Insignifica

Happy post Thanksgiving/Christmas season

Happy post Thanksgiving/Christmas season!

Had a great dinner last night at my mom's house, with the whole family there (this happens only once a year, on Thanksgiving, because of how far we all live from eachother). Lots of great food, very cool to see all my neices and nephews, and reconnect with family.

I must have needed sleep last night, because I went to be around 10:30 and didn't wake up until 8:30 - I considered, at 6:30, getting up and going to Frys, but more sleep was much more appealing, and I probably shouldn't spend the money on myself anyway.

I'm looking forward to more baking at home, Christmas music, decorations, etc. It seems like I've been able to avoid the early displays of cheer, so I'm not going into the season already tired of it.

In other news, it looks like Orange County has it's own Craig's List page. I've been hearing for ages about Craig's List from my LA and SF friends, and I'm looking forward to actually being able to use it locally.

Today is Buy Nothing Day, but I've decided that except for getting people to think about commercialism, it doesn't serve any purpose. Boycotts can be very effective, but getting people to just not shop today means they'll shop tomorrow. It doesn't change anything, just shifts it. If you really want to make a difference, totally stop buying from companies you disagree with, then write them a letter letting them know you've stopped, and get your friends to do the same. An anonymous decision to not shop won't do it.

Happy birthday Joz!

Happy Birthday Joz!

WPT PPM IV

I've got a new semi-obsession this week - the Party Poker Million IV. I've been a big fan of televised poker for the last few years, and while I played home games for much longer than it's been on, Texas Hold 'em is now my default game, and I've thrown several tournaments at my house (with more planned soon). And because Mike Sexton (host of World Poker Tour) was one of the spokesmen for partypoker.com, I decided to use that site to gamble online. It's got a nice interface, very good customer support, and there's no delays in deposits or withdrawals of funds.

I usually play small 2 and 3-table tournaments with $5 buy-ins, that's my preferred method of play. Sites like Partypoker.com also have "satellite" tournaments, where for a small buy-in, you can win an entry into a tournament with a large buy-in. I've played a few before, most notably willing an entry into a tourney with a $200 buy-in back in October.

Now, on to the PPM IV. The buy-in is $10,000, and the event is a televised WPT tournament held on a cruise ship. For some reason, this just really appeals to me. There are a lot of ways to get in - you can buy-in directly, play a $210 +$16 satellite, or play a sub-satellite for an entry into the main satellite. I'm too poor to buy in directly, and too cheap to risk $226 for a chance, so I've been playing the low-level satellites, where a $7 entry gets the top few players an entry into the $210 + $16 event. I placed 32 out of 160 night before last, not winning anything, and placed 6th out of 90 last night, winning some cash but not an entry. I'm confident in my skills, and would love a chance to play to get a seat on the PPM IV event (which also includes a deluxe cabin on the ship, some cash, etc). I'll keep everyone informed of my progress.

Update: On my third try (tonight), I placed 34 out 230, losing after going all in with KK, and getting beat by a straight. I'm about even money-wise for the three satellites I've entered.

Second update: All-in story. Per Chris. I had a low stack at the table, and was way below the tourney average for chips. I'd been looking for cards to double up with (since my stack was only about 3 times the big blind), and hit KK on the big blind. Bets came around the table, and I went all in, hoping for a showdown (and to get the other bets). I was called by the person 2 seats on my left, and the rest of the table folded. I turned up KK to his 99, a very strong advantage. The first three cards out were 5-6-8, and the forth was a 7. I lost, but was still pretty proud of how I played, and that finish.

happy birthday Eric!

Happy birthday Eric!

thanksgiving week

Happy Monday, and welcome to Thanksgiving week. I've already been hearing Christmas music in stores and in commercials, I guess we're close enough. In general, I think the season is too long already at a month, so I don't want the season (in song, decorations or "shopping spirit") to be any longer, for fear of it becoming less "special". Say what you will about commercialization/loss of religiousness/etc. about Christmas, it's nothing new. The season is what you make of it.

We're just on our way out of a weird weather weekend here in Southern California, with a surprise lingering rainstorm, low-elevation snow, and quick-moving clouds. It's left a beautiful day today, and it's supposed to get wonderfully cool this evening. Looks like a good weather week, in fact.

I did very poorly on my novel-writing efforts, pretty much not writing after the first ffew thousand words. Call it self-doubt, lack of interest, or other things getting in the way. I did get some good stuff written, though. Perhaps I'll try again next year. Some things I have been doing, though, include writing more over at Atheistweb. Take a look, read some articles, post some comments. it tends to be pretty quiet there, but that's because people are more likely to respond to posts rather than just start new ones. Share and enjoy!

friday back from monterey

Good day, gentle readers! I'm back from Monterey.

Had a good time up there, learned a LOT at my conference, and got to see some Santa Cruz friends. I could have been posting the whole time I was up there, but was lazy and busy at the wrong/right times. Anyway, here I am.

In other news, I got more than 400 comment spam in the last week. Does MT Blacklist work with MT 2.6xx? Does it work well at all?

We've entered the busy holiday season. There were birthdays last weekend, and this weekend, and the weekend after that, all in my family. Then Thanksgiving, some more birthdays, then Christmas and the associated parties and get togethers. I haven't even thoght about New Years yet, and that's only 45 days away. January has three more family birthdays, then there's a little break. All said, however, it's much better than having nothing to do.

There's a lot of political talk in the posts from the last two weeks or so, and some interesting comments. If you haven't already, feel free to read through and leave a note. The voices on the comments, though varied, have been pretty conservative. I'd like to see what my more liberal readers think.

That's all for now. Enjoy your Friday!

Idiot groups protest Kinsey movie

This is way up there on the stupidmeter - Groups protest film about Alfred Kinsey. The groups, including "Concerned Women of America's Culture & Family Institute" and Focus on the Family, are protesting the film because they disagree with what Kinsey did to open up sexual discussion, and believe somehow that he was entirely responsible for the sexual revolution. Apparently the birth control pill, women's lib, and all of mass culture didn't have a role, it was just this one man and his "unholy" quest to study sexuality.

And you wonder why we think the rest of us think these groups are absurd?

response to evilconservative

The following is a response to a post from "Evil Conservative", who posted a rather sharp-tongued comment to my November 3 post, "Election Wrapup, Where We Go From Here". The following is my response.

Evil Conservative,

Thanks for writing. I'm always happy to elicit a strong response from my readership, it makes me feel like I'm actually doing something important. I don't particularly appreciate the tone of your response, however, and I wanted to address your points.

First off, I tend to dislike anonymous posts, but that may be because I'm a very open person. But I never require a real name or real email address. However, if someone is going to openly challenge me and imply I'm somehow a coward, I'd appreciate if they signed their name so I know who to address. Even the information you did provide, "evilconservative@yahoo.com" isn't a valid email. Name-callers who do so from behind the anonymous curtain of the internet tend to be the most cowardly, in my experience.

Next, you address me as "Doss". While this is my last name, your tone implies one of several things:

A) Where you're from, use of the last name without a prefix such as "Mr." is a common practice.

B) You seem to think that method of address somehow gets your point across better.

C) You're a high school gym teacher.

Whatever the case, I preferred to be called Michael. Thanks.

on to the body of your message. You give me a hypothetical situation, asking me if 20 American beheadings are more or less significant than 100 "terrorists in a training camp". My conversation with Chris was focused on the estimated 100,000 civilians killed, not terrorists. I also never said the American deaths were insignificant, simply that I feel they're not as newsworthy as 100,000 civilian deaths. You also imply that the means of killing the hypothetical 20 Americans is considerably worse than the means of killing your terrorist trainees by bomb. Having not experienced either, but being fairly well read on both, It's likely that even an extended beheading, while gruesome, is likely quicker than the death by burning, crushing or concussion associated with aerial assault.

Regardless of the details, I consider the beheadings that have occurred to be horrible and vile. I also consider the deaths of every member of the coalition military and every iraqi, military and civilian, in this war to be horrible and vile.

Your next point extrapolates your sense of my views and opinions based on some of your readings from my site. While I appreciate being read by those visiting insignifica.org, I doubt very highly that you can determine, from my posts here, how I would react to specific situations. This is mainly due to the fact that not every aspect of my life gets posted; I'm very specific about what gets put here to be read by the world. Unless you know me from more than just my website, it's unlikely you have nearly enough knowledge to properly judge who I am, or what I'd do in your increasingly unlikely hypothetical situations.

Your last point asks what I do when threatened - stay and fight, or "run to the police". First off, your statement implies a fallacy of bifurcation - there are always more than two options in such a situation. You also seem to have gleaned the impression that I hold the police in disdain. I'm not sure where you get this opinion, but I have a very high regard for members of our police forces, in general. There are always rotten apples in the bunch, but that's true for all occupations. The bad apples in positions of authority, however, tend to have a larger and more detrimental effect. I don't recall too many discussions here, however, about my opinions of the police. I do notice, however, that you imply I'm somehow less of a person because I may go to the police. Your insult is noted, and I shrug it off, like I have the rest.

To answer your question, which I'm sure was one of your goals in asking it, I tend to be non-violent, and rarely fight with more than words. I would, and have, defend myself when attacked, and would and have gone to the police.

Thank you for your comment. If you choose to respond, please do so with your name, otherwise I have no choice to think of you as a simple internet troll, free to insult but unwilling to show your face. There are few things more cowardly to me than not standing behind your words.

vegas recap, monterey trip

Fun weekend in Vegas, though not a winning weekend. The drive up was uneventful, though the drive back was rainy and slow for the first hour. In all my trips to vegas, I believe that was the first in which it rained. Though I prefer sunny skies, desert cloudscapes are quite impressive.

Another long drive this coming weekend; I'm traveling to Monterey for the Internet Librarian conference. All sorts of workshops on how to do my job better, and most I'm attending are tailored for people who do my exact job: researching data on the internet for use in publications. I'm looking forward to picking up a lot of good information, making some good contacts, and having a good 4 days in Monterey.

strange findings in the logs

Strange finding in the logs...someone got to the site by searching google for "michael doss" "wheel of fortune". Three days later, a person with the same IP addresss (c-24-15-28-148.client.comcast.net) got the site by searching for pyramid mpeg "dick clark". Who is this game show fan? Do they know me? Did they see a rerun and want more? Is it just dumb luck that I show up high if you're looking for Pyramid mpegs? What's the deal?

missing flickerstick

Damn.

First Flickerstick Los Angeles appearance on the west coast since I've been a fan: November 14.

Day I'm traveling to Monterey for business: November 14.

I've been a big Flickerstick fan for years, and I'm gonna miss their show I just found out was happening at the Viper Room. Oh well...

off to Vegas

After all sorts of posts on Wednesday, I'm quiet for all of yesterday. So it goes in blogland.

I'm leaving for a very short vegas trip this weekend, heading out Saturday at 8am and coming back Sunday late afternoon. I'd guess lots of people make weekend trips like this, but I've only done it twice, most of my trips are two nights.

Funny thing about this trip is that I'm going mostly for the drive, for a fun diversion. After hosting large events for the last two weekends, it'll be nice to just get away and do nothing except gamble and relax. And while I always enjoy gambling, I've been doing it a lot at Pechanga lately, so I'm not as reved up to play as I usually am. I'll sit at some tables for a few hours, but I might just walk around and enjoy the town, too. Oh, and I may play in a vegas poker room for the first time in my life. We'll see how that goes.

why be an ethical hedonist

You might be noticing that I've had a lot to say today. Much of it is election-inspired, of course, and some comes from wanting to write for National Novel Writing Month (though none of my posts here are fiction, just rumblings). Whatever the reason, the words are flowing.

One thing that this election is making me think about, though it seems only tagently related, is about living life every day to its fullest. I've always advocated that - we never know where we'll be tomorrow, and while I think most things turn out ok, there's very little value in wasting what you have on a given day. Get out and enjoy the sunshine, take a walk, make a great meal, have friends over. You'll remember the good times later, and the every day things will just blend together into a "why didn't I..." when you're older and can't do the same.

Regardless of what the Right tries to say, you should have fun, even if that fun is a "sin". Enjoy sex within the bounds of your moral guidelines. Do what feels good. Eat rich foods, and make sure you go out for walks and exercise afterward to work it off. If it pleases you, and doesn't hurt anyone else, give yourself a day of doing nothing, or doing everything. Become an ethical hedonist. Do as you please, but harm none. The reason the forces of the Right want to control "moral" actions isn't because they don't like to have fun, it's because it's a method of subjugation. By controlling your actions, they're controlling you. Vibrators aren't illegal in many states just because it's "naughty", but because the Right knows that by telling you what you can't do for pleasure, you begin to believe they have the right to tell you how to live, even when you aren't harming anyone. The same goes with limiting alcohol sales on weekends, even when that's when you might want a drink. Marijuana laws fall into the same category.

By controlling how you live, they're telling you that they have a right to do so. Fight back! protest unjust laws. Break them if you're willing to suffer the consequences. Don't let a government tell you how to enjoy your life, if no outside harm is done. That's an important part - the "ethical" in "ethical hedonism" means you do what feels good, with consideration of others. But for so many things in our lives, the Right wants to control everything, and you can't let them. Enjoy yourself today, however you please.

recovering the computer

While election results were coming in, I was busy with something almost as important - fixing my computer. Problems began about two weeks ago, when the battery ran down and it refused to boot up. While knoppix allowed me use my computer and gave me access to my files, I still wanted to get back to using my computer in a non-hacked way. Unfortunately, the problem with my computer was fatal, and required some specific know-how in replacing files and fixing the registry (which I don't have), as well system disks (which I didn't have). My computer came with "recovery" disks, allowing me reformat/reinstall or nothing. I finally ended up plugging in my 60 gig external drive, transferring all my files (gigs of music, a few years worth of email, thousands of pictures, etc) and then, hoping everything was moved, "recovering" the system.

Perhaps because the disks were made for my computer, the install was very quick and very painless. In less than 20 minutes I had a new copy of WinXP installed, it immediately found my external HD and internet connection, and I began rebuilding. The emails all exported correctly (though my filtering rules didn't), and all my files seem to be in good shape. A nice side-effect of having my computer die is that the reborn computer is clean, crisp and "new", without a lot of the garbage that's hard to clean off once it's installed. I'm sure it'll become "worn" again, but for now it's like I have a new computer.

halloween costume

Presenting (via Emily, who sent me this picture) my halloween 2004 costume:

It's huge and hulking, but it was easy to wear, and would have made a great costume for walking around in if I'd been able to see a little better. The body was made from three pieces of foam board, put together sandwich-board style (with a top piece for my shoulders) and spray-painted red. The pieces were attached with cable ties. While it was a little wider than my doorways, it wasn't hard to move in, and I had good range of motion with my arms.

The insignia is the Lego Space symbol from the 80s, I traced it from a print out and colored it to match. Looked better than I thought it would.

The head was initially a challenge, I considered a motorcycle helmet, but couldn't find one, so wandering around home depot I found 12 inch cardboard tubing, used for pouring concrete. I cut it to size and spray painted it yellow (multiple coats for shine), then cut out eye holes with a doorknob cutting drill attachment, and glued on a black piece of paper for the mouth. The tube cut well with a table saw, but produced MUCH more fine cardboard pulp than I expected. The top piece above the tube was a cookie container glued to the top piece, painted yellow. The head was not attached to the body piece, but instead rested on it. Made it easier to remove so I could wear one or the other.

The hands are simple yellow rubber kitchen gloves, I thought they'd be easier to wear than claw-style Lego-man hands.

I wore a white long-sleeve shirt and black pants underneath, and from the side I'm sure I looked pretty strange. Face on, however, I think it's is one of the best costumes I've ever made.

election wrapup, where we go from here.

Well, the election didn't go as I thought it would. I'd been telling myself that I was cautiously optimistic, and that while it looked good for Kerry, it wasn't over. But as the results came in, and we never caught up in Florida, and the states that might have flipped didn't, and Ohio was too close, it saddened me, and surprised me. Unless there was widespread voter fraud on a counting level, it wasn't as close as we thought it would be. I really thought we'd win, and really didn't expect it to go the way it did.

So what do we do now? We continue the fight. Joel gets it right when he says "continue to criticize Bush policies, but do not make fun of him. Do not make fun of the angry white males and soccer moms. They are human beings, too. The key to future success lies in the Middle Path. Recognize that all human beings suffer." We don't need to give up our ideas of fairness, and mercy, and helping those that need help to cater to the red states. But we need to focus our anger productively, like many of us did this year. Continue to expose wrongdoing. Make sure information is spread. Do as I always suggest third parties do: fight locally, and get people who believe as you do into local office. Every election year is important. Fight, but focus on policy and change, not personal attacks and primate comparisons.

Will this election change the Democratic party? Perhaps. Just like in 2000, there's a lot of talk about how to cater to the rest of the country. But I don't necessarily think that's the right thing to do, nor do I think it's necessarily possible. Socialist/Atheist/Vegetarian/Ethical hedonist/"Do what you will but harm none" Michael Doss might find some common points of interest with Capitalist/Christian/Meat Eating/Moralist/"You're going to hell" John Doe, but it's unlikely we're going to be on the same side on a lot of voting issues. I don't have any good answers, though, on whether it's best to retreat to the liberal side of things, where I'd be more comfortable, or even further toward the right, which might bring some people over. Is either really effective?

All in all, the country will go on. We'll wake up tomorrow and go to work. Will things change? Very possibly. Will you lose some rights? Absolutely. Is it the end of the world? Contrary to what Bush may want, tomorrow is another day, and the horsemen on the way are those Bush is riding with on his too-often ranch vacations. Keep fighting, keep working. Social progression advances regardless of who's in office, it just takes time. We're on the right side.

vote!

I'm sure I'm not the first person to remind you, and I won't be the last - Vote!

If you need to find your polling place, check out www.mypollingplace.com.

Yahoo! has a site with information about your local candidates and initiatives.

www.electoral-vote.com is a great site with polling and electoral college information.

If you're an American and able to vote, make sure you do. This (like every other) election is an important one, and it's critical that you make your voice heard. There are no other rights you have as an American more important than your right to vote!

Happy November!

We had a great Halloween party, attended by 30 or so people, including 2 of Santa Ana's finest. It wasn't their fault, they had to come because a neighbor called. But it was around 11pm, so we had to really quiet the party down. They were very nice, and didn't have to make a repeat appearance, and a good time was had by all, regardless. Pictures to come!

Even though I'm really busy, I've decided I'm going to give National Novel Writing Month a shot. I think it'll really help me to reorganize my time toward a goal. I've got some ideas, now i just have to put down 1700 words a day...good luck to everyone doing the same!