Ok, I am a nerd, and love me some D&D.
Recently I googled something and came across a page that talked about the evils of D&D. One of their proofs that it was wrong was that a 14 old boy killed his parents. He because a satanist because of D&D. Seriously, but now he is born again. I feel much safer :D..
To be real, how many psychos kill in the name of God, or beat their children for the good of God. This is by far the dumbest thing I have heard in a good long while.
Facts:
People that play D&D are less likely to do drugs, join gangs, or otherwise cause trouble. Not because they play D&D, but because they are the type of person that have imagination. Imagination is a vastly important part of humanity, it allows us to sympathize, make connections to things not readily apparent, and expand possibilities. People with strong imaginations often make more money than those without.
So as with all things human, those with too much imagination can run into issues as a result. Common issues for D&D players include living with mom too long, hanging around others that are "nerdy", being into nerdy things such as computers, sci-fi, science, art, etc... (I know really, how do you think we make money).
Summary,
While D&D is not the cause, those who tend to like D&D will likely also be into science, art, and other culturally progressive fields. D&D players are less likely to join gangs, do drugs, or stay OUT late causing trouble in town (They are too busy staying up late causing trouble in a imagined city of dwarves).
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Monday, August 8, 2011
It is time to take a stand
I know some of my views can be a bit out there, but really things need to happen before they get to far gone to fix.
One thing that is common in the country right now: Politicians are failing expectations. The American people should not stand for this. Politicians promise a better future then fight over how to create it. With 2012 election coming up we need to send a message. Give the 2012 elected government 1 year to show improvements, real improvements, or we go on strike until they step down.
The basic idea, they are given a year to start showing changes for the better. If they fail America takes a day off. This sends the message to have the senators and house to step down, possibly even the president. If the people that botched things up fail to step down after a week we take another day of, 1 day a week until they step down. Sure this hurts our economy, but it also sends a powerful message, we are tired of being lied to, fix it or leave.
One thing that is common in the country right now: Politicians are failing expectations. The American people should not stand for this. Politicians promise a better future then fight over how to create it. With 2012 election coming up we need to send a message. Give the 2012 elected government 1 year to show improvements, real improvements, or we go on strike until they step down.
The basic idea, they are given a year to start showing changes for the better. If they fail America takes a day off. This sends the message to have the senators and house to step down, possibly even the president. If the people that botched things up fail to step down after a week we take another day of, 1 day a week until they step down. Sure this hurts our economy, but it also sends a powerful message, we are tired of being lied to, fix it or leave.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Time to start a revolution
Oh no, am I some anti-US revolutionist? No, I am American, I think America was built on some great ideas and principles. Unfortunately this country has go astray, it is our responsibility (The people) to get it back on track.
It is easy to point at the politicians and say they broke it. Reality, we broke it. We need to send a message to Washington to tell the House, Senate and President, no more. We need to stop voting from two parties because our dad voted for this party. Anti-Gun Control, Pro Socialized medicine people don't have to choose one or the other, there are parties out there that support these combinations and if not create one. Individuals should be on the ballot, there should be no "Vote all Republican" on the ballot at all. Parties need to be abolished, it should be all about America and what is best for us.
It is easy to point at the politicians and say they broke it. Reality, we broke it. We need to send a message to Washington to tell the House, Senate and President, no more. We need to stop voting from two parties because our dad voted for this party. Anti-Gun Control, Pro Socialized medicine people don't have to choose one or the other, there are parties out there that support these combinations and if not create one. Individuals should be on the ballot, there should be no "Vote all Republican" on the ballot at all. Parties need to be abolished, it should be all about America and what is best for us.
NASA and Space Exploration
I just had a chat with someone who was concerned about spending money on sending a probe to Jupiter. So I took a few minutes to explain why NASA is important, and while Jupiter itself may not grant vast advances in our technologies, the process of making new probes and delivery systems will have a more immediate affect on available technology.
So what has NASA done for us today? You cannot go through a day of your life if your American or from another country, where NASA has not impacted your life. Sure there is the shifting from 8 planets to 9 and back to 8 again, the whole moon landing, but these are not truly important to most.
What about the stuff you use daily? How about ball point pens, fire retardants, medical breakthroughs, sunglasses, fuel storage and delivery systems. There are also bicycles, water purifiers, air scrubbers, and several other products that use technology derived from NASA research.
NASA research in aerodynamics have lead to cars to get better gas millage and keep air ticket prices down.
In fact NASA has come up with several advanced materials that are lighter, stronger, more resilient. These materials and their properties would take ages to list and explain, or even present their value. One example is open-cell polyurethane. Invented by NASA so you can get a good night of sleep (Maybe that is not the real WHY, but it is a result). It is also used in football helmets to keep those guys safe, in hospitals to relieve people in pain, race cars, airplanes.
Still not convinced, sure GPS would have eventually come out, NASA is not the only space agency, nor was it. In fact if we did not step up to the space race, the USSR would have the corner stone on much of the technologies mentioned. It may have even been enough to put them in the top running, and the US would be left wanting. In many ways I could argue that the fall of the USSR would have been very unlikely if not for NASA.
Much of the military technology used today and even over the last couple of decades comes from satellites and space exploration. Several materials used to defend our troops directly relate to research to keep our space craft from burning up in reentry.
One last technology I would love to touch on: ROBOTICS!!!!! NASA has advanced robotics dramatically, I mean manned missions sound great, but beyond the moon or local space it is just not realistic (yet). So they work with robot slaves to do their bidding (Sure they may eventually uprise and wipe us out, but they would be cool doing it.) If we are talking cool, we can't forget lasers, I mean "lasers". Lasers and light reception is a major part of NASA, and everything is better with lasers.
NASA has one major flaw, it gave away much of the technology it was responsible to, and thus could not claim patent fees from manufacturers. Why, because this is the way the government works, it finds new technologies, and allows the public to manufacture those. This means the government continues to flip the bill for future exploration, and the people wonder why they spend so much on space.
Just to restate the point. It is not about space for most people, sure space is cool, and many of us are in to that. It is all about the advanced required to explore space and how they impact our day to day lives.
References:
* http://www.nasa.gov
* http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/nasa-inventions/nasa-high-tech-products2.htm
So what has NASA done for us today? You cannot go through a day of your life if your American or from another country, where NASA has not impacted your life. Sure there is the shifting from 8 planets to 9 and back to 8 again, the whole moon landing, but these are not truly important to most.
What about the stuff you use daily? How about ball point pens, fire retardants, medical breakthroughs, sunglasses, fuel storage and delivery systems. There are also bicycles, water purifiers, air scrubbers, and several other products that use technology derived from NASA research.
NASA research in aerodynamics have lead to cars to get better gas millage and keep air ticket prices down.
In fact NASA has come up with several advanced materials that are lighter, stronger, more resilient. These materials and their properties would take ages to list and explain, or even present their value. One example is open-cell polyurethane. Invented by NASA so you can get a good night of sleep (Maybe that is not the real WHY, but it is a result). It is also used in football helmets to keep those guys safe, in hospitals to relieve people in pain, race cars, airplanes.
Still not convinced, sure GPS would have eventually come out, NASA is not the only space agency, nor was it. In fact if we did not step up to the space race, the USSR would have the corner stone on much of the technologies mentioned. It may have even been enough to put them in the top running, and the US would be left wanting. In many ways I could argue that the fall of the USSR would have been very unlikely if not for NASA.
Much of the military technology used today and even over the last couple of decades comes from satellites and space exploration. Several materials used to defend our troops directly relate to research to keep our space craft from burning up in reentry.
One last technology I would love to touch on: ROBOTICS!!!!! NASA has advanced robotics dramatically, I mean manned missions sound great, but beyond the moon or local space it is just not realistic (yet). So they work with robot slaves to do their bidding (Sure they may eventually uprise and wipe us out, but they would be cool doing it.) If we are talking cool, we can't forget lasers, I mean "lasers". Lasers and light reception is a major part of NASA, and everything is better with lasers.
NASA has one major flaw, it gave away much of the technology it was responsible to, and thus could not claim patent fees from manufacturers. Why, because this is the way the government works, it finds new technologies, and allows the public to manufacture those. This means the government continues to flip the bill for future exploration, and the people wonder why they spend so much on space.
Just to restate the point. It is not about space for most people, sure space is cool, and many of us are in to that. It is all about the advanced required to explore space and how they impact our day to day lives.
References:
* http://www.nasa.gov
* http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/nasa-inventions/nasa-high-tech-products2.htm
Software Engineering
So I work for a company that writes PHP code. For all of those out there that may apply, I would like to share some thoughts about managing software.
Programmers are supposed to be smart:
Our glorious leader is one of those types that it is my way or the highway attitudes. When half of the programmers said something against one of the programming standards we had, he did not listen, he did not explain, he just said this is the way we are doing it.
You pay these people (programmers) a lot of money, you should also have the expectation that they know what they are doing and talking about. I don't care if you work with teenagers in fast food or executives, if you respect the people under you and expect excellence, most people will give you excellence, programmers are the same.
Needless to say I am looking for a new job (as are many others). It has just gone down hill since then. We are using architecture that goes against everything they teach in school and practices in place across the software industry. It is not that it is cutting edge and new, it is that it goes against years of experience and collective learning. The fearless leader is once again saying I don't care what other programmers think, I know my way is right. (Oddly he is an English major, so that could be part of the problem.)
Personally I hate looking for work, when I worked for a decent company that got sold, all of the other programmers quit except me and my boss. We worked long hard hours to keep things going, train new staff, and I loved every minute of it.
Respect is why someone can put up with the stressful long hours of one job, and then have a hard time at a job that guarantees they will not have to work extra hours (salary means you don't want to work the hours unless you have too). There is no respect on my team, the team lead does not listen to the team, which is a very bad way to manage people. I am not going to hold out for a change, but perhaps someone like this guy will read this and realize perhaps they should check themselves.
Programmers are supposed to be smart:
Our glorious leader is one of those types that it is my way or the highway attitudes. When half of the programmers said something against one of the programming standards we had, he did not listen, he did not explain, he just said this is the way we are doing it.
You pay these people (programmers) a lot of money, you should also have the expectation that they know what they are doing and talking about. I don't care if you work with teenagers in fast food or executives, if you respect the people under you and expect excellence, most people will give you excellence, programmers are the same.
Needless to say I am looking for a new job (as are many others). It has just gone down hill since then. We are using architecture that goes against everything they teach in school and practices in place across the software industry. It is not that it is cutting edge and new, it is that it goes against years of experience and collective learning. The fearless leader is once again saying I don't care what other programmers think, I know my way is right. (Oddly he is an English major, so that could be part of the problem.)
Personally I hate looking for work, when I worked for a decent company that got sold, all of the other programmers quit except me and my boss. We worked long hard hours to keep things going, train new staff, and I loved every minute of it.
Respect is why someone can put up with the stressful long hours of one job, and then have a hard time at a job that guarantees they will not have to work extra hours (salary means you don't want to work the hours unless you have too). There is no respect on my team, the team lead does not listen to the team, which is a very bad way to manage people. I am not going to hold out for a change, but perhaps someone like this guy will read this and realize perhaps they should check themselves.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Political BS and the Economy
The truth about republicans:
They Claim: We want to reduce government interference.
What they mean: We want to reduce government interference we don't like while increasing those we do.
Republicans rant: CUTS CUTS CUTS, tax CUTS, cuts to, oh NO don't cut military!!!!!
Republican promise: Tax cuts to the rich will trickle down.
The result: Rich people pay less in taxes per income than middle class. These tax breaks go to expanding their foreign interests. (US Cuts so they can buy foreign capitol, sounds like a great idea).
My statement: The tax cuts failed, remove them and try something new. Insanity is repeat, fail, repeat, fail, repeat, fail, repeat .....
Issues arise again, the budget is still out of whack, and no new jobs came from rich people having more money. Solution by the republicans, cut cut cut, oh not the military, no don't increase taxes for the rich 2%.
My Solution: Take back those taxes, use the money to create real jobs.
Method 1: Tax incentive to a company that actually increases their US labor force. (Tax cuts for people that actually do what the republicans claimed their tax cuts would do).
Method 2: Use the taxes to directly hire several thousand people to do various government jobs such as building homes for the homeless, or something beneficial (work experience and getting something good out of it). Then with the higher job competition from lowered unemployment wages would rise once again. Yay! Economy back on track. (also works with method 1).
Cost of the Iraqi War: Sure the actual costs (1.2 Trillion dollars) sounds like a lot. But how about this, 2.4 Million jobs (50,000 per job per year for 10 years). With 14.1 million unemployed people in the US, that means we could have reduced unemployment to 11.7 Million directly. Now these additional people are also buying products, services, and more meaning more money and jobs. Add in the fact that each of those people are paying a portion of that back to taxes.
Politicians should not be about emotional vendettas or personal agendas, they should be about bettering our country and representing the interests of the people.
Democrats:
Focus on fixing the US: Jobs Jobs Jobs. I have fewer complaints right now because your party (and some of the better republicans) negotiated and were willing to try to come to a consensus without resorting to blackmail.
American People: Stop being so bipolar, we need more than two views in this country (a country built on differences). We need to kill this democrat or republican rut. Independent, Green, get a diverse senate, house and even change out the president once in a while. If we had a more diverse house they could not blackmail the senate and president to accept something that will only fix a fraction of what needs to be fixed. Stop voting for parties and start voting for the people that you feel are best.
They Claim: We want to reduce government interference.
What they mean: We want to reduce government interference we don't like while increasing those we do.
Republicans rant: CUTS CUTS CUTS, tax CUTS, cuts to, oh NO don't cut military!!!!!
Republican promise: Tax cuts to the rich will trickle down.
The result: Rich people pay less in taxes per income than middle class. These tax breaks go to expanding their foreign interests. (US Cuts so they can buy foreign capitol, sounds like a great idea).
My statement: The tax cuts failed, remove them and try something new. Insanity is repeat, fail, repeat, fail, repeat, fail, repeat .....
Issues arise again, the budget is still out of whack, and no new jobs came from rich people having more money. Solution by the republicans, cut cut cut, oh not the military, no don't increase taxes for the rich 2%.
My Solution: Take back those taxes, use the money to create real jobs.
Method 1: Tax incentive to a company that actually increases their US labor force. (Tax cuts for people that actually do what the republicans claimed their tax cuts would do).
Method 2: Use the taxes to directly hire several thousand people to do various government jobs such as building homes for the homeless, or something beneficial (work experience and getting something good out of it). Then with the higher job competition from lowered unemployment wages would rise once again. Yay! Economy back on track. (also works with method 1).
Cost of the Iraqi War: Sure the actual costs (1.2 Trillion dollars) sounds like a lot. But how about this, 2.4 Million jobs (50,000 per job per year for 10 years). With 14.1 million unemployed people in the US, that means we could have reduced unemployment to 11.7 Million directly. Now these additional people are also buying products, services, and more meaning more money and jobs. Add in the fact that each of those people are paying a portion of that back to taxes.
Politicians should not be about emotional vendettas or personal agendas, they should be about bettering our country and representing the interests of the people.
Democrats:
Focus on fixing the US: Jobs Jobs Jobs. I have fewer complaints right now because your party (and some of the better republicans) negotiated and were willing to try to come to a consensus without resorting to blackmail.
American People: Stop being so bipolar, we need more than two views in this country (a country built on differences). We need to kill this democrat or republican rut. Independent, Green, get a diverse senate, house and even change out the president once in a while. If we had a more diverse house they could not blackmail the senate and president to accept something that will only fix a fraction of what needs to be fixed. Stop voting for parties and start voting for the people that you feel are best.
For the future
I present my ideas, in hopes they can make people start to think, and perhaps in doing so we can move to a better future. Today I believe is the tipping point of a lot of issues for me. This blog will be about politics, economy, computers, science, nerdy stuff, religion, and Bosnian food.
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