Is This View Of the Grand Canyon REALLY Necessary?

Skywalk to offer thrilling Grand Canyon view



Okay, I understand why the people (The Haulapai Indian Tribe) would want to build it, and I can see why someone would want to take the view from such a point.

However: what would be gained from such a view that wouldn't be gained from the side? Even if we're talking about a view from the bottom, I'm sure there's plenty of helicopter and airplane tours that would give you that.

Love Thy PlayStation, Love Thy Self
Okay, I get it...I guess....

Thing is, there's other benefits to a wife/husband that don't come from a PlayStation (or another similar item):

• Sex. And no, masturbation doesn't count -- it's not nearly as satisfying, especially when you get the other person to come. You'd be surprised at the ego boost you get from getting the other person to come, especially repeatedly.
  
• Division of Labor. One person takes care of dinner, the other does the yard. One person holds down the fort, the other earns enough to keep it warm dry and shiny. One person rises up the corporate ladder while the other makes sure he looks the part. One person makes music (or art) while the other makes sure the art can be made and sold. Two people can live cheaper than EITHER could alone. You get the point.
• Roots. From personal experience: I tended to go out every night when I was alone. Now, with someone, I go out maybe once a week (sometimes less) and am more satisfied with the nightlife I imbibe.
  
• Balance. Simply put, two people together can balance each other out, holding back each other's excesses and weaknesses. Where one person is blind, the other can see and catch; thereby correcting possibly fatal mistakes. It's no accident that single people die sooner, single men average a decade less life than married men.
  
• Investment Grows with Time. As your SO/spouse grows older, they grow in worth (they know you , you know them, you grow comfortable). Video games tend to grow stale as they grow older; even the long-lasting titles need revivification every so often.
  

I'm sure there's other ways a human beats out a PlayStation. However, when you consider that $100,000/year is more than most people earn even today, it should be obvious that a long-time love gives dividends that outpace whatever benefits a single life may give.

Before There Were Photographs, You Painted Your Family...

When Portrait Was Memory
(Must Register To View)

I know, I usually do current events, or various fixations (Universities, Soda Pop). However, this story touched on a couple of interesting memories which I'd like to share with you:

1. In one of my last visits to a friend I happened upon a portrait I hadn't seen before. It was dark, but still viewable; I asked my friend who it was. Turned out it was his mother who was painted, and his father was able to win it at a carnival game.
   
2. When I went to a party at a friend of a friend's house during the nineties, I should have looked around at how the second floor was hanging from the ceiling; but at the entryway was a really good picture. I asked where the householder got it, he said he inherited it, and that it was unusually good quality for a portrait. I had to agree, as it literally stole the show from the house itself.
   

It is interesting, in this age of digital photographs taking the photo beyond disposability to almost invisible overabundance, to view hints of a time when a portrait (however sloppily done) was given a place almost alongside the Bible in importance.

Indeed, in a way I'm always interested in ways of doing stuff that predate what we have now. While it's fun typing stuff on the computer and other stuff, it's always good to see how things were done. Especially since civilization has gone backwards before, probably more times than we know about.

The Right Apple Wins!

From The BBC: Beatles Lose to Apple In Court

Okay, so you'd choose to disagree if you were rooting for The Beatles. Fair enough, but even you'd have to admit that the Apple Corporation of Britain has been badly serving the Beatles, what with their unwillingness to remaster their catalog and preferrence to sue anything that uses an apple in their logo instead of breathing new life into themselves by finding and helping new talent.

But be assured, the Michael Jackson owned blokes at Apple Croporation aren't about to take their latest defeat lying down. They're getting ready to a-ppeal (and no, I'm not making this up).

Sallie Mae: Finding A Way To Make The 13th Amendment Moot

Sallie Mae's Success Too Costly For Students?

Yet another problem with Universities Today: The greater dependence of students on Student Loans.

The fact is, while many students are happy to get anything to go into college, the fact that they've become dependent on loans is a crime. Most students will, when they graduate, start their adult life in deep debt, which is bad enough -- but the system is now set up so that if anything goes wrong, the debt balloons and grows larger. Worse yet, you can't get any relief from it outside of paying for it, as the debt is protected in every way, from bankrputcy protection to the ability to take money from disability and retirement (something only deadbeat parents have to worry about). Sickness is no excuse, indeed it's a reason for them to get tougher.

It doesn't help, of course, that Sallie Mae owns some massive collection companies. So all they need to do is get a Default judgement, and their potential profit explodes. They get their money from the government (all principle, interest and fees from late or nonpayments), plus they split what they can extract from collections with the government, 25% to them, 75% to the government. Imagine: Automatic collection of the full debt and interest, plus the ability to collect as much extra money as you can get (including higher levels of interest, since they're no longer protected by the contract they signed). Sallie Mae profit, the government gets back some money (if the whole thing is collected, it's more than the original loan), and as for the former students unable to pay...well, they deserve your vindictiveness anyway, since they didn't insure their future would cover their loans.

Which makes sense if you study any of the Liberal Arts as a major. However, if you happen to suffer a sudden reversal, or don't find a job immediately, or get radically ill, or are unemployed for a period of time, or find yourself in desperate need of money; you've just had your life given away to Sallie Mae -- and there's no recourse to the 13th Amendment because there was no force in your signing of the loan papers. You gambled (although few think of school as gamling), you lost (although you had no idea that losing is what it's known as) and you're going to pay for the rest of your life (and not just in cash -- crappy credit now keeps you from good jobs, cuts you off from purchases, makes you pay more for less and even threatens to deny you the basic necessities).

---

So what should be done?

How about a looser system. One that allows for full forgiveness for people forced onto disability, one that allows for breaks and forgiveness, one that has a limit to what the former student needs to pay (try twice the original debt), one that doesn't allow Sallie Mae to profit twice from Defaulters (once from the government, again from the collection agencies it owns). One that allows for certain Bankruptcies (I'd say ones where the student loans account for less than half the total debt. After all, hospital debt can rack up fast, and sometimes you're stuck in a position where you can't halt the debt until it's too late.).

Also, better fund the universities. We need to make it so students don't have to throw themselves into hock just to gain needed skills or documentations. Maybe some of them can learn some trades; we're in desperate need for plumbers, electricians and other skilled trades. Maybe instead of Masters for teaching, a concentration that allows the student to gain their teaching certificate without breaking themselves with two years of higher costs. Maybe some of these jobs that supposedly require degrees could do without them, giving people unable to afford school a chance to prove they deserve a better life.

Sadly, the United States is working to become the first nation where ambition is a sure path to enslavement. The above suggestions can go a long way to stop this slide.

Looks Like The Circle Line's The Favored Son Here At The CTA...

Circle Line Narrowed To Three Possibilities

Looks like they're opting for a smaller circle line instead of the more logical, more egalitarian mid-city line (Jefferson Park to Ford City alongside Cicero, then Ford City to Red Line 89th street alongside abandoned and presently used rail lines). There's also a couple other lines (as well as the mid-city line) I'd like to see done before this thing gets built, but you know how things are...

Nevertheless, there's positives from what I've seen, and they come from the fact that they didn't limit themselves to using the Paulina Corridor:

1. One of the three accepted options goes all the way to Western Avenue, expanding service to an area with enough need that it has Express Service over much it. That could be the start of a Western Avenue El, which would benefit one of the busiest roads in Chicago.
   
   Looking at the poll, it looks like the people are with me on the Corridor to choose. The Western Avenue routing outpolls the two others (and if stuck with an Ashland/Paulina corridor route, avoid the Odgen routing, please). But why the popularity of Light Rail, especially since they already have a strong Heavy Rail Presence, is beyond me. Heavy Rail would allow interconnections and make ordering easier (one set of railcars, not two different types).



2. Some of the other considered routings had positives of their own besides the circle routing itself. The Halstead and Canal/Clinton options could act as through routes connecting other routes through downtown, and the Ashland/Odgen alignment could allow for through-routing from the Howard to Douglas or Midway while bypassing downtown.

What's missing, imho, is a connection across from where this line meets the Orange Line across to Pershing Street. Since there's a connection from the Green Line to the State Street Tunnel, there's no need to jerri-rig a connection to the Dan Ryan Line. Plus, even if you use the Halstead Corridor, extending the line down to Pershing allows for expanding the el into areas it has never been before (instead of merely increasing service over two or three stations at best). You would also introduce time savings for people using the 95th Street Line going places other than downtown, something avoided by using the Orange Line.

Originally they talked about a three-part building plan for the Circle Line (one part finished, as shown by the Pink Line). Even if they end up doing the Western route, I'd allow for them to add on the Pershing Street connection after building the rest; just as long as the line is planned for and eventually built.

Vault Fully in NW Indiana

Finally saw some twelve pack cans of Vault in the stores.

I hope it was just the idea of rolling things out so that people drank it first, then the demand for other sizes would follow.

How big is Vault supposed to be? Simple: they actually have 1 litre sizes for this stuff. For Coke and Pepsi/Dew, litre sizes are used for the higher-selling brands. You don't see Fanta Pineapple or Pepsi w/Lime out in litre sizes, and for good reason: it's an extra size, one you don't want to put out unless you know you can make money on it.

More to the point: I saw Surge in Litre bottles. I didn't see Citra in litre bottles. You also saw OK in litre bottles when it came out, but that was more psycho-biological programming than actual expectation; as I doubt they actually expected people to get into OK longer than was needed to create a Gen-X Republican Robot Army.

But the fact that Vault came out in Litre bottles should show what Coke expects of Vault: A challange to the Dew.

Too bad I never saw dnL out in 1 litre bottles.

What Do You Get When You Remove Neutrality From The Internet For The Sake Of SBC...

(Yes, I know, it's now called ATT; SBC bought ATT and used their name.)

What should one expect when the internet in the United States is robbed of its nuetrality? What happens when SBC and Verizon and Comcast and other similar companies are allowed to gateway the internet to their fun and profit? I can imagine a few things:

1. A tiered Internet.
   There will be two ways to access the internet; one for people paying a small amount, the other for those willing to pay "more." Those who pay more will find a wider internet and quicker access, those who pay less will find slower access and limited options.
   
2. Harder to get porn, Not necessarily harder to get kiddie porn.
   Those chasing after kiddie porn know damn well how to hide; they'll hide just a little better and everyone will adjust to it. Adult porn will find things harder as those who want it will pay more and find barriers still placed (thanks to those who think everyone's business is fair game).
   
3. Death to P2P.
   The RIAA will cause the internet companies to put sniffers on the routers to figure out which programs the users are using. If you're using a P2P program, the server can then disconnect, slow down the connection so that everything gets downloaded at a creep, or act in ways that mess with the software or hardware, even with firewall and anti-virus software. The server may just erase the P2P programs, leaving the Browsers and other definitely legal (read: not widely used for "intellectual property theft") programs.
   
4. Timed Internet Access.
   Since it's obvious that many in the entertainment and communications areas already believe that our basic needs can be covered by a slower connection, the next step will be limited access time. An extra charge will be done for those who want more time per day.
5. Say Goodbye to Innocent Before Proven Guilty
   Since there's going to be a major need for entertainment and communications to make sure their intellectual property rights aren't trampled by the little internet user, internet spying will not so much become legal but mandatory. And with it: the idea that something not directly allowed becomes illegal (the reverse of what we have now)
6. Much more restrictive file formats forced on us.
   Instead of .m4a formats which allow a limited amount of copies, you'll get something that won't allow you to copy. Worse yet, don't be surprised it you're forced to pay for every listen (or every 10 listens) or every X days of ownership.
   

I can see other things, but they involve software makers, not the tellecommunications/entertainment industry. No matter what, I can see the day when the internet becomes as boring as Television was in the seventies.

So goes all revolutions. First comes the moment of freedom, then the restrictions come in worse than before.

Plaigarism, Intended Or Not

In Internet Age, Writers Face Frontier Justice
Another Book Found Plaigarised, Maybe?
(Will need to register to read both articles)

Comment to the first link: I remember, when I was younger, I had caught the storywriting bug myself. One of the stories that I wrote involved a character named "Superbear" which was heavily influenced by an Underdog episode (let's just say there was more of that episode in the story than there was other input, including my own). When one of my classmates said he saw a VERY similar Underdog episode (something I never considered, believe it or not. I was nine at the time, so go figure), I stammered my way through, saying something along the line of "yes, I did use it as inspiration; but I added things of my own invention".

Lucky for me it was just in fourth grade. The worst I could suffer was a bit of embarassment and an "F," and have multiple chances to redeem myself (as the teacher liked to assign writing assignments on a frequent, regular basis). I wasn't eagerly waitied with a book ready to sell in a world with eight million critics, each one ready to point out where I stole stuff from.

Comment to the second link: Now this is beginning to be piling on.

There is such a thing as emulation. Indeed, it used to be that people used to say "he sounds like so-and-so" and people would have fun figuring out who influenced the artist, and where. Not it's almost like you have to be a tabula rasa to get your dues.

Here's the NYT article involving one line:

In one scene in Ms. Kinsella's book, which was published by Dial Press, the main character, Emma, comes upon two of her friends "in a full-scale argument about animal rights," and one says, "The mink like being made into coats."

In Ms. Viswanathan's book, Opal, the heroine, encounters two girls having "a full-fledged debate over animal rights."

"The foxes want to be made into scarves," one of them says.

Thing is, I remember watching a movie titled "The Opposite Sex" in which the first words in the song played over the first shot (a fur scarf, may I add) are "Why do foxes get willingly Trapped?"

Maybe I should shout about Ms. Kinsella plaigarising MSM? Or, better yet, assume that sometimes people hold interesting phrases, ideas and sentances they come across and they come out later.

Maybe because Ms. Viswanathan had already been found out as a plaigarist (as admitted by her, even if she claims it was unintentional) she gets a harder, deeper grilling that already assumes guilt where similarities pop up. An obvious move, since guilt in one area implies guilt in other areas. Otherwise, this would be treated not so much plaigarism as reuse; something every artist does.

And didn't we just see a case about someone using "similar plot points" fail; thank god?

The Worldwide Labor Day Has Passed

By the time you read this, May 1st will have come and gone. And with it, the worldwide Worker's Day.

True, in the United States it has been historically linked with the mandatory marches held by the Soviet Union and the Communist World (until Communism fell from the Soviet Union, and thus from Europe). However, the rest of the world has considered this its Labor Day since from before the establishment of "Labor Day" in the United States on the First Monday in September.

The reason for the establishment of a "Labor Day" is obvious. Mayday had become symbolic of revolution, and while there were portions of the working class who wanted revolution, the main part of the working class wanted better pay, fewer hours and a weekend to relax. "Labor Day" became a way to honor workers without referring to revolution and worker's republics.

Of course, now Mayday has been forgotten in the United States. Only immigrants would remember the importance of this day -- and they do. Look at which day they picked. True, it's a Monday, but no other monday but Mayday.