Genetics vs. Capitalism

I'm not going to give a score on this, because the battle is far from over, and has possibly just begun. Although, humanity has made a small win over a corporation who had patented a pair of genes used to detect cancers. Therefore, only this company could run tests on these genes, and charged handsomely for it. The judge said no, agreeing with the ACLU that DNA is a besic part of everyone's individuality. This opens up the possibility for the 2,000 or so other patents on genes to be questioned, and should. Human genes should not be patented by anyone, it is the fundamental 'open source' material.

Welcome to the Land of Unemployment

Two weeks ago, I suffered a fate many other Americans have in the last two years, something I haven't had to deal with in nearly nine years. I became unemployed. I wasn't fired or 'let go' for my own failings in my job or anything serious like that, just laid off due to a lack of work. Although I was very capable at what I was doing, the lack of anything TO DO made me the most expendable. Another tech was laid off and the third went part time, something my boss had not had to do in about fifteen years. This dismal state was brought about by this dismal state, which lags behind the rest of the country in some sort of Lostian time bubble, which makes things that affect the country economically take about six months to get here. Weird, I know. This state has other properties that are suspiciously similar to the island in Lost, like this black-hole effect that causes many who think they have escaped it to inevitably be drawn back in. Enough about this land of Mormons and mystery.
I began my stint in unemployment with a dazed sort of deja vu, sending me back to the summer of 2001 when I first experienced being let go. I had much less experience back then, also quite a few less bills and responsibilities, but I had that same feeling of 'what do I do now?' Well, first things first, file for unemployment, which the internets have made much easier these days. Done the night I received the news. Next morning, I began my tedious search for work. The Workforce Service site was still quite handy in this, despite 99% of the jobs being far out of range of my qualifications. Next I went on to craigslist, one of the handiest sites out there, but quickly learned how much the site has become target to scam artists attempting to fool would-be applicants into giving up personal information. A landslide of useless emails and phone calls quickly followed, and I learned to differentiate the legit postings from the false ones. Careful out there on the Internet, I'm still just getting a handle on all these scam contacts.
It's not as easy to get a job as I had hoped it would be, picking up the occasional part-day work has filled in the time not spent on school or searching for a job. Utah's unemployment rate jumped 1.5% from Nov. 2009 to February of this year, right before I met my current fate. I'm not surprised it has been difficult finding work. To all those out there who are like me, keep up the search, and don't give up, something always comes around. I'll keep looking, and until I find what I'm looking for, I'll keep that fraction of my dignity that the unemployment office has decided to give me back.

Daily Douchebaggery

This douchebaggery is far more extensive than a single incident, and those culpable are many. Tuesday was a historic day for America, with the signing of a bill with such far-reaching importance that it will affect our children and grandchildren. The Health-Care reform bill narrowly passed through the House and Senate, and was signed into law by President Barack Obama. This is not the douchebaggery that I speak of.
During the health care reform debate, and his presidency in general, torrents of indescribable hatred, disguised as patriotism and Christianity, continued to flow unabated. The Tea Partiers are some of the worst of the group, last week mocking a man with Parkinson's who was peacefully protesting their protest, and before the vote on the reform bill, were tossing such epithets as 'nigger' and 'faggot' at certain members of congress, and laughing. Compassionate conservatism my ass. This is not protest, this is mean-spirited bullying. The conservatives aren't getting their way so they throw tantrums. It shows a lacking of any party morality, and Bob Herbert of the New York Times puts it even better as a complete lack of class.
The GOP should be held accountable for this, tacitly approving of these ugly, hateful tactics used to rile up a large group of ignorant, fearful people to push their agenda, which seems to only be tearing down and fighting anything Obama tries to do. Their small army of pocketed pundits on the various right-leaning television and radio stations do much of the work for them, bluntly calling for insurrection, impeachment and protest in complete ignorance and diametrically opposed to facts. Bombastic radio host Limbaugh threatened to leave the country if the bill was passed, claiming he would go somewhere else for his health care, like Costa Rica (which has nationalized medicine) but of course backed out of his claims at the last minute.
There are many other reasons and instances I could bring up to support my nomination of the entire GOP, the Tea Party and anyone else who supports their ideals for constant and impressively ignorant douchebaggery, but I don't have the time.

Respect the President . . . unless you don't agree with him!

I have been watching the rapidly deteriorating amount of respect paid to our president over the past 16 months, and am constantly reminded of all the huffing and puffing I heard during Bush's term from the conservative side about respecting the president. Despite all the things Bush did or may have done that would warrant a loss of respect for him, he received a lot of unnecessary scorn and disrespect. At his worst he was nothing but an ignorant tool of the republican party and his big business connections, but he wasn't anything compared to Hitler; and for that matter, neither is our current president. When your argument comes down to comparing a person to one of the most vile and hated figures in recent history, you've lost your argument. Why not compare to Pol Pot or Stalin, who killed more the 23 million, or Mao Ze-Dong, a brutal leader that may have killed over 78 million. This is all due to our Americanized, Euro-centric view of the world, but that is a subject for another post.
I just found it startling how fast the 'respect for the office' argument went right out the window as soon as Obama was sworn in. Within days he was hailed with news of his failed presidency, much to his surprise, I'm sure. Among the other horrible things said about him, such classics as: Nazi, Fascist, Socialist, Communist, Racist, Anti-American and Unpatriotic. Sounds like someone who wouldn't want to President of this country, despite the conflicting nature of the monikers.
As president, Barack should expect a little bullying from his opponents, he's never going to get everyone to agree with or like him. But this has just gotten completely out of hand, and is being led by the media giants MSNBC and FNC. Pundits like Hannity claim that there is this 'Obama-mania Media' out there somewhere that lauds every bowel movement he makes, but I have yet to see it. His support is still broad, but generally quite, especially in comparison to the anti-Obama fanatics out there screaming on street corners and crying on their very own talk shows.
The hatred, fear and ignorance is becoming palpable, but is still no excuse for the massive disrespect paid to the elected leader of this country. You can hate him all you want, but he is still your president. Try writing a letter sharing your concerns rather than posting hateful, jackass comments on threads everywhere on the Internet. Even former president Bush's wife, Laura Bush agrees with respecting the president, no matter who it is.
His speech to school children last year was an excellent marker for how deep the hatred and disrespect for our president has spread. Parents wanted schools to boycott the televised message, fearing he might infect our kids with such socialist sentiments as 'staying in school' and working hard. What a bastard. This is a great message to send to children, isn't it? Never trust anything the president says. Isn't it a big conservative ideal to teach children respect for your parents, elders and leaders? It definitely should be.

Stop Smiling, Dammit!

It is a well known fact that people tend to anthropomorphize certain things, giving them names and assigning characteristics as human in nature. This is especially true when it comes to cars. they usually end up with female names, although I've continually referred to my Camaro as 'The Beast," and will often talk to them and treat them like they are an actual living, breathing entity. This conjures up Stephen King-esque nightmares of demonic cars and killer trucks gone wild, but even more horrifying, the idea of cutesy-cars. You've seen them before; in movies, talking about their owners in commercials, and saving us from Megatron again and again. Cars should not look 'cute' in my opinion, although I'm sure many girls would disagree with me. They should look tough, aggressive, angry, manly or sinister, like this Mazda concept. Or at the very least, sexy.
The reasons this is done are psychological, people are more inclined to associate positively with a human-like object, as noted in an article on Science Daily. This humanised design has been becoming more apparent the last couple years, but I think the whole modern push may have begun with the Dodge Neon back in the mid-90's, with their slogan, 'Hi.' But the last ten years have seen a huge surge in cute cars, with the new VW Beetle, the revived Mini Cooper, the new Mazda 3, the Honda Fit, the Toyota Prius, the Smart Car, and this terrifying photo above of a Nissan Cube concept that can actually mimic facial expressions. This doesn't even count the slew of European and Asian cars that Americans never get to see except at car expos. I've been to Japan, they're all horrendously cute.
I have not said anything of people cutesifying their cars after the purchase, covering them with stickers and ugly pastel paint jobs, trying to create their car as an extension of their personality, this is a horrible practice in and of itself, an deems its own post. I'm just tired of going down the road in my angry car, having cars grinning stupidly at me. Like the new Mazda 3, that chrome strip makes it look like it has a retainer. And don't get me started on that damn Volkswagen Beetle. I think that car is the Germans trying to get back at us for WWII. Probably the worst vehicle I've ever had to work on. So, please, car designers of the world, please stop making cars smile at me.

Why Technology is Awesome

Since I was a kid, I've been fascinated with science and technology, a love that has continued unabated to this day. In fact, it has increased since abandoning the murky logic of religion for the hard, discernible facts of science. Although astronomy and computer technology are my more favorite subjects, like black holes and controlling machines with your mind, almost anything mildly interesting is worth a read for me. This is how I stumbled upon an article on PopSci that relates research done by Austrian scientists that could help create computers that compute data FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF LIGHT. That's right, you read my all-caps correctly. Using the simple theory of quantum entanglement (something that even unnerved Einstein), you could theoretically run a computer that did calculations nearly instantly, tens of trillions of them! Previously un-calculatable equations would become possible. Processor speed would no longer be an issue for any device. And if we ever figure out how to transmit data in a similar fashion, omg the possibilities! Okay, I'm about to have a geekgasm, so I'll calm down. But, I also found an article on Nokia patenting a self-charging cell-phone. Why would anyone ever hate science? Look at all the cool shit we get out of it. Next time you think about looking down on science or claiming it's 'boring,' look at that cell-phone in your pocket that couldn't have existed five or ten years ago. And that HDTV. And the computer ten-thousand times faster than the first one. Technology is awesome.

Intelligence - 1, Ignorance - 0 (This time)

Thankfully, another ignorant, self-righteous prick has been forced out of power in the Texas education system. Although their Board of Education Chairman is still in power as far I can tell, this man is far worse, saying horrendously ignorant things like, "Is understanding of evolution 'vital' to the understanding of biology? No." This man has helped in trying to change the Texas textbook standards that could effect the rest of the nation, with a religious, Christian-centric bent. He truly believes the earth is only a few thousand years old, contrary to well-established scientific knowledge, and apparently believes children should be taught that in their schools.
He also believes that minorities should be thankful to the majority (read the white, Christian/Evangelical male subtext) for getting them their rights. Because, of course, they had no hand in it, like the civil rights movement or female suffrage. It's just too bad that he'll still be in his position until the end of the year, he may still be able to affect other people's lives with his close-minded and egotistical ramblings.

Welcome to Energy Solutions Elementary

A bill was introduced last month by Jim Bird of the Utah State legislature, HB393, that would allow advertising on school buses, something at least six other states have done. It was rejected last Friday. They did, however, OK a bill that could end bus service for kids all over the state. I find this a terrible choice, and a decision that could harm our children in untold ways. I think we should allow this creeping commercialization into and onto our child's' buses, but why stop there? Considering the failure that our education system has evidently become, why not privatize and commercialize the the entire system? I can see a day where I proudly send by kids to M&M Mini's Elementary School, where every child will have a computer and a chance to learn their importance in society as a consumer. From there they will go on to Hershey's Kisses Junior High where important social skills will be learned and they will be introduced to the intricacies of capitalism. In Snickers High, our children will be prepared for the world through the arts, higher maths and a love of branding and commercialism. The only other option we have is to let the state continue to run the education system in the ground by firing teachers, increasing class sizes, and if state Senator Chris Buttars would have his way, eradicate the 12th grade from the system. Only corporate America can save us from this madness.