In defense of vanity

Blogger par excellence Happy in Bag posted a pretty good rant last week about vanity license plates and just wtf is the deal with that.

There seems to be a pretty solid consensus in the comments that the whole idea of vanity plates is lame. But just to keep the conversation going, I'll offer up this defense of vanity plates...

Why must we all be treated as numbers? Why not try to maintain a small part of our personal identity in this workaday world. Isn't it enough that we are assigned SocSec numbers by the govt, a cube number by the corporation, and a house number by the USPS? Now we have to have a number on our personal transportation as well?

Oh how I long for those romantic days of yore when we could ride to work at the office on a trusty steed named Trigger, instead of a nag named THX-1182.

tagged: culture, vanity, license plates, Kansas, defense

Freeway speech

I read an article in yesterday's Star (yes, I still read the Star despite the abusive redesign. Dammit! They got me!) about a group of so-called Freeway Bloggers.

This group posts politically topical signs and banners on highway overpasses, fences and medians. The authors claim these actions are protected by their constitutional rights to free expression.

It's a convenient way to justify vandalism.

At best, these vandals are irresponsible since they encourage others to commit the same kind of vandalism to public property. And it is vandalism. They are marking up (if only temporarily) public property for their own purposes. They risk distracting drivers potentially causing traffic accidents.

What's more, they know that what they are doing is illegal and they encourage others to be dishonest in trying to copy them. They say so on their website (which I intentionally don't link to).

They claim that if an advertiser can put up a message on a privately owned billboard, then they should be able to put their message on publicly owned highway infrastructure. The key difference of course is that the advertiser has private property rights to put their message on the billboard.

If this group were buying space on a billboard for their message, or if they put their signs up in their own front yards, they would get no argument from me.

Underlying this tactic is a basic misunderstanding of the constitutionally protected right to freedom of expression.

"When the founders of this nation said that everyone was entitled to freely express their political opinions, they didn't mean we could hammer up a sign out in the woods somewhere, they meant we could hammer it up right in the middle of the town square."

This is where they're wrong. We all have a right to say what we want (with certain exceptions).

But the constitution does not guarantee a right to be heard.

tagged: Freeway Bloggers, freedom of speech, vandalism, free, expression, Bush, politics

Happy blogday (belated)

I came to the sudden realization yesterday that this blog turned 1 year a couple of week's ago.

What a delinquent parent I am to not remember the birthday of my blog. Actually, it's not really that big of a deal when you read that some people have been blogging for ages (since the turn of the century) and have much greater traffic.

Still, it's a milestone of sorts. And it's the longest I've ever kept a regular journal, so balls to blogging!

This whole thing started on July 14, 2005. A friend of mine had been urging me to blog for a couple of weeks and after a late night (hence the name) IM conversation, I finally did.

Since then, I've had nearly 20,000 visits. I started keeping track of Technorati rankings in late December when I was ranked a respectable 361,466. When I checked yesterday, I had climbed to 9,297 (which coincidentally was my ranking in my graduating class at K-State -- hey, I never claimed to be a rocket surgeon).

Anyway since my arm's getting a little sore from the self back-patting, let me just say a quick thank you to everyone who visits. I hope I haven't bored you too badly. I've made some great blogfriends and I highly value the free exchange of ideas. Hopefully we'll get to meet sometime in the corporeal world (I still owe Xavier Onasis a Scotch).

And if perchance I have offended, I offer now my sincerest apologies. But I can't really promise that it won't happen again.

tagged: blog, blogging, anniversary, Technorati, K-State, friends

YouTube Tuesday: Best. Mashup. Ever

I love the fact that consumers have such great editing and publishing tools these days. Anyone can now create their own works of art and publish them for everyone to see. Those in the marketing biz call it "consumer generated media."

One of the best examples I've seen is today YouTube Tuesday submission. Take the godfathers of British comedy and mash it up with a campy sci-fi hit and you get Monty Trek.

Join the crew of the intrepid Enterprise as they finally return to Camelot. You'll have to click the link, since the "owner" has disabled the embed function. Still, this is funny enough to make it worth your while.


Monty Trek

WARNING: Do not drink milk while viewing this video, as there is a high risk of ex-nasal lactification.



Huge tip of the hat to Get on the Blandwagon for passing it on.

tagged: movie, YouTube, video, music, mashup, Star Trek, Monty Python, culture, humor

Kansas Guild of Bloggers Carnival

Go check it out at Blog Meridian.

Don't forget to submit a post for this week's KGB Roundup, which Blog Meridian will host next Monday.

tagged: Kansas, blog, blogger, carnival, KGB

inertia

I just haven't been able to get going all day. From the moment I woke up, I've been the proverbial "object at rest."

A couple of extra cups of coffee didn't help any and I've been pretty unproductive all day.

Hopefully I'll be able to break out of the malaise tomorrow. Until then, I've gone back to my blogging roots to pass on a couple of items that I stumbled upon today as I tried to become interested in something, anything.

• First, I found this M.C. Escher meets Salvador Dali flash presentation. Here's the link. Try zooming all the way in, it's way trippy.
  
  
• I also wasted a good half hour writing my own George W. Bush speech with this handy-dandy tool. Hours of fun for the whole family to enjoy. Send me a link to the speech you wrote.
  
  
• I also ran across this pretty neat flash adaptation of Kafka's famous Metamorphosis. I just reread that book and a collection of Kafka's other short stories a few months ago, so I found it particularly interesting.

Well, time to call it a day. Hopefully I'll get more done tomorrow. If not, there's always the colossal time waster that is the Internet.

tagged: Internet, Kafka, malaise, Metamorphosis, Escher, Bush, Salvador Dali

Landis maximus

Congratulations to Floyd Landis on winning the 2006 Tour de France. It's very satisfying to see an American win, particularly this year, when Americans weren't really expected to show up.

For those of you keeping score, this is the eighth year in a row that an American has won the most prestigious race in cycling and the biggest sporting prize in France.

Unfortunately, as with all American Tour winners, Landis is in for some major medical problems in the off-season. He' scheduled to have hip-replacement surgery, a big deal for anyone, but a mega-big deal for a cyclist. It's like Roger Clemens having arm replacement surgery -- a potential career ender.

And let's face it, Landis wasn't really a favorite to win this year's race. A doping probe resulted in the elimination of the big favorites - Jan Ullrich, Ivan Basso and Joseba Beloki -- before the race even started.

Still, it's tough to discount an American coming back from a major medical setback. Greg LeMond set the trend when he returned to the Tour after being shot in the heart during a hunting accident. And Lance Armstrong's battle with cancer is very well documented. Both came back stronger than before.

So here's a big bon chance to Floyd after a hard-fought and well deserved victory. Looking forward to seeing you next year.

tagged: Tour de France, Floyd Landis, cycling, Lance Armstrong, Greg LeMond, France

Sweet relief

It was a relief and a joy to take the trash out this morning. The cool morning air and drenching showers that followed were a sweet relief from the heat wave we've had of late.

In honor of today's rain, we bring you...

Song Of The Rain VII
by Khalil Gibran

I am dotted silver threads dropped from heaven
By the gods. Nature then takes me, to adorn
Her fields and valleys.

I am beautiful pearls, plucked from the
Crown of Ishtar by the daughter of Dawn
To embellish the gardens.

When I cry the hills laugh;
When I humble myself the flowers rejoice;
When I bow, all things are elated.

The field and the cloud are lovers
And between them I am a messenger of mercy.
I quench the thirst of one;
I cure the ailment of the other.

The voice of thunder declares my arrival;
The rainbow announces my departure.
I am like earthly life, which begins at
The feet of the mad elements and ends
Under the upraised wings of death.

I emerge from the heard of the sea
Soar with the breeze. When I see a field in
Need, I descend and embrace the flowers and
The trees in a million little ways.

I touch gently at the windows with my
Soft fingers, and my announcement is a
Welcome song. All can hear, but only
The sensitive can understand.

The heat in the air gives birth to me,
But in turn I kill it,
As woman overcomes man with
The strength she takes from him.

I am the sigh of the sea;
The laughter of the field;
The tears of heaven.

So with love -
Sighs from the deep sea of affection;
Laughter from the colorful field of the spirit;
Tears from the endless heaven of memories.

tagged: rain, weather, poetry, Khalil Gibran, heat

Was Wally World closed?

I hear there's some pretty heavy shit going down in Lebanon these days. I'm trying to feel bad about it. But it's hard.

It seems like this fighting has been going on in some form or another since before I was born. I'm just so used to it that it really doesn't seem like news anymore. Sure, it's a little "hotter" now, what with Hisbollah now lobbing bombs back at Israel instead of just suicide bombing them.

It's just too bad innocent foreigners are getting caught up in it this time. But then again, it seems like Americans in particular should know better than to hang out in that part of the world.

I don't really get why people would want to vacation in Lebanon in the first place. Sure, it's nice to visit the ancestral homeland. But COME ON! There are just some places you don't go if you want to stay out of trouble. Lebanon and East Kansas City are two of those places.

It's not like there aren't other vacation spots. I hear Las Vegas is lovely this time of year or there's always a crass Caribbean all-inclusive resort.

Look, if we learned anything from Jim Croce, it's that you don't pull on Superman's Cape, you don't spit into the wind, you don't pull the mask off the ol' Lone Ranger and you don't vacation in a Middle East war zone.

tagged: Lebanon, Hizbollah, Hezbollah, Israel, vacation, war, Jim Croce

Double chicken noodle

So I had a conference call scheduled over lunchtime today, which means I had to be back in by cube by 12:30 p.m. to call in.

The big downer to this situation was that I was forced to go to the corporate cafeteria for lunch, as opposed to going off-site. I typically leave the corporate HQ for lunch because the cafeteria is horrible. There's rarely anything I want to eat. I always lose my appetite when I go there. I literally would rather eat a pre-fab sandwich from the convenience store than eat at the cafeteria (and I have, many times).

But today, I was forced by time constraints to dine at the cafeteria -- which is in another building. So I leave my building and walk out into the 100-degree heat. I make it gasping and sweating into the cafeteria. At least the AC works there.

I browse through the food choices (a futile effort since the choices are the same as the last time I was here... and the time before that... etc.)

I finally rule out everything in the cafeteria. The pizza is dry, the burgers are greasy, the pot roast is just too heavy and the baked fish looks like it was baked on the sidewalk outside. I'd opt for the pre-packaged sushi, but it looks like it was packaged in San Francisco the week before and it costs eight bucks.

My last resort is the soup kettle. At least I'll be able to choke it down quickly. I fill a styrofoam cup with double chicken noodle, pay a five-spot for the soup and a soda and head back to my building.

So there I am, sweating like Ken Lay on the witness stand because it's hotter than Satan's balls outside, carrying a nice warm cup of soup for my lunch.

If it weren't so bloody hot and humid, it might be funny.

tagged: heat, weather, hot, lunch, soup, sushi, Ken Lay, Satan