Ultranormal

Author: Kevin Lawver

  • Attention Campers!

    After yesterday’s feel-good rant about acceptance, I think today I’ll talk about tech zealots and the camps they inhabit. I’ve been reading some of ZDNet‘s TalkBack postings (scroll down) and am filled with fear.

    There are Microsoft Serfs, Linux Freaks, Anti-Microsoft Pirates, MacHeads, FreeSoftware Infidels, etc. They all have their misconceptions about their “enemies” and seem to want to inject them into every conversation. I’ve been reading the responses to articles for a couple weeks now. They all devolve into the same old tired arguments, that when they were conceived, my have had a backing in fact. Now, after years of spouting the same facts and figures about software that’s now three versions behind, these groupies have lost sight of the truth and fail to keep up with current software and refuse to take them on their own merits.

    I sit here in the middle of the issues, having friends on all sides of these arguments. I don’t understand why it has to be an all or nothing proposition. I like the ease of use of Windows 2000 when it comes to games and peripherals (for the most part). I love Linux and the freedom it gives me to configure it however I want, and the superior collection of software included in the distributions I use. I have a thing for Macs, their design and the fact that OS X is growing on me.

    Each platform does what it does. Each company (or group where Linux is concerned) has its strengths and weaknesses (or felonies). I just wish people would lay off the rhetoric and come up with new arguments. Be logical. If you don’t like Macs because you have a thing against Steve Jobs’ mock turtlenecks, don’t say it’s because Macs suck. Come out and say you don’t like Steve Jobs and that’s why you don’t like them. If you hate Windows because of the security vulnerabilities, that’s cool… just state it that way. Ok, that’s enough of that. Don’t be a parrot for propoganda. Think for yourself and get your information from more than one source. When our arguments all start to sound the same, no matter what the question, the dialogue is no longer intelligent or productive. It’s just shouting at the wall.

  • These pictures remind me of

    These pictures remind me of all the posters I had on my wall as a kid. Yeah, I was an Air Force brat… what of it?

  • A Perfect Segue

    There’s an article in last Sunday’s Washington Post Magazine that is a perfect example of my new and developing worldview. If you don’t want to go read it, here’s a summary. Two deaf women, both of whom graduated from Gallaudet and are severely hearing impaired were had a child through in-vitro fertilization. The child turned out to be deaf, and that was fine with the parents. The article chronicles the birth of their second child, and their attempts to ensure the child would also be deaf. Now, I’m not quite sure how I feel about that, but I’m glad they have the right to do it, and why not, let’s just add in the fact that they’re a lesbian couple and are able to have kids.

    This is a pretty extreme example of what I’ve been thinking about almost daily since September. There is a place for everyone. If you’re a gay deaf woman, there’s a community that will accept and appreciate you. That community is probably not in the Bible belt, but it exists. On the opposite spectrum, if you’re a homophobic Christian fundamentalist, there are places in this world where you’ll feel right at home. Those places probably don’t include San Francisco, or America’s liberal arts colleges. But they do exist. I’ve visited.

    I’m pretty much OK with whatever people want to believe, as long as they don’t try to inflict it on others either physically or morally. I’m on a crusade of acceptance. You want to be a tatooed sailor, fine. You want to live in a cave with the bats and throw crap at the walls? Fine with me, as long as you keep it in the cave, and don’t start throwing it at me. I start to have problems when, and this is a word with a lot of baggage, zealots show up. I notice the “true believers” a lot more now. Whether they’re the Pro-Unix/Anti-Microsoft folks, the religious freaks who think that anyone who doesn’t subscribe to their way of thinking should be wiped off the face of the earth, or even those in government who think that they’re God’s instrument to impose religious tenets as law – they’re all zealots, and I have a hard time listening to anyone who falls in that camp for very long.

    If you can’t understand others’ opinions. If you aren’t open to the idea that maybe what you believe might not be as set in stone as you think it is. If you have the urge to hurt others just because they look, act, think, live differently than yourself. You just might be a zealot, and you may just need therapy.

    Again, this is a work in progress, meant for revision. So, if you don’t agree with me, bring it on.

  • And while I’m up, let

    And while I’m up, let me take this opportunity to do my duty and plug NextDraft. Is it a hair cream? A wart remover? Oh no! Would I plug something like that? No no no. NextDraft is a clever daily newsletter that not only gives you some headlines you may have missed from the day, but also insightful and often witty commentary by one Mr. Dave Pell. I highly recommend it and think you should tell all your friends too.

  • As I sit here, awake

    As I sit here, awake because my stomach is conducting a chemistry experiment, I realize that while the Singapore Rice Noodles with chicken, pork and a plateful of curry was oh so good when I ate it, it might not do so well once it settled in. I feel like the symptom list from a Pepto-Bismal commercial.

  • I may be going to

    I may be going to see the Kids in the Hall!!

  • Classified: Not Funny

    My dad was in the Air Force for 23 years. For about 22 of those years, I lived at home and followed him around the world spreading democracy like seeds in the wind. When we lived in Mississippi, on the Vicksburg Army Corps of Engineers station, dad had an office with a nice big desk and cool chair. One day, my brother and I were waiting for him to get out of a meeting and were sitting in his office looking for rubber bands to shoot at things. We were in high school, and therefore into making trouble.

    We found dad’s CLASSIFIED stamp and the red ink and decided that more things in dad’s office needed to be top-secret. We stamped his yellow Post-It notes, his stationary, his paper airplane, a brochure for some timeshare condo and a napkin. Dad came in, surveying the CLASSIFIED damage, put his hands on his hips and in his best dad voice said, “Not funny”.

    For Father’s Day that year, we got my dad a NOT FUNNY stamp and some blue ink.

  • Define Fun

    In an effort to not talk about politics, terrorism or the middle east, here’s a collection of random stuff on my mind:

    This morning, I got an urgent request to crunch some server logs. Now, that’s not so fun. But, taking the crunched data and inserted approximately seven hundred and seventy thousand records into a database – that’s fun. It’s on #505397 and has been running for a little more than an hour. It should be finished by 1:15, or thereabouts. Why is this fun? I’ve never done anything where I tried to insert over 700,000 items into a database at once. Yes, “firsts” are fun.

    How does John Stockton do it? The man just turned forty and he’s still a great basketball player. I think I’ve figured it out. He’s boring. Yep, that’s it. He’s committed to his family, his church and the game, and that’s apparently about it. He likes golf and crossword puzzles. In a couple paragraphs in his latest column, Marty Burns tells us all we need to know about Mr. Stockton’s lifestyle. He’s not like a lot of today’s players that live high-risk lives and burn out. He’s even-keeled and boring, and well, just keeps on going. Great role-model, and I hope he coaches on day. Do I have an explanation for Karl Malone? Ummm… nope. He kind of shoots my theory out of the water. I think Karl’s a mutant.

    They cancelled bowling tonight because Maryland is in the NCAA Finals. Yeah, well, fine. I guess I can watch the game and wait until next week for another dreadful showing in GutterLand.

    I didn’t sleep well last night. Not sure why. I think maybe I’m coming down with dad’s flu… I really shouldn’t kiss him when he’s sick (April Fool’s!! I don’t kiss my dad, you sickos).

    Speaking of, I hate April Fool’s day. I only ever pulled off one good April Fool’s gag, and it was all Jen’s idea. Last year, we were going over to the fam’s for dinner. Max was about 18 months old. So, we decide to drop hints like Jen’s expecting kid numero dos. She made frequent trips to the bathroom and complained about not feeling well. I kept telling her to take it easy, got her pillows, drinks, etc. (writing this, I’m not sure how different this is from every day… again, just kidding). So, after dinner, and successfully pulling off this charade, my sister blurted out, “Are you guys PREGNANT?!” We turned a little red, and tell everyone, yes, we’re pregnant. We let that sink for a minute and then fell apart laughing and yelled, “APRIL FOOLS!!” My mom wasn’t impressed. And even now, when we bring it up, she says, “That wasn’t funny…”

  • Give it a break, already

    I know I’ve been on a downer lately, so here’s something that, while not funny, is at least positive. How amazing is Mozilla? If you don’t know what it is, Mozilla is an open-source web browser that supports open web standards, runs well and has some very cool features that set it apart from the other major browser out there (I’m not leaving out Opera, but if you don’t know about Mozilla, will you know about Opera?). It’s open source, which means that it’s been written mostly by volunteers, with some oversight by Netscape (now AOL/TW) employees.

    Its critics have pointed out that it’s taken three years to even approach a 1.0 version. I see their point, but I think they’re missing the amazing feat the Mozilla group has performed. If you look at the releases page, you’ll see a who’s who of Operating Systems. Not only does it support Windows, MacOS 9 and X.x, most flavors of Linux, most flavors of Linux, but also OS/2 and a myriad of others. On top of that concurrent development on those platforms, each build of Mozilla displays pages, with the exception of the fonts available on the system, the same. My site looks the same on Mozilla no matter if I look at it on Windows, Mac, Linux, an embedded version of Gecko (Mozilla’s rendering engine), or on my Solaris box. That is an amazing accomplishment that should make everyone who worked on the project proud.

    Microsoft can’t get two versions of Internet Explorer to work the same. Their Mac and Windows browsers don’t even use the same codebase, and only really share a name. Mozilla is the first of its kind, and a great example of the power of a vibrant and mobile open source community.

  • Yeah, it was a quiet

    Yeah, it was a quiet day. After yesterday’s deluge of posting and heavy ponderance, I needed a break. Plus, work was actually work today. This new job may mean less posting. We’ll have to see.

    Have a good weekend everyone. I’m already re-thinking my big political post from a couple days ago. The world has changed, and well, I just don’t get it yet. The rules seem to have been thrown away, and well, no one’s handed out the new set yet.

    Ok, it’s off to watch Iron Chef and cuddle with my lovely wife. Toodles for now.