I'm moving in to a new apartment and grad school starts tomorrow. Yay.

Anyway, I'll be somewhat out of touch for a bit while I get my cable Internet set up. *looks at Charter, shakes fist* So, yeah, no AIM for me. I'll be able to get to my email from UWG's computers (or via the wireless network there) but that doesn't help me much when I'm sitting around my apartment. I don't know how long this will take. Hopefully, not long, but it may take a bit if they have to come out, since I have to schedule around my classes - these are not things you just miss a day of!

I'm doing some brainstorming for writing a story. I decided to come at it from a different direction this time, by building a glossary of concepts, places, people, titles, etc. instead of trying to define the geography or the characters themselves. This lets me build the world before I start trying to write in it, to understand where the world and nation came from. It's an interesting experiment.

I'd forgotten today was Father's Day until someone reminded me a few minutes ago. That sounds really shitty, and in a way it is, but I've got a decent excuse. Those of you who don't know me may not know that my father passed away almost two years ago on 26 July 2005. His name was Jimmy Ray Ezell, he's the one who taught me about computers but, more importantly, taught me about life.

Dad, I know you're looking down. I love you, Dad, and I miss you. Those of you who still have your fathers, go to them, tell them you love them one last time before it's too late.

AJC post about a proposal for gun control.

I posted that link as an example of just how extreme the opinions of some people in this country seem to be regarding gun control. (Look for Brent if you're trying to find my comments.) On grounds of common sense and tactics, it makes no sense for heavy automatic weapons (crew-served weapons, such as an autocannon, minigun, or vehicle-carried heavy machine gun) to be owned by private citizens. I don't recall private citizens being allowed to own field artillery in the early republic period in this country, meaning that I'm not exactly arguing for a fundamental change in precedent, here. (Naval armaments are a different issue; at sea, where you are facing pirates and privateers, private armaments were quite acceptable for private merchantmen. I'm talking about land warfare, not maritime weaponry.)

Further, licensing and firearms safety training has a very simple purpose: guaranteeing that the weapons in the hands of private citizens are capable of being identified when they are misused and, if necessary, returned to the owner and that the owners of these weapons know how to use them safely. (This includes knowing when to use a weapon as well as how.) It is relevant to crime-fighting, not to prevent sales to criminals (although it also has that effect) but rather to figure out what the source of illegal acquisitions is so that the black market dealers involved can be punished as they should be.

Note: I don't advocate removing firearms from public hands. Not only is that illegal, it's counterproductive. I'm only asking for reasonable restraint on the level of force in anyone's private hands. The government exists to protect and serve the people as the will and collective voice of the people. Is that model always followed? No.

But is the situation so far gone that the common citizen needs to contemplate the use of heavy military weaponry? Also no.

Follow up: And now someone's arguing that the proposal is to make owning a firearm as easy as owning an automobile. Does the concept of logic actually exist for some people who engage in public debate? *hangs head*

Well, tonight I ran my first session of Exalted, something I've been waiting to do for a while. A chat game just came together and we ran with it.

Reactions:
- My gargoyle conversions from d20 are scaled just about right. Very difficult for mortals to penetrate soak, a nuisance to unprepared DBs, and paste for a Circle of Celestial Exalts within 10 ticks (and these are starting characters, mind you). Here's the link: http://exalted.xi.co.nz/wiki/wiki.pl?MoonSwordCreatures/Gargoyles

- DV 3 is very, very easy for Solars to hit, more so than I expected.

- Initiative isn't that bad as long as you pay attention. It looks complex, and it is somewhat compared to d20 or GURPS, but as long as at least the ST is keeping tabs on it, it won't get out of hand.

- That was fun!

- Solars are the equivalent of bulldozers: when they get done, the land, and everything on it, is flat.

- Ping spamming is a valid tactic. It works. It really works. It hurts. It really hurts.

- Watch out for flurries. They can tear even relatively tough opponents to shreds in very short order if the target is easily hit (DV 3 comes to mind).

- Coordinated attacks are dangerous. It's like the ping spam from hell when you have 25 brass legionaries shooting under the coordination of an Exalt.

- We may become the Anathema Comedy Club if the humor potential keeps up.

The Bush Administration has announced that it will now be conducting wiretapping by getting warrants from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, reversing its previous stance on the Terrorist Surveillance Program. As a result, they are now actually complying with the terms of the 1979 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

The FISC is a closed court where proceedings are conducted under strict secrecy. It has proven effective in the past. You can request warrants after the fact; i.e., place the wiretap and then get authorization from the court.

While I applaud the Bush Administration's decision to actually follow the law, a victory the rule of law, Constitutional protections, and sanity, I would like to know which moron thought going outside a court that is traditionally very cooperative and silent as well as possessing both jurisdiction over and unique authority to grant warrants. A wiretap placed before a warrant is gained normally violates American law (see the Supreme Court case Katz v. United States for more information). Additionally, FISA uses very clear language, unlike some federal statutes (the USA PATRIOT Act comes to mind). Furthermore, the 1947 National Security Act specifically states that Presidential findings authorizing covert action cannot violate Constitutional or federal statutory law.

I'm no lawyer but I agree with a number of them when I say that this is a pretty clear issue. The President's authorization of the Terrorist Surveillance Program was illegal and un-Constitutional. A police chief who did that would be tossed out on his ass and possibly straight into a courtroom for a violation like that. There's a reasonably good basis for impeachment proceedings in this mess, depending on what conclusion the courts draw on the program (which have been fairly... interesting). Why did the President find it expedient or proper to violate the law?

Neither the President nor the Government of the United States of America are above the law. A great deal of federal law actually deals specifically with laying out what the federal government is permitted to do and what it may not do, as does the majority of the Constitution. Look it up. This isn't a question of whether or not the existing laws would work: they haven't been modified since this mess started and the government has concluded that yes, in fact, the situation as it stands in American law is workable. Furthermore, the government is accountable (or is supposed to be) for legal wrongdoing.

The proper course of action when a law doesn't work is not to ignore it. Breaking laws that are still applicable to society (i.e., not moral blue laws or otherwise significantly out of date; a law regulating stage coaches can be reasonably assumed to no longer be applicable in the vast majority of cases, even if it is still technically on the books), is never legal. FISA most assuredly is a currently enforced law.

So what the fucking hell were these people thinking? If the law didn't work, why wasn't it changed? We know the program existed soon after 11 September 2001. Therefore, it would have been relatively easy to pass revised security legislation, perhaps as part of the USA PATRIOT Act. I'm not referring to extra-territorial operations; that's a different issue. This is domestic wiretapping and represented a fundamental breach of Constitutional rights, explicitly forbidden under Katz v. United States, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and the Fourth Amendment.

Why? I've yet to see a good reason. Exigencies of security can't have been the concern; they were still working through the FISC for other work that was equally sensitive. Response speed? We have secretaries to file paperwork, folks. They can file for a warrant after the wiretap is placed. So, was this simply misplaced concern for national security? Or was someone trying to get around FISA for less wholesome reasons? There have been issues of corruption in this administration before along with Constitutional violations.

Understanding what happened is important in both preventing future violations and evaluating the future proposals of this administration. We've been lied to before. The government has violated our rights. Left unchallenged, this is the root of totalitarianism. Don't get me wrong, we're not there yet. Nowhere near it, in fact.

But it's a step in the wrong direction. I like being free. I'm sure you do, too. So let's ask questions, think about the answers, and consider the situation. Vote. Read. Stay informed. Do your own research.

Let's not let America be destroyed in our own fear. That's the most insidious result of terrorism: in fighting an extremist enemy, we ourselves become that enemy. Don't get complacent, of course, but don't let fear destroy the ideals of our country, I beg of you. The fundamental rule of law is one of them. It's been violated before; that's why FISA was enacted, in fact.

The only way to keep it from happening is the same way we keep from having terrorists in our back yard: paying attention. Keep your eyes open. Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. Yes, surveillance is important. But so is doing things legally. Without both, America cannot remain free, either from her enemies... or those who are, with the best of intentions, trying to defend her. The government must be scrutinized by the public. It acts in our stead, doing what we cannot but we have the responsibility to ensure that those actions are in our best interests.

If not, we may yet give in to the same fear we are trying to combat. Do you want that to happen?

Well, this is an interesting if predictable outcome. This vote was as much a commentary on Bush as it was the legislators.

Here's my hopes for the new legislature:
* A little less corruption.
* Simplifying the tax code.
* Fix the budget (which, unfortunately, is going to require a tax increase).
* Someone figuring out what the hell we're actually trying to accomplish in Iraq.
* John Bolton's head on a pike so we can actually get something accomplished at the UN.

These are pretty simple requests, at least in theory. Granted, number 2 won't happen anytime soon but it would be nice...

I just drove across the Atlanta area this morning, from Snellville to Carrollton (that's a bit northeast of Stone Mountain to about ten miles short of the Alabama line, for those not from the area). I got up at 5:45, was on the road at 6. At 6:15 am, US Highway 78 was already showing heavy traffic. Not slow, mind you, but quite heavy.

This is whacked. I got up that early to avoid traffic. This crap doesn't peter out until about 10:30 am around here. There are too many people with cars around here...

PS: If the exit has been marked as the two right lanes for the last THREE MILES, get out of the left lanes. Those two lanes are for people on the interstate that aren't exiting to be able to move past the exits without interference, dumbass, not for you to try and get around the line and, thus, hold up traffic for miles and cause traffic accidents.

Firefox 2.0's been released in case no one saw it. I've got it running. Seems stable. Of course, I don't really use any add-ons, so there's not much for it to break, but still. Anyway, see you around.

(Also, you're going to have to download it by hand; for some reason, the auto-updater isn't catching it. Go to www.getfirefox.com to get it.)

I have made an important discovery regarding the One True Nature of Tetris. (Yes, I play Tetris. My preferred flavor is LTris on Debian Linux, what's yours?)

Tetris is not, as some have surmised, actively conspiring against us (except in bastard/expert mode, which is a rather different matter). Instead, Tetris is the rope merchant outside Suicide Alley, the blind, uncaring mason's assistant who keeps handing us brick and mortar while we build ourselves into a corner.

Tetris does not destroy us, it merely gives us the tools to destroy ourselves. Tetris is not an enemy, it's more of a facilitator for our own destruction.

Tetris is God's punishment for our hubris in inventing the computer. He just got so busy playing it during the development cycle He decided not to include the divine wrath component. He's too busy trying to win (and winning, this is God, after all, He Who Cannot Lose).

Well, that was a great thing to wake up to. North Korea is a nuclear power. Lovely. I vote we let China smack them around some and just stay the hell out of it, personally. It's not like anyone on the UN Security Council is terribly amused at this mess and unlike Iran, none of them are likely to do much to stop an aggressive, non-US move about the matter, either.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/5391220.stm

Well, this is better. It seems that recent results have shown that it is possible to do cloning, at least in mice, using cells other than stem cells. If this shows promise, maybe it will help quiet some of the clamor here in the US over abortion. *rolls eyes* Even if it doesn't, it still offers some interesting possibilities, according to the article.

For all 1 of you that aren't UWG students, let me explain something. SITS (Student Information Technology Services) theoretically offers tech support by students for free to the students. First, this doesn't cover Linux, which I use and is actually more likely to cause problems for me than Windows because I have actually gotten my computer set up correctly and securely. Second, my doubts about letting a student rut around in the guts of my computer are fairly extensive, including the fact that I've been working with computers longer than a few of these people have been alive (I'm not much older than they are, just more experienced). Third, I've never really been impressed with their general competence.

http://media.www.thewestgeorgian.com/media/storage/paper523/news/2006/09/27/Opinion/S.i-t.s.Is.Here.For.All.Of.Your.Computing.Needs-2309331.shtml?sourcedomain=www.thewestgeorgian.com&MIIHost=media.collegepublisher.com

That was in the student paper. They're trying to let us know that they are Here To Serve.

Nice idea, really. Except for the fact that you demonstrate a fundamental lack of knowledge in the damn advertisement!

Second page, they say for desktops, just bring the CPU (tower) in. The CPU does not mean the tower. It means the processor. That's it. Do you want me to just take out the processor and bring it in? That won't help you solve anything unless the chip's melted.

If you want me to trust you with computer hardware that is worth over a thousand dollars (probably more like two thousand), maybe you should try demonstrating that you actually know something about computers in the first place.

Also, to the West Georgian: Fix your ****ing comment system. Ranting on my LJ about this was not my first choice. This is option 2.

Been busy lately, not much writing. Just trying to catch a breather at the moment. How are you guys doing?

Uhm... this is interesting...

I need to go ahead and say something. A lot of the economics questions were things that I really am more liberal about but there was no category for 'don't care' on there. This believes in moderate to heavy government intervention in the economy thing, I'm on the moderate end of that. I don't want heavy government participation in the economy per se. I just want the government to keep the market honest.

Third Way Liberal You scored 73% Personal Liberty and 36% Economic Liberty!

A third way liberal believes in little to moderate government intervention on personal matters and moderate to high government intervention on economic matters. They tend to be opposed to war, police powers, victimless crimes, and what they may consider to be a corporate state or rogue capitalism. They generally support personal liberty and believes in a social safety net or welfare state. They support self-ownership and privacy. Third way liberals are essentially the "mainstream" left and left of center.

My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 99% on Personal You scored higher than 99% on Economic

Link: The Politics Test written by brainpolice on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Okay, I really don't know how to respond to this one.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5360612.stm

Essentially, some cities are using fish to check for contaminants in water supplies. This is an interesting idea but it does have some problems. Still, quite interesting and rather innovative. In fact, the system has already proven to be useful.

All the same, fish. We're relying on fish to protect our water supply...

*shakes head, slightly bewildered*

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5344892.stm

The dwarf planet that started the entire row over Pluto's status has received a permanent, formal name. Fittingly, it's been named Eris, after the Greek goddess of chaos and discord. See the link above for more information.

Here's chapter 2. Nothing much to say here, really.
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Just a note. It sounds like the Geosciences department here at UWG just might be considering curriculum changes. No idea if this is more widespread or not but... *shrugs* I'm graduating soon. It's not a big problem for me.

I really, really need to get more sleep than I have this week. This is really getting annoying. So sleepy...

Here we go. This is the opening chapter of a story of modern fantasy, horror, and a touch of madness and magic. Read, enjoy, leave comments if you want. Oh, by the way, the current mood reflects what I'm going for with the chapter, not my mood when writing it, at least with stories.

(On a slightly geekish note, this whole thing was written with a programmer's text editor and hand-coded for HTML. There's not even any rich text in here.)

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