Friday, August 29, 2003
Tell the world I'm not interested.
If you haven't already done so, you need to hurry up and put your name on the National Do Not Call Registry. If you don't do it by September 1, you have to wait 3 months until you stop receiving unsolicited telemarketing calls. Which makes me wonder why I'm pressing this so urgently; I don't think I've ever received a telemarketing call in the nearly three years that I've had my cell-phone. But I can sleep more soundly at night knowing that, despite the incredible unlikelihood of such a thing ever happening, I will never have to waste 12 seconds of my life telling a telemarketer, "I'm not interested."
When I initially considered it, I thought it was improper for the government to be involved in such a thing; The telephone company should offer that as a service, and if they didn't offer it, a competitor could then offer it and... Oh wait. Local telephone companies, like electric companies, are government-mandated monopolies. So in this highly convoluted system of free enterprise and government control, I contend that nothing is wrong with the government offering this service that would otherwise be provided for in a free market.
If you haven't already done so, you need to hurry up and put your name on the National Do Not Call Registry. If you don't do it by September 1, you have to wait 3 months until you stop receiving unsolicited telemarketing calls. Which makes me wonder why I'm pressing this so urgently; I don't think I've ever received a telemarketing call in the nearly three years that I've had my cell-phone. But I can sleep more soundly at night knowing that, despite the incredible unlikelihood of such a thing ever happening, I will never have to waste 12 seconds of my life telling a telemarketer, "I'm not interested."
When I initially considered it, I thought it was improper for the government to be involved in such a thing; The telephone company should offer that as a service, and if they didn't offer it, a competitor could then offer it and... Oh wait. Local telephone companies, like electric companies, are government-mandated monopolies. So in this highly convoluted system of free enterprise and government control, I contend that nothing is wrong with the government offering this service that would otherwise be provided for in a free market.
Monday, August 25, 2003
Have you had your third-degree burns today?
Remember the so-called "frivolous" lawsuit about 79-year-old Stella Liebeck, who successfully sued McDonalds for coffee she had spilled in her lap? Like many others, I was apalled to hear about this great inversion of justice and cursed at this old lady for her complete abdication of personal responsibility.
That is, until today when I learned the actual facts of the case. Apparently, McDonald's had a regulation that required their coffee be served at a scalding 185 degrees; this temperature will cause third-degree burns (also known as full-thickness burns) in a matter of seconds, which Stella can testify to after spending eight days in the hospital receiving skin grafts for burns over 6% of her body. McDonalds' quality assurance manager later testified that the coffee was not fit for consumption as it would burn the mouth and throat.
I fully endorse Stella's lawsuit against McDonald's. Food served at a restaurant should be suitable for consumption, unless given prior warning. For the same reason, food shouldn't be served laced with rat poison, containing hypodermic needles used by heroin junkies with AIDS, or injected with the Ebola virus.
This is a completely different issue, however, from the recent trend of ridiculous lawsuits against "Big Food." These people are sueing over conditions that took several years to accrue and resulted from consuming large quantities of foods that are known to cause severe health conditions; who doesn't know that being morbidly obese can be a detriment to your health? I've known that since I was a wee lad (Maybe "wee" isn't the correct term to use; I was a little on the plump side, I think weeeeee would be better suited.)
Now I think I'll go bite into McDonalds' new tasty McEbola Sandwich.
Remember the so-called "frivolous" lawsuit about 79-year-old Stella Liebeck, who successfully sued McDonalds for coffee she had spilled in her lap? Like many others, I was apalled to hear about this great inversion of justice and cursed at this old lady for her complete abdication of personal responsibility.
That is, until today when I learned the actual facts of the case. Apparently, McDonald's had a regulation that required their coffee be served at a scalding 185 degrees; this temperature will cause third-degree burns (also known as full-thickness burns) in a matter of seconds, which Stella can testify to after spending eight days in the hospital receiving skin grafts for burns over 6% of her body. McDonalds' quality assurance manager later testified that the coffee was not fit for consumption as it would burn the mouth and throat.
I fully endorse Stella's lawsuit against McDonald's. Food served at a restaurant should be suitable for consumption, unless given prior warning. For the same reason, food shouldn't be served laced with rat poison, containing hypodermic needles used by heroin junkies with AIDS, or injected with the Ebola virus.
This is a completely different issue, however, from the recent trend of ridiculous lawsuits against "Big Food." These people are sueing over conditions that took several years to accrue and resulted from consuming large quantities of foods that are known to cause severe health conditions; who doesn't know that being morbidly obese can be a detriment to your health? I've known that since I was a wee lad (Maybe "wee" isn't the correct term to use; I was a little on the plump side, I think weeeeee would be better suited.)
Now I think I'll go bite into McDonalds' new tasty McEbola Sandwich.
Wednesday, August 20, 2003
The Contested Legacy of Ayn Rand
I just got my free copy of The Contested Legacy of Ayn Rand: Truth and Toleration in Objectivism, by David Kelley, from the Objectivist Center. So far I've read the preface and part of the introduction, and it seems like it's going to be an excellent book. Here's the description from their website:
The Contested Legacy of Ayn Rand is an engaging introduction to the Objectivist movement, its core ideas, and its central fissures. At the same time, it offers a case study in the sociology of intellectual movements and a frank discussion of the issues that arise whenever thinkers leave their studies to promote their ideas in the public realm. It features Kelley's response to the accusations of Leonard Peikoff and Peter Schwartz.If you're wondering what accusations it's referring to, you can read all about them in the Introduction to Objectivist Schismology, which includes links to excerpts from this book. I'll publish my evaluation here when I'm done reading it, so you'll have to wait until then to know whether or not to judge me as evil, and hence ostracize me so as to not sanction that evil. ;-)
Google Toolbar 2.0
I urge everyone to run out and download the new Google Toolbar 2.0 and spend some time learning about its different features. Some of the new ones include:
I urge everyone to run out and download the new Google Toolbar 2.0 and spend some time learning about its different features. Some of the new ones include:
- Pop-up Blocker - Blocks pop-up windows, and indicates that it has blocked a pop-up with an exclamation point below the mouse pointer, as well as displays the number of pop-ups blocked on the toolbar.
- AutoFill - Fills in web forms with all of your contact information, as well as credit card information, with the click of a button
. The fields that it can fill in for you are displayed in yellow, rather than white. - BlogThis! - Opens up a new blog entry on blogger.com (you're looking at it!) with a link to whatever page you were looking at when you clicked the
button. - Dictionary - Look up words on Dictionary.com from the Google search box.
- Next & Previous Buttons - When you perform a Google search and open up one of the links in the search results, these buttons allow you to go to the next or previous entry in the search results without returning to the google search results page.
- Search Site -
Google Search the website you're presently on. - Google News -
Takes you directly to Google News. - Highlight & Word Find - Highlight
Highlights the words you searched for on the current page, and Word Find 
jumps to each instance of the search terms on that page every time you click it.
Thursday, August 14, 2003
From Texcapade to Sexcapade
Brittany gets home from her 3+ week Texcapade in less than an hour and I'm so excited! I shaved my whole body for her (well, at least the essentials) and I did it all by myself this time! Now I'm going to pour myself some Powerade in preparation for the ensuing marathon sex!
Wednesday, August 13, 2003
The Pillar is Erected
I finally made my own blog. I decided to start one nearly two years ago when I saw that some kids in high school had created some really attractive blogs and I got jealous. So I spent a long time making a design, but I lost interest and stopped working on it. A year and a half later, I wondered what value there really is in having a blog; up to that point, I thought it was just a gossip forum for teenagers. But then I realized the immense value that a blog potentially has.
Think about what it is: A public medium for documenting and communicating your ideas, experiences, concerns and values in writing.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized how incredibly valuable this type of thing was. You can practice and strengthen your writing skills. You can improve your storytelling ability. You can develop greater self-confidence by practicing frequent self-assertiveness. You can document your entire life for historical purposes. You can use it to find patterns in your behavior, heightening your self-awareness and enabling you to more effectively assess and correct your problems.
While it will most likely prove to be highly valuable, I think there are several potential pitfalls that I should probably try to avoid. The most obvious one I can think of is that I will most likely offend someone. Or two or three. I think I will generally tend to not assert myself as much as I'd like to because I'm sure I'd be fielding a lot of angry questions from a number of people. Maybe in the course of my blogging practice, I will actually become significantly more assertive and say what's on my mind more often, though I'm sure "Please don't put this in your blog" will be something I hear very frequently. And I'm sure I'll honor those requests at least most of the time. ;-)
For those reasons, I see additional value in having a private blog to supplement this public one, so that will most likely happen at some point in the future.
The name of this blog, "Pillar of Rationality," should be interpreted with a mocking tone; it's addressed to those that seem to consider me a pillar of rationality or a moral authority, as well as to those that think I think that of myself. Sorry guys, I'm just someone that greatly values rational thought, honesty and constant self improvement.
Anyways, the pot is making me tired so I'm going to wrap this up. :-/
Goodnight everyone!
I finally made my own blog. I decided to start one nearly two years ago when I saw that some kids in high school had created some really attractive blogs and I got jealous. So I spent a long time making a design, but I lost interest and stopped working on it. A year and a half later, I wondered what value there really is in having a blog; up to that point, I thought it was just a gossip forum for teenagers. But then I realized the immense value that a blog potentially has.
Think about what it is: A public medium for documenting and communicating your ideas, experiences, concerns and values in writing.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized how incredibly valuable this type of thing was. You can practice and strengthen your writing skills. You can improve your storytelling ability. You can develop greater self-confidence by practicing frequent self-assertiveness. You can document your entire life for historical purposes. You can use it to find patterns in your behavior, heightening your self-awareness and enabling you to more effectively assess and correct your problems.
While it will most likely prove to be highly valuable, I think there are several potential pitfalls that I should probably try to avoid. The most obvious one I can think of is that I will most likely offend someone. Or two or three. I think I will generally tend to not assert myself as much as I'd like to because I'm sure I'd be fielding a lot of angry questions from a number of people. Maybe in the course of my blogging practice, I will actually become significantly more assertive and say what's on my mind more often, though I'm sure "Please don't put this in your blog" will be something I hear very frequently. And I'm sure I'll honor those requests at least most of the time. ;-)
For those reasons, I see additional value in having a private blog to supplement this public one, so that will most likely happen at some point in the future.
The name of this blog, "Pillar of Rationality," should be interpreted with a mocking tone; it's addressed to those that seem to consider me a pillar of rationality or a moral authority, as well as to those that think I think that of myself. Sorry guys, I'm just someone that greatly values rational thought, honesty and constant self improvement.
Anyways, the pot is making me tired so I'm going to wrap this up. :-/
Goodnight everyone!
