08.17.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 2:39 pm by Sulla
I first crashed my iPod Touch 2G soon after getting it, but the last few weeks it’s been happening almost daily, and with an ugly new twist: it would freeze, then when I hit the reset combination it would power down, get very hot, and stay dead until it drained the battery. I’ve read enough “exploding iPhone” stories to give my own overheating device a cautious respect; it’s still under warranty, so I made an appointment with the nearest Apple Store Genius Bar.
I suspected one path to the hang was unplugging the headphones and playing the internal speaker at high volume. On the way to the Apple Store I gave it a try and…boom. We’d timed our arrival just right; we were #2 in the queue, and had a mere five minute wait. The Pod was still dead and overheating when my name was called. The usual Genius troubleshooting came up short; our Genius whistled. “yeah, that’s not supposed to happen.” My replacement unit is on order.
My iPod killing spree continues. After killing every generation of iPod Nano, I gave up and switched to a Sansa Fuze I still use as a backup. But I got hooked on the Touch this past year: eBook reader, WiFi appliance, and Tap Tap Revenge. Stupid thing is like a third lobe of my brain, and I’m going through serious withdrawal right now.
Steve Jobs, I wish I knew how to quit you.
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08.15.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 9:58 pm by Sulla
It’s been a while since I posted. It’s never been a habit, but enough time seems to pass that I forget my login credentials.
quickly catching up: work is keeping me busy, Honey and I are fine, and the current President continues to disappoint. He’s still audacious, but his shtick is wearing thinner every day.
It’s easy to get discouraged. Instead, I look for the things to be grateful for, until I find them. Fortunately, there remains plenty to find. Just not in Washington.
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Posted in Uncategorized at 9:48 pm by Sulla
Confession: I self-censor like crazy on Facebook.
My friends list consists of family, friends from church, friends from high school to the present, friends I picked up on Mafia Wars and Farm Town, and a few folks I follow on other blogs. I have yet to figure out how to compartmentalize these Facebook Friends (FFriends) so that, say, high school friends can’t see my conversations on the more political blogs, or keep their prying eyes away from my votes in the endless polls floating around. So, for the most part, I steer clear of those Facebook updates that I don’t want ALL of my contacts to see.
Why? Because a few of these friends are leftist morons whose favorite argument can be summed up in four letters: STFU. They don’t like how you vote in a poll? They push the Easy button for their Two Minute Hate. Which makes it a lot harder to smile when they post photo galleries of friendlier times or take the fluffier 80s Trivia quizzes.
I’m not shy about expressing myself, but I want to treat Facebook as a refuge from the arena, not another front in the culture wars. Especially when the combatants are people I’d far prefer to stay on friendly terms with. Or, failing that, keep at a safe enough distance to avert the dreaded Nuclear “un-friend” Option.
I don’t care if someone doesn’t agree with me. I enjoy a good debate, as long as it’s reasonably respectful, or raucously anonymous. I have little tolerance for those who don’t grant me the same privilege.
But I hate discovering such people in the ranks of my FFriends. So, whenever possible, I keep quiet, and stick to Superpokes and Street racing.
Guess I’m more of a wuss than I thought.
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03.07.09
Posted in Politics, Rants at 7:55 pm by Sulla
Mr. President,
I rooted for you in the Democratic primaries. By November, not so much. And I’ll confess that there is an extent to which I’ve enjoyed watching and mocking your rookie mistakes.
But it’s not fun anymore; it’s embarrassing. Bordering on frightening.
Your actions, even in this Honeymoon Period with the Kneepad Media, have had disturbing consequences.
Wall Street is haemorrhaging.
Main Street is panicking.
Our military is disgusted.
Our enemies are licking their lips.
Our friends are fuming. (Really? A 25-DVD set? What the FRACK were you thinking? If you don’t like Pomp and Circumstance, you’re in the wrong damn job. Diplomacy goes with the territory, whether or not you like it.)
Even Chris Matthews and Whoopi Goldberg are starting to go wobbly on you.
We know you’re smart; you hardly let us forget it. Start showing us you’re competent, before our patience runs out.
Keep screwing up at this historic rate and your own party will be chomping at the bit to impeach you, if only to save their own sorry skins in 2010. Joe Biden – JOE BIDEN!!! – is starting to look Presidential by comparison, and I NEVER thought I’d see that day.
Enough with the Johnny Bravo crap; lose the suit and the Milli Vanilli teleprompter, warm up your singing voice, roll up your sleeves, and earn your stinking paycheck.
And keep your tax-loving hands off of mine. I don’t make anywhere near $250,000. You promised you wouldn’t raise taxes on people like me. I don’t believe you.
Get your shit together…please?
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11.05.08
Posted in Navel Gazing, Politics, Rants at 2:44 am by Sulla
I started following the 2008 race sometime in early 2007, when only the most pathological politics junkies were paying much attention. As a result, I peaked a bit too early, and by September I just wanted the darn thing to be over.
And now, finally, it is. There are still votes to count, and a few open races and ballot measures to resolve, but the Big One is in the can. For the first time in 12 years, we’ve gone to bed knowing who won, and the Atlantic Seaboard folks didn’t even have to stay up that late. For the first time since LBJ (I think), a Democrat won more than 50% of the popular vote. Though I had a preferred candidate, this was my greatest prayer – an unambiguous result. No “one-state” shenanigans and cries of stolen elections. (Voter fraud is another story, but that’s a Donkey Party tradition, and I doubt he needed it to win.)
In one sense, it’s good that the Democrat won. We’d already been warned months in advance that anything other than an Obama victory would mark America as a “racist” nation, and such philosophical luminaries as Erica Jong were warning of a “second civil war” in the event of a McCain “third stolen Bush term” victory. Well, no chance of that now. And, for the first time since Bill Clinton absconded with the White House furniture, the Daily Kos/MoveOn.org wing of the Democratic Party can consider themselves Americans again. Republicans are infinitely more gracious losers. (We made much of Clinton’s “never topped 50% of the popular vote” in the 1990s, but we never, EVER claimed he wasn’t the President. That juvenile insanity needs to die. Stake its heart, cut off its head, boil it in garlic, nuke it from orbit; leave no doubt. We may be two parties, but we are not Two Americas. We’re all in this together.)
Like 2006, it wasn’t the GOP’s year. Sen. McCain prevailed in the primaries largely on the backs of independents and Democrats, and because Mike Huckabee preferred to shred the party rather than let Mitt Romney anywhere near the GOP ticket. (Yes, I’m still bitter about that idiot’s personal vendetta.) Gov. Sarah Palin energized the base and helped make it much closer (popular vote) than I expected, but McCain is an honorable man who ran as a “my turn” candidate rather than with any platform of ideas the GOP was likely to rally around. My main reason for supporting McCain was his support for victory in Iraq and elsewhere, which America owes to our men and women in uniform who have sacrificed so much to make it possible. McCain’s real goal, it seemed, was to win the nomination he felt had been stolen from him in 2000. Had he fought with the same vehemence in the generals that he did in the primaries, he might have done better tonight.
By contrast, Barack Obama worked his bad-dancing butt off to win the presidency from…well, pretty much the day he was sworn into the Senate. He took on the “inevitable” Clinton machine and won the nomination. Although his post-racial, post-partisan facade slipped badly toward the end, his acceptance speech tonight was worthy of the historic moment of our first President-elect who happens to be black. He didn’t win BECAUSE he’s black; had that occurred it would have cheapened the accomplishment. Obama won because he ran a better race, and better motivated his base. He was opposed by over his policies, his past, and his personal associations…not for his pigmentation. (I really need to stop alliterating.) Considering how much money he raised, Barack’s true colors in 2008 are gold and green.
I don’t see Obama as “our first black President.” He’s not “African-American” in the traditional sense; his paternal ancestors don’t have that legacy of slavery; his Kenyan father spent little time in the U.S. His mother’s side of the family was fairly well off, and his education was more elite and privileged than most people’s, certainly more than mine.
Obama’s rise to prominence reminds me far more of John F. Kennedy than Jesse Jackson. JFK’s big hurdle was his religion. So, I would argue, was Obama’s. JFK had the Pope and Catholicism. Obama had Rev. Wright and Liberation Theology. For JFK’s presidency, religion turned out to not be much of an issue (especially that whole “thou shalt not commit adultery” thing). Only time will tell how much President Obama will bring from Wright’s pews to the Oval Office.
As a conservative, little of the Obama platform appeals to me. But as with any presidency, Obama’s will not be treated by the House or Senate as tablets inscribed by a burning bush on Mount Sinai. He may have solid Democratic majorities in both houses, but as Clinton and Carter learned, congressional Democrats have a legislative ego that transcends party. If he fails to treat them with proper respect, the unholy Pelosi/Reid duumvirate will school him in a hurry. And if Obama doesn’t treat the congressional GOP with at least minimal respect, they survive in sufficient numbers to throw their sabots into the machinery. It’s lopsided, but DC is still a two-party town. Bill Clinton made the grave mistake of calling the congressional GOP “irrelevant” in one of his first addresses to Congress. Less than two years later, he was bellowing that he was still relevant to the first GOP House majority in 40 years. Hubris is still the #1 killer of political ambition, and “The Messiah” had better chain someone to his side to whisper “remember thou art mortal” into his ear at every opportunity, or he’ll very likely be facing a GOP congress in 2010.
Vice President-elect Biden, the one-man growth market for American comedy, said that Obama will be tested. Does anyone believe he isn’t correct? Al Qaeda surely cannot resist the opportunity. Ahmadinajad’s Iran is drooling with anticipation. Likewise China, eager to assume dominance in the 21st century. (Yes, I’m learning Mandarin.) Venezuela. North Korea. Canada (*grumble* Zamboni-drivin’ freaks…) And our allies like Columbia, India, infant Iraq, Sarkozy’s France, nuclear Pakistan, etc. have to wonder what Obama’s America will mean to our relationship with them. Like JFK, I’m not that hopeful that President Obama will be ready from day one to handle a crisis. What will Obama’s Bay of Pigs (with lipstick) be? Or his Cuban Missile Crisis? How will he fare? Does it give ANYONE comfort that Joe Biden will be there every step of the way? Or that John friggin Kerry might be America’s Ambassador of Hopenchange as Secretary of State or Defense?
I don’t mean to be utterly negative. Obama claims to be a pragmatist, and if he turns out to be one then he’ll likely make some decent cabinet picks. He will push policies more left-leaning than I would prefer, but I believe in the sausage-grinder of American lawmaking; lips and buttholes become tasty, tasty frankfurters with the right preparation. And it takes just one catastrophe to change presidential priorities in a hurry. Witness 9-11, Hurricane Katrina, the Fannie May debacle. Under the right circumstances, even the biggest isolationist can become the most committed nation-builder. Even a Clinton can decide to pass comprehensive welfare reform. Even a “conservative” can pass a bailout bill that makes Sweden look capitalist. It’s all about adaptability. It’s less about getting your agenda passed than about dealing with the zillion things that you never guessed would come your way.
So…I head to bed knowing that our next President will be “that guy” rather than “my guy.” There are a lot of happy people in this country tonight, and many who are genuinely scared of what the next four years will bring. All of us will be Obama’s responsibility come January. He’ll be opposed – every president from George Washington to George Dubya has been, vehemently, and it would be unAmerican to expect otherwise – but how he deals with it will determine his legacy. The best Presidents exert influence far beyond their enumerated powers, by virtue of their skills and their character, and the nature of the challenges they face.
Frankly, I’d be happy if Pres. Obama is merely adequate, and presides over another “holiday from history” for the next four years. His “fundamental transformation” talk scares my side of the aisle. He may think of it in terms of unicorns and orgasms, but some of us have starker visions of gulags, reeducation camps, great depressions, and stuff going Boom. I’d be ecstatic with four boring, adequate, uneventful, not-unemployed years.
As much as I like and respect George W. Bush – and I do – the last eight years have been more eventful than anyone in 2000 imagined or hoped or feared they would be, George W. Bush included.
Oh well. Ready or not, here comes 44: Captain Messiah, and his sidekick Gaffey. I will pray for them, and for the country. Because I still believe with Ben Franklin that in these perilous times, we must all hang together, “or surely we must all hang separately.” United we stand, divided we fall. The American family will certainly bicker over who gets the good seat in the living room and control of the remote during prime-time…but we must work together to put our house in order and to get the damn neighbor kids off our lawn when they try to T.P. us.
So, congratulations, President-elect Obama. Whatever happens next, you made history tonight.
Don’t screw it up.
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10.02.08
Posted in Politics at 8:05 pm by Sulla
I came in late, but I did most of my commenting on the debate on my Twitter page. It’s different from trying to live-update a blog; I found it easier, and a lot more fun.
If a bit lonely. Glad I checked in at teh Wheel afterwards.
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10.01.08
Posted in Distractions, Poetry, Politics, Rants at 11:22 am by Sulla
Wow.
The now-notorious video of the Obama Youth Choir singing paeons to their new hopeychangey overlord has caused quite a stir. The scene hadn’t even shifted to the Kool-aid drinking parents waving their hands in epiphaniste euphoria before the name “Dear Leader” sprang to mind. My days in Korea were filled with propaganda like this, shown by the South Koreans to underscore the brainwashing their northern brethren were condemned to endure.
Others pulled out the Hitler Youth clip from Carousel, a truly creepy scene. Indeed, “creepy” was the word of the day as the video went viral. “Children of the Corn,” “Village of the Damned,” “Pod People,” you name it. Even the non-insane Left was creeped out by the vapid acolytes worshiping in song and cypto-Hula.
The Messianic iconography already applied to His Celestial Barackness has been disturbing enough – halos, the Guevara-esque CHANGE posters, the white-clad Venus de Chicago emerging from the waters accompanied by doves – but bringing children into the mix may be the moment the Obama Movement officially nuked the fridge.
Naturally, I want to encourage this disgusting behavior, so even the most dedicated anti-McCain/Palin type (of every party) will get the point that this is not just an election for some people, but an actual MOVEMENT designed to heal the planet and cast the evildoers (e.g. people not drinking the Obama-ade) into outer darkness, where there will be no more gnashing of teeth thanks to the resurrected (get it?) Fairness Doctrine.
Whether or not Barack believes his own PR, he does little to dissuade it. He’s happy to exploit the gullible rubes, the lost and adrift looking for something to believe in, and give them B.O. as the Way, the Truth, and the Light.
Just in case sanity and self-preservation does NOT prevail next month, I guess it’s never too early to capitalize on the coming revamp of the hymnals, starting (naturally) with the kids’ sunday school songbooks.
I have a modest example here.
He’s got the whole Party … in his hands
He’s got the Democratic Party … in his hands
He’s got the only sanctioned Party … in his hands
He’s got the whole world in his hands
He’s got the TV networks … in his hands
He’s got the cable news networks … in his hands
He’s got the history networks … in his hands
He’s got the whole world in his hands
He’s got the little bitty babies … in his hands
He’s got the terminated cell clumps … in his hands
He’s got the eugenics program … in his hands
He’s got the whole world in his hands
He’s got the Euroweenies … in his hands
He’s got the Asian commies … in his hands
He’s got the African tyrants … in his hands
He’s got the whole world in his hands
he’s got the hearts of many … in his hands
He’s got the minds of many … in his hands
He’s got the balls of everyone … in his hands
He’s got our jewels in his hands
Submissions welcome. I for one welcome our new Obama overlords…
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09.27.08
Posted in Administration, Entertainment, Navel Gazing at 3:05 pm by Sulla
I’ve resisted the Twitter call for months. But one of the geek podcasts I tune into – TWiT network, GeekBrief TV, Buzz Out Loud, can’t remember which – finally pushed me to take the leap. Perhaps it was Merlin Mann, the clown prince of productivity and Picasso of profanity. [warning: I alliterate unintentionally, and often. I'm in therapy for it, but progress is slow.]
I’m chock-full of opinions, but I have a tendency to compartmentalize. For purely political commentary, I read a lot of political blogs, and I occasionally comment, but the bulk of my contributions are at Hot Air, where I dove in with both feet during the primaries and found a steady supply of agreement and disagreement. (Sometimes, I prefer the latter. It’s one thing to get kudos from the choir. But I relish the times when I can persuade – or be persuaded – to a better position.)
I dearly love the Gerbils at Teh Squeaky Wheel, where political rants (though they are certainly there) give a back seat to things like friendship, wit, silly pictures, classic pinups, and a camaraderie and compassion that keeps me lurking even when I have little time to comment. They continue to welcome me warmly even when I’m on radio silence for long stretches. And in this very partisan season, it’s a refuge.
I don’t feel that urgently about posting to my own blog, largely because I crave feedback and that’s more readily available where there are many people. When I do post here it tends to be when I have a lot to say, or I chew through complex thoughts. The posts, then, tend to be sporadic, and looooooong. When I need to go on at length, nothing else will do – regardless of whether anyone is paying attention.
But those take time to compose. As rough as they may read at times, I do fuss over them a lot before I post. And it’s tough to find time to devote to lengthy writing. Far more often, I just feel the urge to do a drive-by comment. Hot Air and TSW are good places for that, but sometimes even those places “take too long” because of my temptation to stick around and dive into conversations.
For barbaric yawps of one minute or less, this Twitter thing has potential. 140 character limit. Post from your phone. No logging in needed. No need to check the landscape to be relevant to the thread. Just toss out the bon mot and get on with life.
So…where I have this place to gaze at, contemplate, spelunk into and explore my navel in a leisurely fashion, I also need an outlet for the eeeevil, brief, spontaneous idiocy that flows from my mind like butter from a cow with Parkinsons. The nuggets will vacillate between profound and pitiful, a light nosh or a frothy glass of phlegm, depending on my mood. (I know: ewwwwww.)
Should you happen to care or be curious about the Readers Digest view of the button-down mind of the cuddly dictator, check out http://twitter.com/sulla_puppy. I’ll also use that place to link to my rare blog posts here.
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09.18.08
Posted in Navel Gazing, Politics at 1:34 am by Sulla
I found a lot that bugged me in this talk by Jonathan Haidt, but I also came away with some food for thought.
What do you think?
[If nobody comments on this, my next post will not be pretty. Me want discussion!]
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Posted in Politics, Rants at 12:48 am by Sulla
No, I’m not going to do the full Crocker. But sweet steaming Sterculius, I cannot believe the depths to which some of Palin’s detractors are spelunking in their efforts to destroy her.
Yesterday’s hacking into Palin’s Yahoo account and publication of its contents (nothing incriminating, as the intruder admits, but a massive violation of all boundaries, and at least a few laws). A “comedian” offering Bristol Palin $25,000 to have an abortion. The earlier litany of lies about Trig Palin’s “real” mother. People disputing Sarah’s right to be numbered among Women – excuse me, Womyn. Such philosophical luminaries as Matt Damon, Lindsay Lohan, Pamela Anderson, Roseanne Barr (whatever she calls herself these days) discoursing on Palin’s credentials, character, hubris, audacity, etc. Photoshops of Palin in various states of provocative (un)dress and in many cases degradation litter the Internet.
I could go on, but I choose not to.
Look, I know there are those who are pushing for Obama to win in November. Most of them are not certifiably insane. But a disturbing number of them are. Perhaps some of it is mob mentality – the echo chambers they frequent get everyone in a lather. The temptation to outdo one another in ferocity increases as the polls give any cause for concern that their candidate might not win. For some, Palin’s deeply held beliefs stand in stark contrast to their own, and her successes represent a clear and present danger to their world view.
Political campaigns are almost ugly; when someone stands between you (or your candidate) and your cherished goal, you need to stop them at any cost. The only question is where you draw the line. This year, the line is so far out it’s beyond the horizon. It’s one thing to suggest that the other side is out to Destroy Sarah; it’s another when there are those on the other side who don’t even bother to deny it.
Look, hit her all you like on her knowledge (or lack thereof) of world affairs; of the economy; of whatever else. You want to belittle her experience as mayor or governor, go for it. You want to mock her public appearances for style or content, have a ball. Those are all fair game.
But if you’re writing in a public forum that your blood boils and you contemplate murder because a political rival is on television…seek professional help. Seriously.
Yes, elections are important. Yes, I understand what it feels like to be the party out of power, and feeling like the country is seriously on the wrong track. I know all too well the sense that the guy in the white house is unworthy of it and should have the decency to resign or the karmic deficit to be tossed out by Senate vote. I’ve been there.
But wanting a candidate DEAD? Dude. Seriously: DUDE. That kind of anger is not only not healthy for you, it’s toxic to the people around you.
Stop hurting America. Get therapy. that much pent-up rage will be be let loose one way or another. I saw it happen in 1992 after 12 years of Reagan/Bush; it was scary. Two years later, Newt Gingrich led the “Republican Revolution” that ended the 40 year stranglehold on the House by the Democrats, and the party polarization escalated further. Impeachment in 1998, the electoral standoff and accusations of “stolen election” in 2000, John Kerry’s ridiculous attempt to claim the same…
America is in the grip of a nationwide OCD cycle. Round and round, more and more intense, no escape in sight. We either break the cycle and let the intensity dissipate, or emotions will blow up…broadly, and badly. We saw acts of violence in 2004, and even more of it this year so far.
I earnestly pray that no harm comes to any candidate, before or after the election. I’m sure there are those whose feelings against Obama are so out there that they’d do him harm if they could…but I have yet to see any public mention of it. The threats against Palin, on the other hand, are all too public, and if I were one of her Secret Service people I’d be armed for bear…and wolves…and elephants…and submarines….
I know Gov. Palin can, for the most part, fend for herself. She will rise or fall based on her performance this fall. She doesn’t scare easily, and she’s already acquired a substantial roster of enemies. But to my knowledge, none of her Alaska foes want her dead.
I wish I could say the same of the nation, but I’ve seen too many comments online to doubt it.
At the moment, I’d almost prefer to be living in Iraq, where the citizens are trying to get along.
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