That's pretty much all that I know of that song. I went to buy tickets to Dave Chappelle's appearance here in Agoura, and noted that he's playing in a venue where a lot of B-level artists are playing: Toto, Air Supply, a Pink Floyd cover band. However, I do like the Canyon Club, and I'm hoping to go there Saturday to see Dave Attell and his wacky comedy stylings.

I've actually got to be in the crawlspace this weekend to kill some rodents and to wire Cat5e cable to my living room so that I can have a gigabit link between my bedroom and the living room. This plan works well since the broadband router will always be in one of those two locations (currently in the bedroom). I'm just really annoyed at the kind of throughput rates that I'm getting with 802.11b between my warez machine (Pandora) and my TiVo machine (Poseidon).

I've been spending a lot of time trolling on the San Diego Union-Tribune sports forums, talking about the Padres and Chargers, as well as chatting on the phone and comforting a sick North Carolinian who sounds funny in the morning when she's got the sniffles.

Lately, I've been backtracking on a lot of positions that I once held. Initially, I felt kind of shocked that no one was protesting the use religion as a mode of insanity, but mainly because if religion had to clear its name from every wacko out there, the Pope would never empty out his inbox. Ultimately, fundamentalism only makes sense to fundamentalists, and to every one else, it's dismissable.

There, dismissed.

On the subject of the Wal-Mart megastores trying to open in Inglewood, I will actually backtrack on my previous assertion that big conglomerates are bad for business.

Wal-Mart, in my mind, is the Microsoft of retail. It kind of stifles competition, it provides inferior service to the masses, and provides a poor baseline for future business. That being said, fundamentalism only makes sense to fundamentalists, and to everyone else, it's dismissable. Just because Microsoft is there doesn't mean you have to use it. Just because Wal-Mart is there doesn't mean it requires your business.

But then again, no one in America ever went broke preying on the stupidity of the masses (raise your hand, AOL and Dummies Guide to Blah).

Ultimately, the free market will reign supreme. I have faith in the ultimate supremacy of open-source, and I believe that opening your doors to everyone and letting yourself be judged purely on your most basic merits (and to allow change to your most basic flaws) will serve the greatest good for yourself. When this is replicated N times over a whole population of stores and software and people, then Darwinism takes a firm hold and everything will evolve for the best.

I recently had a theological discussion at work, and the point I was trying to make was that any group that attempts to label "right" and "wrong" is automatically "wrong." Yes, it is contradictory, in that I label that group as "wrong," but my response is that I am not labeling anyone as "right." I believe that righteousness leads to arrogance and stubbornness, neither of which are beneficial in a multi-person society. So while right and wrong might work in a microcosm (spilling the milk is "wrong". Its inverse is "right".), it does not apply when a multitude of forces are at play. Therefore, the righteousness that religion hopes to invoke upon its believers leads to blindness, mistrust, and ill-placed gamesmanship.

"I pray five times a day!"

"Oh yeah, well I pray once, but the quality of my prayer is way better than yours!"

"Heathen!"

"Infidel!"

Really, what I want people of all religions to say is this, and I shall label it as my Stance on Religion:

I, believer of [blank], clearly recognize the flaws in this belief structure, but I accept it wholeheartedly in the face of opposition because of the benefits of this belief structure.


Unfortunately, because of the presence of righteousness, no one would ever be humble enough to ever admit that their own religion has flaws, especially when a lot of people are merely born into a religion (i.e. raised in a specific household). That's what happens when people start going to Wal-Mart just because there's a 200,000 square-foot Superstore creating traffic jams in your neighborhood. Everyone else seems to be going there. I went there once; seemed nice; why would I go anywhere else?

There following use of capital letters indicate metaphorical expressions:

I don't think people have to vote down Religion being built in their Neighborhood. You don't have to Shop There.

There, dismissed.