“Enemy Combatants” have rights, says the Supreme Court… again.

Posted on 2008/06/12 by vortmax

The U.S. Supreme Court dealt another blow to Bush’s attempt to usurp the Constitution by ruling that Guantanamo Bay detainees have the right to challenge their detention in civilian courts in the U.S.:

In its third rebuke of the Bush administration’s treatment of prisoners, the court ruled 5-4 that the government is violating the rights of prisoners being held indefinitely and without charges at the U.S. naval base in Cuba. The court’s liberal justices were in the majority.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the court, said, “The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times.”

Thank goodness some sanity still exists in this nation.

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Hold on to your butts!

Posted on 2008/05/14 by vortmax

People who litter annoy me.  People who throw their cigarette butts out the windows of their cars really annoy me.  I’ve always wanted to start a site to report these offenders, but I’ve been beaten to the punch (or saved a huge headache).

Litterbutt.com provides this service, and I’ve submitted my first report.   While I don’t expect to change the world, it at least provides me with some way to act against those who don’t give a crap about what harm cigarette butts can cause.

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“Paid to get eyeballs”

Posted on 2008/05/13 by vortmax

Today’s 24-hour news networks saturate us with information.  That information is often either biased or full of other people’s opinions.  That’s why I don’t watch but a select few shows on the 24-hour “news” networks, and try to get my news from various sources (NPR, Google News, and CNN are my primary information points).

The problem is a large portion of America wants to be “spoon fed” both their news and ideas; from the people who parrot “Obama is a muslim!” (Rev. Wright isn’t a mullah or imam, he’s a pastor of a Christian church) to those that think Iran backs Al-Queda (Iran is Shiite, Al-Queda is Sunni… oil and vinegar, folks).

CNet’s Steve Tobak said it best:

“The media isn’t paid to reflect reality, it’s paid to get eyeballs.“

Remember that, and take everything those talking heads say with a grain of salt.

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Who does Hillary Clinton believe is a “real voter?”

Posted on 2008/05/08 by vortmax

Watch and find out:

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A parting shot to Namron and Ansteorra

Posted on 2008/05/02 by Vortmax

I quit.

I no longer want to be a part of an organization that promotes those who put a hobby before their real life, rather than those who do the opposite. I’m tired of people who achieve both SCA and real-world success being overlooked for those that think the SCA is their life, and the real-world is just a necessary evil. I’m tired of the petty jealousy towards those with real-world success. I’ve seen people with lesser abilities and talents given the highest honors available in this organization, while those who have greater talent get ignored or pushed away simply because they “are already successful mundanely,” or simply aren’t best friends with the “in-crowd.”

Namron, and to a similar degree Ansteorra, have become like a grown-up version of high school. If you aren’t friends with those with influence you get ignored or even ridiculed. If you don’t know those with influence, you try not to piss them off so you won’t be ignored or ridiculed in the future. Well I won’t do that… ever.

Enjoy your little fiefdom. I have better things to do with my life.

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Gaming and the “responsible parent”

Posted on 2008/04/29 by vortmax

A friend has recommended I get Grand Theft Auto IV.  They pointed out the rave reviews it’s received, and how the gameplay blows away any other game out there.  I’ve heard about the other titles in the GTA series, so I was skeptical about bringing such a game into my home with a 13 year-old impressionable boy who has already started some disrespectful teen-age style behavior.

Sure enough, there are many great reviews about the game, with many saying it’s a “must-have” game.  But this is what stopped me:

ESRB Rating: Mature – Intense Violence, Strong Language, Use of Drugs, Blood, Partial Nudity, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Alcohol

Call me a prude, but I’m not going to expose my son to this just yet.  To be honest, I don’t think I could play a game with all that crap in it, no matter how good the “game play” is.  It’s one thing to blow away fellow players in games like Halo and the Quake series (which I’ve played since the first Quake), but another to be in a modern setting using drugs, visiting strip clubs, stealing cars, and blowing away civilians and police.

Yes, I have some principles.

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Jeremiah Wright

Posted on 2008/04/29 by vortmax

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright has been a controversial figure and a lightning rod for attacks on Barack Obama.  I have only one question:

Why?

Why should one man’s views be interpreted as the beliefs of another?  Why should one man’s experiences be cast upon that of another?  Why must one assume that a man cannot form his own independent ideas and opinions, instead using those of another to guess and judge that person?

Barack Obama is not Jeremiah Wright no more than I am my minister.  We are all individuals with our own values and ideals.  To use the opinions of one to judge another is oversimplification and, in my opinion, pure stupidity.

Posted in News, Politics | 1 Comment

Barefoot

Posted on 2008/04/22 by vortmax

When I was a kid, I loved walking everywhere barefoot.  I’d wander my grandfather’s farm, go through the fields and the woods, all barefoot.  Now I find I need at least something on my feet even at home in order to avoid either having cold feet or having my heels hurt when I walk on the tile.

Turns out I should have kept my childhood habits.

The New Yorker Magazine has an article written by Adam Sternbergh titled “You Walk Wrong.”  He points out how we’ve evolved over 4 million years to walk everywhere barefoot, yet in the last few thousand we’ve wrecked it with the invention we call “shoes.”

Think I’ll kick off my shoes more often.

Posted in Home, News | 1 Comment

Just don’t take my word for it…

Posted on 2008/04/18 by vortmax

A friend of mine who I’ve known for almost 13 years recently purchased a Macbook in order to compose music with Logic Pro.  Before purchasing her Macbook, she had been quite enthusiastic about getting the top of the line PC just about every 3-4 years, mainly Dells.  This morning, I see the following on my iChat:

mac is so nice
i plug stuff in and it just works
i bought a preamp and audio interface to plug in xlr microphones and guitars into my mac
and a bunch of mics and stuff
and everything just worked right away
hell i didnt even read instructions
i just plugged stuff in and started recording
Mac >>>> Windows

She’s had the Macbook for about a month.  Her transition had a few bumps, like telling her simply closing an application’s last document window won’t quit the application (you have to actually select “Appname->Quit” from the menu bar), and installing Firefox is as simple as dragging from the installer virtual drive and dropping into the Applications folder (no big, long installer, imagine that).  However, after the basics were understood, she’s taken off.

She’s even asked me about a Mac Pro.

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“Ponder the Maunder”

Posted on 2008/04/15 by vortmax

That’s the name of a website published by a 16 year-old high school honors student.  This young woman (she’s too smart to simply be called a “girl”) has taken on Global Warming with independent research, and she’s won me over.

Read (and listen) to the NPR Story about Kristen Byrnes, my new hero.  Then check out her website “Ponder the Maunder.”

I highly recommend her point-by-point refutation of Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth.”   Perhaps it is this young woman who deserves a Nobel Prize.

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