When i first read about this, i was outraged! I thought that we had taken one of our own citizens and just decided to execute them without reason, without a trial, without a chance of self-defense. But when i read [...]]]> Obama invokes ‘state secrets’ claim to dismiss suit against targeting of U.S. citizen al-Aulaqi

When i first read about this, i was outraged! I thought that we had taken one of our own citizens and just decided to execute them without reason, without a trial, without a chance of self-defense. But when i read the original article (linked above), there were some things that caught my eye. First was the link to a previous story, giving a bit more history about al-Aulaqi and why he was put on the — second thing that caught my eye — capture-or-kill list. The operative words are CAPTURE or KILL. This means that he’s not being executed or assassinated, he’s a wanted man. I make the connection between this and the posters from the Old West, “WANTED: Dead or Alive”.

I can see how people might be upset that we’re going after one of our own citizens, but if that citizen has blatantly turned his back on our country and everything it stands for (good and bad), and is openly trying to harm it. I don’t see why we have to extend a hand and say, “Come back, we’ll give you a trial in our extremely flawed and overly complicated legal system”. We will either capture you and treat you as an enemy of the state, or if it comes down to it, we won’t hesitate to kill you. This doesn’t mean though that we’re just going to shoot you when we see you.

If this guy is actually a cleric, and not really a terrorist like the mounds of evidence seem to show, then he should turn himself over.

Ok, i get it. People will have different opinions about this, about that. But most of the time the opinions being conveyed are very narrowly [...]]]> I guess i’ve been thinking about that a lot. While at work I get bombarded with FOX News all day long, constantly spinning their web of blah blah blah.

Ok, i get it. People will have different opinions about this, about that. But most of the time the opinions being conveyed are very narrowly focused and don’t take into account any other situations or topics that have an impact of the topic being opinioned over.

Lets take this talk about taxes. One side is saying, “To help fix the economy, let’s tax the rich!”. The other side is saying, “How is taxing people going to fix the economy? You have to lower taxes!” Each side has proper points. Each side has their view of the world and to them their statement is the only way. But in reality what probably should be done is take a bit of each side and find a solution that will work for more people than just one side of the divide.

The issues with taxes. Democrats want to help bail out every industry that seems to be getting into trouble. I get it, help the struggling industries get back on their feet, and the economy will fix itself since they get to keep people employed. Republicans on the other hand want to have taxes lowered so citizens have more money in their pocket, and as such have more money to spend on things which will in turn fix the economy.

Both are valid ways of looking at things, but which one will work quicker, and which one will be more effective?

It’s a tough topic, because this one issue ties into so many other things.

Let’s say that the government bails out some of the struggling industries (auto, banking, etc etc) and now the country is in debt passed it’s eyeballs. So the country now needs to increase it’s income. The easy way to do this is to raise taxes. Simple, everyone just chips in a little more of their hard earned cash. The problem here is that people have less money in their pocket and now the economy slows down since less money is being passed through consumer purchases. Another solution? How about cutting back on imports?

Currently the US is importing much more than what it’s exporting. Another problem now though is what does the US have that others would want to buy? Personally I have no idea. Take the (and all of this is my opinion, none of it is hard fact) auto industry, the quality of American cars isn’t as good as imported brands like Toyota, Audi, BMW, etc. While we in the US buy American cars, most other advanced countries, especially those in Europe and Asia don’t buy American cars.  What about electronics then? I don’t think I really have to say anything about that, when was the last time you saw an American-made HDTV or DVD Player or Computer? Everything comes from Asia.

So what does the US sell? Without having to go into actual research a few things pop into my head. Entertainment (music and movies) and textiles (ie: cotton). That’s about all i can think of.. Basically, if we’re going to fix our economy we need to bring money in from outside our country, export our stuff, import monies. Once that’s done the economy can truely recover.

And then on top of that there’s the spending on other things that the government does, and while we all hate the financial bean counters, i think they’re a necessary evil. Especially when you give money to areas that don’t have good enough sense to spend the money wisely (ie: Military spending, I’ve seen plenty of Plasma screens and software bought just because someone had left over money at the end of the year and was about to lose it). But that’s a rant for another time.

Anyway. The big topic is that to fix any issue you have to take a look at how and where that issue connects with other issues and problems. Then find a fix that doesn’t cause those other issues to worsen. It’s hard, but it’s the only way to permanently fix anything. Do it right the first time and you don’t have to go back and do it again. ..or.. Do such a horrible job the first time that we throw a coup-de-tat and install a new government. It wouldn’t be the first time something like that has happened.

Enough ranting for now, i’ve got to get some work done.

And now on to work-ish related stuff. The RSS Reader that i wrote for e107 has become very popular. It’s a weird feeling knowing that over 200 people in the world are using something you created. Even though up to [...]]]> “grrr” that’s all i have to say about my personal life right now.

And now on to work-ish related stuff. The RSS Reader that i wrote for e107 has become very popular. It’s a weird feeling knowing that over 200 people in the world are using something you created. Even though up to now i’ve only gotten less than a dozen messages from users, all stating some sort of issue, i’m thinking that for the most part it works great. The issues that i have addressed have been easy fixes and haven’t really taken me a long time to patch up.

Next i want to work on something more related with what the company is trying to do. I think i’ll take up Zach’s recommendation and learn how to write Shaders.

I’ve been watching Zero Punctuation for a while and I’ve always found it amusing and at times insightful. But this week, i’m not too sure. He reviewed Eve Online, a game that i’ve been playing for almost 3 years. Now, what he says is very true, there are some awefully boring things that [...]]]>

I’ve been watching Zero Punctuation for a while and I’ve always found it amusing and at times insightful. But this week, i’m not too sure. He reviewed Eve Online, a game that i’ve been playing for almost 3 years. Now, what he says is very true, there are some awefully boring things that go on. But as you watch you’ll see that he didn’t do any of the things that make the game so fun!

1) Joining a player owned corp is part of the game, staying in an NPC corp really isn’t all that exciting. You don’t have the same kind of togetherness and common goal to achieve.

2) He may have tried pvp, but with only two weeks there’s no way you’ve learned all that you need to know. Then on top of that, to solo PvP, you really need a lot of experience and skill points (could be optional). He could have had a good time PvPing in a group, if he would have tried.

3) He didn’t find his niche, he just jumped in and tried to play. That’s not going to work with Eve, you have to learn what you’re good at and then attempt to build your character around that. And by “what you’re good at” i mean personally, not your character. If you can’t handle the stress of PvP, then you shouldn’t be a PvPer. If you hate mining, then you shouldn’t be a miner, etc etc.

4) I don’t wear a shoe on my head

I guess what i’m really saying is that though i love to laugh at Zero puncutation’s reviews, i’m starting to wonder if i should take them seriously at all? I mean, i kind of figured he’d always pick out the bad parts of games and then exaggerate on them. But maybe with Eve he didn’t even attempt to find what draws people to the game? And if he did that with Eve, are all his game reviews like that?

Or maybe we are all the nerds who are what nerds are to nerds like nerds are to normal people.