Scattered Thoughts

I hate Thursdays with a passion! Read more in the Link Below.

Yet another reason to hate Microsoft products
If you don't want to read a technical explanation about something, skip on down until I tell you to start reading again.

Ok, so while at work tonight, I found out something quite interesting about how Internet Explorer works. Here at IU, we have this new (well not really new, but that's a different story) web portal software called OneStart. Now the really cool thing about it is that you can create your own pages, view a lot of other IU related stuff, and customize almost everything. You also have what is called a role. Roles are basically what position you hold with the university i.e. I am both Staff and Student.

Anyway, I have been designing my own little blogging portal, which I'll have to show you guys at some point. The way my blogging software works is by storing certain information like login and password in a cookie and passing other information through the command line to the main engine, written in perl. Well, if you have the moveable type interface open in a frame inside an HTML document, the variable passing and cookie storage doesn't work. If you make it work in it's own window, everything is fine.

Yet another bug in a Microsoft program…

START READING HERE IF YOU DON'T LIKE TECHIE STUFF

Ok, now that that's out of the way, nothing else is really on my mind except the gay marraige debate.

OOOO OOOO OOOO!! The baseball was destroyed today. If you watched any of the NLCS this year, you know of which baseball I speak. Hopefully with the death of that damned ball, the Cubbies will make it to the Series this year. Wishful thinking, I know…

Ok, I'm almost out of here for the night, but I leave you with this.

Stole this from Erin, who stole it from her friend Erin, who probably stole it from someone else. If you know where I stand on this, you'll be able to read this the way it's intended.

12 reasons why gay people should not be allowed to get married:

1. Homosexuality is not natural, much like eyeglasses, polyester, and birth control.
2. Heterosexual marriages are valid because they produce children. Infertile couples and old people can't legally get married because the world needs more children.
3. Obviously, gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.
4. Straight marriage will be less meaningful if Gay marriage is allowed, since Britney Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage was meaningful.
5. Heterosexual marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are property, blacks can't marry whites, and divorce is illegal.
6. Gay marriage should be decided by people, not the courts, because the majority-elected legislatures, not courts, have historically protected the rights of the minorities.
7. Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire counrty. That's why we have only one religion in America.
8. Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.
9. Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.
10. Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why single parents are forbidden to raise children.
11. Gay marriage will change the foundation of society. Heterosexual marriage has been around for a long time, and we could never adapt to new social norms because we haven't adapted to things like cars or longer lifespans.
12. Civil unions, providing most of the same benefits as marriage with a different name are better, because a "seperate but equal" institution is always constitutional. Seperate schools for African-Americans worked just as well as seperate marriages for gays and lesbians will.

As you have probably guessed, this is something I feel strongly about, but I'm not going to debate it in here today, maybe sometime tomorrow… or something.

The End-of-the-Blog Rundown

Song of the Day – Bombs Over Baghdad – Outkast

Hero of the Day – Erin, just because.

Quote of the Day
Jeremy: Dude, this paper is weird, you should have a look at it. It's the "If you find this ream, you win a million dollars from IBM." ream.
Me: Yea, I need to take that and… um… show it to Marsha… yea…
Jeremy: I'm not worried about you stealing it, I have witnesses.
(after finding a ream of paper where every 20th sheet is narrower than all the others by a centimeter)

Beatles Trivia
The next post has the next question. Sorry for the delay, I'm thinking of a new question.

Current Mood – Geeky
Only because I figured out that Internet Explorer 6 bug.
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There is so much on my mind right now, I don't even know where to begin…

I guess I'll start with our slow and special president. How can anybody be so discriminatory? Ratify an amendment to DISCRIMINATE against an entire group of people! I'm sorry, but I thought that the Constitution of this great country was designed to stand for the COMPLETE opposite. Each and every word of that document is aimed at stamping out discrimination on the base of religion, sex, ethnic background, etc. Apparently our very own G Dubbs thinks that discrimination based on sexual orientation is ok. UNACCEPTABLE. EVERYBODY in this country should have the right to live however they please. I will not live under a government who discriminates against an entire group of people, some of whom are my closest friends! It's completely inappropriate! If this amendment is passed, I will be moving out of this country. I'm not sure to where yet, but I will not stand for this absurdity. Maybe England, Spain, Canada. If I have no money, I'll move to Mexico.

What was it that I saw on the news yesterday at lunch… it definitely made angry about something… hm… Ok, I can't remember…

Moving on to religious leaders. I was watching the news this morning and something occurred to me. NBC's morning program was interviewing some religious leader (I would have his name, but the Today Show doesn't believe in putting their interviews online until the day after the interview… blah). He was one of the religious folks to watch the premiere of The Passion with Mel Gibson, so naturally, they were asking him some questions about how he initially reacted and such. Here's how the questions played out:

Katie Couric: Do you feel that this movie is anti-Semitic?
Religious Dude: When the movie ended, I wrote a letter to (insert name of a civil rights leader here). I told him that in now way should anyone take the movie as offensive. There is no way this movie could be anti-Semitic because the Jews were the ones who wrote the new testament, the Jews were the ones who witnessed these events, even Jesus Christ was a Jew.
Katie Couric: Do you see a discrepancy between the events portrayed in the movie, the ones portrayed in the bible and the actual historical events?
Religious Dude: Katie, I am a firm believer that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins, and for your sins, and for everyone's sins.
Katie Couric: But what about the difference between the bible and history?
Religious Dude: Katie, I view the bible as the absolute historical truth. Ues Mel took some "Hollywood liberties" while making the film, but I feel that is very accurately represents the truth.

NOT ACTUAL QUOTES

Katie Couric could have kept pushing the issue of differences between biblical accounts of the events and actual historical accounts, but she didn't, which to me shows a sign of a good journalist, but that's not why I'm writing this in here. (there's a run-on sentence for ya )

My point here is simple. I am sick and tired of religious leaders who, when asked questions that criticize their religious beliefs, shutter and default to the whole "Jesus didn't die just for my sins, He died for your’s too." defense. Everyone in this country (Christian or not) should know by now that Christians believe that Jesus died on the cross for everybody, not just Christians. If a religious leader is going to put himself in a position to receive public criticism about the belief system that he leads, he should be willing and able to defend it. The above-mentioned defense isn't cutting it anymore. In fact, I don’t' think it ever cut it, but whatever. I'm getting off this topic…

Moving on…
I really enjoy reading everyone's blogs, I really do, but when you don't update, I get annoyed. Every blog that is listed on the side of mine, plus a couple more, are my nightly reading before I got to bed. It usually takes me a good hour to an hour and a half to get caught up with everyone. That being said, if I don't comment on your blog, don't think that I don't read. Sometimes I don't comment just because I'm tired and want to go to bed, but rest assured, I will comment when I get the chance, as long as you say something earth shattering (for some of you, that's not that hard ).

I think that's all for today. Check back for more later.

The End-of-the-Blog Rundown

Song of the Day – Anarchy in the UK – The Sex Pistols

Hero of the Day – Nathan for buying me lunch every Wednesday for the past couple semesters.

Quote of the Day courtesy of my I300 professor.
Blevis: This is lumberjack chic.
Student: You mean Canadian?

(later in class when talking about tow truck operators)
Blevis: I think they are the type that eat their cousins.

Beatles Trivia
None today, I'm too lazy. Answers coming in the next post as well as a new question.

Current Mood – Hungry
Continue Reading »

I'm sorry for all of you who are trying to read this blog at school, come to think of it, I don't think it's ever been appropriate to be read at school.

This is something that has been sitting in the back of my head recently for a couple reasons. I did have a very long entry written to address my views on this topic, but then I came upon this site.

I don't understand what is wrong with marriage. There are couples today who are getting married and their commitment is lasting a lifetime. There are also couples who should never have been married in the first place; couples who, on the whim of a dream, eloped to some drive through marriage establishment in Nevada and realized upon leaving the state that they should never have made that promise, taken that pledge.

If the Christians want to make a fuss about how marriage has lost it's "luster" and how it doesn't have the same meaning as it once did, maybe they should actually protest in forums that matter. Granted, I'm tired of hearing about their protests in general. Marriage should be something that has a meaning specific to the two individuals engaged in the union. This internal meaning should not be determined by some body of dogma, nor should it be determined by a law, it should be determined by the promises made between lovers.

For this reason, my opinion on homosexual marriages is this:
If two individuals feel that they are in love with one another and they are willing to make a commitment to each other that will last a lifetime, then they should be permitted to wed. It should not make any difference whether they are a heterosexual or homosexual couple, if they believe that happiness comes from being joined in a legal union, then so be it. If a certain religious group has a problem with homosexual marriages, then they should bite their tongue. The individuals who believe that homosexuals should have the option to be wed are most likely not the individuals who have super strong foundations in their religious sect.

There it is, flame the comments box. Check out the link below for the weekend update.

The End-of-the-Blog Rundown

I am going to be adding a new award to the End-of-the-Blog Rundown. It is the Darwin Award of the Week. this award goes to the one individual who was caught being stupid. This week will be the first awarding. Keep reading to find out who the first recipient is.

Song of the Day – Amen Omen – Ben Harper

Hero of the Day – Lindz for IMing me drunk last night, making me smile.

The Darwin Award – For the week of February 14, 2004, The first weekly Darwin Award goes to Tariq Kahn. I don't think any explanation is needed on this one…

Quote of the Day – "All truth goes through three steps: First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Finally, it is accepted as self-evident." -One of my philosophies in life.

Beatles Trivia, Question 4
The answer to question three is in the previous post. This question is the same as the last.

Today's Question:
Please Please Me was the first album produced by The Beatles. There are some unique things about this album that everyone should know. Here are the questions:

1. How long did it take to record the album? (1pt.)
2. In what order were the songs recorded? (1pt. total)
3. John Lennon's voice was almost completely gone during the recording of which track? (1pt.)

• BONUS QUESTION: Which tracks were one take recordings? (1pt. ea.)

Current Mood: – Exhausted

Take it easy yo!
Continue Reading »

New photos in the Photoblog!

Don't really know what to write here today. I've been working pretty hard trying to get everything transfered to this new domain since I bought it the other day. I've got everything transfered so it will work. All of my image links and such still point to the old site, but I will be changing that in the very near future. That's a lot of links especially when you think I have over 180 blog entries on this blog and again another 30 or so on the photoblog. But nonetheless, they will all be hosted on scatteredthoughts in the near future.

A big thank you goes out to all of you who helped me with I300. I ended up getting an A on that project! yay!

IU Basketball sucks major ass. I don't know what the hell happened to this year. Last year, we won every game but one at home, and lost every game on the road. This year, it's exactly the opposite… We're losing almost every game at home, and winning almost every game on the road. Hopefully this means next year that we'll win our games both home and away… I dont' know though. Next year the team will be really young, but we are getting one of the best recruit classes in the country.

ok, enough about basketball…

That's all for today. More later, maybe.

The End-of-the-Blog Rundown

Song of the Day – I'm Down – The Beatles

Hero of the Day – Strong Bad for making me laugh all day

Quote of the Day – "Maybe he's just a minute man." –Erin

Beatles Trivia, Question 4
Here is the answer to question three:
The Quarrymen were: John Lennon, Pete Shotton, Colin Hanton, Rod Davies, Eric Griffiths, and Len Garry – one point each name.
The band was known as quite a few names, I gave one point for each, minus The Quarrymen. Accepted answeres were: Johnny and the Moondogs and The Silver Beatles.
The Beatles recorded with Tony Sheridan under the alias "The Beat Brothers". One point for this answer too.

Today's Question:
Please Please Me was the first album produced by The Beatles. There are some unique things about this album that everyone should know. Here are the questions:

1. How long did it take to record the album? (1pt.)
2. In what order were the songs recorded? (1pt. total)
3. John Lennon's voice was almost completely gone during the recording of which track? (1pt.)

• BONUS QUESTION: Which tracks were one take recordings? (1pt. ea.)

There ya go! Hope that one is a bit more challenging for some of you than the others have been.

catch y'all later.

I need some help with some homework. I need opinions of web sites. I have listed three sites below, what I need you to do is to go to them and give me input on the design of the site. i.e. How the colors make you feel, how the layout makes you feel. I need emotional responses from the web sites, not "oh that looks good, the blue is nice and cool," more like "The blue makes me feel happy because it's nice and soothing," or "I feel angry when looking at this site because the blue reminds me of winter, and I hate winter."

If you all could help me out, that would be fabulous.

Here are the sites:

1. John Kerry's Website
2. The Death Clock
3. Noggin

Thanks guys, I need responses by this evening if at all possible!

Post of the day is the one below… keep reading!
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