to cling to power and wealth. They aren't idiots, they are just fools. Progress needs to be made and what is right must be done for the sake of everyone. Those who hold back progress and who use their influence to scare people into voting against their self interest are as close to evil as really exist in the world.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Too long without writing
It's been too long since I've written anything here. A full month without a blog post and the new year is well under way. I decided to forgo the long and rambling one that no one would give a damn about because seriously, I know no one enjoys reading the reminiscing of a loon. But finally things have come to a head and more needs to be said than has been. This will probably ramble, and might not be coherent, but here it goes.
Last week the Supreme court overturned over a hundred years of precedent and ruled that corporations could donate without limits to political campaigns. They justified this by arguing that it was an unjust limit on free speech to force limits on donations. This is possibly the worst decision the high court has handed down since Bowers-v-Hardwick. I am against limits on the first amendment more than anyone I know, however this is a foolish argument to make. It places political office up to the highest bidder and means that politicians will jockey even more for big corporate donations. We might as well just give up democracy right now. The argument however is incomplete. If corporations have that much of a right to free speech, then how are the limits on language and nudity on network television justified? Can corporations now make false claims about their products because of their freedom of speech? A lie is a lie and corruption is corruption.
The court has always ruled that certain limits on free speech must be placed for the order of a well run society. Making terroristic threats, shouting fire in a crowded building, inciting a riot...all of these have been deemed reasonable limits on freedom of speech. Allowing unlimited corporate donations is more dangerous to the stability of the country than any of those other 'reasonable' limits.
In other news, the man who sold dowsing rods to the army and Iraqi government as bomb detectors has an arrest warrant out for him. Yup, it isn't a story that has gotten that much publicity here, but it is one that needs to be told. A guy sold 84 million dollars worth of bomb detecting wires to the army and was going to get away with it. He still has the backing of the Iraqi government, even though there is no proof that the dowsing rods work. And there is evidence of bombs going off in areas that have been 'swept' by the detectors. If you believe in dowsing, you're an idiot. The fact that the government has spent that much money and lost so many lives on a load of horseshit should piss people off more than anything. But instead the news would rather cover Sarah Palin's keynote speech at the tea party convention, or American Idol. Way to go news people. You know what's important.
Also recently, a lot has been made about Ted Kennedy's former senate seat going to a Republican. Many were surprised at this and others have been making a big deal about the backlash of the people against the raving liberal policies of the Obama administration and the Democrat controlled congress. Once again these people are making a mountain out of a molehill. The fact is simple: the woman that was the Democratic candidate in the special election was a bitch. She rubbed people the wrong way, pissed people off, and came off as generally a snob in a part of the country known for snobbery. Her track record was one filled with foolish mistakes and idiotic tendencies. I mean, the woman wouldn't even shake hands at her own rally and gave off the air that it was foolish for her to think about standing out in the cold to shake hands with the little people. It was simply a case of the wrong person being nominated and no one willing to stand up and say that. She was a fool and people are stupid for not seeing that.
Alright, not sure how much of that actually held together, but there it is. Feels good to put something out there again. Can feel my mind atrophy when I go so long without. Perhaps the bug will hit again soon. My fingers are crossed for such at least.
Last week the Supreme court overturned over a hundred years of precedent and ruled that corporations could donate without limits to political campaigns. They justified this by arguing that it was an unjust limit on free speech to force limits on donations. This is possibly the worst decision the high court has handed down since Bowers-v-Hardwick. I am against limits on the first amendment more than anyone I know, however this is a foolish argument to make. It places political office up to the highest bidder and means that politicians will jockey even more for big corporate donations. We might as well just give up democracy right now. The argument however is incomplete. If corporations have that much of a right to free speech, then how are the limits on language and nudity on network television justified? Can corporations now make false claims about their products because of their freedom of speech? A lie is a lie and corruption is corruption.
The court has always ruled that certain limits on free speech must be placed for the order of a well run society. Making terroristic threats, shouting fire in a crowded building, inciting a riot...all of these have been deemed reasonable limits on freedom of speech. Allowing unlimited corporate donations is more dangerous to the stability of the country than any of those other 'reasonable' limits.
In other news, the man who sold dowsing rods to the army and Iraqi government as bomb detectors has an arrest warrant out for him. Yup, it isn't a story that has gotten that much publicity here, but it is one that needs to be told. A guy sold 84 million dollars worth of bomb detecting wires to the army and was going to get away with it. He still has the backing of the Iraqi government, even though there is no proof that the dowsing rods work. And there is evidence of bombs going off in areas that have been 'swept' by the detectors. If you believe in dowsing, you're an idiot. The fact that the government has spent that much money and lost so many lives on a load of horseshit should piss people off more than anything. But instead the news would rather cover Sarah Palin's keynote speech at the tea party convention, or American Idol. Way to go news people. You know what's important.
Also recently, a lot has been made about Ted Kennedy's former senate seat going to a Republican. Many were surprised at this and others have been making a big deal about the backlash of the people against the raving liberal policies of the Obama administration and the Democrat controlled congress. Once again these people are making a mountain out of a molehill. The fact is simple: the woman that was the Democratic candidate in the special election was a bitch. She rubbed people the wrong way, pissed people off, and came off as generally a snob in a part of the country known for snobbery. Her track record was one filled with foolish mistakes and idiotic tendencies. I mean, the woman wouldn't even shake hands at her own rally and gave off the air that it was foolish for her to think about standing out in the cold to shake hands with the little people. It was simply a case of the wrong person being nominated and no one willing to stand up and say that. She was a fool and people are stupid for not seeing that.
Alright, not sure how much of that actually held together, but there it is. Feels good to put something out there again. Can feel my mind atrophy when I go so long without. Perhaps the bug will hit again soon. My fingers are crossed for such at least.
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