Blogging has grown from its infancy to a medium that allows anyone to write anything.  This avenue has advantages and disadvantages.  On the advantage side there is a plethora of opinions making the internet very open minded.  However, the disadvantage is that alot of people are idiots and we just gave them a way to talk to more people.

During the blogging revolution one software seems to have emerged triumphant for its ease of use and flexibility.  In fact this site even uses it.  The system is Wordpress the blog diety of millions of sites.  Now many have used this software and lament its god-like power.  Thanks to its popularity countless scores of themes and plugins exist for it.

Unfortunately, despite its incredible versitility often times people do not use this.  All over you can see the default theme provided by wordpress.  For people who are not tech savy this is an understandable thing to do.  Why would you put up a different theme if you just want to tell your friends what you are doing on a daily basis?  It really would be too much effort.  However, my pet peeve is when the blog that is giving long winded reviews and discussion topics in technology has this same look.  There is a quote: “Never trust a skinny chef”.  I posit that perhaps the same holds true for a tech guru who does not take the time to simply personalize his or her blog.  This apathy indicates either they are too lazy, which makes me wonder how much research they would put into an article they write, or they do not know how which would make me wonder how they could understand any technology.

So, in conclusion I say comon guys take the 15 minutes and install a nice theme so we are not looking at a default site asking ourselves “Why the hell am I listening to this guy?”.

As seen from my blog I am really good at starting things.  When the starting gun sounds I rocket off the line like a bat out of hell.  For about 50 feet I am in the lead until I have a coronary and collapse.  Some colleagues and myself are starting the 30 Day Challenge. This contest is basically an internet marketing training for the month of August.  The goal is $10.  Thats all.  If you succeed you can go to a mantinee movie if not you can rest easy knowing that you could not even earn what you pay your kids for allowance each week.  The biggest challenge is just keeping up with the videos and podcasts on a daily basis.  As I before mentioned I am quick out of the gate and such have signed up for every social network created by human beings.  I am trying twitter and facebook but still absolutely refuse to use myspace which I am certain is powered by ophrans and organized by the RIAA.  Now knowing myself I am in no way sure why people would want to watch me in twitter but everyone hopes they are more interesting than they are.  My hope is that I will learn something from this.  My dream is that in a couple months I can be blogging on a beach but I think that dream is almost as likely as my dream of a wonderful weekend with Jessica Alba.

So recently I watched the movie An Inconvenient Truth and as intended I was freaked out by the global impending doom.  Anybody who watches this movie either has to ignore it or somewhere deep down be wigged out by it.  Now to be fair part of what makes it so scary is the fact that you have to listen to Al Gore spin tales about his personal fight against the great Global Warming pandemic.  It recounts triumphs and defeats in this effort as well as his disappointment in the whole country.  I have been disappointed in my friends and family when they have let me down.  I know well the hurt and sinking feeling so I cannot imagine the depression that the rich white politician must endure knowing that all 300 million Americans have personally dropped the ball.  Thankfully he has decided that he cannot simply shrivel up and spend his remaining riches, but must tarry on with his burden.

Despite the persistence of Al Gore and his soap box, the movie brings me to a point of contention.  This frustration really is not with the movie but gives a general prejudice more credence.  Al Gores sermon shows the irresponsibility of large vehicles like the H2 and the Expedition.  I personally see these driving almost every day and I only live 2 miles away from my work.  These monstrosities boast a whopping 13 miles to the gallon which is less than how far our parents had to walk in the snow to get to school and back.  The simple question for these vehicles is WHY?  These urban assault vehicles come standard with 4 wheel drive and site 800 feet tall, both of which are useful in places like Southern California where it is sunny all the time and never snows.  Some say these are needed to compensate for other deficiencies however one should be able to compensate for being dead with these things.  Also, I can see that there are occasions where you might need to spend the extra 20-30k on a vehicle for those particularly tall speed bumps in the Wal-Mart parking lot.

So the morale of this story kids is that nothing says I love earth like driving alone in an SUV that seats 20 as it rips through gasoline the same way humans go through water.  Also, he who kicks out the most carbon monoxide wins.

One of the great hot topics of the day is downloading music and movies. In case you are wondering yes I am speaking of the *whispers* illegal kind. Of course I am not going to reveal whether I do as the RIAA now has ninja lawyers who will swoop down and attack. They appear out of the night silently armed with subpoenas. There is no mercy and no way out. The problem and the topic of this article is that there is no common sense either. In fact the whole start of this represented a complete lack of common sense.

I know business and I can understand that the RIAA would worry about losing the stranglehold they have on the industry. I mean the thought that they might not get 6000% profit (10 cents to make + 10 cents in royalty - $15 for the retail) makes me weep *gag*. Admittedly, they probably don’t get that in pure profit but it doesn’t justify that the artist is getting next to nothing and the consumer is getting bent over paying for them. I mean come on that is like paying $4500 for a PS3 *winks*
Then there is the movie industry and the instigator of this article. If you watch any DVD’s now days you get the joy of watching the “Don’t steal movies” trailer. This forced advertising is really the flagship message on piracy. It is also a clear message in desperation extending an almost brainwashed view on this tricky subject. It is basically heavy metal music over sporadic MTV like scenes. Each one has a message superimposed. A couple of these messages include:

• You wouldn’t steal a purse
• You wouldn’t steal a car

Then it goes on then you shouldn’t download movies. Piracy is illegal!!!! My only comment is: Seriously? They are actually comparing downloading a movie off the internet to Grand Theft Auto. I get so shocked every time I see it. I am waiting for the phrases: You wouldn’t kill a puppy or You wouldn’t rape a goat. This link is one of the most absurd things I have heard and just wreaks of greed, self importance and heavy duty crack usage. I mean come on stealing a car is not the same as downloading music and cds. They are both illegal but so is a dog barking after dark in some cities.
Similar Relations to downloading movies = grand theft auto:

• Stepping on an ant = killing a puppie
• Throwing a rock = dropping an nuke
• Speeding = Vehicular man slaughter
• Swimming in a private pool = Drowning your brother

Just seems to me that industries that obviously live in the glass house of screwing consumers and artists alike shouldn’t be so obvious about throwing stones. It shows me personally that they are finally starting to realize that technology has leveled the playing field, at least in music. The RIAA is no longer needed and they know it so they will sue their way to profits. Artist now do not need to sell their soles to make 8 cents per cd. They can be free to play and express themselves without the noose of pop culture. Imagine a brave new world where the people are not forced to listen to Ashlyee Simpson or charged $15+ for a 10 cent piece of plastic. Where MTV played videos, Tom Cruise was never allowed near another camera and being a whore did not count as good publicity. *sighs imagining*

Lets start the morning with a little talk about society, children and cultists. A strange cobble of terms I know but if you have gotten this far in your reading why turn back now? First, let me define terms for anybody that doesn’t know what each of them means.

• Society: n. an organized group of persons associated together for religious, benevolent, cultural, scientific, political, patriotic, or other purposes. For our purposes we will consider our society as this great country of ours. One built on some amazing ideals of tolerance and the need to buy the right shampoo so you too can look like a supermodel.
• Children: n. a person between birth and full growth.
• Cult: n. A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader. I define cult due to the fact that dictionaries use the root word to define the word. I personally learned in elementary school that this was a big no no in english on the level of drug dealing or murder.

In a futile attempt from keeping this blog entry from wandering around like most of mine I will explain how these 3 things relate in one simple term: Stepford Mom. This term comes from the story of the Stepford Wives where in a small town all of the wives become very compliant and are in love with their lives to a creepy level. Later it is discovered that these women were actually robots simply adding to the idea “If God can’t do it right, make up for it by creating sentient robots in our image that will eventually decide we are a threat and take over earth.”

Everybody who is married and childless has met a Stepford Mom. They are the ones who cannot possibly fathom why someone who is married doesn’t have kids. They have taken the fact that our society has placed children in the path to a happy life and turned it into their whole life. You usually find them at friend’s holiday parties, as it is the only time they are outside of the house. If you are unsure of whether a parent has gone “Stepford” here are a few indicators:

1. They are the ones that watch their children dismantle someone else’s house piece by piece without doing anything about it.
2. They allow their children free reign to hit other children.
3. They somehow do not hear the 120 decibel yell of the kids. Somehow listening to it has made them completely deaf.
4. They look at any married couple without kids as incomplete.
5. And as a tie in they preach to anybody who will listen about how wonderful their lives are now that they have allowed children into their lives.

The last point in the indicators list is the first in relevance to cultists in this brain dump of a blog. The parents are infatuated with their children. I am not speaking of normal love and the tendency of a child to dominate the parent’s life. The type I speak of is obsession where the parent not only allows their life to be dominated but literally absorbed by the child. Normal Parent: I love my kids but they are so much work. Stepford Parent: My children are my life. They are wonderful and I don’t understand why you don’t have kids. The cultist proceeds in much the same way. They find someone that claims they have the way to something wonderful and proceed to give thier whole being to it. The leader owns them and they will share their new found obsession with all who will listen.

If you still do not see the parallel then lets do a quick comparison:

• Cultists find a leader and worship that person as a god. Stepfords have a child and worship the ground they walk on.
• Cultists believe the leader is infallible and often ignore inconsistencies or contradictions within the leaders message. Stepfords see their children as perfect, simply writing off destructive behavior and ill manners as part of being a child.
• Cultist preach to anybody listening about their new found faith in the leader. They show pictures and give reasons why you should join them. Stepfords tell anybody listening about their new child. They show pictures and give reasons why you should join them.

This relation of course does not extend to all parents. Many parents see the difficulty in raising children and really like time away. These type of parents also do not feel non-parents are incomplete. The best things to say to the Stepfords at a party is “Hey we are gonna go catch that new movie, wanna join?”. This points out the total lack of freedom they have and often makes several other people love you for saying it.