BunkBlog

Althought the traditional Bavarian recipe I have been using for Black Forest Cake has always been a hit, this month’s Cuisine Magazine included an alternate recipe. So, that’s going to work tomorrow. Well, I’ll keep a piece or two home, but most of it goes to my coworkers – I don’t need that much chocolate.

This recipe omits the chocolate mousse and cream cheese frosting, replacing both with more layers of whipped cream and cherries. And, the cake is noticably moister than the European norm. Unfortunately, it has to set overnight so I can’t taste it, but it sure does look good. Mmmm… chocolate and cherries….

This definitely qualifies for the category of Random, but what is a blog if not a place to spew completely trivial shit?

I have three sets of sheets for my bed; they are all green. I have two blankets; the one I prefer is green. I have two comforters; the one I prefer is green. Those final two preferences are not because they are green, but due to deficiencies in the alternates.

My couch and love seat – guess what color they are? Somehow, I ended up with a theme. Even Alex’s play room is painted green.

Although my previous Korean meal experiment, galbi, didn’t work out so well, I decided to give in to the begging and make Bulgogi tonight. Much better reception. Now I’ve got to keep him from making me put it on the menu every week. He likey. Like a little piggie.

Something which strikes me on occasion is how, when I speak to my coworkers or others with any brains at all, and the topic drifts to politics or economics, there is a sameness. Almost everyone I converse with is generally reasonable, with a few blind spots (we all have them). Almost nobody claims that Tom DeLay is a good example, and almost nobody claims that Mike Moore is anything but a self-aggrandizing propagandist. Nearly everyone agrees that the unfettered capitalism of the late 19th century which led to the Robber Barons was a bad idea, and almost everyone also agrees that the total socialism practiced in Cuba is not exactly an economic boom.

Yet, all these reasonable people go to the polls every two to four years and vote for people who are anything but reasonable. How in the world do we get ideologues and idiots in office, when most people are basically decent human beings, with the minor difference in opinion about things like the proper role of government in our lives? It’s astounding, especially when you consider that the American governmental process is remarkably transparent compared to many other countries. If this is the best of all possible systems, I’m glad to be living in it.

Of course, another issue which recurs is a growing lack of personal responsibility among individuals. Blaming the government for the failures of the past month is easy. Now, what is that pesky phrase in the Constitution? Oh, right – We the People. We, the people, are considered to be the sovereign rulers of the United States. We, the people, should not be waiting for the government to Do Something when things go awry. We, the people, comprise the country and if our elected representatives aren’t doing something, we need to. This lack of personal responsibility spreads through the public school system as well, with the consequence that parents seem too willing to abdicate all requirements that they raise their own darned kids, preferring the strangers of a major institution to take care of that rather personal issue. Mystifying.

Good night.

America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You’ve gotta want it bad, ’cause it’s gonna put up a fight. It’s gonna say, “You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who’s standing center-stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country cannot just be a flag. The symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Now show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then, you can stand up and sing about the land of the free. – Aaron Sorkin

A pro-war rally got less than a thousand participants, days after the 100,000 anti-war rally nearby. That’s gotta hurt. There seems to be a real lack of logic on the part of many people, though. This woman, for instance:

“Our troops are over there fighting for our rights, and if she was in one of those countries she would not be able to do that,” Vigna said.

Yeah, exactly why it’s ok for Cindy Sheehan to be able to say any damned thing she wants to. She can claim to be the reincarnation of Frank Sinatra – it doesn’t matter. The fantastic thing about our country is that people are allowed to be stupid or controversial or anything they want.

I don’t agree with everything that Cindy Sheehan says, but I spent 12 years in the Army defending her right to say whatever pops into her head. Good for her. And good for Rush Limbaugh the drug user, and good for G Gordon Liddy the convicted felon. Good for Dr Laura, the therapist with no credentials in psychiatry. Good for Mike Moore, who conflates opinions and facts and hopes nobody notices. Good for Jonny Depp for bashing the country that pays his salary.

Good for all of them – they can all be as stupid as they want to, and that is what makes America great. To tell any one of those Americans that they shouldn’t say what they are saying is the treasonous thing. That attitude of restricting speech with which you don’t agree is Unamerican. If you don’t like it, stop listening!

“Today Christians stand at the head of [our country] … I pledge that I never will tie myself to parties who want to destroy Christianity .. We want to fill our culture again with the Christian spirit … We want to burn out all the recent immoral developments in literature, in the theater, and in the press – in short, we want to burn out the poison of immorality which has entered into our whole life and culture as a result of liberal excess during the past years.”

Who would say such a thing? Is it Swaggart? Is it Robertson? Bush? Maybe it’s Tom DeLay?

Give up?

Think Germany, late 30s, short Austrian man. Yeah.

1. beer:
   I like good beer. I also like good wine, and the random nip of amaretto. Not all at once, though – that would be unwise.
2. bruce sterling:
   Bruce Sterling has a phenomenal grasp of science and its impact on the near future. And his old cyberpunk writing was damned good too.
3. did i mention sex:
   Um, duh?
4. freedom:
   I spent 12 years in the army, which I hope helped in some way to defend our freedoms.
5. learning:
   Learning is a lifelong process, but I am taking a break from formal education for a while, now that I’ve finished my BS.
6. mountain dew:
   The nectar of the geek gods.
7. origami:
   When in doubt, fold paper. It’s calming, and it produces something which can be either ephemeral or permanent, as you see fit.
8. rock:
   and Roll!
9. sigint:
   Signals Intelligence, the main realm of the intelligence spectrum I’ve been immersed in for the past 16 years. I also have a glancing familiarity with IMINT.
10. technology:
    Me, geek?

Enter your LJ user name, and 10 interests will be selected from your interest list.

Didn’t someone once say they’d send me an invite to Orkut? I don’t recall ever getting it, and I feel so left out.

OK, maybe not. I wonder if Orkut is any better than the MySpace and Friendster zones of “what is the point” land.

In case you don’t know why the “Trusted Computing” concept is an inherently bad one, please go view the short video that was recently pimped on BoingBoing. It explains a bit, and hopefully it’s enough to get people to look into it more.

Trusted Computing is not a new idea, and it’s been growing lately. It’s all part of the same RIAA/MPAA mindset, the one that says, “Consumers are crooks and must be controlled by the copyright holders at all costs.” The technology industry (well, Sony anyway) stood up for your rights against commercial interests over 20 years ago, and for that we have VCRs, and MP3 players, and burnable CDs, and TiVos and all the wonderful things that allow you to control your own media that you’ve legally purchased. Now, the technology industry has largely been purchased by or merged with the entertainment industry. So, who will stand up for the customer?

I watched the Video Music Awards (OK, they were on while I was blasting aliens nearby) the other day. Several times during the broadcast, MTV played commercials which claimed that the recurring meme that “MTV Doesn’t Play Music” is actually a falsehood, an urban legend. Glancing at their schedule on Zap2It this morning, I find that MTV does play music videos. At 5 am. Twice per week. For an hour. That can’t be right, I thought. Maybe some of these other shows with hip and happenin’ names are actually music videos.

Turns out, MTV After Hours plays videos, from 2am to 5am each weekday. And MTV Video Wakeup plays videos from 5am to 8am each weekday. And we can’t forget TRL, which plays about one video per 15 minutes of mindless yammering, and only one hour per day anyway.

So, what do we end up with? On weekdays, there are music videos from 2 to 8 in the morning, which is convenient if you’re a vampire. And then there are videos interspersed with screaming teenaged girls at 4 each afternoon. Being as generous as humanly possible, that gives a grand total of 40 hours of music during a seven-day period that has 168 hours broadcast. Less than 25% music on Music Television.

During those hours when I could watch television, the schedule is filled with endless hours of reality shows and Laguna Beach. Yay.

For those of us who have jobs that require we work and sleep normal hours, this is very entertaining. I guess you could Tivo the videos on some sort of low priority, so if there’s nothing you want to watch on, you could zone out to videos. Otherwise, the “urban legend” is true, at least insofar as it applies to normal people who sleep when it’s dark and work during the week – MTV really doesn’t play music.

Saw a fellow this afternoon, filling up his RV at the local gas station, with a boat on a trailer following. I can just imagine the dedication to his vacation he must have, to be paying (at that station) $3.01 per gallon for regular.

One of my cow-orkers today referred to the 89-octane fuel as “high test” gas. I offered to help him knead the yellow coloring into his oleo if his arthritic senior citizen hands could use the break. So he said he wasn’t being anachronistic – it’s a Californian thing. “Hey, I am from California, I think I’d know, buddy.”

I just saw an ad for the Fritos Chili Cheese Hungr Buster burger, from Dairy Queen. It’s a local Texas-only promotion, of course. What a great idea for a country that is already averaging about double “holy shit you’re fat” obesity levels…

The article LPO: Caring for Your Introvert isn’t new, but I just bumped into it via Neal Stephenson’s page. Here’s a short excerpt:

Are introverts arrogant?

Hardly. I suppose this common misconception has to do with our being more intelligent, more reflective, more independent, more level-headed, more refined, and more sensitive than extroverts. Also, it is probably due to our lack of small talk, a lack that extroverts often mistake for disdain. We tend to think before talking, whereas extroverts tend to think by talking, which is why their meetings never last less than six hours.

A strange thing about the Amazon recommendation system – it’s retarded.

It may make sense, in the context of books or music, to suggest you might be interested in something similar to a previously purchased item. But, in the context of technology, it’s just bizarre. “Hey, we noticed you own a wifi card, so you might be interested in another wifi card.” Um, yeah. Thanks, got one. “You purchased a couple books on Microsoft Access, maybe you’d like all the other books on Access ever published.” Why would I?

And don’t even get me started on the way that different editions of the same book or CD get hawked, after I purchased one already. “You bought Depeche Mode’s Songs of Faith and Devotion, maybe you’d like Songs of Faith and Devotion [Enhanced]?” Seems unlikely, doesn’t it?

From MLFoley, here is a musical meme. Go to Music Outfitters and put the year of your birth in the search engine. It’ll show you the top 100 songs of that year. Bold the ones you like.

1. Bridge Over Troubled Water, Simon and Garfunkel
2. (They Long To Be) Close To You, Carpenters
3. American Woman / No Sugar Tonight, The Guess Who
4. Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head, B.J. Thomas
5. War, Edwin Starr
6. Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, Diana Ross
7. I’ll Be There, Jackson 5
8. Get Ready, Rare Earth
9. Let It Be, The Beatles
10. Band Of Gold, Freda Payne
11. Mama Told Me (Not To Come), Three Dog Night
12. Everything Is Beautiful, Ray Stevens
13. Make It With You, Bread
14. Hitchin’ A Ride, Vanity Fair
15. ABC, Jackson 5
16. The Love You Save / I Found That Girl, Jackson 5
17. Cracklin’ Rose, Neil Diamond
18. Candida, Dawn
19. Thank You (Fallettin Me Be Mice Elf Again) / Everybody Is A Star, Sly and The Family Stone
20. Spill The Wine, Eric Burdon and War
21. O-o-h Child / Dear Prudence, Five Stairsteps and Cubie
22. Spirit In The Sky, Norman Greenbaum (although the Doctor and the Medics version is my fave)
23. Lay Down (Candles In The Rain), Melanie and The Edwin Hawkins Singers
24. Ball Of Confusion (That’s What The World Is Today), Temptations
25. Love On A Two Way Street, Moments
27. Which Way You Goin’ Billy?, Poppy Family
28. All Right Now, Free
29. Julie, Do Ya Love Me, Bobby Sherman
30. Green-eyed Lady, Sugarloaf
31. Signed Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours), Stevie Wonder
32. Ride Captain Ride, Blues Image
33. Venus, Shocking Blue
34. Instant Karma (We All Shine On), John Ono Lennon
35. Patches, Clarence Carter
36. Lookin’ Out My Back Door / Long As I Can See The Light, Creedence Clearwater Revival
37. Rainy Night In Georgia, Brook Benton
38. Something’s Burning, Kenny Rogers and The First Edition
39. Give Me Just A Little More Time, Chairmen Of The Board
40. Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes), Edison Lighthouse
41. The Long And Winding Road / For You Blue, The Beatles
42. Snowbird, Anne Murray
43. Reflections Of My Life, Marmalade
44. Hey There Lonely Girl, Eddie Holman
45. The Rapper, Jaggerz
46. He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother, Hollies
47. Tighter, Tighter, Alive and Kicking
48. Come And Get It, Badfinger
49. Cecelia, Simon and Garfunkel
50. Love Land, Charles Wright and The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band
51. Turn Back The Hands Of Time, Tyrone Davis
52. Lola, Kinks
53. In The Summertime, Mungo Jerry
54. Indiana Wants Me, R. Dean Taylor
55. (I Know) I’m Losing You, Rare Earth
56. Easy Come, Easy Go, Bobby Sherman
57. Express Yourself, Charles Wright and The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band
58. Still Water (Love), Four Tops
59. Make Me Smile, Chicago
60. House Of The Rising Sun , Frijid Pink
61. 25 Or 6 To 4, Chicago
62. My Baby Loves Lovin’, White Plains
63. Love Or Let Me Be Lonely, Friends Of Distinction
64. United We Stand, Brotherhood Of Man
65. We’ve Only Just Begun, Carpenters
66. Arizona, Mark Lindsay
67. Fire And Rain, James Taylor
68. Groovy Situation, Gene Chandler
69. Evil Ways, Santana
70. No Time, The Guess Who
71. Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time), Delfonics
72. The Wonder Of You / Mama Liked The Roses, Elvis Presley
73. Up Around The Bend / Run Through The Jungle, Creedence Clearwater Revival
74. (If You Let Me Make Love To You Then) Why Can’t I Touch You, Ronnie Dyson
75. I Just Can’t Help Believing, B.J. Thomas
76. It’s A Shame, Spinners
77. For The Love Of Him, Bobbi Martin
78. Mississippi Queen, Mountain
79. I Want To Take You Higher, Ike and Tina Turner
80. The Letter, Joe Cocker
81. Ma Belle Amie, Tee Set
82. The Bells, Originals
83. Yellow River, Christie
84. Somebody’s Been Sleeping, 100 Proof and Aged In Soul
85. Vehicle, Ides Of March
86. Gimme Dat Ding, Pipkins
87. Lay A Little Lovin’ On Me, Robin Mcnamara
88. Up The Ladder To The Roof, Supremes
89. Travelin’ Band / Who’ll Stop The Rain, Creedence Clearwater Revival
90. Come Saturday Morning, Sandpipers
91. Psychedelic Shack, Temptations
92. Without Love (There Is Nothing), Tom Jones
93. Are You Ready?, Pacific Gas and Electric
94. Woodstock, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
95. I’ll Never Fall In Love Again, Dionne Warwick
96. Look What They’ve Done To My Song Ma, New Seekers
97. Walk A Mile In My Shoes, Joe South
98. The Thrill Is Gone, B.B. King
99. It’s Only Make Believe, Glen Campbell
100. Call Me, Aretha Franklin

Obviously, 1970 was not a bad year for music. Lots of Beatles and CCR in there. Sweet.

Fun with LJ and Google Maps! LJ Friendsmap

From the Alt Friday 5:

1. Have you ever quit a job? Tell us a little about it. Well, I quit the family business to join the army and quit the army after twelve years. Not really the usual definition of quitting, are they?

2. Have you ever been fired? Tell us a little about it. Nope.

3. Have you ever been bought as part of a merger or takeover? Tell us a little about it. Twice. TRW was bought by Northrup Grumman and pretty much nothing changed. CTI was bought by MTC, and they took away our snacks and sodas; we’ve been waiting eight months for the stock sale money to show up. Yay.

4. Of all the jobs you’ve had, which job were you saddest to leave? Why? Never really been sad to leave a job, but I was most ambivalent about leaving TRW/NGMS – they were willing to pay me a lot of money to be just barely competent, because most other employees were actively incompetent.

5. Of all the jobs you’ve had, which job were you happiest to leave? Why? The army. No more involuntary trips to Korea, no more wearing face paint, no more living in a tent for weeks. Oh, yeah. Glad to be done with that.

On a lark, I hit the Intertel Homepage tonight. Turns out, I scored five points too low on the SAT to be a member. So I’m just barely outside the top 1% of standardized IQ test scores. That and three bucks and I can get a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

Blame Sierra.

Bold means I love(d) it/watch(ed) it religiously/etc.
Italic means I like(d) it but did/do not watch religiously.
CAPS means I’ve seen/saw it but am/was pretty much indifferent to it.
Regular roman letters means I didn’t see it/never saw it.
Underline means I have seen it but dislike(d) it.

Absolutely Fabulous
Alien Nation
A-Team
Angel
The Avengers
Babylon 5
Battlestar Galactica (Old)
Battlestar Galactica (New)
BLAKE’S SEVEN
Beauty And The Beast
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
THE BIONIC WOMAN
Danger Man/Secret Agent Man
Dark Shadows
The Daily Show
Doctor Who
Family Guy
Farscape
FIREFLY
Forever Knight
4400
Freaks And Geeks
Futurama
Joan Of Arcadia
The Invisible Man
Knight Rider
KUNG-FU
The Legend Of Hercules
My So-Called Life
Mystery Science Theatre 3000
Monk
Monty Python’s Flying Circus
Nowhere Man
The Outer Limits
The Prisoner
Quantum Leap
The Twilight Zone
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Simpsons
Space:1999
STARGATE SG-1
Star Trek: TOS
Star Trek: TNG
Star Trek: DS9
STAR TREK: VOYAGER
Star Trek: Enterprise
V
Vampire: The Masquerade
Twin Peaks
Wonderfalls
Xena: Warrior Princess
THE X-FILES