September 2008

World in the Satin Bag

A “Controversial” Meme

Well, Mr. Wheeler did it, and so shall I! [01] Do you have the guts to answe​r these​ questions and re-​​post as The Contr​overs​ial Surve​y?​​Yes. [02] Would​ you do meth if it was legal​ized?​​No. If I wanted to do meth I would have already done it. I have no desire to put that kind of crap into my body. The worst thing that goes into here are McDonald’s cheeseburgers and corndogs. [03] Abort​ion:​​ for or again​st it?For, with restrictions. I don’t believe abortions should be a form of birth control and I think it needs to be regulated so people don’t do that. I think it should be acceptable in all instances of rape. I also believe science when it tells me that life doesn’t start at conception. Sorry, tough crap. A fertilized egg is a fertilized egg, not a baby. Get over it. [04] Do you think​ the world​ would​ fail with a femal​e presi​dent?​I think we’ve had a fair share of failure male presidents that even if our first female president was a failure it wouldn’t matter. So no, I don’t think the world would fail with a female president. If she’s up for the job and is better than the other candidates, then she should get the job. [05] Do you belie​ve in the death​ penal​ty?​​Yes. I see no point keeping people around who cannot be rehabilitated, who have murdered a few to many people, etc. I don’t want my tax dollars going to them for anything. Hang them and be over with it. Yes, that might be cruel, but they’re going to die in prison anyway and I don’t want to pay for it. They had their chance to share in collective freedom and they botched it up. That’s not my fault. Additionally, I think all prisons should be forced to reduce the amount of things given to inmates. No toys, special foods, etc. They should eat slop that has all the required nutrients for a human being to survive on and water. They shouldn’t be allowed to watch cable television, work out, play basketball, etc. We treat inmates better than we treat some people who haven’t broken the law. You call that justice? [06] Do you wish marij​uana would​ be legal​ized alrea​dy?​​Yes and no. I think it should be legalized with heavy restriction, but I don’t really care if they do it tomorrow or in ten years. If you get caught with pot, you deserve the penalty. You and I both know it’s illegal. [07] Are you for or again​st prema​rital​ sex?For. Not sure what else to say. If you want to wait until after marriage, then go for it. I don’t care when I do it, I just want to make sure I’m with the right person and it’s the right time. If the right time is after marriage, then so be it. [08] Do you belie​ve in God?Not the Christian God. That guy is a jackass. Or at least his followers who think they know him are. I don’t really believe in a specific thing. [09] Do you think​ same sex marri​age shoul​d be legal​ized?​​Yes, because I think America is being killed by the religious right movement who have gone out of their way to circumvent our civil rights all for Jesus. Bite me. Gay people can get married and it does nothing to the sanctity of marriage at all. Maybe you religious nuts should spend more time figuring out why religious people are slightly more likely to get divorced than non-religious people. Yeah. [10] Do you think​ it’s wrong​ that so many Hispanics are illeg​ally movin​g to the USA?The key word is “illegal”. It’s illegal to steal a candy bar just as it is illegal to come into this country to live here without authorization from the United States government. So, yes, it’s wrong. Send them back. [11] A twelv​e year old girl has a baby,​​ shoul​d she keep it?It’s none of my business. I would want my twelve-year-old to keep it if I had a twelve-year-old. But that’s my personal decision and doesn’t represent any sort of “right” decision. [12] Shoul​d the alcoh​ol age be lower​ed to eighteen?​No. We have enough problems with dumbass teenagers driving recklessly, we don’t need to throw legal alcohol into the mix… [13] Shoul​d the war in Iraq be calle​d off?Yes and no. I don’t think we should pull out all at once. People who say that are too stupid and narrow-minded for their own good. The situation is exceedingly delicate. You can’t just waltz in guns blazing and waltz out saying, “Sorry we screwed up your country. Have a nice life.” [14] Assis​ted suici​de is illeg​al:​​ do you agree​?​​Bad phrasing for this question, but I know what is meant by it. I think assisted suicide should be legal on a case by case basis. Nobody wants to spend their last days in agony and the people who try to tell people that they just have to deal with it should have to spend a week or more in that person’s shoes. Maybe then they’d understand why that person wants to die. Quality of life over quantity of life. [15] Do you belie​ve in spank​ing your child​ren?​​Yes, but I don’t want to do it. But I believe a spanking every once in a while is necessary. [16] Would​ you burn an Ameri​can flag for a million dolla​rs?​​No. Sorry. I love my country and I refuse to desecrate the flag for something as petty as money. I’ll burn the Canadian flag or something else, but not the American flag. [17] Who do you think​ would​ make a bette​r president?​​ McCai​n or Obama​?​​Obama at this point. McCain is insane and will do everything he can to destroy science while in power, all so he can force our children to become Christians. He’s the modern day Hitler with Palin right beside him. I refuse to vote for someone who is so clearly clouded by religious issues. I want

World in the Satin Bag

eReaders: Comparison Study

I’ve been looking extensively into all the various eReaders to see which one would be most useful to me and thought I would post the data here as a comparison study. The readers I’ve looked into the most have been the iRex iLiad, Sony eReader 505, Cybook ePaper, and the Amazon Kindle. There are some technical specs for each (they represent the best data I could find and I left out a few things that I didn’t think were important, such as some support formats that really won’t be of much use for eBook readers anyway). Here goes: iRex iLiad Battery Life — 15 hours. Charger — AC wall charger. Formats — PDF / HTML / TXT / JPG / BMP / PNG / PRC (other formats later) Wireless — Yes / Ethernet Disk Space — 128 MB Flash / Expandable w/ USB / MMC / CF Screen Size — 8.1 in. 768 x 1024 Processor — 400 Mhz. Memory — 64 MB Weight — 15.3 oz. Price — $699.00 Pros: What sets the iLiad apart from the others for me is the fact that it is easy to upload different formats. You are not limited to loading DRM only books and from what I’ve read you can put PDFs on this and they’ll work. It’s battery life isn’t really all that bad, although in comparison to others it’s not very good. It also has wireless for updates and you’re not limited to a specific network. If there’s wireless Internet where you are, you can get online. It also can automatically update your RSS feeds for newspapers, etc. It’s also bigger than the others, which is good and bad, depending on your perspective on that.It uses a stylus like a PDA and also allows you to take written notes that can later be turned into printed text, which make the iLiad ideal for students. Additionally, because the iLiad isn’t limited by its hardware in the same way that other eReaders are, updates to it could very well open the door to the use of other formats, such as Word documents. But, then again, it might not matter because it can do stuff online (blogs and newspapers) and that big screen makes it rather easy. Interestingly enough, to turn the page on this thing you actually have to turn a little “dial” of sorts, which might help simulate the reading experience. Cons: It’s freaking expensive. For something that doesn’t even come close to doing what a laptop of the same price could do, you’re paying quite a big chunk of change. True, the iLiad is more “open” than the others (especially over the eReader and Kindle), but depending on what you’re using it for, it might not matter. If you’re okay with using Sony’s ebook format or Amazon’s, then skip the iLiad. However, if you want a lot more freedom to bring all your written content with you, whether they be books, newspapers, blog feeds, etc., then perhaps the iLiad is for you. The iLiad is also a little slower in some respects to the others. This is mostly in reference to the menus as it is faster at page turning than the Sony eReader. Sony eReader 505 Battery Life — 7,500 page turns (whatever that translates to in hours, I don’t know) Charger — AC wall charger or USB Formats — BBeB / JPG / GIF / PNG / BMP / TXT / RTF / PDF / DOC Wireless — No Disk Space — 20 MB / Expandable with USB Screen Size — 6 in. 170 pixels per in. Processor — 800 Mhz. Memory — 128 MB Weight — 9 oz. Price — $299.99 Pros: What the Sony has over the other eReaders is its price. It’s the cheapest of them all, including the Kindle, and yet it’s also not that different from it’s biggest competition (the Kindle again). It’s rumored to have an exceedingly long battery life and pretty much does what it’s supposed to. Cons: It’s biggest issues are what killed it for me. It functions almost exclusively with Sony’s ebook format, which limits your selection, and, while it can view other formats, everything I have read suggests it isn’t very good at these things. PDFs especially are said to be notoriously difficult, as are newspaper feeds, etc. It’s great with the Sony format, but it falls apart if you want to use it for anything else. It also lacks wireless, which means you have to have all the books you want to read on there beforehand and can’t pick something up off the airport wireless if your trip is delayed or something. This also means you have to wait until you can plug into your computer before you can get updates to the machine itself or whatever feeds you might be reading (or attempting to). I’m also told that Sony is pretty much PC specific and requires the use of an iTunes-like Sony platform. Lots of cons, but if you’re only going to read eBooks and aren’t too picky about selection, it’s the best one out there for the price. Cybook ePaper Battery Life — 8,000 screen refreshes (whatever that means) Charger — AC wall charger. Formats — PRC / PDB / HTML / TXT / PDF / JPG / GIF / PNG Wireless — No (update via USB) Disk Space — 512 MB / Expandable with SD Screen Size — 6 in. 600 x 800 Processor — 200 Mhz. Memory — 16 MB Weight — 6.13 oz. Price — $540 Pros: The Cybook has a lot of internal disk space for all your books. There isn’t a lot out there about the Cybook, and I suspect that has a lot to do with the fact that, well, nobody even knows it exists. Unlike the Sony eReader or Amazon Kindle, the Cybook has been relegated to the land of obscurity. Because of that, I don’t know a whole lot about it or how well it works.

World in the Satin Bag

Religion and Schools: One Man’s Voice

The next time I hear someone spouting the great idea that religion/creationism/the Bible should be taught in schools, I’ll just think about these words: Secular schools can never be tolerated because such a school has no religious instruction and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character and training must be derived from faith. Adolf Hitler said those words. Adolf frakking Hitler. Not some guy running around handing out hugs, but the guy who waged war against the world, killed off millions of Jews and other folks for no real reason at all, and did a lot of other terrible things, or had other people do those things for him. Yeah, because that’s the kind of world I want to live in…

World in the Satin Bag

Free Stuff: Giveaways!

I thought it might be nice for some of my readers to know about some giveaways that are out there. Free books are always good, right? There are three giveaways over at Blood of the Muse, a new blog I just discovered that looks beautiful. They are: Star Wars Republic Commando: Hard Contact by Karen Traviss (signed). Quantico by Greg Bear (signed). No Humans Involved by Kelly Armstrong Then there is a giveaway at Walker of Worlds: Temporal Void by Peter F. Hamilton. Also, check out Fantasy Book Critic, as there are always a bunch of giveaways there, plus over at F&SF Lovin’ Book Reviews there is usually something going on. That is all! (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)

World in the Satin Bag

Help: Need Your Advice

I already asked one friend and he gave me a good perspective on the matter, but I thought I would ask all of you who read my blog or stumble upon it for your thoughts on something that recently came to my attention.Last year in the final quarter of my first year at UC Santa Cruz I took a required course called Lit. 101, which, at the time, had the theme of “Animal Theory”. It was an interesting course, to a certain extent, though not perfect, and I developed a relationship with the professor because we both share some common interests–science fiction, actually.So, when I found out one of the professors I wanted to do another independent study course with wouldn’t have the time I decided to ask the professor of my Lit. 101 course. And she emailed me back saying that she didn’t feel she would have the time to do so, but offered me a slot in her graduate course this fall.Now, for those that don’t know, I’m an undergraduate. I have no degree, yet, and this will be my second year at a real university as opposed to the five I spent figuring out what the hell I wanted to do in community college. That means I’ve never taken a graduate course; the highest course I’ve taken is actually the Lit. 101 course, which is the second highest level course you are required to take for a literature degree.I’m hesitant to take her up on her offer only because I don’t know a lot about graduate level seminars and fear that I’m not up to something like that. At the same time, I like this professor and this is a great opportunity. It will offer me a challenge, which I feel I do need, and might help me on my way to applying for graduate school. So, what do you all think on this matter? Do you have any advice or suggestions? Or perhaps you’ve had a graduate school experience and could enlighten me to what it’s like? Thanks. (Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)

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