This Photo Of The Californian Fires From Reuters Looks Like A Hieronymus Bosch Painting

Aina? Photographer is Max Whittaker it would seem.

One Shot One Kill

Yes that's right, if you make ONE mistake on the online banking login the system locks you out. Uh, well I guess that's a secure system...secure against both legitimate and criminally-intent users. Where else have you encountered a system that does not even give you a second chance!? Even the system we have at work allows you three tries. Is this how the l33t hAx0rz (sic) work? They just try random names and passwords to see if they work?

"Well I found out this guy named Bob Smith has an account here, I'm gonna see if his password is "bs" Nope. How about "bs1" Nope. How about "bobsmith". Nope. Oh, I know Bob is 48 years old, let's try "bobsmith48" Nope. *sigh* Man being a hacker is hard work! This is gonna take me hours, but rest assured I will have Bob's money! Muwhahaha! I tell you, I sure hate freedom! I wish everyone could live in slavery, then we'd have peace. I swear, if I could just get Bob's money to give to Al Queda they'd meet their February budget and be able to wipe out all non-believers with the seal over their hearts and that. I can't wait! I hope my fingers don't cramp up from trying passwords all night!"

Useless Laws In Action

This post is not going to be all that elegant because I'm writing it when I'm MAD. You shouldn't do that, but I'm doing it anyway. I've now been locked out of my online banking accounts at Associated Bank for the fourth time. Why? Because the federal government passed a shitty law about so-called security questions that you have to answer. There's this list of bullshit trivia they quiz you on and you're supposed to fill in an answer for. "What's your favorite candy?" "What's the name of the street you grew up on" and stuff like that. Yeah I get it, stuff only the user would know. Usually I enter just my normal password and get in, but every month or so it seems I enter the password and then the shitty, government-crippled system barfs out "You've been locked out cause your security questions were not answered correctly". Which is a damn lie because they didn't even ASK them. Either the system locks you out instantly or it is programmed to fail on some kind of timed interval. But you cannot call some automated line, a case where automation would be welcomed actually; instead you have to call during daytime hours to speak with a bank person to reset the fucking questions. IT IS THE LAMEST MOST BOGUS SECURITY AND THE BIGGEST PAIN IN THE ASS I HAVE EVER SEEN IN A COMPUTER SYSTEM!!! Fuck the Federal Government and fuck their laws that treat me like a fucking terrorist. I'M NOT SENDING MONEY TO AL QUEDA YOU USELESS BUREAUCRATS, I'M JUST TRYING TO PAY MY FUCKING BILLS!!! This is what you get with laws, good intentions, total failure in action. And what can I do, close my account? I'd LOVE to. I'd LOVE to rip Associated Bank a new asshole for this treatment, but it's not their fault, they're just OBEYING like everybody. I'm sure this pointless hot air piece of legislation makes ALL banks have to fuck up their systems with this silly hoop jumping. Fuck them. If this is security I don't want it. I'll take my chances with just my plain 'ol password, thanks. AND I DON'T WANT TO BE LOCKED OUT BECAUSE OF A FUCKING TYPO!!! I'm HUMAN for fuck's sake, I can't type perfectly every time! Hitting a Y instead of a U doesn't mean I'm a hacker trying to steal money. Forgetting which serial number I've added to the end of my regular password (thanks to the ordinary bullshit practice of expiring passwords) doesn't make me a guy hellbent on funding terrorists!

Invisible Mouse Buttons

I just ran into an interesting PEBCAK problem with a co-worker. (Problem Exists Between Chair And Keyboard) He is using the Apple Mighty Mouse (at least I think that's what it's called, the white one with the tiny scroll ball) and had occasion to use a contextual menu. That in itself should be somewhat of a red flag, don't people use contextual menus all the time? Hmmm. Anyway, there is a plugin I've installed on all the department machines which copies the path of a file into the clipboard so you can paste it into an e-mail. So if Jim wants to tell Bob to open up the October Sales Projection document he right clicks on the file on the server, chooses this "Copy Path To Clipboard" command and pastes the string into an e-mail. Easy enough, right?

Now here's a criticism of Apple's hardware; they made a three button mouse that looks like a NO button mouse. It doesn't have buttons per se, but it has sensitive areas which function just like buttons. By default the driver is set to make the mouse one button. This is why the co-worker thought he could not right-click on the files. So I showed him how to change the driver preferences to make the right sensitive-invisible-button to be "Secondary Click" and the left side "Primary Click". This seemed to be fine for a few weeks.

Then today he says that he changed the prefs back to both sides being Primary Click because he was getting unwanted contextual menu popups in the Finder. Why? Well it's simple; because he always clicks with his middle finger on the right side of the mouse. Erm, okay... So it had nothing to do with the software or hardware, just that you're clicking the wrong button! Sheesh! So I explained to him the revelation that Control-Click is the same as Secondary Click on the Mac. What about swapping the buttons around? It's like he's left fingered on his right hand or something. Really really strange.

It's Not Even Halloween Yet You Idiots

Could we PLEASE stop rushing holidays further and further ahead of the day they actually happen? It's bad enough to be rushing Christmas in November but now the bastards are pushing it in fucking October! People, a holiday is ONE day. ONE SINGLE DAY, not THREE MONTHS! The next holiday coming up is HALLOWEEN. Got it? HALLOWEEN. Not Thanksgiving, not Christmas, not New Years, just fucking HALLOWEEN. Can we stick to that? Stop skipping ahead!

Since time is apparently malleable to whatever we want how far will this nonsense go? A year ahead of time? On December 26th 2007 the stores will be advertising sales for Christmas of 2008?! Why stop there? Why not five years ahead of time? Hell, let's just make every single day Christmas so we can have non-stop sales and shitty Muzak at all times.

Gee, Thanks Allah

Even more difficult to believe than the idea of some supreme god who created the universe are the texts allegedly written by these deities. I started reading the Koran and it is equally if not more mind-numbingly dull and pointless as the Bible is. I can't get past Genesis in the Bible and I couldn't get past "The Cow" in the Koran. Truly, it might as well just say, "Blah blah blah". It all just starts with a bang, single phrases thrown at you with no set up or explanation whatsoever. But nevermind that, it's not supposed to be entertaining or interesting, this is the Word Of God, right? The most important thing you could possibly read! Wow, it must be good.

Already, right out of the gate I've been doomed as a non-believer within the first ten verses. Just listen to this rubbish, if you don't fall asleep first:

[2.1] Alif Lam Mim.
[2.2] This Book, there is no doubt in it, is a guide to those who guard (against evil).
[2.3] Those who believe in the unseen and keep up prayer and spend out of what We have given them.
[2.4] And who believe in that which has been revealed to you and that which was revealed before you and they are sure of the hereafter.
[2.5] These are on a right course from their Lord and these it is that shall be successful.
[2.6] Surely those who disbelieve, it being alike to them whether you warn them, or do not warn them, will not believe.
[2.7] Allah has set a seal upon their hearts and upon their hearing and there is a covering over their eyes, and there is a great punishment for them.
[2.8] And there are some people who say: We believe in Allah and the last day; and they are not at all believers.
[2.9] They desire to deceive Allah and those who believe, and they deceive only themselves and they do not perceive.
[2.10] There is a disease in their hearts, so Allah added to their disease and they shall have a painful chastisement because they lied.

So much for free will! Allah has made me this way, I can't do anything about it and I'm gonna be tortured for it! Geez. Muslims supposedly want everyone else to convert to Islam but what about Allah making us this way? It sounds like we've got no control over our destiny. Oh don't worry, I'm sure there's another verse for that. These singular holy texts written by the single holy dude have an odd way of containing multiple meanings and interpretations. Hardly the clear, concise instruction a deity would need to communicate his big divine plan to the masses.

Why isn't there a "God Language" and why don't newborn babies speak and understand it? If there is one god shouldn't there be ONE common language? Why don't humans innately understand Arabic? Oh wait, now I remember:

BECAUSE THEY MADE THIS SHIT UP!

Ahh, it all makes sense now. How this mindless garbage still survives in the modern world I will never understand. We need to grow up, folks. Luckily there's plenty of GOOD literature around, and we needn't slaughter each other over it. Take "The Silmarillion" for instance. Why can't this become a religion? Tolkien writes more interesting stuff than anything in the Bible or Koran. And let's give him credit, the Silmarillion IS a tremendously dry tome. Plus it starts out with a creation story and everything. Come on folks, let's all switch to Illuvatar worship! Hooray!

Voluntary Censorship or Debate?

One of the great things about the web is that people can argue, debate and generally go back and forth about their ideas. Sometimes it can be calm, or heated and sometimes people can start screaming at each other (to the extent that one CAN "scream" in text) But one thing I find particularly vulgar is for person A to actually request that person B change the very words they wrote in order better satisfy person A. Is this voluntary censorship or debate? This is a fine line I'll grant you, but to me there is no grey area here. It is the difference between a real argument and self-censorship.

Censorship is wrong because it is a lie. If you alter the original idea you are fundamentally violating the author's ideas. No matter what positive end you hope to gain by altering the words it is still a lie. It is perfectly fine to challenge a person's ideas, to tell them why you think they're wrong, even to scream at them what an asshole they are. But to try and craft another individual's words to better suit your ideas about HOW they should come across to others is a terrible insult. It's so feeble-minded to try and do that. It shows that you don't really have an adequate response to their message but only wish that they hadn't said it like that. How weak!

How dare anyone seek to change what you say or how you say it by these mealy-mouthed requests! People's minds are changed and new ideas are gained by a long and continuous string of unfettered communication, not by going in 'behind the scenes' and tinkering with the parts. That to me smacks of poltics and bureaucracy rather than a free exchange of ideas. It goes a step backward from genuine persuasion. It is one thing if you are writing an article and working with an editor who wants to change your words around, but here I am speaking of online communication between people. Opinions vs. opinions.

Challenge people about what they say, but don't be so rude and self-important to make them change how they say it or what words they should or should not use. Offer your own idea in turn and explain why you think you're right. Don't tinker with the semantics! You may achieve the same ends after all.

Printing - The Case For A Single Dialog

In the general sense computers keep getting better and better, however there also exists the phenomenon of getting used to bad designs. We learn to accept and work around unnecessarily complex software. Perhaps complex is not the right word, more like disorganized. With the amount of functions that we want our software and hardware to do making things simpler isn't the easy answer, but I do think things can be made far more organized so that the operator can view and change the parameters without a lot of fuss. I speak specifically of printing. No matter if your platform is Mac or Windows, printing software is absurdly complex. There are literally dozens of dialog boxes you can go through, some of them are useful for what you want to print, others aren't. But no matter what you have to memorize a dizzying array of screens\dialogs to wade through before you get what you want. If you ask me the whole thing is a complete mess and we need to start over on this printing business. There is far too much rope with which to hang one's self.

I print stuff everyday on a variety of printers from desktop inkjets to laser printers and high end RIPs. Even though I have learned what most of the settings mean and how to get it to print in the way I want, it is still very frustrating and numerous mistakes are incredibly easy to make. Learning the settings is difficult enough, but the process is made all the worse in that there are too many places to make the settings. There's an OS interface, an application interface, and a printer interface and they all might have redundant or self-defeating settings. The possibility for screwing it all up is extremely high. Why does it have to be this complex? Why do we have so many places to change printer settings? We need ONE dialog box. Make it full screen. Use every inch of the monitor to display EVERY setting. Be able to change everything in one screen with NO hidden functions. Show a legible preview of exactly what you're getting.

The closest I have seen to a decently-designed print dialog is Adobe Acrobat's, but that's not saying much. There are still plenty of hidden functions. Why are there TWO separate dialogs for Page Setup and Print? If you hit Print and the page size isn't correct for your printer you have to exit that dialog and open another. It makes no sense, I am printing the damn thing, so why not have all the preferences clear and visible in one go? If it makes sense to hide the features you never use that's fine, but at least the option should be there.

Maybe nobody cares about printing in this day of gee whiz pocket organizer doodads, but I know my job would be a lot easier if I thought there was some logical interface to use when printing documents. We have just piled complex stuff on top of each other without trying to make it one cohesive operation.

What Defines Cheating In Sports?

I personally have no interest in following professional sports, but I do occasionally read other people talking about sports or listen to people talking about sports on the radio. It seems that there is a lot of hoopla over steroids and whatnot. I'd be curious to know what people are actually upset about when a certain athlete is found to have used steroids, or blood doping or whatever the heck it is that athletes do; is it because they broke the rules of the sport or because it is unethical and subjectively dirty and underhanded to use these substances? Personally the only argument I can support is that the athletes broke the rules of the sport. If the rules say you can't take drug A B or C then you ought to be disqualified. But if there aren't such rules I don't see using drugs in the same sense of cheating. There was some guy in the Tour De France who was kicked out for having a blood transfusion or something. I find it hard to feel much enmity towards these guys because whatever they are putting in their bodies they're still huffing it on a bike for miles and miles. To me cheating in a bike race isn't using drugs, it would be if you put a motor on the bike or sticking a rod through a guy's spokes, having your friends pull a rope across the road as your rival passed by, taking a shortcut off the course or something. Chemicals are a much more nebulous subject.

I'm sure if I was allowed to take every single performance-enhancing drug known to man I still would not be able to throw a baseball as good as the worst professional ball player out there. The degree of physical ability and training that pro athletes have seems amazing enough to me. I would be more likely to call drugs cheating if there exists such a drug where you can take a guy off the couch, inject him with this substance and he can beat the undrugged pro athlete who has been training and practicing for years.

I dunno, I'm just glad I don't actually care about this subject! HA!

Quark License Administrator

The government isn't the only group that can treat you like a suspected criminal at all times. Take for instance, Quark Inc. If it were up to me we would never pay money to endure this sort of anti-piracy abuse. Quark does not trust you, they think you are a low down dirty software pirate stealing bread from their table. You pay them five fucking grand for their goddamn page layout software and then you have to endure the most draconian software licensing scheme I have EVER encountered. Why? Because you're not a valued customer, you are a potentional enemy and thus you must prove yourself worthy every time you boot the program. Convicted child rapists probably undergo less scrutiny than the average Quark user! My fear is that Adobe will also adopt this customer-is-criminal approach too. Look, I realize piracy is an issue but it did not stop these companies from becoming HUGELY SUCCESSFUL. Legit, paying customers are keeping these guys afloat and as a legit user I must protest this draconian horseshit. I want to pay to use a page layout program, not appease some whiny Quark License Administrator software! Fuck QLA, fuck it right in the ear.

I Don't Get MySpace

In addition to not being hip to myspace whenever the hell it started becoming the popular thing I also developed an unexplained aversion to it. I don't know why. Perhaps it's the fact that every myspace page I ever looked at is a design abortion? What the hell is going on there? Why does everyone choose to use a complex photo background so you can't READ ANYTHING??? I don't have cause to go there but whenever I have the page looks like digital vomit. They remind me of those copy protection schemes used by computer games back in the old days where you had to read something using a red filter over your eye.

That's what I like about Blogger here, its templates do not encourage hideous web design. You have to try harder to fuck it up and make it an illegible mess. Seems like with MySpace the illegible mess goes with the territory. I don't get it.

FUCK UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE

Gas Boycott, What Was I Thinking!?

Recently I put my foot right in a big cowpile of illogic and thought I should come clean. I was headed out to my step brother's place this past Mother's Day with my folks. My dad informed me of some 'nationwide gas boycott' thing where you weren't supposed to buy gas on tuesday. I thought it was a good idea because it was a market-based solution, not a government regulation one. I thought it was a good way to Stick It To The Man. But the next day my stupidity became embarrassingly obvious. A one day gas boycott, are you freakin' NUTS? What the hell is that gonna do!? Don't buy gas tuesday but wednesday's okay? Ridiculous! I am not very good at thinking on my feet unfortunately.

If you want to Stick It To The Oil Man you simply have to make a LONG TERM CHANGE IN YOUR GASOLINE CONSUMPTION. Better yet, make a short term change by actually consuming gasoline. You will die and Mother Earth will be reborn in splendor. No but seriously, unless you make a fundamental reduction in buying gas they aren't going to see any decline in sales. Reduce unnecessary trips, use a bike instead of a car, move closer to work, buy a more efficient car...these things will actually help. Everything else will be either symbolically good but useless or have the reverse effect.

But fundamentally I am stumped by the fact that complaining about gasoline prices are a favorite pastime of Americans. I am an evil person who wants to destroy the universe which means I commute a long distance to work everyday, burning fossil fuels and causing unborn babies to choke on deadly smog. However, the cost of this earth-raping madness of mine has never really caused me undue grief. Gasoline does not comprise a huge portion of my spending. If it bothered me so much I would have recourse, I could move closer to work. I wish all the gas price complaints were directed instead at something truly nefarious like say the income tax, or our fiat currency system which causes inflation in the first place.

A boycott of a certain product or company seems to be a form of protest. But what was the message of this alleged one-day gas boycott?

"We're pissed about high gas prices and you oil companies can go to hell!"

or was it actually:

"We're pissed about high gas prices and uh, we're going to keep buying it anyway. So yeah, go to hell oil companies! Um, just as long as you can still sell me gas in Hell...please? I need it..."

Let's face it, certain industries have got us by the balls. The energy business is a great business to be in. We all want it, and there's people willing to provide it. Sure we can go without, but well, it's really really nice to have. Sometimes I wish I worked in such an industry. Something like energy, food, drugs, funeral homes...these are industries that will never go away. I work in a lesuire activity industry that's based upon another industry whose golden age is slowly fading into history: model railroading! And it's in the printed page too, another area I worry is threatened by the steady march of progress. But I digress...

As they say in Morbid Angel, "send up our hate\to burn Heaven's gate". Such hate ought to be addressed to Washington D.C. and not the local filling station in my opinion.

(cripes, don't use the spell check on Blogger, it fucks up your text! *doh*)

Chubby Chasers: A Future Federal Agency?

As the USA stumbles inevitably towards its fascist destiny, blithely ignoring all the lessons of history I can't help but wonder if there will ever be a saturation point? Is there anything the feds will stop short of? Is there any War On _____ that will hit too close to home for even the slickest politicians to weasel out of? Personally I think it's gotta be the War on Fat. Nobody cares that much when minority groups have their rights bulldozed by the feds, but when the time comes when being overweight is illegal how will fat politicians possibly legitimize that? Fat people are the majority! America is large and in charge. JimSensenbrenner wants to make sure your papers are in order with his Real ID horseshit, but one look at the jowly mug of this creep and it's hard to imagine this guy pushing a fat crackdown. It would look very bad. I know, we're talking about professional hypocrites here, but somehow I think they'll stop short of the fat war.

All the other crackdowns middle America seems to be perfectly happy with. Yeah, go bust the pot smokers, the cigarette smokers, teenagers who have voluntary sex and get busted for mutual rape, go ahead and bust those terrible Mexicans who come here ILLEGALLY (*gasp*!) go ahead and bust down the wrong people's doors looking for naughty drugs, go ahead and strip search me at the airport; we're Average Americans, we don't give a shit! As long as the Other Guy is getting fucked we don't give two shits, right? But ahh, what's this now? Going to jail for being fat!? Mandatory federal exercise programs? Taxes levied per pound? Food bans? Wait a minute, I'M FAT! NOW I'M A CRIMINAL TOO!!! Oh no! The sky is falling, the sky is falling!

But we're not going to do anything are we? We are gonna wait until the jackboot has got our oesophaguses halfway crushed before it dawns on us that gee, things may have gone too far. Yeah well, what can ya do? Humanity can't seem to get off this ride. Just a continuous cycle of oppression and bloodshed. We don't learn. *sigh*

Listen to movie Gandalf's advice, dammit:

"I would use this ring from a desire to do good! But through me, it would wield a power too great and terrible to imagine!"

Online Rudeness

Like bazillions of other people I occasionally like watching videos on YouTube. But what strikes me about the site (besides the incredibly poor video and sound quality, but hey you get what you pay for) is the complete and utter rudeness displayed. People's comments are more often than not extremely cruel, vulgar and nasty. I don't want to sound prudish, but the level of intelligence in many of the comments seems to be almost non-existent. My theory is that the degree of rudeness demonstrated in online communication is a result of a complete absorption in the virtual medium. This happens to me all the time too, and it should be something to watch out for. I would have expected less rudeness with YouTube considering there are often actual faces to put with the text, but instead the comments are even nastier than in strictly text based boards.

It is perfectly fine to accurately express one's emotions even if it involves anger and contempt, but in the back of your mind should be the thought, "Would I say these things to the person's face?" I can't imagine some of the youtube idiots being that crass if the communication was in the physical reality. There are better ways to insult and belittle a person that don't involve blatant hostility which often just makes you look bad. Not that genuine hatred and rage should be bottled up or censored, but rather focused in a concise beam.

Comparo

I don't like it when people shorten the word "comparison" to "comparo". I also dislike shortening the word "distribution" to "distro". It's not that I don't understand why people do it, because compari and distri would sound goofy. I just think the full word should be used when the shortened version changes a letter. This menace to society must stop. It is probably the most serious issue facing the human race today.

Campaign For Real Ugliness

More on the campaign for real beauty rant:

And another thing...if you think those chunky gals in the "Plus Size" section of the sunday ad slicks are scoring a victory for regular schlubbos being properly represented you're mistaken. Those women are exceptional looking as well, they've just got extra junk in the trunk. The closest I've ever seen to joe average looking people in print would be the Fleet Farm catalogs I used to work on. Truly, there were indeed regular folk modeling clothing in there. But cripes, this is a catalog that sells toy manure spreaders fer pete's sake. I've never really seen anyone I'd describe as being homely or ugly in any catalog. It just doesn't happen. The truly ugly get weeded out. Nobody wants to see that, there's no demand for it. But don't fret, it's got nothing to do with real life cause ugly people get hooked up all the time.

I say we need a campaign for Real Ugliness instead. I don't watch it myself, but there's some TV show called "Ugly Betty" out there. Well dammit, she ain't ugly. Glasses and braces don't make ya ugly folks. Where the hell are the truly repulsive faces? If you want to make movies with dorky losers then get the real thing, don't insult us with these quasi-homely model types. But who can blame Hollywood for giving us this half-ass ugly? Because we don't really want it, no matter what we say. When truly homely folk are put up on the silver screen we secretly cringe because it hurts too much, it hits too close to home. No, it's probably better to dress a good looking person in ugly camoflage and suspend our disbelief.

Sometimes Look On The Bright Side of Life

Both places I've lived in within the past few years have had an empty field, a small cluster of trees and a water tower directly across from my bedroom window. I like empty fields, but I also like trees. But forests can be boring if left to their own devices. What seems ideal is a mix of raw Nature and Man's meddling chainsaws. Trees are more aesthetically pleasing when they are scattered about with empty space in between them. The lone tree on the farmer's field I like, as they often grow very large and gnarled. Still, many farmers have not observed Bob Ross' rule that everybody needs a friend. I say instead of one tree, a group of three would be better.

A water tower in itself is not terribly pleasing, but it is odd that they have "followed" me like they have. I would rather look at a distant water tower than into a neighbor's window. Neighbors are also something I could do without, but this post is supposed to be about the bright side so let's leave that to one side for now.

I'm grateful for the Time Warner corporation for allowing people to turn off their television service. To be able to choose what services you want and those you don't want is good. By doing so my monthly bill was cut in two. Choice rules.

I will now say something positive about a government worker. Rare, I know. Awhile back a nice lady at the water department was very kind to me when she could have very easily ignored it and left me with a huge bill. Well, I did get a huge bill but I was able to stop the damage. I had a super-duper-slowly leaking toilet in an unused 2nd bathroom and the sucker was slowly gobbling up water. The nice lady alerted me about the unusually high consumption even though it was in the water department's best interest to wish everyone had a leaking toilet. This shows that personal ethics can override bureaucracy at times.

I'm grateful for the internet. A decentralized, more or less anarchic system which totally works. How great to be free from the mind-numbing crap they feed you at the big media outlets. Now I can watch clips from those big media outlets at my leisure just to confirm the existence of the dark side of sound-byte ridden, emotionally-charged, shouting matches that pose as talk shows. The seemingly cruel view that the masses are stupid is painfully obvious if one assumes these shows are people's sole source of news. To watch CNN or Fox is like having your brain injected with a long needle filled with novacaine. What's that I was saying about the bright side? Crap! Well the bright side is that you don't have to rely on this garbage. It can also be pushed aside if you wish. That's bright.

If you're ever feeling bummed out with environmental hysteria and guilt over mankind's pollutive nature a good glance at Google Earth's satellite images are a wonderful elixir. Maybe I am a complete fool, maybe they are goosing the data to make it look better than it really is...I dunno. But what I see is an unfathomably BEAUTIFUL earth full of the most rich colors and textures. It also makes me glad to see large swaths of the planet seemingly not covered by humans and their little grid system. (We do love the grids) And how cool are the salt flats in Utah? Just look at that, a huge blob of white just sitting there amongst the browns and greens. I might not have a jet car, but I wonder if it is interesting to visit the salt flats or if the attraction wears off? Can you reach a point where there is nothing but white in all directions or are there always distant mountains visible? Hmmm.

Can People Ask Each Other Questions Anymore?

Has asking a simple question to a person been rendered pointless now than we have Google and Wikipedia? It seems like no matter what you want to know in life, the answer is 2 seconds away as long as you have a computer and internet connection. Often I feel like just asking a question of someone even though I know I could find out myself with a search. Wanting to ask a basic question from a living human is followed immediately by the thought of "Geez I'm lazy, I could find out in 2 seconds with Google..."

What do you think? Look it up on Google and keep the answer to yourself. Thanks!

*ist D Is A Stupid Name For A Camera

*ist D is a stupid name for a camera. What exactly were they thinking? I finally found a site that gave the pronunciation which is apparently:

IST DEE

So the asterisk has NOTHING to do with it. It's not "asterist", "star-ist" or "asteriskist" or something as I originally guessed. You just flat out ignore the * and say "ist dee". But what the fuck does Ist Dee mean? The artist formerly known as prince is behind this isn't he? I knew it! I guess I have to give them credit, the name is weird and annoying which is better than boring I guess. The vast majority of articles about this damn thing don't bother to explain the glaring question of, what the fuck is this thing called?

But now, thanks to Steve's Digicams all is right with the universe. Ahhh.