Every once in a while I actually do one of the stupid chain letter things – this one seemed right up my alley – so let’s look at the results.  Further discussion at the end.

SUPPOSEDLY if you’ve seen over 85 films, you have no life. Mark the ones you’ve seen. There are 239 films on this list. Copy this list, go to your own facebook account, paste this as a note. Then, put x’s next to the films you’ve seen, add them up, change the header adding your number, and click post at the bottom. Have fun.

(x) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(x) Grease – own it
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean – own it
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest – own it
(x) Boondock Saints
(x) Fight Club – own it
(x) Starsky and Hutch
(x) Neverending Story – own it
(x) Blazing Saddles
(x) Airplane
Total: 10

(x) The Princess Bride – own it
(x) Anchorman
(x) Napoleon Dynamite
(x) The Dark Crystal -  own it
(x ) Saw
(x) Saw II
(x) White Noise
(x) Vanilla Sky – own it
(x) Anger Management
(x) 50 First Dates -  own it
(x) Fletch
(x) Fletch Lives
Total so far: 22

(x) Scream -  own it
(x) Scream 2 – own it
(x) Scream 3
(x) Scary Movie
(x) Scary Movie 2  - own it
(x) Scary Movie 3
(x) Scary Movie 4
(x) American Pie
(x) American Pie 2
(x) American Wedding
(x) American Pie Band Camp
Total so far: 33

(x) Harry Potter 1 -  own it
(x) Harry Potter 2 -  own it
(x) Harry Potter 3 -  own it
(x) Harry Potter 4
(x) Top Gun -  own it
(x) Can’t Hardly Wait
(x) The Wedding Singer
() Little Black Book
(x) Happy Gilmore -  own it
(x) Mr. Magorum’s Emporium
Total so far: 42

(x) Finding Nemo
(x) Finding Neverland -  own it
(x) The Dark Knight
(x) The Grinch -  own it
(x) Monster Squad
(X) The Gate -  own it
(x) White Men Can’t Jump
(x) The Butterfly Effect
(X) Bubba HoTep -  own it
(X) I am Legend
(x) Money Train
Total so far: 53

(x) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
(x) National Lampoons Vacation
(x) National Lampoons European Vacation
(x) National Lampoons Christmas Vacation -  own it
(x) Caddyshack
(x) Caddyshack 2
(x) The Hudsucker Proxy
(x) Fast Times at Ridegmont High
(x) Clueless -  own it
() 9 Months
(x) Death to Smoochy
(x) The Sting
Total so far: 64

(x) SpaceBalls
(x) The Terminal
(x) Robin Hood: Men in Tights -  own it
(x) Forget Paris
(x) Dumb & Dumber
(x) Dumber & Dumberer
(x) Final Destination
(x) Final Destination 2
(x) Final Destination 3
(x) Halloween
(x) Pulp Fiction -  own it
(x) Dirty Dancing -  own it
(x) Eurotrip
(x) Roadtrip
Total so far: 78

(x) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
(x) Harold & Kumar: Escape From Guantanamo Bay
(x) That Thing You Do
(x) The Jerk
(x) From Hell – own it
(x) Hellboy
() 2 Girls and a Guy
(x) Rear Window
(x) The Whole Nine Yards -  own it
(x) The Whole Ten Yards -  own it
Total so far: 87

(x) The Day After Tomorrow
(x) Liar Liar
(x) War Games -  own it
(x) Ferris Bueller’s Day Off -  own it
(x) Ten Things I Hate About You
(x) Iron Man
(x) Gothika
(x) Howard The Duck-  own it
(x) Sixteen Candles
(x) Just One of The Guys
(x) Breakin’
() Breakin’ 2: Electric Bugaloo
(x) Ski Party
(x) The Mask -  own it
(x) Son Of The Mask
Total so far: 101

(x) Bad Boys
(x) Bad Boys 2
(x) Joy Ride
(x) Lucky Number Slevin
(x) Ocean’s Eleven
(x) Ocean’s Twelve
(x) Bourne Identity
(x) Bourne Supremecy
(x) Bourne Ultimatum
(x) Bedazzled
(x) Predator I – own it
(x) Predator II
() Kicking and Screaming
(x) Ice Age
(x) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
(x) Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory -  own it
Total so far: 116

(x) Independence Day -  own it
(x) Casino
(x) Resevior Dogs
(x) Back to School
(x) Christine
(x) ET
(x) Children of the Corn
(x) Summer Rental
(x) Batteries not included – own it
(x) Catch and Release
(x) Rush Hour -  own it
(x) Rush Hour 2 -  own it
Total so far: 128

(x) The Crow -  own it
(x) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
(x) She’s All That
() Calendar Girls
(x) Sideways
(x) Mars Attacks
(x) Smokey and The Bandit -  own it
(x) Smokey and The Bandit 2 -  own it
(x) Wizard of Oz
(x) Forrest Gump – own it
(x) Big Trouble in Little China
(x) The Terminator – own it
(x) The Terminator 2-  own it
(x) The Terminator 3
Total so far: 141

(x) X-Men – own it
(x) X-2 -  own it
(x) X-Men: The Last Stand
(x) Spider-Man -  own it
(x) Spider-Man 2 – own it
(x) Tango and Cash
(x) Jeepers Creepers
(x) Jeepers Creepers 2
(x) Catch Me If You Can
(x) The Little Mermaid
(x) Freaky Friday
(x) American Psycho -  own it
(x) Jumper
(x) Cruel Intentions
(x) Cruel Intentions 2
(x) The Hot Chick
(x) Shrek
(x) Shrek 2
Total so far: 159

(x) Swimfan
(x) Miracle on 34th street
(x) Old School
() The Notebook
(x) K-Pax
() Little Big League
() A Walk to Remember
(x) Tropic Thunder
(x) Boogeyman
(x) The 40-year-old Virgin
Total so far: 166

(x) Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring -  own it
(x) Lord of the Rings The Two Towers -  own it
(x) Lord of the Rings Return Of the King -  own it
(x) Raiders of the Lost Ark -  own it
(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom -  own it
(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade -  own it
Total so far: 172

(x) Baseketball
(x) Hostel
() Waiting for Guffman
(x) House of 1000 Corpses
(x) The Devil’s Rejects
(x) Elf
(x) The Big Lebowski
(x) Mothman Prophecies
(x) American History X
() Threesome
Total so Far: 180

() The Jacket
(x) Kung Fu Hustle
(x) Shaolin Soccer
(x) It -  own it
(x) Monsters Inc.
(x) Titanic -  own it
(x) Monty Python and the Holy Grail -  own it
(x) Shaun Of the Dead
(x) Hot Fuzz
Total so far: 188

() High Tension
(x) Club Dread
(x) Nick Fury : Agent of Shield
(x) Dawn Of the Dead
(x) Hook -  own it
(x) Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
(x) 28 Days Later
(x) Orgazmo
(x) Super Troopers
(x) Waterworld
Total so far: 197

(x) Kill Bill vol 1
(x) Kill Bill vol 2
(x) Mortal Kombat
() Wolf Creek
(x) Suburban Commando
() Mr Nanny
() I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
() The Last House on the Left
() Re-Animator
(x) Army of Darkness -  own it
Total so far: 202

(x) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace -  own it
(x) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones -  own it
(x) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith -  own it
(x) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope -  own it
(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back -  own it
(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi -  own it
( x) Ewoks Caravan Of Courage -  own it
(x ) Ewoks The Battle For Endor -  own it
Total so far: 210

(x) Point Break -  own it
(x) Dogma
(x) Animatrix – -  own it
(x) Evil Dead -  own it
(x) Evil Dead 2 -  own it
(x) Team America: World Police
(x) Mallrats -  own it
(x) Silence of the Lambs -  own it
(x) Hannibal

Total 219

You see I already knew I had no life, so now you can see my movie choices – I think a bit of it is unfair since I’ve seen the original and remakes of a few movies on that list.  In that scenario should I count them twice.   I guess 219 out of 239 isn’t too bad, it’s also only the tip of the ice berg of what I’ve seen.   Heck tonight in the hotel room I’m in three movies have played so far while I’ve been catching up on blog articles.

]]> http://creeva.com/2009/01/13/stupid-facebook-chain-letter-ive-seen-a-bunch-of-movies-but-i-swear-i-have-a-life/feed/ 6 http://creeva.com/2008/12/23/money-isnt-everything/ http://creeva.com/2008/12/23/money-isnt-everything/#comments Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:49:50 +0000 Creeva http://creeva.com/?p=3817

Picture from here

Money isn’t everything.   We treat it like is though.   Some people can’t understand when I say I don’t necessarily want more though.   I of course do want more money, but at the same time I don’t.   What I truly want is more freedom, more time, and more enjoyment from what I do.

I’ve had a couple jobs that I enjoyed more then anything else.   The first was working at a small PC shop.  It was my first break into the IT industry, in which I’ve done well climbing the ladder.   I interacted with people, I was a problem solver.  I was one of hte go to people that could fix almost anything.   I’m the type of guy that you throw problems at and I’ll swat them away like annoying insects.   It was my forte, the only thing I was really lacking at the time was high end networking.   I could make computers talk, but as I learned in my next favorite job I truly knew nothing.

The next job I can say now that I truly loved was working at Symantec’s enterprise firewall support call center.   Like the small PC shop after a year or so I came into my own and had my own groove.   After three years being on the team I had closed more tickets then anyone else in level one and level two support (I left being the team lead).    I also held the record for the most calls handled in one day.   The irony about having the most tickets closed is that 30-40% of the time I didn’t even open a ticket for the call.   Our call center software was so slow that it took 5-7 minutes to actually open and write up a ticket.  I made a deal with my managers (I’m sure some higher ups wouldn’t be happy) – that if I could handle the call in under five minutes and be almost positive that they wouldn’t be calling in on the same issue that I could just skip the ticket process.   So for volume, by the time I left I handled far above and beyond what everyone else had ever handled.    Symantec has since dicontinued the product, it lasted about another year and half after I migrated into consulting that it went kaput.  I wonder if anyone caught up to me in the call record or number of handled cases before it was gone.

This isn’t about bragging rights, I’m sure it sounds like it though.   What did both of these jobs have in common though?  They were both hectic chicken running with it’s head cut off problem squashing affairs.   I work best where I have a new issue every fifteen minutes or a nagging issue that would keep me up at night trying to solve.   As you move up the ladder you loose that.  You are working on long and engaging projects where the problem takes five minutes to engineer, yet in turn takes six months to implement.   I’m still good at what I do, but it’s not exactly the best fit for my skill set.   This in turn leads me into a spiral or more money versus more enjoyment.

Me and my Grandfather (Not a Recent Picture)

I had a conversation with my grandfather a few weeks ago, he told me how lucky it was that I had a job in today’s economy (I am), and that it would be difficult to move up in the area I lived.  I started to explain to him that I could more then likely finding a better paying job, but it may not be as stable in the long term as my current one.   I also said for the right job I would work for less then I currently do.  Somehow in his mind that didn’t compute.   In an abstraction of what he said, essentially he thought climbing the ladder should be what is important.   I told him with the right job, I would take a 20% pay reduction.  Granted that wasn’t my end goal, but for the right job in the right environment I would take my family down to the bare level where we could maintain everything.   Why?  I would be happier.

We are taught early that you need to learn so you can better then”random example”.   So you can go to college and maintain that edge and not be a janitor.   So you can get the huge house and be better then your neighbors.   If you neighbor buys a Lexus you are taught that you should buy a BMW.  It’s a mad dash to prove that your better then everyone else.   To prove that capitalism runs the world.  If we are not working to that we are either considered un-American, stupid, or lazy.   Granted I am a bit lazy, but I can work.    I was born July 4, 1976 so I don’t consider myself un-American (I’m a Constitutionalist).   I’m not stupid either.

I think this mindset first hit my family when I wanted to go to college for music performance and creative writing.   They always said I wouldn’t make any money with that.  I was seventeen and brave enough to say that if I was happy I could be living on a street corner in a box as long I was writing and playing music.   They never understood that.  If I didn’t have my wife, and a love for electronics (I didn’t have that love back then), I could probably still do it.   My life hasn’t greatly changed at the core in the last decade though when I was first with my wife.   We live essentially the same way, we have a few nicer things, a house, a car payment – but our basic lives are still the same.  I’d say the greatest difference is that we can not stand hamburger helper anymore.   I still eat the occasional cheap ass boil it  ramen, and she enjoys Kraft Macaroni and Cheese still.

Too many people in this world work for money.   Money is needed to survive (I have a friend that would argue that), but at the same time it shouldn’t be your singular goal.   When I was younger I had a certain goal financially I wanted to make, I did through different means.   I’m not at that level right now (I have no stock options to sell anymore), but it didn’t make it me any happier.   These days I write more, I play in two bands, I’m learning new instruments, and I have a baby that should arrive in the next couple months.   I’m juggling the things that make me happy with work, what if I could be blissful with my job too?  Some days I hate my job, most the time I’m just meh.   If I could get the hair pulling problem solving hectic life going again it would be great (must be my undiagnosed ADD).  If I could do it at the same pay level or better, that would be awesome.

I really need to get some more recent pictures of myself

As far back as I remember when I went to someone’s house the first question my mother asked me when I got home was never “Did you have fun?” Maybe that was too plebeian for her and her non-bourgeois ways. She didn’t want to be like every other mother on the planet and ask the obvious question. The question she did ask? Well that was “What did their house look like?” My mother was obsessed with other people’s housing decorations and using her eight year old son to do her scouting for her. I was a bad a scout thought, my answer until I was eighteen and moved out was almost always “It’s a house, with stuff in it”. She tried to grill me further and if she was lucky she sometimes got to pluck out some of the details she wanted.

Whenever my mother went to a house she seemed to case the joint like a burglar. What she wanted to steal though was not anything tangible they owned. What she wanted to do was find something that either she could use in her own decor, or talk about with her friends about how much she disliked it. If you didn’t fit in one side of the spectrum you immediately fit into the other side.

If something was featured on Oprah as must have, my mom would scheme to buy it. I can only assume she owns both a Wii and Kindle. I don’t know why she would buy a kindle though, she doesn’t read. I’m not saying she is incapable of reading, only that she prefers every bit of information spoon fed to her through network television compared to any other avenue. I swear my mother thinks the purpose of the newspaper is to hold her shopping advertisements.

She attempted to justify her moronic decision to make the first room you enter in the house being the dining room because one of her friends did it. This was one of those moments where you say, if all your friends are jumping off a bridge would you do it? (My answer to that question has always been “How high is the bridge? Is there water underneath it?” How many friends are we talking about and have they all survived?”) Either way a stupid design choice is a stupid design choice, copying it just makes you dumber.

The correct answer to why you do such a thing? Well I could say it fits until our routine better, it makes the house more functional, who cares about the norm or aesthetics, or it’s my house and I like it. However hiding behind that your friend does it so you decided to do it? That shows you have no thought in the problem other then some selfish little need of instant gratification that you are trying to get fulfilled.

I understand why my mom wants to decorate or own things that other people do. It’s called a psychological term called mirroring. If someone mimics your body movements your mirroring them. It allows for a repertoire to form, a link if you will. People like people that are like them. In some mis-guided learning my mother thinks she needs to dress, talk, and live like everyone else – otherwise she is non-existent. If she isn’t acknowledged because she isn’t like everyone else she get depressed. The whole problem is when you live your life by mirroring all those around you all the time, you are no longer an individual. You are a member of society, but your not going to help further it or challenge new and original thought.

Every single idea my mother has had for house design or money making has been because someone else has done it first and she thinks she can do it also. Mind you she doesn’t think she can do it better, she thinks she can do it just as well and get the same compliments for it. Because of this my mother doesn’t do anything well beyond “keeping up with the Jones’”.

Read Part 1 Here

Read Part 2 Here

Read Part 3 Here

Read Part 4 Here

Read Part 5 Here

Read Part 6 Here

Read Part 7 Here

Read Part 8 Here

Read Part 9 Here

Read Part 10 Here

During this time where really my mother was in complete financial distress and squeaking by.  However she couldn’t stop buying frivolous things at all. She was glued to the home shopping channel, when she didn’t have the money to buy something out right she would jump on their payment plan. When she was really excited about something she would call my grandmother.

I swear something was being shipped to the house every other day from the home shopping network. If I had to venture a guess during the months between I moved back and when I cut off communication she had to spend the equivalent of a couple mortgage payments. It got to the point that she attempted to hide this purchases from me since she knew that she was going to get a lecture from me.

She continued about how she needed her house modernized so it looked good “for the children”. This was her priority in her life. No job, no income, three children living under her roof, and she’s complaining about the flooring (which was adequate and better then some other people’s flooring).

There was an extreme lack of food in the house. There was tons of dry cereal and maybe if you were lucky bread and peanut butter. She ordered out more then cooked anything meaningful, she would also go grocery shopping every day so she could get out of the house. Ironically she didn’t buy much of anything.

My seventeen year old sister who was working had to buy her own food for lunch’s and mostly dinners also since “supper” conflicted with her work schedule. Now for some people this would seem like a fine thing to do, but my mother was getting hundreds of dollars a month in child support for my sister. Yet my sister never seemed to benefit from it. Instead I would have hear about my seventeen year old sister using my mother’s make-up or wearing my 12 year old sisters shirts (yes my sister was almost that small, but also liked tight fitting clothes). Never once did I hear her say anything good about my sister, it was more complaints on how much she cost or the attitude she gave.

To my chagrin my grandparents paid to have new flooring done for Christmas. Sometimes I think my mother is as spoiled as my youngest brother.

Read Part 1 Here

Read Part 2 Here

Read Part 3 Here

Read Part 4 Here

Read Part 5 Here

Picture from here

Between setting up the blogs, playing the Myspace game Heroes, and tracking down alumni for band on Facebook and Myspace, I’ve spent a huge chunk of time on the social networking sites of the top tier.   (If there are any alumni on secondary tiered social networks I will find you eventually.)  Traditionally I have always held a strong hatred towards Myspace particularly.   My most commented line about the site has been “Myspace, making the Web 2.0 looklike the web from 1996).   Myspace has gotten better, but it is still downright ugly, clunky, and mostly a walled garden.   I don’t like – and no recent usage hasn’t endeared me to it.

I now have about 8 pages of email communication in Myspace (2 pages in Facebook) – that I have no method of saving, archiving, and retaining.   Do you know how much I hate that?  I’m someone who wants to save all his data forever, and thanks to the walled garden scenario it’s trapped.   Maybe I’ll get lucky and it will eventually be freed.

On the plus side my blog has been getting more hits, so I can’t complain about that.  Exposure the whole yadda yadda about getting yourself out there, I’m doing it.   I have been doing it for awhile but lately actually actively doing it.

We’ll see, maybe Myspace will still self impload and take out the west coast.  If it takes out the whole west coast we will know never to make such a monstrosity again.

Picture from here

Going through my RSS feeds this morning I came across an article, “Ike’s Granddaughter Calls Obama ‘Future of America‘”.  My first thought was good for her.  My second thought was who cares?  What I don’t want to get into is the meat of the article for a moment, let’s look at the headline.   Anyone vaguely aware of presidential politics should be aware that Ike is referring to Eisenhower.   What does his granddaughter have to do with anything.   Why should can claim she is an Eisenhower Republican that doesn’t means she has the same values as Ike.   I don’t really have a care who she supports or her political beliefs, but the fact that because she is Ike’s grand daughter seems to make this news.

My grandfather sold tractors, I don’t particulary like tractors – if a tractor blog going to print “Martin’s grandson predicts tractor sales are dead?”  I don’t think so.

Personally I’m waiting on  the “George Washington’s Distant Cousin Gives McCain a Big Thumbs Up” article.   If I’m really lucky the “Jefferson’s Great Great Great Grandson marries Ben Franklin’s Great Great Great Great Grand Daughter at the Ron Paul Rally” article.   Once again it means nothing.

Picture from here

Always being on the bleeding edge, I upgraded to WordPress 2.6 today.  I upgraded all the blogs hosted on my account to the latest and greatest wordpress installation.   Since according to article that announced the release, the inner workings and plugin system remained the same as 2.5.  I’m hoping this means none of my plugins break.

I don’t think I will be that lucky though.  I do know upgrading my N810 to Diablo caused breakage in the applications I used.   As long as all of my crossposting still works I will be a happy upgrade monkey.   We’ll see how it goes.

Yesterday my art print from Pablo Defendi arrived.  I had gotten this copy for the cost of shipping (I slipped him a little bit extra) and being one of the first responders to comment in his giveaway thread.  The original frame I got for it was too large so I had to pick up a smaller one.   Here is the unboxing (you can click all the images to see higher res on my flickr stream).

The print arrived in an unassuming Fedex package, I was giddy though……

Inside the Fedex package it was wrapped again in paper – excitement building…….

It was taped on the back after being folded over all four sides.  I took extreme caution taking off the paper afraid I would accidentally tear in too deep and damage the print.

The first picture of the print that shows off my non-existent camera focusing skills

A better view of the print unwrapped.  My focusing seems to have gotten better.

In the corner it has the print number, mine is 13 out of 20.  Lucky 13 for me.

Pablo even signed and put the year on it in the right hand corner.

It the center he even put down the print name “Little Brother”.

My personal thank you to Pablo.  I will love this print for all time.  You all have to look at the weird guy holding the sign.

Same weird guy, holding a different sign.   Thank you Cory Doctorow for writing “Little Brother“.

My picture showing the motto of the movement used at the end of the book.   Unfortunately under this scenario I can not be trusted, but then again I’m not sure I should be, so maybe it’s right.

I would like to give a sincere thank you to Pablo for the art work and I would like to encourage everyone that visits my site to head over to his and support him.   I also encourage to everyone to go purchase Little Brother or at least download it and read it from Cory’s site.  So far I’ve gotten one other person to read it and they thought I was dead on for the recommendation.  You won’t be disappointed.

]]> http://creeva.com/2008/06/19/my-pablo-defendi-print-of-little-brother-arrived/feed/ 0 http://creeva.com/2008/04/29/feedburner-finally-integrates-with-google-accounts/ http://creeva.com/2008/04/29/feedburner-finally-integrates-with-google-accounts/#comments Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:08:23 +0000 Creeva http://creeva.com/?p=2754

Earlier I had written that Google really needs to integrate it’s reporting services across the board.  Now I still hope that do unyfi their reporting experience, but it seems Feedburner is going to eb the first to get sucked into the already fractured reporting structure that exists for Google‘s many services.

Earlier today on April 25 Feedburner posted that they were finally going to integrate their service with the standard google account logins.  This means the same account I login into Gmail, Adsense, etc, and etc. will work with Feedburner.   Using this unification I’m hoping that we’ll be able ot finally embed Adsense into out RSS feeds.   I’m also hoping that the reporting (hint hint Google) can be blended in with Web Analytics.

Whether the reporting structure is going to be absorbed or if this will stay a single login structure for the foreseeable future has yet to be seen.   I have hopes though.

Wikipedia defines inbreeding as:
Inbreeding is breeding between close relatives, whether plant or animal. If practiced repeatedly, it often leads to a reduction in genetic diversity. A concomitant increase in homozygousity of recessive traits can, over time, result in inbreeding depression. This may result in inbred individuals exhibiting reduced health and fitness and lower levels of fertility.

So we’ve established that if we agree with wikipedia’s definition on inbreeding as a reduction in genetic diversity, what can we say about communal, intellectual, or societal inbreeding?  Is there such a thing?  I think there is, whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing is for you to decide.  Let’s go over some examples.

A boy that is two years old and walks over to a new born baby girl sitting in a stroller in front of the neighbors house.  He meets her for the first time.   Over the coming years they run around naked in the yard together at an age where it is somewhat socially acceptable.  They go to dances together.  In all ways they are best friends, brother and sister living next door to each other brought together by location and shared experiences.  At the age of 18 they marry.

Socially acceptable?  You answer that.

Another boy is 11 years old, his single father comes back from a business trip and tells his son that he met a woman and they are getting married in 6 months.  She happens to have a 11 year old daughters.  Seven years later the son and the woman’s daughter marry.  They are step-siblings at the time.

Socially acceptable?  You answer that.

I can’t tell you how you thought and your feelings on it, but if we look at the two above scenarios and define neither of those as inbreeding from a genetic stand point but from a relationship stand point both may be considered incestuous.  Granted incest laws and inbreeding are separate on the moral compass scale, but truly you can’t have one without a varying degree of the other.

Some incest and inbreeding are accidental, take the case in point of the separated twins that got married in England last year.  While they would have inbred if they would have had children before finding out they were related and on the strictest sense it is incest since they were brother and sister, if we throw morality out the door for a second is it truly incestuous?  They had less in common in life experience then either the first two examples I gave.  They are further apart so they bring more to the table for a child to learn from in a life experience department.  From a intellectual or communal stand point this wouldn’t be inbreeding or incest.   It would be two people that were in love that had the unlucky chance of common DNA.

Part of what was discussed at the time that was a news story was that people are attracted to people that are like them.  So people with similar experiences and interest are going to be more attracted to each other with the more they are like each other.   Unfortunately the more your significant other is like you the more your offspring is going to be like you because of the moral traits and beliefs you and your mate educate your offspring with.     Hence while you may have preserved genetic diversity you have squashed a mutation in the sense of the child being more indenpendent and different then yourselves.   Your child is not likely to be more successful then either you or your mate.  It is likely to fall in the same economic and societal structure as their forebearers.

Socially acceptable?  Sure is.

Morally right when you look at the big pictures?  You answer that.

The reason this comes up is all the friends and communities that people have had for years at a time.  Whether it be a church group, a video game guild, an online forum, or a local chess club the closeness you can evolve with these people can become close enough that you can’t differentiate between your feeling for family or your feelings for the group you belong to.  It is a family in every sense of the word except for genetics.    The longer the group stays together and the more they become like the other people the more intellectual and interest stagnation can occur.   If you live your life obsessed with something and so does your mate, highly likely your child will be the same way.

I can say that my wife and I shared friends but we were two very different people.  We knew each other for a few months, and have grown more alike in the decade we’ve been together, but deep down from shared experiences we are very different people.   However what if we would have met at 11 years old and married 7 years later?  What if we had been part of a video game group that we had let our guard down and accepted as family.  What about truly platonic friends that pick up romance after 30 years of friendship?  At what point would there be a moral difference between communal inbreeding  versus genetic?  Is there ever?

If there is no such thing as communal or intellectual inbreeding, then will identical twins be able to legally marry and be accepted by society once we can do genetic manipulation?  At the point we can do true genetic modification we can insure that no inbreeding at the genetic level will occur.  Sure it still will be considered incest, but what would the health reason or societal reason truly be to keep the people apart?  I’m sure eventually mankind will have to grapple and come up with the moral answer code going forward.  Not yet but someday.

This is not a piece to make you decide something one way or another.  It is more a piece to help you decide in the global communication world we live in that there will things that we need to decide on what is family.   Is family only truly a genetic trait?  Is it a lump of love and shared experiences?  If so at which point will be the truly defining line between where incest and inbreeding live and where societies ecceptable norms lie.

Mutation exists through differentiation, mutation leads to evolution.   What needs to be done to insure evolution at all levels?  You answer that.

Any of you that have researched and delved into the world of online advertising to any extent have learned that most of these companies require you to give them your social security number. You may wonder why you have to do this and the answer is quite simple, they report the expense of paying you to the IRS. The IRS at this point needs to know who to tax for the income. Any money you make is subject to federal tax laws whether the advertisers report the money to the IRS or not. How you handle your taxes and reported income is up to you but remember the tax benefits for your cost of doing business:

• Write off hosting fees
• Write off domain registration fees
• Possibly write off hardware (I need to look into this one)

What are your choices?

Now we’ve already stated that the advertisers need to tax you somehow and your normal tax ID is your social security number. What other options do you you have? Well lucky for US citizens there are at least two routes you can take, an EIN (Employer Identification Number) or a TIN (Tax Identification Number). A TIN from what I understand works identically as a social security number for purposes such as employment or money received. An EIN gives you business benefits. With an EIN you can open a business bank account and you can apply for a business license.

How do I get an EIN?

Thankfully the IRS has made it easier to obtain an EIN than it has in the past. You can apply online. The IRS has setup a website that allows you to request one in just a few minutes. You will need to give them your social security number, but then again they already have it. You will more then likely choose a sole proprietorship and under business activity choose and other and when they ask for a description type in blogging (that does feel good). You don’t have to be a blogger, but I’m pandering to my audience.

After going through a few screens that are all logical and self explanatory (if you have have questions feel free to email us and we’ll answer them to the best of our ability). At the end of the process you are given your EIN immediately and a PDF with your documentation. While you can retrieve your number at a later time I would suggest e-mailing yourself the PDF for future reference. You now have a legal tax number you can give advertisers without giving them your social security number.

Why do I want this again? Why shouldn’t I just give the advertisers my social security number?

The simplest answer is how do you know to trust them? This is about keeping your social security safe from identity theft. If the advertisers database is compromised your social security number could be released for any and all to use. If it’s a fly by night advertiser that may be offering huge rates – their true business may be collecting social security numbers. By keeping your blogging business separate from your personal finance record you can maintain an easier separation from your day job and your online business.

I hope this was useful for you and it helps insure your personal security

Be warned though – some sites are trying to charge you for the privilege of getting an EIN which is free to you for the taking.

For more information on the online EIN application process go here.

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Posted By Creeva Murkado to Journey To Get Paid at 2/06/2008 05:57:00 AM

The other bonus is that it seems to be running much faster – woohoo.

I believe though that the digital clarity that is our life can be muddled and found to be lacking in it’s brilliance. Because of that I attempt to maintain and capture my digital essence to try and understand the context that is me. It allows me to look back and see the despair and troubles that drove me to a slight unobjectionable madness. The beauty of life that feels like a moment that I can share only with my wife. Sharing the moments all to yourself though allow for the hollowness that is lack of existence to fester within giving an experience that comes out lacking. For this I am grateful, happy, and forever in love with my wife

Never has man before attempted to save himself and preserve his data with such success then in the day we live in. That is why I’m proud to be a modern man. A modern man in some regards is a great thing, but learning and completing a well rounded education that can peaked as high as possible is what we should strive to do. I understand computers, their faults and strengths. The vulnerabilities that plague them and how to minimize any disease they may catch along the digital pathways. I can repair a car with the sweat on my brow raining down and stinging into my eye. I can play music on a variety of Instruments to a degree that can at least satisfy myself. A modern renaissance man, I am.

My friends and everyone I have met along this journey we call life should be celebrated and embraced. I may not keep in contact with them as often as I should – if I do at all – but I can say they all helped shaped me in one way or another. Some of it was for the better, some for the worse. I can say I wouldn’t trade a moment with any of them or modify the ways they helped shape me. I am the man I am today because of them and for that they will all always be cherished. For those I don’t keep in contact with I apologize, for those I do maintain in touch with, I am deeply deeply sorry.

While you can read through what I have saved, collected, written, or filmed. You will never get the full picture. From my point of view I can not truly say if I envy you or if I should show you pity. Regardless of the fact of whatever it is, what can best sum me up is a poem I wrote more then a decade and a half ago:

My Eyes

The sky is blue
The grass is screen
To bad you’ll never see things
As through my eyes they are seen.

Sincerely Yours,

Brent M. Gueth aka Creeva Murkado

P. S. I hope this answered everything and nothing from the questions you wished to utter to the imaginings in your head.

The temperature was below freezing and the musician’s are lucky their instruments did not get stuck to their faces when they initially started to perform. If you are interested in seeing the Vermilion Community Band in true form we have two concerts coming up in the next week. Please visit the VCMA Website for more information. If you are interested in joining the Vermilion Community Concert Band please contact them via the website under the contact us link.

If you would like more information on the Vermilion Christmas Tree Ship please go here.

UPDATED:

I found pictures of the VCMA at the event here:

Here are the pictures they had (also the one at the beginning of the post):

One thing I noticed last night is that things consistently downloaded faster on Ubuntu compared to Vista (and I had better speed in vista then XP). So points are definitely on the TCP/IP stack in Ubuntu compared to Windows. The difference I noticed was so significant for me that I wonder why more of the power game that attempt to squeeze every last kilobit out of their network connection for latency and speed doesn’t migrate over for some games.

Issue I don’t like – some sites (like my blog) don’t render the same way – not terrible or nec. wonky but different – my blog for example doesn’t look right. It’s not just the fonts which are slightly different – the site’s CSS is slightly off in Linux compared to windows. The irony of this ordeal is that I’m using Firefox in both environments. You would think that there would be the same rendering engine in the back-end, but I’m not so lucky. So this will go into hunting down CSS fixes.

I did get unlucky that Star Wars Galaxies managed to upgrade to a new launcher while I was in the middle of this – guess I’ll have to login via the desktop until I manage to get the launcher working.

WoW is working but is slow – I need to reduce the resolution from the size it’s using since that’s is causing most of my issues – it just crashes when I change it – I found some answers on correcting these issues online today though.

All in all successful – video rendering looks better then Vista – I’ll keep posting as I have findings.

Lucky Number Slevin (Widescreen Edition)by Paul McGuiganWORTH IT!
(via All Consuming: creeva)

My shipment of some of the number titles on the list came earlier this week and I’ve started today with 1942 – review coming of this later as I’ll more then likely finish this game since I got lucky and it has infinite continues.

I’ve been exchanging e-mail with an old friend (she knows who she is) and thinking about where I’ve come from and where my friends have come from in the age old trip of adult hood. The next comments are not about her.

Most of the people I knew growing up haven’t seem to amounted to much – me included in a way. I had friends that were going to grow up to be musicians, writers, pastors and everyone’s dreams seem to have taken a back seat – whether it be those that never applied themselves and are still working the same job they had for the last decade that pays minimum wage. To the ones that are always going to go to college, but never do.

Where is the Dr. Suessian “The Places You’ll Go” – most of the people I graduated with didn’t go far. This doesn’t necessarily make them bad people – but I’ve come to the age, like I’m sure some of the rest of them have – that we realized we were lied to all those years. Once thing I can that is different about me then my friends who threw away lives to work minimum wage at the same spot ofr 1/2 or more of their lives is I still have dreams. I still play music – I still write – and I have new hobbies that augment what I do, unlike alot of my friends who the highlight of the week is going to the bar. I’ve been to a bar a total 6 times this year – and with the exception of once the rest were on business trips. I have alcohol in the house – but had 1 beer over the last few months. I did get trashed on my birthday though – the big 30 gets us all.

For the one girl in SWG that is underage that I know reads this blog. Save your dreams and guard them close – if life doesn’t turn out like you expected to you need to have those dreams stay a part of you; completely and fully. Maybe you’ll make it to a ballerina – or maybe you’ll be a lawyer, or maybe you’ll work at Wal-Mart. None of that really matters since an income is just a tool – the money I do make is to be comfortable and I have fun – sometimes detrimentally to me financially but I make it through.

I know people that enjoy themselves and have never been more then 120 miles from home. I’ve been across the country – New York City – to Tampa – San Francisco to Crater Lake – and it’s not worth a damn to do it alone like I have some of those things. But to experience something outside of your shell of life is important also. (Just don’t drive through Wyoming and Nebraska – That’s a 1000 miles of suck)

People are the same most anywhere some people never leave there own town or city. Some people have never seen a city except on tv and others have never seen the countryside. I’ve been lucky having a job that let’s me travel and see things. I grew up on the great lakes – lived in a valley in the mountain ranges of the Pacific Northwest – and travel to major cities – and in reality it is all the same. Keep your sanity by always keeping yourself close and you can always be happy.

Beyond that I upgraded to a flickr pro account today – much more pictures if you click the up above.