User:Sandwichman

From Voice of the Proletariat

My home blog, when I'm not tossing spears at some choad or another.

Bio

Born inside the perimeter, raised in the midstate, living in ATL metro since '96.

Disclaimer: I am a compulsive troll. It's hereditary, I'm afraid, from Dad's side. I particularly turn into a troll when I don't take a discussion seriously, and ~~this is Fark~~ bN is not TOS, so do some math, biatch. :)

Not-so-Secret Affinities

Good food, good art, road trips, good beer. Commerce and Trade. Cooking. Sports. Games.

Games of the moment

Flash-based games in general. It seems that Moore's law has worked to the point that Flash is a viable platform for video games, and we're seeing a true arcade renaissance on that platform. As someone whose first video game was a free credit left on a Space Invaders box in 1979, I love this trend, in spite of Flash's inherent suckiness. Boxhead, various tower defense games, and the "modified artillery" games take the nod.

Disc Golf.

Views, rants, etc.

Politics

[full disclosure: I donated $25 to both Senator McCain's and Senator Obama's campaigns around Super Tuesday '08, and they both sealed their respective races. :-]

I view American politics as an exercise of (christian) taliban and communist shills fighting over the ability to fuck everyone else over. Specifically, each faction views democracy as a means to an undemocratic, non-free end, as opposed to recognizing the symbiotic relationship between democracy and freedom.

During the latter part of the '08 election, I was highly angered at the notion that Sen. McCain had willingly taken a deal to include the taliban base. As it turns out, that move will have a net beneficial impact for years to come. Put simply: with Palin as a losing VP candidate, our taliban cannot divest themselves from the '08 election defeat.

Immigration

I tend to prefer reciprocation: We are the land of the free, after all, so we should derive our immigration baseline, by country, after every other country's policies toward us, modifying that policy (again, by country), according to our compatibility, and specific relationships with those countries. Nothing in the policy should prevent asylum seekers, and their like, from moving here.

Copyright

(May '08) The entire point of a computer network is to eliminate the gap between supply and demand for information. In this capacity, the networks reduce information economy to something near its pre-recording days. Only copyright law and PR stand in the way of this economic sea-change.

There's a test I use, which I call 'primary domain', or 'primary source'. In this test, I ask, "In what forum does the work live (or originate), if not online?" Music lives in live performances. Movies live in movie houses; when viewed as "theater", they also live in live performances (stage or studio). Images and text live in print. Software (crystallized thought) lives on computers and networks.

I largely stopped watching movies and buying albums (MP3 tracks, etc.) in the late 90's, when it became apparent that DMCA was running through Congress on greased palms; I figure if I can't download these things, I won't spend money at the movies (and largely, concerts), either. [Insert your own gen-Y insult here].

It's impossible to completely escape these things, of course, and boycotts are for self-crucifying wankers. I simply Do Something Else (and spend money somewhere else) when I have a polite option to do so. So, the money formerly spent on movies and music is now directed to savings, dinner, drinks, tips, extra rent limits, etc.

Budball

Bud Selig must be the single worst MLB commisioner in history..

Did nothing about steroids in order to draw fans in the 90's and leverage against the players' union later? Check.
Fox Sports' biatch? Check.
Satellite's biatch? Check.
"This time it counts?" Check.

Since it doesn't seem like Selig will go to prison, I think the best thing that could happen is for the Hall of Fame to dedicate a new wing, shaped like an asterisk, in Selig's honor.

And actually, I think all league sports have succumbed to the plague of "sports marketing".

The Great Sellout

Ted Turner's worst mistake was selling out, and CNN and the Braves wouldn't suck nearly as much if he still owned the operation. I've grown a tendency to avoid Time Warner products these days, and every Braves, CNN, TBS, and Cartoon Network fan should do the same. For all the recent hoopla about Boston freaking out over Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Cartoon Network is still a placeholder, just like the other Turner properties.

Misc

MSNBC runs the best news website these days, followed immediately by BBC (despite their bias).

The Varsity is good, but I'd go a long, long way for a Nu-Way. Or maybe, a cooler of frozen Nu-Way.

On Feburary 3, 2007, I finally made biscuits that turned out right. Not 'right' as in 'used as hockey pucks', but 'right' as in 'fluffy melted butter goodness'.

Quotes

"I mean, a sunrise is beautiful, but I don't have a compelling desire to grab its cans. " --Flignir

"I'm not bad luck, I'm just hung over." --unknown bartender

"The bases are loaded, and I wish I was." --Skip Caray

"I watch TV at a post-college level..." [This is also my favorite cliche-that-never-was.] --Holly_Wight

"System debugging has always been a graveyard-shift occupation, like astronomy." --Frederick Brooks, Jr.

"Honey, bend over, I think I can see that stick that's lodged up your ass." --darkhorse23

Outlook

Back in '06 and '07, my outlook was:

Bleak. In March '06, the Federal Reserve ceased publication of M3 statistics. Back home, we call this "blindfolding the victim". So, absolutely no good can come of this. "Republicans" still are in control of federal, (my) state, and (my) local governments, and, despite recent setbacks, have continued to blatantly suck. I mean, really. It's comical, except for the fact that these unamerican biatches keep getting elected. It's hard to find a country that isn't poisoned by (a) Socialist law or (b) Religious law. It's disgusting, really. My call, as of 04/13/07: At this point, it's largely a question of how much garbage the Republicans will leave the Democrats to inheirit. War in Iraq: check. War in Iran: maybe. Economic crisis: probably. Speaking of Economic Crisis, the dollar has been trailing lately, and I think that's going to continue for years. All the money we've shipped overseas for various reasons has funded all sorts of development, and literally billions of people are "coming online", as in "joining the first world". While I think this is great news for the folks overseas, and civilization in general, it does mean that the dollar is going to take it on the chin. Hard.

As of '08, my outlook is...Still Bleak. Regardless of the Presidential race, Congress, state, and local governments will still be filled with glorified criminals of either stripe. And, the dollar is continuing to decline, and that decline has sparked a bull run in commodities of almost every kind.

Outstanding Items

Name that Video Game

...late 80's (maybe 1990), it involved a 1930's adventure setting. The premise involved three archetypes -- Dashing Adventurer (indiana jones-type), Hot Chick Reporter, and Millionaire/Playboy Expedition Sponsor -- being warped by/into an artifact retrieved from the latest expedition.

This was an animated, bi-directional scroller, using overlaid tiles, and some fairly blocky animation. The adventurer started with a whip, the millionaire with a revolver.

I saw this game once or twice, and cannot remember its name. Any help on this will be greatly appreciated.