A debate.

The president tells it how it is.

I suspect that the collapse of the United States (or humanity as we know it!) may very well have been predicted by my can opener. Or perhaps I should say can openers. We at the House of Rock have gone through 3 can openers in as many years. This seems ridiculous to me. It’s not that they are failing in sharpness and need to be sharpened, they are actually falling to pieces.

Means of failure:
1. Squeeze failure: The gears seem have migrated apart. To get the thing to cut you have to pull the handles to the left and right before scissoring them together – the success rate of this maneuver is low.
2. Gear failure: The gear separated from the cutting tool so the gear will spin but the cutting tool won’t.
3. Complete failure: The blade and gearing fell off in a catastrophic explosion of parts.

There are two alarming things here. The first is the failure of seemingly quality goods. That third can opener on the list was a kitchen aid – a reputable brand! Has the need for low cost goods undermined our ability to provide a sustainable product? I remember Schenk was telling me about a dude whose environmental argument is not focused around the materials or methods used in production as much as around the physical life of the end product. Three can openers in three years is pathetic.

The second alarming thing here is that I didn’t spend time to fix any of these can openers. Instead, I just tossed them and went out to buy a new one. The ease and cheapness of buying and discarding goods discourages fixing them. I can’t imagine that this is a good thing for our sustainability.

Give it a shot.

It’s simple as evidenced by my score of 11/12. Though the results page reports the average as closer to 50%. Special thanks to Theresa for seeing my error there. Average result is between 8 and 9 correct.

Take the test! Report your results! I suspect MikeDiDonato.com readers are smarter than the average.

Check the comments to see which one I got wrong.

My two most recent literary conquests were Ayn Rand’s Anthem and Karl Marx’s The Communist Manifesto.

WARNING: Spoilers.

What a perfect book combination! Firstly, both are very short. Anthem is maybe 80 pages, The Communist Manifesto about 40-50* Secondly, both books predicted amazingly similar resulting oppressions despite completely opposite political views. Rand communicates her ideas via the story of Equality 7-2521. He’s a dude who has grown up in a complete collectivism environment. The population is imprisoned in bureaucracy and all aspects of individuality have been banned. The world is bleak, white, mundane, and scripted by ‘The Councils’. Equality 7-2521 has an awakening and finds an escape to the mundane through the development of himself and, essentially, capitalism. He develops an individuality and an ego with which he reinvents property and plans a capitalist revolution! (cue trumpet fanfare)

Karl Marx, on the other hand, conveys his point with a succinct presentation of his beliefs. He describes Capitalism not as a path to triumph but instead as a path to exploitation. He looks at capitalistic society and sees the few commanding bourgeoisie posed above the many victimized proletariat. Without exploitation, Marx argues that there can be no capitalism. He predicts that a purely capitalistic world will continue to widen the wealth gap until the vast majority of the world’s population will live in a bleak, mundane world scripted by the bourgeoisie. He ends by calling for a revolution.

If this were a fight, who would win?

Readability
Point goes to Ayn Rand. Marx is academic in his writing style and it can get boring. It took me longer to read Marx’s shorter essay than Ayn Rand’s longer essay. Ayn did a great job of keeping the storyline captivating and the plot moving.

Potency
hmm. Tie. Both predicted pretty miserable results if you were to choose their opponents path. I found it fascinating and awesome that both predicted such a similar outcome though.

Support
Karl Marx does a better job with supporting his arguments. But… I guess that’s expected. Ayn is telling a story – there’s little room to really get into supporting historical facts and such. Marx on the other hand is arguing and does a good job in cranking the volume to 11 on his political amplifier.

Which would I recommend?
I would recommend that you read whichever book you disagree with more. For those hardcore Republicans amongst us, try to get through the Communist Manifesto. For the diehard Liberals, go for Ayn Rand. I would say that both of these books are important reads for anyone who deems themselves well-read.

Which do I agree with?
Had you asked me before reading these books, I would have guessed that I’d go with Ayn Rand. I’m a strong believer in the theory that hard work can help pull the most out of luck into a position of strength. My Dad is my example of the ultimate hard worker who brought a comfortable lifestyle to his family through incredible dedication to his work and schooling and a fortitude to stick with it no matter what. He is a man who won’t stop for his own convenience and I’m quite certain he’ll never stop working for the benefit of his family, friends, and community. If the world were full of people like my Dad, capitalism would work beautifully.

But there are a lot of people who get higher capitalistic stature by pulling those around them down. I see Marx’s argument as a clever way to prevent exploitation. Rand, I think, argues that the world will stop trying if you start spreading wealth. I’m not sure I agree. I remember reading in one of my organizational behavior classes that there were three sources of motivation: Power (doing something to gain Authority), Social (doing what you do for your family or friends), and Achievement (I do it so I can say I did it!). I think I’m a mix of achievement and social. I think my Dad is something similar. Perhaps Marx is right. Perhaps if we removed the financial benefits of doing work, the world would not grind to a halt… perhaps instead we’d find a new motivation. The kind of motivation that drives people to publish free online software or the kind of motivation that advances the whole populous not just the individual.

I strongly encourage you to read both of these books. Reading both gives a great representation of opposite views. Hopefully they can help you better understand both ends of the political scale. These books definitely helped me.

*it’s a little hard to tell length of books with the Kindle. Both of these books were completed within a 2-3 hour period (each).

Oprah!

I am so dreadfully concerned that giving Jenny McCarthy an outlet for her anti-vaccination drive could greatly increase the wealth of illnesses plaguing our children.

I urge you to use your resources to better convey scientific understanding of vaccinations. Perhaps with a better understanding of how vaccines work and the research behind them, the public can make smart decisions for their children without the influence of sensational media like McCarthy. Mankind has come so far. To turn our backs on our scientific advancements seems to contradict that which makes us different: a mind and an ability to understand our surroundings in the pursuit of a better, more peaceful life.

Thanks for listening,
Mike D.

A video on US torture. It’s 90 minutes long and quite serious. Interesting and tragic. The U.S. really needs to stop this crap.

From Sander.

I don’t like Politics. Not one bit.

But I have to appreciate this website of Buttons for Obama.

THERE ARE FOUR PAGES.

favorites:
Roller Girls for Obama
Unicorns for Obama
Trains for Obama
Mammas for Obama
Banjos for Obama.

Normally, i prefer staying away from posts that could be cast in political light. Shamus sent me this video about environmentalism. It’s an interesting perspective and I appreciate the guy’s efforts.

Check it out!

I had a great conversation with one of the locals here. He had spent some time in Chicago and California and we spoke of the United States.

“The United States is a good place to earn money,” he said, “but living there takes something from you. Here in Mexico, I am free. If I want to go hunting in the hills, I can go hunting in the hills. I don’t need a license or special permits. I can do what I please and go where I please.”

It was an interesting perspective. The U.S. is all about the idea of freedom, but this gentleman’s first complaint was that the U.S. kept him down. He felt that there were too many rules to follow and the rules restricted freedom enough that he had no real desire to go back.

“I don’t think I can leave my family like this though,” he added, “I have four kids. Three daughters:16, 14, and 3. and one son, 6. I’d like to go north and earn some money to help them, but at the same time I need to be here. My youngest daughter is [sweet]. She runs up to me when I get home from work and shouts ‘pappi pappi!’ and kisses my cheek. I don’t think I could my family right now even to earn more money to help them.”

The conversation then switched to Visas.

“I want to get a Visa for Vacation to the States but it’s very hard. When I was in the United States before, I was there illegally. On the forms they ask where you’ve lived for the last 10 years. I was in the U.S. in 2000. I can’t lie. So I’ll tell them I was in the U.S. They may turn me down. I hope they let my daughters in. Some of my brothers and sisters are in the United States and I’d like my daughters to be able to see what it’s like there.”

I greatly enjoy chatting with foreigners about the U.S. It’s interesting to learn what the country looks like from the outside in.

Intersections and Forms of Government

4 way stop: Democratic/Capitalistic
There’s a general structure of underlying rules and people are, more or less, fair to each other. The first person to show up goes first, and drivers tend to pass the right of way back and forth regardless of the driver or type of car. If anyone blatantly disobeys the public’s expectations, they are honked at and shouted at by the public or sued in court.

Two road intersection w/ yellow and red blinking light: Plutocracy
A rule by the wealthy where the wealthy refers to the fast. If you’re stuck at the red blinking light you might never get out, because the yellow light folks have a distinctive right of way advantage.

Intersection with traffic cop: Totalitarian
State regulation of all aspects of traffic behavior.

Intersection with Traffic Lights: Authoritarian
Government without the consent of those being governed. You show up at the light and do what you’re told, regardless of how many cars are lined up one on street vs. the other.
This does not apply for Traffic Lights with magnetic car sensors.

Rotary: Anarchism
Lack of order. Complete confusion.

Help me finish my list! I’m trying to think of good intersection examples of:

Aristocracy – government by a ‘superior’ group
Dictatorship/Monarchy – government with a head of state
Tyranny – harsh rule over the people

Has anyone else noticed that Nancy Pelosi looks a lot like Judge Judy?

I’m going to have some trouble getting used to Pelosi, if for no other reason than that everytime I see her name written I think it says Pepsi.

Disclaimer: this is a political entry. It expresses a point of view. I am no expert. Just a sideline observer.

I’ve been reading all sorts of new articles about how consumers are “FUMING” over high gas prices. News crews report people saying that the government needs to do something. Is this how the majority of people think? Are people actually angry or is it media hype?

I, for one, am completely unangry at the fuel prices. I groan when I think about the extra cash that I will spend per-month, but I’m still use my car just as much. How can I get angry at supply and demand? The day that I get angry I’ll start using my bicycle to get around town.

Some people seem to be upset at the potential for price gouging. Especially since oil is a market that does not make it easy for new companies to enter the mix. But still, I think if those guys wanted to charge $5.00 a gallon, and American’s would still pay without significant changes in lifestyles, then why shouldn’t they? Yes, they would be getting crazy rich off of the public but we’d keep paying them. I suspect we’d also carry protestor signs and scream anti-gouging oil slogans as we filled our SUV for the third time this week.

This just doesn’t make sense to me.

One thing Mike D and I can see eye-to-eye on is the uselessness of the space program.

(more…)

I happened to be reading the news this morning, and headlines stated that there was a high potential for domestic terror from two main groups: the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front.

ALF and ELF.

I suspect we may see an influx of new terrorist organizations over the next few months. Including:

1. Societies Mourning Urban Refining Factory Syndocates
2. Parties Against National Security Yachts
3. Beijing Arboretum Loving Linguistic Earthen Rich Interacting Natural Activist Society

The thing that I find irritating about the State of the Union, or any address from any president, is that everyone seems to applaud everything all the time. Even statements that are so obviously positive that they would need no affirmation from the audience.

“our union is strong” WOO! YEAH! IT’S TRUE! WOO!

“so that every child in America can read and learn and succeed in life” CHEERS! YAY FOR READING CHILDREN WHO SUCCEED! WOO!

“addictive drugs that kill people are bad” YEAH! AGREED!

“Satan is evil” APPLAUSE! NOTHING’S FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH! HOORAY!

“It’s really awesome when you find 10 bucks in your pocket that you had forgotten about” AMEN! CHEERS! APPLAUSE!

“I really like a glass of juice with my breakfast in the morning” OH YEAH! THAT’S THE TICKET! BRING IT HOME! AMERICA’S AWESOME!

Is George W’s daughter Barbara cute?

(picture taken from CNN.com)

I didn’t think republicans could be attractive… (besides becky of course)
maybe the bush daughter is a democrat?

There was just a big Climate Control Convention held by the U.N. They really didn’t get anything useful done because the U.S. was being pesky.

but, check out their awesome logo!

a little melting Earth! how clever

I was reading THIS article on CNN this morning pre-work. I was zipping through it, not really reading closely. It seemed entirely one sided. I was more than halfway through before I realized that Yanukovych and Yushchenko were not the same name.

Seriously. it’s hard to keep track.

Her expression is perfect.

copied from www.cnn.com

Wow. Suddenly being from Massachusetts isn’t so bad.
www.votepair.com

On a side note I did end up voting this past weekend. But still, I felt like it was a complete waste of time. Why did I vote? beats me. For some unknown reason I felt guilty not voting.

my problem is that I think the current voting system is flawed. I kind of feel guilty having voted, thus participating in a system that I don’t fully support. really though, I guess I’m not one to talk. because I have yet to come up with a better system. When I do, I’ll let y’all know.

You can be sure that my system will have at least these two improvements:
1. The candidate debate process would involve a halo showdown
2. When you cast your vote you get a free bag of jelly beans.

ahh Jelly beans. Nature’s candy.

you know? Jon Stewart should run for president.

seriously.

J.S. for Prez. 2008.