The inanity of some people drives me crazy.

I’ve been in an ongoing conversation the last few days with someone on the Academy of Art University Facebook app discussing the Egypt protest situation. Today that conversation just went somewhere I never expected: circumcision. That’s right. It went there. How or why is beyond me, but it did. Below are excerpts from the conversation:

Derek Fidler: Who’s ​been ​watching ​the ​news ​intently ​wondering ​what’s ​going ​to ​happen ​in ​Egypt?

Gisele Schoenberger: yeah, ​don’t ​go ​now!

Josh Rincon: It’s ​exciting ​to ​see ​what’s ​happening ​in ​Egypt ​and ​I ​have ​hope ​for ​our ​‘brothers’ ​fighting ​for ​their ​rights ​in ​a ​country ​that ​has ​been ​oppressed ​by ​a ​dictator ​for ​the ​last ​3 ​decades ​in ​which ​the ​United ​States ​has ​supported. ​FREE ​EGYPT!

Derek Fidler: “has ​supported” ​ie “still ​supports”

Gisele Schoenberger: Free ​Egypt… ​requires ​a ​megaload ​of ​education ​for ​the ​people; ​which ​the ​Taliban ​is ​NOT ​interested ​in ​assisting ​the ​humans ​who ​live ​there ​with. ​ ​Why ​are ​they ​so ​backward, ​anyway? ​ ​We ​are ​all ​evolving ​simultaneously ​and ​yet ​there ​are ​no ​expected ​hopes ​for ​each ​generation ​to ​acquire ​an ​education ​especially ​for ​the ​fair ​gender. ​ ​It ​freaks ​me ​out.

Josh Rincon: The ​Taliban ​have ​nothing ​to ​do ​with ​Egypt. ​They ​are ​concerned ​with ​the ​rulings ​in ​Afghanistan, ​not ​Egypt. ​That ​should ​answer ​your ​first ​question. ​As ​to ​your ​second ​question, ​I ​leave ​you ​this ​wonderful ​quote ​by ​Noam ​Chomsky, “If ​you ​assume ​that ​there ​is ​no ​hope, ​you ​guarantee ​that ​there ​will ​be ​no ​hope. ​If ​you ​assume ​that ​there ​is ​an ​instinct ​for ​freedom, ​that ​there ​are ​opportunities ​to ​change ​things, ​then ​there ​is ​a ​possibility ​that ​you ​can ​contribute ​to ​making ​a ​better ​world.”

Gisele Schoenberger: Good ​quote, ​hope ​you ​can ​abide ​by ​it. ​ ​Are ​you ​so ​sure ​about ​the ​taliban ​Not ​being ​a ​part ​of ​this ​insurgence? ​ ​Look ​at ​the ​news, ​the ​internal ​strife ​not ​driven ​by ​Mubarak ​is ​externally ​incited ​and ​names ​(as ​usual) ​are ​not ​being ​divulged. ​ ​Anderson ​Cooper ​was ​inside ​last ​eve ​in ​hiding, ​bcz ​journalists ​are ​being ​beaten ​by ​the ​insane ​wildebeasts ​native ​to ​that ​land. ​ ​It ​is ​not ​a ​highly ​educated ​people ​and ​they ​can ​be ​and ​are ​being ​stirred ​by ​religious ​fanatacism ​in ​the ​surrounding ​regions. ​ ​They ​are ​pawns ​in ​whose ​larger ​and ​eviler ​plans? ​ ​Abinadina- ​jacket ​probably. ​

Derek Fidler: Actually ​Egypt ​has ​one ​of ​the ​best ​educational ​systems ​in ​the ​region ​with ​compulsory ​education ​from ​age ​6-15. ​Over ​93% ​of ​children ​are ​enrolled ​in ​school ​and ​the ​literacy ​rate ​for ​the ​country ​is ​around ​73%. ​(Compared ​to ​the ​US ​which ​has ​less ​than ​80% ​functional ​literacy ​according ​to ​the ​NALS, ​Egypt ​looks ​quite ​good)

Additionally, ​there ​is ​no ​fundamentalist ​Islamic ​political ​organisation ​in ​Egypt ​and ​as ​a ​whole ​the ​few ​fundamentalists ​receive ​more ​publicity ​than ​the ​average ​Egyptian ​which ​skews ​the ​media.

Attempts ​to ​paint ​the ​situation ​as ​a ​fundamentalist ​take ​over ​is ​purely ​the ​western ​presses ​and ​governments ​trying ​to ​make ​up ​for ​the ​fact ​that ​they ​supported ​a ​horrible ​tyrant ​for ​30 ​years ​in ​the ​name ​of “stability/peace ​in ​the ​middle ​east” ​and ​are ​seeking ​to ​ensure ​that ​a ​pro-western ​leader ​comes ​into ​power ​after ​Mubarak; ​whether ​he ​is ​another ​tyrant ​or ​sincerely ​a ​good ​leader ​is ​irrelevant ​as ​long ​as ​he ​can ​be ​co-opted ​into ​the ​US/Israel ​hegemony.

Nevertheless, ​both ​Republicans ​and ​Democrats, ​including ​the ​Obama ​administration, ​are ​continuing ​to ​provide ​billions ​of ​dollars ​in ​military ​aid ​each ​year ​to ​Egypt ​which ​will ​remain ​our ​number ​2 ​recipient ​of ​foreign/military ​aid ​as ​long ​as ​a ​pro-Western ​leader ​is ​in ​power.

Gisele Schoenberger: Interesting ​information. ​ ​What ​kind ​of ​a ​leader ​do ​you ​want ​to ​see ​there, ​one ​that ​is ​of ​anti-western ​thought? ​ ​I ​think ​Western ​thought ​is ​cool. ​ ​The ​whole ​world ​should ​have ​the ​opportunity ​to ​have ​a ​Western ​Education. ​The ​education ​you ​refer ​to ​in ​the ​middle ​east ​is ​already ​sloshed ​around ​with ​anti-western ​sentiment ​until ​western ​thought ​is ​seen ​as ​‘other’ ​and ​not ​good, ​other.

What ​is ​the ​predominant ​religion ​over ​there; ​it’s ​not ​Judeo/Christian; ​ ​I ​think ​they ​are ​muslim ​and ​angry ​that ​everyone ​else ​in ​the ​world ​isn’t, ​so ​therein ​lies ​the ​heretical ​religious ​slant ​or ​tirade ​from ​extremism ​from ​the ​inside. ​It’s ​sad. ​ ​Most ​Americans ​want ​to ​Live ​and ​let ​live ​and ​live ​in ​peace ​on ​this ​planet. ​ ​Nobody ​want ​to ​go ​to ​war. ​ ​My ​dad ​didn’t, ​he ​was ​a ​boy ​of ​14 ​forced ​to ​and ​was ​destroyed ​by ​war.

Unfortunately, ​I ​see ​from ​internal ​journalists ​that ​there ​is ​a ​lot ​of ​bloodshed. ​ ​Anderson ​Cooper ​is ​not ​skewing ​his ​stuff, ​he ​is ​a ​liberal ​and ​he ​cares ​about ​humanity ​ ​... ​these ​people ​who ​are ​ending ​up ​broken ​up. ​ ​Yes, ​there ​are ​political ​forces ​around ​Egypt ​with ​fanatical ​and ​financial-power-gain​ ​viewpoints. ​ ​Who ​are ​you ​kidding?

​ ​Rioting ​in ​the ​streets ​and ​beating ​up ​the ​world ​media, ​c’mon. ​ ​These ​are ​educated ​people? ​ ​ ​Hmmm ​more ​Western ​thought ​and ​education ​needed; ​perhaps ​the ​inherent ​individual ​violent ​natures ​of ​all ​the ​men ​there ​in ​the ​ENTIRE ​region ​ ​would ​be ​better ​off ​if ​they ​were ​circumcised. ​ ​For ​some ​reason ​it ​just ​seems ​to ​stave ​off ​the ​violent ​ ​tendencies ​in ​the ​male ​nature ​in ​the ​first ​place. ​Compare ​world ​societies ​and ​figure ​it ​out ​yourself. ​ ​It ​should ​be ​mandatory ​for ​male ​humans ​born ​onto ​this ​planet. ​ ​Really ​all ​this ​fighting ​and ​aggression. ​ ​It’s ​disgusting ​we ​haven’t ​evolved ​past ​this ​stupidity.

Derek Fidler: There ​are ​stories ​like ​this ​one ​and ​thousands ​of ​others ​that ​prove ​positive ​how ​destructive ​pro-western ​backed ​dictators ​are ​to ​liberal ​ideology ​in ​the ​middle ​east. ​What ​temporary ​stability ​we ​gain ​comes ​at ​the ​cost ​of ​millions ​of ​oppressed ​people, ​trillions ​of ​lost ​dollars, ​and ​an ​increasing ​number ​of ​fundamentalist ​muslims.

We ​must ​realise ​that ​our ​involvement ​with ​politics ​and “aid” ​in ​the ​middle ​east ​is ​actively ​undermining ​the ​spread ​of ​freedom ​and ​democracy. ​We ​have ​continuously ​aided ​anti-democratic ​leaders ​in ​the ​middle ​east ​when ​it ​suits ​us ​and ​turned ​on ​them ​when ​they ​go ​against ​our ​wishes; ​we ​have ​supported ​such ​figures ​as ​the ​Shah ​of ​Iran, ​King ​Abdullah ​of ​Saudi ​Arabia, ​Saddam ​Hussein ​against ​the ​ayatollah, ​Osama ​bin ​Laden, ​the ​mujaheddin, ​and ​the ​Taliban ​against ​the ​Russians, ​and ​countless ​other ​ruthless ​leaders ​in ​the ​middle ​east ​as ​well ​as ​around ​the ​world.

We ​need ​to ​get ​out ​of ​their ​politics ​and ​bring ​our ​troops ​home ​before ​we ​can ​see ​real ​pro-democratic ​change ​in ​the ​middle ​east.

For more information regarding the protests in Egypt please read this article by Maajid Nawaz. The sooner people realise that Western-backed leadership are worse for democracy and freedom the sooner we will see peace in the middle east, an end to our military involvement in the region, and greater prosperity for all.

Image courtesy of New Statesmen

I just wanted to start a quick discussion on the musical merits of the closing years of the 1970s and beginning of the 1980s. These years saw the synthesis of two of my favourite musical forms, Punk and Electronic, into what we now know as the beginning of New Wave music. Whether you like Punk, Electronic, and New Wave or not, I believe proper appreciation of all music requires a simple understanding of prior forms. Our generation has been affected by this considerably small movement more than perhaps any other when it comes to our view of modern electronic music. Had it not been for a handful of independently operating bands in North England and New York, the electronic music we hear today would be totally different, perhaps following a more American tradition such as Disco or a more German tradition such as Trance.

The synthesis of Punk and Electronic came in part by the development of the Moog Synthesizer, which allowed poor, independent bands to experiment with electronic instruments, the increasing popularity of Punk ideology, which encouraged untrained, lower-class musicians to produce music, and the arrival of Disco from the United States and Krautrock from Germany. For more information about the development of New Wave music, watch “Synth Brittania” by the BBC.

Below are a few of my favourite songs from the period, comprising of Punk, New Wave, and Electronic music between the years 1977 and 1984 (with the exception of In The Night by the Pet Shop Boys, release in 1985). Above is Yashar by Cabaret Voltaire.

1. Are Friends Electric - Gary Numan

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2. Damaged Goods - Gang of Four

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3. Moments in Love - Art of Noise

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4. Smalltown Boy - Bronski Beat

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5. Auto Modown/Space Girl Blues - DEVO

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6. Wishing - A Flock of Seagulls

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7. Money (That's What I Want) - Flying Lizards

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8. Love Action - The Human League

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9. Underpass - John Foxx

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10. Mad World - Tears for Fears

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11. Vienna - Ultravox

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12. I'm Still Searching - Visage

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13. This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody) - Talking Heads

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14. In The Night (1985) - Pet Shop Boys

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Amendment to Reaffirm the Constitution and Limit Governmental Power

Section 1.

The President shall not deploy or quarter troops abroad without the consent of Congress, through a Declaration of War, unless in times of emergency in which the nation, or people within the nation’s borders, are in imminent danger.

Section 2.

Congress shall make no law without explicit jurisdiction derived from the Constitution which shall be put forth in accompanying documentation. Laws challenged in the Judiciary without such documentation shall be required to put forth explicit Constitutional jurisdiction in documentation in a speedy manner.

Section 3.

Congress shall have the power to lay and collect taxes on income so long that the tax system is impartial to religious or political affiliation, age, gender, ethnicity, sexual preference, or marital status, and does not reward or penalise any specific behaviour or character.

Section 4.

No representative of the Government shall receive compensation, neither in payment nor gift, in return for influence over legislation from any source.

I think the argument between free market and fair market individuals has been going on for long enough and it’s about time someone proposed a new figure in the equation. The parties today represent two sides of the same coin, one expounds the belief that our government should protect the freedom of commerce while the other believes that our government should control aspects of commerce. Both the power of commerce and the government has slowly risen year after year so now we only hear the slight ebb and flow of power between the two. Both parties, while arguing bitterly, have created a governmental system which benefits only commerce and government at the expense of the true sovereign power of any democratic nation, the people.

To any reasonable business person, the only people that truly matter are the customers: without them there would be no business. Likewise, our founders created a government in which all power was derived from the consent of the people: without people there would be no government. Often I feel that our current parties have forgotten this simple fact, and we have returned to the days in which absolute despotism reigns, although under a democratic guise. I believe power should flow amongst the three constituents—the people, commerce, and government—although with the acknowledgment that all power originates from the people. If we forget that last fact, we end up with government for its own sake, business for its own sake, and, worst of all, business and government in concert working for their own sake.

My proposed amendment redresses a few key grievances that I see as an affront to the power of the people: mainly the enlarged power of the Executive and the enlarged power of Congress in regard to law making, taxation, and partiality to certain interests.

First and foremost, the power of the President has grown beyond the execution of law to a domain in which the President has absolute power over the entire government. This absolute power derives from control of the military which has become the most expensive portion of the government’s discretionary spending. Through this, the executive can now bankrupt our entire nation with costly foreign activities. The original founders countered this eventuality by requiring Congress to provide a declaration of war in Article 1, Section 8; however, they failed to anticipate that Congress would usurp the consent of the people and diminish their own power while providing the President with the ability to deploy troops without a declaration of war, ie. the War Powers Resolution. My attempt to diminish these powers is two-fold. Section 1 reiterates the requirement for the government to abide by Article 1 Section 8 so that Congress regains structural control of the military. Secondly, I attempt to reiterate and reinforce the spirit of the Third Amendment by expanding its power to all activities of our military, both foreign and domestic. Had the founders assumed we would become an aggressor nation, as England was at the time of the Revolution, they would have included such a statement; however, it was assumed our military would solely be used for defense.

My focus for the second section is the reiteration of the Ninth and Tenth Amendments. Congress has passed many, many laws which have no Constitutional authority. Explicitly within the last two amendments of the Bill of Rights is the reservation of all rights to the people not enumerated to Congress and the States, and the idea that even the enumerated rights shall not infringe upon the rights of the people. As late as 1919, people still felt that the Constitution was the supreme law of the land and Congress was beholden to it, and as such felt it necessary to provision the Constitution with a prohibition of alcohol, granting Congress power to legislate on that singular issue. Since then our government has forgotten what its enumerated powers are and has taken more and more power and choice from the people, banning the proliferation of “illicit substances”, “illicit images”, and “illicit language”, while promoting ephemeral social ideas such as segregation and affirmative action, and allowing some marriages while banning other marriages. It is comical to me that at one time people felt they had to change the Constitution for a singular item like alcohol when today Congress can ban anything from harsh words to a particular cigarette brand without a single reference to the enumerated power that allows them to do so. I support an idea, that I have heard before, in which Congress must clearly reiterate their enumerated power in each piece of legislation they wish to pass. Additionally, in accordance with ex post facto, existing laws shall not be required to abide by the new Amendment until challenged in a court of law.

A legitimate government, with power derived from consent of the people, must have laws that the people can understand and abide, but who can understand or abide by a law that is over 54,000 pages long? Legitimate government must also treat all people equally under the law, but our income tax is amongst the most guilty of laws for treating people unfairly. Within its complexities are thousands of unfair agendas, designed to engineer the people into certain actions without their knowledge or consent. For example, the government encourages home ownership as a quick way to raise GDP and as a result has provided mortgage deductions and numerous home ownership credits. Unfortunately, this discriminates against low income renters who cannot gain access to these deductions. The IRS code also promotes bigger government by providing tax breaks and incentives to those who buy government bonds while double taxing dividend income and other corporate investment. Another example is the marriage tax penalty which originally was not a penalty but a reward. In 1969 the reward became a penalty, and in 2003 became a reward once again. Then there’s the single parent tax credits. If you have one child you get a small credit, and if you have more children you get larger credits, but if you invest or save some money—say, for your children’s education—outside of IRS approved accounts, your credits are taken away. My proposition would require Congress to create a tax system that treats all people equally by removing the rewards of credits and deductions, and the penalties of the AMT and investing. All persons, no matter their social circumstance, should be taxed equally with a person in the same circumstance.

The final section is focused not only on diminishing the power of the government, but limiting the power of special interests. The power of special interests has been important in American history since its founding, but in the past, influence was much harder to garner when Representatives met only a few months per year. Being a Representative now is a full time job, and quite often the Representatives rarely return to their represented states. I see the detachment of Representatives from their electors as the reason for the expansion of special interest power, and I write this section of my proposed Amendment with special attention to lobbyists and the activities of businesses, social advocates, and unions who all disregard the power of the people for the combined strength of business and government. The fact that lobbying is now an everyday part of business in Washington, that billions of dollars from the oil, drug, tobacco, auto, teaching, alcohol, investment, and recently tech industries are now flowing into Washington, that there are ex-Representatives earning six-figure incomes for their “services” is evidence enough that power is pooling at the capital when, truly, the power should be derived from only one place: the consent of the people. I propose to Constitutionally ban this flow of money from businesses, unions, and special interest groups into Washington so that it could be better spent employing people, developing new technologies, contributing to grassroots causes, education, or whatever else billions of dollars could go towards. I make my departure from free market people, who prefer all lobbyists to have their “freedom”, and also my departure from fair market people, who prefer their specific industries—whether business, governmental, or union—to have their “freedom”. I think the Representatives should never forget who their constituents are, who gave them their power, and who can take it away.

This is only the first Amendment I propose to right some of the wrongs with our current government, but there are many other issues which I feel only Amendments to the Constitution will right. Among these, I would propose an Amendment for a balanced budget and an Amendment guaranteeing all people an economical education with the fundamental choice of school. Perhaps soon I will have time to write about these other issues.

For anyone with some time, this is good reading. It’s the final text from the latest Proposition 8 hearing which Judge Walker overturned today. I’ve gotten to about page 10 but have to stop, although the whole thing is fascinating.

I am partial to saying that neither side has a strong “constitutional” argument and the entire matter is social and has nothing to do with law. The “same-sex marriage is constitutionally protected” argument is a huge stretch, and the reality of the matter still stands that the Constitution doesn’t grant the government power to marry individuals in the first place, much less decide who gets to marry. Marriage and “due process” are not the same. All the government need do is recognize all those that want to be married as married as it was done in Common Law days, and we’d be done with this whole argument. An excerpt I have read on early American marriage portrays the very system that we should return to:

The Dutch and Germans performed the wedding ceremony in their native languages, employing customs from their homelands. The Quakers held weddings in their meetinghouses. There, couples could marry themselves, often by reciting vows they devised, without a clergyman. For many years, Anglican traditions, based on the Book of Common Prayer, prevailed in the South.

Just looking at the signers of the Declaration of Independence would tell you that they wouldn’t agree on just one way to get married.

Marriage has been a pain in the ass in Western Culture since the Council of Trent, when society switched from Common Law marriages to religious marriages that had to be performed by a Roman Catholic priest. Ever since then, minority groups have fought their governments against marriage laws, eg. after the English Marriage Act of 1753 people would elope from Ireland to Scotland to marry under Scottish law. Is there any reason to think that after 400 years our governments would be able to pass a law that everyone could agree with? Not from what I’ve seen.

Additionally, people tend to forget that the Constitution is a legal document, not a moral document. America’s moral document is the Declaration of Independence in which the preamble famously states:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Moral advocates on either side tend to think that both documents are the same, but in reality the Constitution only provides safeguards against the government interfering with people’s lives, not promoting or deciding what is Life, Liberty, and Happiness. If people were honest about the Constitutional argument, they would be arguing that the government has no right to decide who gets married, not whether one group is protected or not.

Pro-8 defendants originally argued about some moral superiority of heterosexual relationships, but this had no legal standing. The legal argument they’ve conjured up regard to statistics about raising children in heterosexual relationships, but I find it hard to believe that this information is useful considering the tiny number of same sex couples with children. The oddest argument I’ve noticed is the advancement of America through procreation. The last time I checked America had a growing population and suddenly allowing same-sex couples to marry wouldn’t jeopardize that growth rate unless these are the same people that think legalizing heroin would create an entire country of drug addicts, but that’s just conjecture on my part.

Con-8 proponents argue about the happiness they would gain from social acceptance and the freedom to choose who to marry. That sounds like something out of the Declaration to me. Arguing that the 14th Amendment protects the choice of whom to marry isn’t exactly the same argument I would make since the Constitution doesn’t grant anyone the right to marry, but having the right to live your life how you want is more American sounding than what the Pro-8 people are selling and that’s what counts to me.

Image Credit

By: John Nuccio

The value of Grammar goes straight to my head,
Nouns and pronouns scatter pages.
Participles mess my paper with cowboy thoughts,
Words derived from Latin, books of Roman Graffiti.

Nouns and pronouns scatter pages,
The Imperfect, the Pluperfect, tense’s that are Perfect clues. 
Words derived from Latin, books of Roman Graffiti,
Some verbs give off a perfect aspect, the rest of them are passive.

The Imperfect, the Pluperfect, tense’s that are Perfect clues, 
The Classic Dialect, an Arabic Sanskrit jumble of tongues. 
Some verbs give off a perfect aspect, the rest of them are passive,
Participles mess my paper with cowboy thoughts.

The Classic Dialect, an Arabic Sanskrit jumble of tongues. 
Strange linguistics, scratch my senses,
Participle’s mess my paper with cowboy thoughts.
Ear drum’s played by wild musicians.

Strange linguistics, scratch my senses,
Proprioception relates Logically and structurally, the gentle touch of Semantics.
Ear drum’s played by wild musicians,
Linguistical Statistical data, indicate cultural warming.

Proprioception relates Logically and structurally, the gentle touch of Semantics,
Phonetics radio out across the waggledancers of the free world.
Linguistical Statistical data, indicate cultural warming,
The value of Grammar goes straight to my head.

That moment has finally come that I have dreaded for a long time: Expression Engine, my long time go-to CMS, has finally gone to a pay-only system.

For the last couple years, my clients have loved the fact that they could get a fully-functioning, robust, and feature filled CMS without paying anything more than the customization costs. On top of that, EE’s ease of use made training their employees a cinch since it handled content in a blog-style form which practically anyone could learn how to use. I loved EE, too. After quickly learning about the limitations of Wordpress, I moved on to EE and so it was the first CMS that I really learned the in’s and out’s of. It’s templating system was simple, practical, and highly modular. Pages could be broken into any number of sub-templates and conditions could be set so any number of sub-templates could be infinitely nested. And then there was the abundance of quality free, and cheap, modules and extensions that improved upon practically any foreseeable client need. Really, EE was a great CMS.

But now, like many successful tech companies, they have had to start charging for their product or else face the fact that expanding without steady income is a quick death warrant. So, upon the completion and debut of their new CodeIgniter-based version 2.0, I am saying my adieu.

The nail in the coffin is the new pricing scheme for EE2. The original pricing plans covered three tiers: a free community tier, a $100 non-profit tier, and a $250 enterprise tier. The new pricing scheme still offers three tiers but the community version is gone forever. The new tiers start at $75 for individual licenses with no member support, the second tier for non-profits is $150, and the enterprise tier is a whopping $300. Where I once could offer clients a simple, fully functional site for $500 built on the community version, I now would need to pass on the $300 to my clients for the for-profit version which is unreasonable. Not to mention it wouldn’t be truly open source if clients are forced to have an expensive proprietary CMS with a $300 entrance fee. Basing something on open source and being open source are two different things completely, and I no longer can support EE.

Now my top two options are Joomla and Drupal. I have always opposed Joomla due to its lack of features and overly simplistic CMS system, which really just leaves me Drupal. Lucky for me, Drupal is soon coming out with their newest release, version 7, which will bring Drupal down to a level that is easier to develop, and more importantly, easier to learn and maintain for my clients. Drupal 7 will also continue to be true to their open source beginnings and provide the full CMS at no cost. Whether they choose to provide specific features and support at different pay grades is welcome by me as that would provide Drupal with income for further development and also provide their customers with choice, and that’s what open source is all about.

1517 Shattuck Ave
Berkeley, CA 94709
(510) 548-5525

Chez Panisse is a good restaurant. The food was tasty, the service was excellent, the ambiance was amazing. If someone asked me whether I enjoyed the meal the answer would be a whole hearted “Yes”.

However, if asked whether I would return I’d have to think about it. When restaurants charge minimums of $100 per guest I have to feel wowed, I want to feel as though the experience was once in a lifetime and there’s no other restaurant quite like it, but Chez Panisse left me a little bored and uninspired by their dinner choices. This isn’t to say that everything wasn’t cooked brilliantly, which it was, but for the caliber of the restaurant I expected something a little more and didn’t get it.

Chez Panisse suffers from a debilitating attention to where the food comes from and forgets that what’s always most important is what is served to the customer. Sure there is some level of awe to a chef that pays so much attention to where their food is bought, but can that not be said of all high profile high cost restaurants? Rarely have I been to a restaurant that charged over $200 for two that didn’t have the absolute best ingredients.

In retrospect it’s hard to remember the taste of the food at Chez Panisse and to me that is an automatic failing. I still remember meals I had 5 years ago in New York, Boston, and Los Angeles, but I can’t remember the taste of the duck or the savory souffle accompanying it at Chez Panisse when I dined there no more than 3 months ago.

My recommendation: wait until something that sounds amazing comes up on the menu before you decide to go there, otherwise it’ll be a good meal, but not an unforgettable one.

Dragon Oath

I’m not going to say that I’m 1337 and beat all games that dare cross my crumb and coke covered path. However, I have played my fair share of mmo’s and consider myself well versed in pvp,  grind fests, end games, and item shops. I played Wow from beta through level 70, Lineage 2, Everquest 2, Star Wars Galaxies (before and during the Jedi grind), Warhammer: Age of Reckoning, 9 Dragons, Allods, Hell’s Gate: London, and omg I’m tired of listing these and it’s making me out to be bigger nerd than I really am.

Now that you know my mmo gamer cred, I would like to highlight a game that you don’t have to ignore your significant other or your personal hygiene standards to play; Dragon Oath offers the casual gamer an opportunity to sit back, relax, and revel in instant gratification.

Upon logging in you’ll notice a free gift awaiting your point and click. Once you receive the item, simply wait a few minutes to get another! This intriguing ploy encouraged me to run around getting a feel for the game before immediately dismissing it because of its Diablo style top down only view. Don’t stop reading here, I promise it’s not as bad as it sounds and once you get addicted you won’t even notice it…much. Since I’m on the topic of what’s bad about the game, it’s also point and click movement. I hate point and click, but again, after playing this game for the last few weeks, it doesn’t bother me in the slightest. BTW, it’s free.

So, back to what’s wonderful about it. Besides the free gifts, double and triple exp bonuses, and overall coolness of being a Kung Fu apprentice, everyone gets a pet. Not a novelty kitten that follows you around, but a truly useful sidekick you get to name, and raise. What’s better still, you pick and tame the pet you want on Pet Island. There are wolves, porcupines, squirrels, tigers, birds, unidentifiable creatures, and more all varying by level, skill, and rarity. I tamed three different pets before level 15.

There are 9 classes and for my first character I chose the Assassin,  which is basically a rogue. Over time, I’ve gained skills that increase critical ability, invisibility, and agility. Where this game differs from other mmo’s is its leveling and skill options. Instead of instantly leveling up once you’ve earned enough exp, you have the option of selecting to level or spending the exp on skills. This option allows for great variability of characters and, if you’re like me, sometimes I just can’t wait to get a new skill. On a side note, if you’re not ready to run back to base to get the skills, the experience you earn continues to build and is not lost simply because you chose not to level up right away.

Oh, and that’s another thing…wherever you need to run to, don’t worry about spending exhausting amounts of time getting from one side of a map to the other, simply click where you want to go on the map screen and your character will auto run to the location. There are a few run-ins here and there, but you’ll learn how to avoid them. This is just another way the game takes it easy on the player. There are also coordinates for npc’s that you can click on to run to and an in-game list of available quests and their coordinates.

There are lots of in game events and mini-games like chess and bingo, plenty of professions to keep you occupied if you feel like taking a break to fish or to plant and harvest grains, and there are personal stores so you can sell items to save up for your level 40 mount. There are instances, pvp, and enough quests that keep the grinding to a minimum.

Overall, it’s an easy game geared at rewarding players. If you’re a casual gamer looking for something fun, light hearted, and colorful, give it a shot. 

The last few weeks I’ve been working late nights fighting to complete this wedding invite set for my sister and her fiance. Finally I’ve got it finished and I’m looking forward to seeing it printed. The theme is a garden party and I went with a rustic 19th century English garden feel. Surprise surprise. Fonts are Henry’s Hand script for the headers, Noir-Et-Al, a turn of the century Mission style for body text, and Mouse Deco, a 30s style uppercase font for the detail text.

The main invite is double sided and folds into a little envelope.

The directions card is also double sided but the back is just a map so I just included the directions side on the blog for now.

And here’s the RSVP. I opted to use name instead of “M” because from what I read people sometimes get confused or annoyed with it, either because they don’t know what M is for or their title is Dr. or something else.

The newest addition to my portfolio is a small informational website for Karen Sullivan, a marriage and family therapist. The site was built using the Expression Engine CMS and open source stock imagery. Plugins include the FreeForm module from SolSpace and a forum by phpBB. I also designed the logo for use on the website and printed materials. Check it out here and let me know what you think.

Also, in the next week or two I’ll be posting recent photos from my friend Christina’s wedding and my sister’s wedding invitations. Stay tuned.

(If you’re a fan and haven’t watched it to the end, what are you waiting for? Go finish it then come back! Seriously, I’ll wait.)

(Back already? Cool. Proceed.)

Of all the pop-culture events that I’ve experienced in my adult life, probably to most affecting had to be when the final episode of Lost aired May 23, 2010. For me, it was a bit of a delay. I didn’t experience it with the rest of the world. I held off on watching it until the following Wednesday so that me and my brother could get on Xbox Live and experience it together. ( I live in England while my brother lives in Nevada. We were syncing our schedules for this)  Given that I was off for those three days, it wasn’t hard to assume what was an outside-media blackout, for fear that tidbits and such would be divulged. So Wednesday finally came around, my brother called and said ‘Let’s do this’. And we did. What followed in those 106 minutes were nothing short of heart wrenching and satisfying (I know there are plenty out there who would disagree). It’s now been over two weeks and I still find myself thinking about not just the ending, but what I really watched the show for. And now, I think the dust has settled enough for me to describe what it meant to me and its place in entertainment history.

Much has been said about the show that redefined Television for the foreseeable future. It was brilliant; it confused the hell out of people, etc. In fact, I find myself hard-pressed to think of a show that polarized its audience as much as Lost did. Most Television shows manage to find their audience and keep them for quite a time, losing some near the end due to fatigue or disinterest, with few managing to keep interest for the duration (MASH and Friends to name a few). Lost had an interesting habit of weeding out viewers by changing its storytelling, introducing new mysteries, new characters, or killing off well established ones. It was a show that required a real commitment if you were to really get something out of it all. Basically, the equivalent of Hitchcock’s no-late-admission policy during the release of Psycho. Either you were all in or out.

I remember the first episode I was exposed to was ‘Do No Harm’, the episode where Boone dies and Aaron is born. Great standalone episode, but it meant nothing to me without all that came before. Eventually, I got around to watching it and was instantly addicted. The premise was simple, but as with Lost, not everything is as it seems. It may have been simple, but it was thematically rich, with characters (many named after philosophers) that you could sympathize with. The Island was a character in and of itself, representing different things to different people. For Jack, it was a kind of prison; a bad dream he couldn’t wake up from. For Locke, it was freedom, it was faith, it was everything he had been looking for his entire life. The Island could be what you wanted it to be. The same could be said of the show itself. You either watched it for the drama, the mythology, the literary references, the symbolic parallels, the battle between good and evil, or all five. You could keep track of the compounding mysteries, follow the budding romances, or try and catch all the little references they put in. There really was something for everyone. Even the title itself was meant to evoke many things. Lost souls; people Lost on an island; or the feeling you felt after watching it. It was a densely layered show that drew from literature, history, movies, and mythology for inspiration. But none of it would’ve been compelling if it didn’t bring you characters that you became invested in. Characters you wanted to see redeemed and saved. Characters with off-Island everyday plights you could easily relate to. This I think was the heart and point of the show. But of course, that’s just my interpretation.

And now having come to its end, I find myself moved and inspired. One, I hope I’ll be able to write a story as original with characters as memorable. Two, I fully plan on rewatching all the previous seasons just to see it all again and catch what I missed. But three, I mourn the loss of so daring a show. Even if another one comes along soon, the comparisons will be inevitable and unavoidable. ‘The End’ made me cry, laugh, and feel elated at the same time. Every major character received their resolution. Jack finally made peace with his father. Evil was not allowed to prevail. What more could you ask from a favorite action-adventure-drama? Better yet, how many such shows provide such a stirring of emotions?

Looking back on season six and on the show as a whole, I can’t ignore the points where the producers messed up. There were many mysteries that were introduced, but just plain didn’t pan out. You can tell where some things were contrived to make things work. Even in season six, you got the feeling they wanted to put in new things, but changed their mind halfway because it really was getting time to close shop (I chock this up to it being the only way the writers knew how to write the show). I imagine there are fan theories to explain away all these anomalies. Yes, even I have a few. But for me, it wasn’t always about the mystery. There’s no way they could give an absolute explanation for everything, especially about the nature of the Island. You could even tell the writers were aware of this. Did it destroy them? No. At times, they turned it into a strength. Like they were saying, ‘Yes, we’re ambiguous. Yes, we don’t have an answer to everything. But we dare you to do better! We dare you to come up with your own answers!’ In fact, I dare anyone to try and balance the logistics that go into making a TV show (i.e. keeping and losing actors, writer’s strikes, filming schedules) with the challenge of putting out a full creative vision. Only book authors can attempt the latter and many of them can’t pull it off well. So to those naysayers out there, I say cut them some slack. If anything, all the flaws make it better. It was a show about flawed human beings created by possibly just as flawed human beings.  ‘Well why was Walt special? Who was the Mother? Why did the Man in Black turn into a smoke monster but Jack didn’t? Etc. etc.?’ For me, I’m okay with some mystery remaining. I think some things lose their magic if you learn what’s behind it. I know I only got through half of ‘Hannibal Rising’ before I realized that I never wanted to know this much about our favorite murdering cannibal with manners. Would I shun any answers? Probably not. I’m damned curious like that. But the answers were never what I thought the show was about.

So what was it about for me?

I watched Lost for its storytelling abilities. Overall, it was a balanced show that revealed as much as it needed to and kept so much back until it would matter. It was edge-of-your-seat at its best. Not to mention how it innovated its own format. It began simply with the flash-backs. Then in came the flash-forwards; a game changer to say the least. After that, its cousins flash-time travel and the now infamous flash-sideways. The fact that they managed to keep it cohesive throughout was nothing short of genius. 

I watched Lost for its themes about good and evil, fate vs. coincidence, and science or faith. It’s hard to pinpoint the shows stance on these issues, but with Lost, that’s expected. I think really it asked us to consider the many possibilities when all faiths and views come together. Its international cast even helped promote this. And of course, nothing personified this better than the survivors’ credo ‘Live Together, Die Alone’. 

Really though, as with most good television, I watched Lost for the characters. I watched as they evolved and grew from the strangers in a plane they used to be. Strangers that were content to move on through life without knowing their fellow passengers, but in the end, were ultimately enriched by their time together in this life and the next. I watched as Sawyer grew from the surly, suave, con-man to someone you could count on not just to be resourceful, but to be caring and vulnerable as well (which I think is harder to accomplish). I watched the tragedy of John Locke; an unextraordinary man who couldn’t fully cope with the extraordinary situations he encountered, though not for lack of trying. I watched as Ben (possibly my favorite character) turned from the manipulative, calculating, lying leader he used to be to breakdown and realize that he was responsible for his own state. He even managed to be honest about who he was and truly apologized for his actions. I watched as Jack became humbled and realized his abilities could only get him so far. That he was, at the end of the day, a simple man, and that there was nothing wrong with that. In the end, it was just enough to save the ones he loved.

Do I wonder how the people who flew home turned out? Of course, but I’m sure they turned out fine. Do I wonder about the aftermath the Man in Black’s death had on the Island. Of course I do. Do I wonder about all the unanswered questions? Of course. But all good stories have to end somewhere. I really think it all ended the only way it could’ve ended. It wasn’t ‘Lord of the Rings’. I didn’t expect a full extra hour of aftermath and resolution. Those endings are reserved for war stories where we need to know the war didn’t kill the character’s soul in the process. For the characters of Lost, it was a redemption story. And with that view, I was satisfied with how it all turned out. Now I mourn the loss of a show that made me think, made me feel, and straight inspired me. I hope to write something just as moving.

While television tends to have the reputation of being nothing but pulp (and let’s face it, most of it is), I think Lost looked to elevate it further into a legitimate art form that is relevant and has substance. Books make us think; movies do as well. So why not television as well? In the end, Lost made me look at its characters and wonder how I can learn from their mistakes; how I can life this life to its fullest. With that much to wonder, I think it’s safe to say my six year investment in Lost wasn’t for nothing. I can only hope others felt the same way.

Goodbye Lost.

2009 was a big disappointment to me following the outrageous good fortune of 2008. Not to say that it was a bad year, but somewhere between the two we went from the ecstatic, electro, synthy-goodness of the 80s to the melancholy, all-is-lost, hippie-mellow aesthetic of the 90s. I got enough problems. Give me the happy stuff. But some bands did deliver some great stuff whether 80s-tastic or 90s-dirge.

Again, not trying to be cooler than the critics, but they were way off. Bat for Lashes, Animal Collective, Fuck Buttons, and Atlas Sound were all hailed as the best of the year, but I just didn’t get into any of those albums. The one album I did have to agree with the critics was awesome was xx by The xx. That album hit 2009 right on the head and you need to listen to it if you haven’t yet. Seriously.

Especially depressing was the poor follow up by Air, Metric, Mos Def, Royksopp, and the Mountain Goats, who all produced rather lack luster albums compared to their previous goodies. Returning bands which wowed me were the Junior Boys with Begone Dull Care and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs with It’s Blitz.

Again, as per the usual, my top choices are primarily going to be a selection of bands no one has heard of, but I’m used to it now. Hudson Mohawke released an amazing EP, Polyfolk Dance, which described the continuing relationship between electronic and hip hop just right. French dj Joakim released Milky Ways, which seems to have learned all the right lessons from Daft Punk, Late of the Pier, and Jason Forrest on how to combine Electronic and Rock music. From one song to the next you’ll swear you’re listening to different albums. My favourite electro album of the year, Skywriter by DatA, is basically a really, really, really good rehash of all the great electro albums of the past 3 years including what sounds like bits of Justice, Daft Punk, Pacific!, and Boys Noize, to name a few. Not that combining all those bands sounds stale, on the contrary it’s delicious.

This year, like last, I’ll split up the albums into three simple categories. The awesome albums, mostly awesome, and kinda awesome. Enjoy the list.

Golden

Joakim - Milky Ways
Hudson Mohawke - Polyfolk Dance EP
Data - Skywriter
Vitalic - Flashmob
Junior Boys - Begone Dull Care
Passion Pit - Manners
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It’s Blitz
Fever Ray - Fever Ray
Tesla Boy - The Tesla Boy EP
Major Lazer - Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers Do
The XX - xx

Mostly Golden

Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms
Black Moth Super Rainbow - Eating Us
Simian Mobile Disco - Temporary Pleasure
Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Royksopp - Junior
Miikke Snow - Miike Snow
Washed Out - Life of Leisure EP
Hudson Mohawke - Butter

Kinda Golden

Wild Beasts - Two Dancers
Mos Def - The Ecstatic
Washed Out - High Times EP
Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
Yacht - See Mystery Lights
Etienne Jaumet - Night Music EP

1. Hazel - Junior Boys

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2. Triangle Walks - Fever Ray

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3. Terminateur Benelux - Vitalic

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4. Hold The Line - Major Lazer

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5. Heads Will Roll - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

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6. Get Up - Washed Out

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7. The Reeling - Passion Pit

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8. Black and Blue - Miike Snow

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9. Spiders - Joakim

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10. Polkadot Blues - Hudson Mohawke

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11. Skywriter - DatA

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12. Cruel Intentions - Simian Mobile Disco

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13. Runaway Man - Tesla Boy

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14. Crystalised - The xx

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Maybe I’m being a bit unrealistic. Perhaps I’ll give myself till the winter.

Aldous Huxley: A Biography - Sybille Bedford
Now I Lay Me Down to Eat: Notes and Footnotes on the Lost Art of Living - Bernard Rudofsky
Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
Imbibe!: From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a Salute in Stories and Drinks to “Professor” Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar - David Wondrich, Dale DeGroff
As I Lay Dying: The Corrected Text - William Faulkner
Brave New World Revisited (P.S.) - Aldous Huxley
The Perennial Philosophy: An Interpretation of the Great Mystics, East and West (P.S.)  - Aldous Huxley
The Flavor Bible: The Essential Guide to Culinary Creativity, Based on the Wisdom of America’s Most Imaginative Chefs - Karen Page, Andrew Dornenburg
The Constitution of Liberty - F. A. Hayek
The Housing Boom and Bust: Revised Edition - Thomas Sowell
Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy - John Rawls, Samuel Freeman
Capitalism Without Democracy: The Private Sector in Contemporary China - Kellee S. Tsai
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Philosophy: Who Needs It - Ayn Rand, Leonard Peikoff
Aldous Huxley: A Biography - Nicholas Murray (Not Pictured)
Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance - Noam Chomsky

Of all the mixed drinks that I have had in my life I have never had a drink so deceptively smooth and subtle as a Stockholm. With a slight effervescence mingled with a not too sweet, not too citrusy taste that is as refreshing as an ocean breeze, (a bit cliché? let me revise that) as refreshing as a shower beer (truly a combination of the two most refreshing activities one can participate in, had Thomas Jefferson had showers in the late 18th century he would have said, “Shower beers are proof that god loves us and wants to be happy.”)
    Digression aside, The Stockholm is the staple flagships of Fresno’s bars, (an area plagued with horrendous summer heat where blended and iced mixed drinks are a necessity) in fact I would be skeptical of any Fresno bartender that could not make one. Napa has wine, Edinburgh has scotch, and Fresno has the Stockholm, and I was never really aware of this fact until I moved away from Fresno and could not find a single bartender willing and able to mix me one. Every chance I would get I would ask the friendly smile on the other side of the bar to make me one, only to see them shake their head and give me a shrug. I began to crave this drink, and except for the occasional pilgrimages to Fresno, it would always elude me. But why is this so? How can bars and clubs in culture capitals around the world not have it. I’ve been to bars in San Fransisco, New York, Los Angeles, London, Edinburgh, Sydney, and Melbourne where all I would find is a grin and a shrug and a vodka gimlet from these inadequate tent toppers. I almost sweared off mixed drinks until the Bartenders were on par, and then I realized that a more proactive approach was necessary. So like the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey I decided to write this today and give these Neanderthal barmen and women this gift of the gods.

The recipe in all it’s glorious simplicity is as follows:
1 measure Citron
1/2 measure Triple Sec
Splash Simple Syrup
Champagne or sparkling wine preferably one that is Extra Brut or lower is sweetness (Dry, Extra Dry etc.)
Ice

Steps, in this, there is only one way to skin a cat
1. In a mixer, half fill with ice and add measures of Citron, Triple Sec and Simple syrup
2. Shake till condensation forms on the mixer
3. Pour off into a sugar rimmed martini glass (sugar not completely necessary, martini glass is for proper volume of champagne)
4. Top off glass with champagne.

As some readers may know, my girlfriend and I are moving up to Berkeley soon and we’re deciding what furniture to deck out our new place with. After days of searching through furniture stores, online discounters, and modern design studios, we’ve compiled a list of all the items we love. We split up the items into the priority items we can’t live without, items that are similar that are more affordable if we choose to save some money, items we’d like to have sometime in the future, and items we’d die to have but are just a tiny, tiny bit out of our price range. Enjoy.