Jason

iPod vs Sliced Bread

Is the I-Pod the greatest thing since sliced bread? Here’s a comparison. Thanks, Jish.

I’m generally one who believes in the inherent goodness of mankind. Really. Maybe I’m just naive or misguided or, hell, maybe I’m right, but I usually believe people are, once you get down to it, pretty darn good.

And then humanity has to go and shatter my little pipe dream.

We got suicide bombers, we got men kidnapping, raping and killing five year old girls, we have grown men throwing kittens on a grill, we have people really really really pissing me off at the overall stupidity and cruelity to life and morals.

Why do people feel the need to be so evil? Why do people feel the need to do such horrible acts when it’s so easy to be good, to simply live life as a good thing and treat others with kindness and respect, the same way you’d want them to treat you.

And all of this starts to bum me out. People being bad. People I know, people I don’t know, all of it gets to me. It’s just one of those things I’ve dealt with my whole life, I feel like the weight of the world is on my shoulders and I feel like I can fix everything if only given the chance. It’s part of what makes me want to get into politics, it’s part of what makes me mediate every damn tiff my family might have, it’s part of what makes me get up in the morning when I really would just like to roll over and sleep in, it’s part of what makes me keep going when the world tries to tell me it’s not worth it, it’s useless, there’s nothing I can do, I’m only one tiny man with so many huge dreams.

Have you ever cried over the world’s suffering?

(I just posted this over at complex postcards and thought, hell, why not post it here as well. Generally I will not double post like this, but something makes me want to do it now.)

Bush43 #1

Bush43 #1 (dead link)

“Shock The Monkey”

by Jason S. Kenney

http://www.digitallymystic.com/sites/fiction/ac (archive.org)

The man weilding the gun spun around all wide eyed and in love and pointed his beautiful instrument of affection in my general direction (no, not THAT instrument, you sicko). And, as lovely as the gesture was, I simply was not in the mood that evening.

So I kicked the guy in the nuts.

See, the ideal lasting effect of such a move is that every time this guy thinks about mugging he’ll have a pain in his balls.

That and every time he watches television and there’s something about President George W. Bush he’ll have a pain in his balls as well.

On account of my Bush mask and all.

You’d think I was a Democrat, making all these people hurt when they think about President Bush.

***

With the new Millennium came new heroes – its just no one counted on them being like this. After Millennium Man’s fall from grace and Mysteria’s disappearance, a new kind of hero rises up to defend Pacific City.

From the mind of HEROES’ own Jason Kenney comes “Bush43”, a superhero epic like no other.

Out now from AC. 😉

Yep, folks, go check out my new series and my first long term foray into original serial fiction. It’s a silly little run I’m messing with and I’m actually pretty far ahead on the writing side of things. Issues 1-6 are done with a tenative #7 waiting for me to second guess and a beginning for #8 as well. Wow, I’ve never been this far ahead on ANYTHING!

An Update

I am currently preparing a cooler (or, rather, watching Jenn prepare a cooler) of food to take to the Elvis Costello concert tonight at Wolf Trap. Yea, me!

I want to give a quick apology for the lack of content on J’s Notes as of late. I mean, I’m not getting all the kick ass links I used to and I’m not even commenting as much as I used to, it’s just “post a bit here and bail” really. Sorry about that.

Though, my hits are up thanks to the US Open and one Ms. Elin Nordegren. Now I’m regretting removing her perma-links from the page. To all of you here looking for her, go digging through the archives of the last few months, I made a big post a while back with lots of good links. I’d dig it up, but I have to go help with this cooler now.

Later.

Links for July 12, 2002

Heroes Kevin Smith would be proud. (Thanks to Mike F. for the link)

Kodak’s Picture of the Day

Police Dog Accused of Racial Profiling

A Pennsylvania councilwoman has accused her borough’s lone police dog of racial profiling, leading to calls that the canine be killed.

Dolpho, a 5-year-old German shepherd, can sniff out the difference between marijuana, heroin and cocaine. The dog came from Europe two years ago and is trained in drug detection and patrol.

But councilwoman Wanda Jones Dixon said Dolpho can also tell the difference between blacks and whites, and should be put to sleep.

Rate my Kitten

Fear and Loathing of Death

Is it wrong to be only 23 and have a very strong and distinct fear of death? I mean, this isn’t recent for me, I’ve been afraid of death for years now. It’s not like I obsesses on it, but it’s always there, lingering in the back of my mind, really scaring the shit out of me.

And I think that fear is what led to my crisis of faith with the Catholic Church, really.

I mean, one of the fundamentals of the faith is that there’s something after. Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, there’s something. And not just that there is something but that we should look forward to it. You die, you see Saint Peter at them big ol’ pearly gates, and he pulls out The Book, rubs his chin, nods a few times, maybe arcs and eyebrow or two, and then says “GO TO HEAVEN!” or the opposite or something like that.

But what if that’s not the way it works?

What if there’s nothing?

Dark, black, nothing, the total absense of everything, no sight, no sound, no feelings, nothing.

THAT scares the crap outta me.

I mean, I always picture it, but that’s not accurate, that’s me SEEING nothing and CONTEMPLATING nothing, and if all there was was nothing, that wouldn’t be right. I wouldn’t see or contemplate anything, I’d simply cease.

So what happens to me, to all of this in my head, these thoughts, these memories, these emotions, the love and the hurt, the feelings of everything, what happens to it all? Nothing?

Really, at it’s source, it’s all chemical reactions, nerve impulses.

My eyes focus on someone, my mind computes that, “hey, that’s someone! Somone = good,” so it releases some chemicals that make me giddy and also sends little impulses to nerves and then muscles that make me smile and think I’m in love.

And, not to belittle that emotion, but it’s chemicals and impulses, it’s all like a machine, a computer.

So, like a computer, can it just be turned off and cease to run? The stuff in the computer stays there, all of the bits of data, they don’t go anywhere, they just stop. Is that death?

All of this is pretty big stuff for a fourteen year old to contemplate while walking his paper route one summer afternoon.

It used to keep me up at nights, the thought of nothing. It’s not like sleeping, the brain’s still working. It’s not like closing your eyes because you’re seeing the darkness behind that and contemplating it. It’s not like anything we can simulate here because in order to observe it, your mind has to be working.

And would it matter at all, considering you’re not even going to notice?

I think it’s the ceasing to be that frightens me the most. It’s gone, all of it. Nothing left but a shell.

AAAAHHHH!!!

Now I’m thinking about it.

And I have no idea what brought this on. Now, in the first place, at all. I can’t recall any sort of situation where I’ve almost died. I was just walking and thinking. I think too damn much.

Death sucks. And that’s an understatement. I want to believe that there’s something after, that there is a nice cloud waiting for me or even a firey pit or, hey, while I’d be shocked, if I die and there’s Zeus shaking his head going “you should have known better” or if I come back as a rock, it’s something more than nothing (though, that rock thing would suck, if you ask me). It’s the thought of nothing that worries me.

Heh, I’m worrying about nothing.

Anyways, that makes me afraid because I don’t know. And maybe it all leads back to the lack of control in the situation because I don’t know, and therefore I flip out because on a personal level I’m a control freak. But the thought of nothing makes me wonder, the Catholic in me goes, “wow, what a complicated thing this brain is, someone really big and powerful and all knowing must have designed this thing because it really can’t be by accident,” but the scientist says, “but what if it was by accident and all it all goes away in the end?”

What if there is no soul?

Death.

Ugh.

Links for 5/28/2002

Blogosphere: the emerging Media Ecosystem

How Weblogs and Journalists work together to Report, Filter and Break the News

Trying to understand the complex relationship between bloggers and journalists has become my own personal Waterloo.
I’ve taken a few stabs at it already, and learned a lot along the way. Lesson One: Blogs can do a tremendous job breaking news, and journalists are wise to start their own to tap that power. Lesson Two: Some rare bloggers become amateur journalists, a status which brings with it its own unique ethical challenges. Lesson Three: Most bloggers are more like Columnists than capital-J Journalists.

Web logging can serve many roles

Corporate Web logging — an emerging way for companies to get the word out about products and services — is getting quite a bit of notice from the online community. Does it really work? What are its potential uses — and abuses?
Web logs are regularly (even daily) updated Web pages offering a blend of commentary and links. They can be personality-based, news-oriented or topic-specific, but they share the qualities of immediacy, iconoclasm and a highly active feedback loop.
As a grass-roots vehicle, blogs (as they’re nicknamed) have largely been the domain of individuals, not businesses. There are an estimated 500,000 blogs on the Web (nobody really knows the exact number), most of which are broadsides of sorts for their authors.

Weary, Bush mocks reporter

“I wonder why it is you think there are such strong sentiments in Europe against you and against this administration?” the reporter said. “Why, particularly, there’s a view that you and your administration are trying to impose America’s will on the rest of the world, particularly when it comes to the Middle East and where the war on terrorism goes next?”
Turning to Mr. Chirac, he added in French: “And, Mr. President, would you maybe comment on that?”
“Very good,” Mr. Bush said sardonically. “The guy memorizes four words, and he plays like he’s intercontinental.”
“I can go on,” Mr. Gregory offered.
“I’m impressed — que bueno,” said Mr. Bush, using the Spanish phrase for “how wonderful.” He deadpanned: “Now I’m literate in two languages.”

Bugs may control weather: Study

British scientists have launched a study to find out if airborne bugs in clouds control the Earth’s weather.
Scientists believe certain bug species may have evolved the ability to manipulate the weather in order to secure their own survival.

Vanilla Coke Review

So I picked up my first bottle of Vanilla Coke today and I’m still not sure what to make of it. Is it good? Kinda. The closest I can come to describing it is it’s like drinking the left over Coke of a Coke Float. Or, really, its more like the foam from a Coke Float, just a hint of Vanilla that grows the more you drink it and eventually can get overpowering. At first it’s a slight Vanilla, but the more you drink, the stronger it gets, almost to the point of too sweet. I’m not sure I can finish my bottle here.

I can see kids digging it, all 28 grams of sugar per serving (which a 20 oz bottle has 2.5 of) but I’m not sure adult taste buds can take it.

Would I recommend buying it? Sure, why not, give it a try, but I probably won’t get more than this one bottle myself, it’s just not my bag.

Links for 5/13/2002

Will the Blogs Kill Old Media?

One blog avatar has formally wagered that by 2007, more readers will get their news from blogs than from The New York Times

A year ago, Glenn Reynolds hardly qualified as plankton on the punditry food chain. The 41-year-old law professor at the University of Tennessee would pen the occasional op-ed for the L.A. Times, but his name was unfamiliar to even the most fanatical news junkie. All that began to change on Aug. 5 of last year, when Reynolds acquired the software to create a ?Weblog,? or ?blog.? A blog is an easily updated Web site that works as an online daybook, consisting of links to interesting items on the Web, spur-of-the-moment observations and real-time reports on whatever captures the blogger?s attention. Reynolds?s original goal was to post witty observations on news events, but after September 11, he began providing links to fascinating articles and accounts of the crisis, and soon his site, called InstaPundit, drew thousands of readers?and kept growing. He now gets more than 70,000 page views a day (he figures this means 23,000 real people). Working at his two-year-old $400 computer, he posts dozens of items and links a day, and answers hundreds of e-mails. PR flacks call him to cadge coverage. And he?s living a pundit?s dream by being frequently cited?not just by fellow bloggers, but by media bigfeet. He?s blogged his way into the game.

Ahhh…. Irresponsible media hype. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say mainstream media’s attempting to create a hostile environment towards blogging. And for no reason. Think about it, blogs are nice and all and a good way to find opinions, but that’s about it. They’re opinions. Think of them as massive op-ed pages. Some of them, like Instapundit and what not, will post a few different opinions and link to news that supports those and their opinions. But it’s still opinion, heavily slanted, and in no way a replacement for the regular media.

And I think most people realize this. And, anyone that doesn’t and takes what these people say as facts, well, they’re already doing that elsewhere, mainstream media has already lost them.

Blogs will not “kill” old media, but they will effect it. I think you’ll see more and more journalists and columnists getting online and blogging. Maybe some breaking news will take on a more blogging feel where the correspondant in the field can quickly update and let the world know what’s going on in real time without the need for streaming video or audio. But “kill”? Radio was supposed to “kill” old media. Television was supposed to “kill” old media. The Internet’s been “killing” old media for almost 10 years now. But they haven’t succeeded in this, they’ve been assimilated and utilized.

Old media doesn’t die, it evolves.

Blogs take Web diaries to the next level

Ever frog blog — or contemplate blogging your dog? Or how about blogging over that 1967 mustang? Blogs are journalism’s latest craze. The odd little word is short for “Web logs.” They first appeared around 1998, and are starting to take off among people searching for information online. You can find a blog on just about any topic imaginable, and this week, Bruce Burkhardt speaks to a self-proclaimed blogger. Josh Quittner, editor of Business 2.0, tells Bruce Burkhardt why he thinks blogs are journalism for the future.

Got Blog?

Instant online journals are a hot trend

Web logs, or blogs, are one of the hottest trends on the Internet, allowing people to instantly post their thoughts or links to whatever catches their fancy.
New technologies are giving more people a way to quickly set up their online soapboxes. Instead of needing extensive programming knowledge, computer users now can choose from several Internet-based services to open a site and keep their journal.
Blogs are arranged chronologically, like a diary, with short messages, pictures, links or essays.

Absolut Director

Dr. Seuss Went to War A Catalog of Political Cartoons by Dr. Seuss

Author: Jason