Nuadha's Tale

Ignorance can be tolerated, where reason is left free to combat it. -Thomas Jefferson

Wednesday, June 30, 2004

Quote
To understand everything is to forgive everything.
-Buddha

Tuesday, June 29, 2004

The Drug Tax Stamps
Kansas is now requiring drug dealers and buyers to pay taxes on the drugs they buy in the form of Drug Tax Stamps. The fact that dealing marijuana and controlled substances is illegal does not exempt it from taxation. Therefore drug dealers are required by law to purchase drug tax stamps.

Another warning label
My real name, provides this warning label:

PARENTAL
ADVISORY
JAMES CONTAINS
EXPLICIT LYRICS

Username:

From Go-Quiz.com

Kind of amusing when you remember there is a band named James.

My Warning Label
(via Arref)

NOTE: z
No smoking around Nuadha. Thankyou for your co-operation.

Username:

From Go-Quiz.com

Filthy habit. I really dislike smokers. Don't get me wrong, I think anyone should have the right to pollute their bodies all they want as long as they don't affect others. The problem is that smokers often go to public places and smoke, sharing their drug with anyone nearby and stinking up the place while they are at it. They also tend to stand right outside doors so that while leaving places you need to walk through the stink.

Another thing that really bugs me about smokers is how they are treated in the corporate environment. Both in my previous place of employment and where I am now, I would see smokers take a lot more breaks through the day as they would go outside and get their fix. Sure, company policy may not allow that many breaks, but supervisors would usually ignore the smoke breaks. Yet, they will get an advantage for working less as they meet other people in the company and chat with the smokers from other departments. This networking leads them to know about positions opening in other departments and more.

At my last job, there was this guy named Ed in my dpeartment. He took smoke breaks all day long, about every hour, and his smoking breaks would usually be 15 minutes or so. Even when he was at his desk, he didn't do much and spent a lot of his time chatting on the phone with his friends and making plans. He ended up going to another department to do a much better job for better pay. Why did he get the job? He certainly didn't earn it and anyone speaking to his supervisor in our department would have known that. He got it because he was smoking buddies with the team leader of the other department. At the time, I was just happy to see him go. "Good riddens." Later, I thought back to it and it bothered me. Smoking should not help people out in the business world, but it does.

Sunday, June 27, 2004

Fahrenheit 9/11
I went to see it last night. The first theater I went to, the Michigan Theater, was sold out with a line around the block, but the second theater was one of the megaplexes and had it showing on two screens. Still, it was pretty packed, which is exciting to see at a documentary.


If you've been following Bush's crimes than this movie won't suprise you at all, but it will show you some things that you missed. If you haven't been following the Bush cartel's dirty dealings, then you really should see this movie. It takes a much more sombre tone than the previous Michael Moore documentaries. The only laughs in this movie come from some of the ridiculous things said by Bush and Co..

Hopefully, this will be the movie everyone will be talking about for a while.

Thursday, June 24, 2004

Poker with Cheney
You can find the Transcript here. (via Lynne)

Wednesday, June 23, 2004

A Blog Meme
via The Ferrett

Please post one word in the comments section that you would NEVER use to describe me.

Friday, June 18, 2004

Cult TV Meme
from A2Macgeek.
List from TV guide's Top 25 Cult TV shows

Watched obsessively? Bold them.
Watched regularly but not obsessively? Italic them.
Watched at least one episode but not regularly? Do nothing.
Never watched? underline them.

25. Freaks and Geeks
24. Absolutely Fabulous
23. Forever Knight
22. H. R. Pufnstuf
21. Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
20. Twin Peaks
19. Dark Shadows
18. Doctor Who
17. The Avengers
16. My So-Called Life
15. Quantum Leap- I think I've seen every episode 2-3 times already and I still can't wait to get them on DVD.
14. Beauty and the Beast
13. Babylon 5
12. Family Guy
11. Mystery Science Theatre 3000
10. Pee-Wee's Playhouse
9. Xena: Warrior Princess
8. The Twilight Zone
7. The Prisoner- Hands-down, my favorite TV show of all time.
6. The Simpsons
5. Monty Python's Flying Circus
4. Farscape
3. Buffy the Vampire Slayer- After The Prisoner, my favorite show. I just started watching it a few years ago and these days I'm running a BtVS RPG, buy the comics and constantly find myself singing the musical.
2. The X-Files
1. Star Trek- I was an obsessive Trek fan before all the spin-off series came out. The original is still the best, in my opinion. I watched the Next Generation regularly when it was new, but I can watch the orginal episoded again and again. I think they are more entertaining and more re-watchable.

Thursday, June 17, 2004

Lyrics
Irish blood, English heart
This I'm made of
There is no one on earth I'm afraid of
And no regime can buy or sell me

I've been dreaming of a time when
to be English is not to be baneful
to be standing by the flag, not feeling shameful
racist or racial

Irish blood, English heart
this I'm made of
There is no one on earth I'm afraid of
And I will die with both of my hands untied

I've been dreaming of a time when
the English are sick to death
of Labour, and Tories
and spit upon the name Oliver Cromwell
and denounce this royal line that still salute him
and will salute him
FOREVER...

-Morrissey, "Irish Blood, English Heart"

Baneful? I could have sworn he was singing "to be English is not to be blamed for." Anyways, this song has been my favorite new song on the radio these days. I can identify completely with the feeling. Change the name to "Irish Blood, American Heart" and it could be my song. The sense of pride in ones roots, shame at the current state of the country and hope for a better future is something I really identify with.

Quote
Some things are worth getting mad about. Case in point: the growing, vast equality gap between the richest and the poorest Americans. If this isn't class war, what is?
-Bill Moyers

Thursday, June 10, 2004

Flogging a Dead Horse
An email sent to me by an ex-coworker:

The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed on from one generation to
the next, says that when you discover you are riding a dead horse, the best
strategy is to dismount.

However, in modern business because heavy investment factors are taken into
consideration, other strategies are often tried with dead horses, including
the following:

1. Buying a stronger whip.
2. Changing riders.
3. Threatening the horse with termination.
4. Appointing a committee to study the horse.
5. Arranging to visit other sites to see how they ride dead horses.
6. Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included.
7. Reclassifying the dead horse as "living-impaired".
8. Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse.
9. Harnessing several dead horses together to increase speed.
10. Providing additional funding and/or training to increase the dead
horse's performance.
11. Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the
dead horse's performance.
12. Declaring that the dead horse carries lower overhead and
therefore contributes more to the bottom line than some other horses.
13. Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses.
14. Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position.

Wednesday, June 09, 2004

Comments!
Now that blogger includes a comment function, which I discovered commenting on Patrick's blog, I have put comments back on Nuadha's Tale. Enjoy!

Monday, June 07, 2004

A Friendly Reminder
I haven't been feeling very spiritual lately. So, tonight as I was laying in bed, I decided to grab a spiritual book and start reading. First I grabbed the bible and started reading Jesus's sermon on the mound, but it wasn't really speaking to me. So, I grabbed one of my favorite books, Living Buddha, Living Christ by Thich Nhat Hanh, opened it up to a random page and started reading.

In case you haven't heard this, this is a great thing to do when you feel like a little guidance and you don't know what you should read or do. They say it can work with any library of books, but I am sure a book of spiritual/inspirational books work best. Take a book that "feels right" and turn in to a page that "feels right." Trust in your spirit to lead you to the passage that you need to read.

So, I turned to a chapter where TNH talks about how it is wrong to be angry at the rich. He wrote "...I do not think God wants us to take sides, even with the poor. The rich also suffer, in many cases more than the poor! They may be rich materially, but many are poor spiritually, and they suffer a lot. I have known rich and famous people who have ended up commiting suicide. I am certain that those with the highest understanding will be able to see the suffering in both the poor and the rich."
"God embraces both rich and poor, and He wants them to understand eachother, to share with each other their suffering and their happiness, and to work together for peace and social justice. When we take sides we misunderstand the will of God. I know that it will be possible for some people to use these words to prolong social injustice, but that is an abuse of what I am saying. We have to find the real causes for social injustice, and when we do, we will not condemn a certain type of people. We will ask, Why has the situation of these people remained like that? All of us have the power of love and understanding. They are our best weapons. Any dualistic response, any response motivated by anger, will only make the situation worse."

I've gotten to the point in recent years that I hate the rich. I also hate people who drive S.U.V.s. I hate close-minded people. I hate people who vote for Bush.

If I see an S.U.V. driving down the road with a Bush in 04 sticker, I think all sorts of horrible thoughts about them. I get angry, and Yoda said it, "Anger leads to the dark side." (OK, I think he said a whole bunch of stuff that is on the path to the dark side, but I don't remember that movie very well.

I also get very judgemental when I think of the "so-called Christians" that will support things like the Iraq war and the death penalty. Jesus taught another way, but in his name they still continue doing the things he taught against. It seems that so many of these Christians are just glossing over the turn the other cheek aspect of his teaching and continue quoting the same old testament eye for an eye line that Jesus spoke against. I start judging them and by doing so, miss one of Jesus's teachings myself, the one about casting the first stone. Of course, I don't claim to be Christian, but he taught that for a reason: It is an important spritual teaching. Becoming self-righteous will not get one any closer to enlightenment.

So any ways, I've built up a lot of anger. Sure it may have started because I saw the suffering that others like the rich cause, but once I start carrying a lot of anger towards them, I start losing the point. The anger consumes and there is no longer the room needed for love.

Thanks Thich Nhat Hanh. I needed the reminder.

Quote
Superman is how Americans see themselves (bright, optimistic, full of good intentions), while Batman is how the rest of the world views Americans (dark, scary, heavy-handed).
-attributed to Michael Caine on the set of Batman Begins

Actually, I think Batman probably better describes how the rest of the world sees the American government, not Americans in general. Still, a very cool quote. I wonder if he really said it.

Wednesday, June 02, 2004

Quote
With our troops engaged in two separate but unequal foreign wars, President George W Bush observed Memorial Day by laying a wreath at the tomb of the unknown service record. The Stealth Soldier then spoke eloquently of the courage and sacrifice exhibited by our country's brave steadfast youth, highlighted by the subliminal text, 'When the going gets tough, the tough send other people's kids to fight to keep gas under $2 a gallon.'
-- Will Durst