Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Back on the road
Well, I'm back on the road building waterslides. It's quite an adjustment after having so much time off. My muscles are sore, but it's good for my wallet.
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Read the previous post... especially at the end.
More on the Advancement of the Human Race
From Sarah (quoted from a comment):
Yes. Technology is nice. But that's about all it is. It (arguably) makes our lives easier, but the only satisfaction that it brings is empty, temporary. It does not bring true happiness. It does not increase one's capacity for love. Some may say that it can heal disease and injury. Perhaps some, but mostly I think that it just prolongs death which cannot be avoided. It can pacify, turn people into zombies in front of some sort of video display - withdrawn from human contact.
Yes, technological training and experience can lead to a better job, but does a better job make you happier? A lousy job can surely make you miserable regardless of pay. What do we need jobs for anyway except to perpetuate our technological culture. We could all live on self-sufficient homesteads - perhaps in small, loosely governed communities - where if you don't contribute to the good of the community, you get kicked out. Would we be any worse for it? Many would certainly not like to give up their mind-numbing entertainment devices.
Anyways, I think I might go off and become a hermit on some remote island or something. Or maybe start an organic farming community if I can find a good piece of land that hasn't been raped by modern farming methods. There must be some such community in existence somewhere. I could just join an existing one; but they're probably all run by some religious cult or something. I wonder if they'd have a webpage.
Technology is nice (it's going to get me a better paying job) But there is nothing that compares with being up at 7 in the morning and watching the sun rise over lake superior.
Yes. Technology is nice. But that's about all it is. It (arguably) makes our lives easier, but the only satisfaction that it brings is empty, temporary. It does not bring true happiness. It does not increase one's capacity for love. Some may say that it can heal disease and injury. Perhaps some, but mostly I think that it just prolongs death which cannot be avoided. It can pacify, turn people into zombies in front of some sort of video display - withdrawn from human contact.
Yes, technological training and experience can lead to a better job, but does a better job make you happier? A lousy job can surely make you miserable regardless of pay. What do we need jobs for anyway except to perpetuate our technological culture. We could all live on self-sufficient homesteads - perhaps in small, loosely governed communities - where if you don't contribute to the good of the community, you get kicked out. Would we be any worse for it? Many would certainly not like to give up their mind-numbing entertainment devices.
Anyways, I think I might go off and become a hermit on some remote island or something. Or maybe start an organic farming community if I can find a good piece of land that hasn't been raped by modern farming methods. There must be some such community in existence somewhere. I could just join an existing one; but they're probably all run by some religious cult or something. I wonder if they'd have a webpage.
Firefox is just about the best web browser available.
This book is for people who are tired of Microsoft Internet Explorer crashing all the time, running slowly, and allowing pop-ups, spyware, etc. (I know they have blockers now, but firefox had blockers first and still works better.)
I use firefox as much as possible - if I'm using someone's computer and they don't have it. I will usually install it.
Anyway, this book is interesting, but you don't need to read it to use firefox. Just go and download it at this web site.
This book is for people who are tired of Microsoft Internet Explorer crashing all the time, running slowly, and allowing pop-ups, spyware, etc. (I know they have blockers now, but firefox had blockers first and still works better.)
I use firefox as much as possible - if I'm using someone's computer and they don't have it. I will usually install it.
Anyway, this book is interesting, but you don't need to read it to use firefox. Just go and download it at this web site.
Saturday, September 17, 2005
The advancement of the human race
This is just a thought that was running through my head one day - but kindof building up for several years.
Humans, as a whole, are not as advanced as they think they are. Compared to people who lived hundreds or thousands of years ago, or in fact as far back in recorded history as we can go, people today are not much different.
The only real advancement has been in the collection, organization, and transfer of information - this is the root of all technological advancement. And how much has this really helped the human race? It has not helped to end war - only to make the devices of war more devastating. It has not made people any less selfish. It has not been used to protect the environment.
The apparent benefits of technology are all subjective. Is quality of life really improved? Are people really more healthy? or any happier? I don't think so.
On the other hand, technology is part of the world today and I do not suggest that we turn away from it. But I don't think that any technological advancement is ever really going to make the world a better place.
Humans, as a whole, are not as advanced as they think they are. Compared to people who lived hundreds or thousands of years ago, or in fact as far back in recorded history as we can go, people today are not much different.
The only real advancement has been in the collection, organization, and transfer of information - this is the root of all technological advancement. And how much has this really helped the human race? It has not helped to end war - only to make the devices of war more devastating. It has not made people any less selfish. It has not been used to protect the environment.
The apparent benefits of technology are all subjective. Is quality of life really improved? Are people really more healthy? or any happier? I don't think so.
On the other hand, technology is part of the world today and I do not suggest that we turn away from it. But I don't think that any technological advancement is ever really going to make the world a better place.
No more beard
Just in case you haven't seen me for a while:
I don't have a beard anymore. I got sick of it. And since shaving, I've realized how nice it is to not have a beard (or long mustache).
When you don't have a beard or mustache:
It doesn't get in your mouth when you're trying to eat.
You don't get food (and drink) stuck in it. (I had begun to avoid all sorts of sauces for this reason)
You don't get long beard hairs in your food.
It doesn't get caught in your coat zipper.
You don't have to worry about it getting all misshappen when you lay face-down.
But I'm not saying that I will never grow a beard again. The next time it will probably be a huge hippie beard.
I don't have a beard anymore. I got sick of it. And since shaving, I've realized how nice it is to not have a beard (or long mustache).
When you don't have a beard or mustache:
It doesn't get in your mouth when you're trying to eat.
You don't get food (and drink) stuck in it. (I had begun to avoid all sorts of sauces for this reason)
You don't get long beard hairs in your food.
It doesn't get caught in your coat zipper.
You don't have to worry about it getting all misshappen when you lay face-down.
But I'm not saying that I will never grow a beard again. The next time it will probably be a huge hippie beard.
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
2005 Dodge Ram Hemi
The engine is going out in my truck. But I needed something to drive last weekend to run to Duluth.
I ended up renting a 2005 Dodge Ram with a Hemi - 4 door, 4x4. It was the only thing they had available.
It's a nice truck... but I suppose any brand new truck would seem pretty nice. The Hemi has tons of power. I peeled some rubber.
On the Highway, I could get about 20 miles/gallon. It gets around 14 in the city.
So I'm looking to buy a replacement for my truck, but I think I'll go with something a little more affordable than the 2005 Ram.
I ended up renting a 2005 Dodge Ram with a Hemi - 4 door, 4x4. It was the only thing they had available.
It's a nice truck... but I suppose any brand new truck would seem pretty nice. The Hemi has tons of power. I peeled some rubber.
On the Highway, I could get about 20 miles/gallon. It gets around 14 in the city.
So I'm looking to buy a replacement for my truck, but I think I'll go with something a little more affordable than the 2005 Ram.
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
This is so cool. I'm going to get one as soon as I get back to work and have some positive cash flow.
Friday, September 02, 2005
The best rubik's cube solution on the internet. This is the fastest way to solve the rubik's cube. Lars (the author) has won a few rubik's cube competitions - yeah, I guess they have (or had) these.
I need to read my own posts
I've been adding blogs to this new software I have (Akregator), which is an RSS feed aggregator1. So I added my own blog to the aggregator and was looking at the list of posts and didn't remember writing some. So I read them, and then I remembered, but I'd completely forgotten about what I had written about. So I need to go back and read some of them and check out some of the cool stuff I've written about.
Footnotes
1. If you don't know about RSS feeds, read this. If you have started a blog through blogger.com, they you almost definitely have an RSS feed from your blog and you most likely need to update. Akregatorb takes all these feeds and shows you everone's new posts in an email/news browser kind of way. Then you can read the posts in plain text and go to the actual page if you'd like. It saves a lot of time reading blogs because they're all there at once and you can see who's posted recently and stuff.
Footnote 1 Footnotes
b. Akregator is probably not the software you want unless you run linux (or some Unix) and use the KDE desktop. Because Akregator is for KDE (which I use - it's nice). But you can probably find some other aggregator that will work on your chosen platform. Mozilla Firefox has some RSS feed support, but it's not as nice as Akregator which keeps track of which ones you've read and shows them in a more comprehensive way. Firefox just has a live bookmark kind of thing that looks like a bookmark folder for each feed and seperate bookmarks for each post.
Footnotes
1. If you don't know about RSS feeds, read this. If you have started a blog through blogger.com, they you almost definitely have an RSS feed from your blog and you most likely need to update. Akregatorb takes all these feeds and shows you everone's new posts in an email/news browser kind of way. Then you can read the posts in plain text and go to the actual page if you'd like. It saves a lot of time reading blogs because they're all there at once and you can see who's posted recently and stuff.
Footnote 1 Footnotes
b. Akregator is probably not the software you want unless you run linux (or some Unix) and use the KDE desktop. Because Akregator is for KDE (which I use - it's nice). But you can probably find some other aggregator that will work on your chosen platform. Mozilla Firefox has some RSS feed support, but it's not as nice as Akregator which keeps track of which ones you've read and shows them in a more comprehensive way. Firefox just has a live bookmark kind of thing that looks like a bookmark folder for each feed and seperate bookmarks for each post.