free will is an illusion?

Did you see this article? The opening is such:

The concept of free will could be little more than the result of background noise in the brain, according to a recent study.

It has previously been suggested that our perceived ability to make autonomous choices is an illusion – and now scientists from the Center for Mind and Brain at the University of California, Davis, have found that free will may actually be the result of electrical activity in the brain.

Wednesday that isn't like normal

I worked Monday to get that pay difference and now I feel like it's Tuesday. Things to do and my body isn't in the mood. The whole phone search has lead me to think a certain Android may be best option for my CB needs, but having a conversation with someone who dislikes said phone because it's Android is typical of the endeavor to upgrade past the CB barriers.

I just tried to read Time online. It gave me a headache. Maybe it's not meant to be read on a laptop(LT)? Anyways, the article(IC) was derivative of everything I just read in TLAF, which I felt was derivative of all things I read of late(ATIROL)... anyways(AW) I didn't have the will to finish a couple paragraphs of said Time IC. I felt like I wasted my time on Time, so I questioned my trusting the source by which my interest was piqued.

Total FB fail.

I need to get myself organizized(MOZD). Phones and cars are the white noise of distraction(WND)... I so dislike shopping for upgrades, but contentment BE DAMNED(BD)!

Words bored me. I am going to make new ones or abbreviate old ones to fit my idiosyncrasies(MI) better. I'll use the label Dylan Speak(DYLS) to highlight this occurrence for future reference(FR).

thoughts on general world of Thursday

I read an article about deer being hunted in a park and said dead deer being fed to the homeless via charities. I am not sure the point of the story's existence. Is it anti-homeless? Is it anti-hunting? Almost get the impression that perhaps the tone would be more uplifting if the park services was hunting the homeless and feeding their carcasses to whatever eats meat in the park(maybe deer? You think I jest but I once saw a squirrel gnawing on a chicken bone on top of a "dumpster" outside Ohio Stadium. I thought nothing of it since the animal looked content, but squirrels aren't known for their chicken loving ways, are they?).

paid by the click

Ran across a piece by David Carr that amused me. Not sure why, but I started following him on Twitter @carr2n . I guess it's due to the sort of things he's interested in covering for the NYT: Media.

I get a few clicks a day here on this soon to be dead blog (stbdb), and Adsense seems to keep a tally of the pennies clicks upon the ads in the margins have generated for your humble owner of this stbdb.

I shall have ample time to pursue a number of neglected interests without this stbdb. I'm thinking of joining a church for the artificial extended family factor (google "Vonnegut and artificial extended family"), completing a novel, completing a memoir, writing my last will and testament, learning what my kids like doing aside from screen time, research my beliefs to see if my gut instinct is right, sleep better, eating better, being a better husband, and worrying about things, which I have control.

The last time I wrote down goals and accomplished them was when I was in solitude 20 years ago. I think I may have  the original list still, but also I think the purple notebook was acidic and vanished in to a spring-like coil. No tv, no music, and no English for a month left me to a lot of self-refection.

No love for Amazon, but I side with them...

DISCLAIMER: Each day, I spend way too much time online. I've drastically cut my online time with the unofficial end of baseball season, but I still check my email, banking/credit cards/401(k), and blog. Before I do anything, I check to see what's going on in the world, and one place is where I start. It might not be the best for gathering information, but my purposes it's a starting point that spirals. The site is not self-contained and links to all sorts of places that are for the most part, reliable. If I ever mention an article, 90% of the time it originates from my perusing of the news aggregation site.

Amazon is being sued by its warehouse employees that claim that are unfairly unpaid for 20 minutes a day as they are searched throughout the day by security.

Frankly, I think their having a job should make them think twice about complaining, for the routine hasn't changed to make them feel put out from a baseline of expectation. Their wages technically embed their inconvenience to the regular searches.

Living by Wright-Patterson AFB, I'm aware of the long lines to get on the base. Those people aren't paid for their time in line waiting to go through the gate, are they?

Also, the searching is necessary for purposes of retarding theft. If you are avoiding being searched, then maybe you are planning to steal. Stealing is an offense for which one assumes to be fired, right?

One of the few times I will agree with Amazon. I imagine a lawyer came up with the suit and approached the plaintiffs and stirred up their angst in hope of getting a sympathetic judge and a huge payday from the EVIL ONLINE RETAIL BEHEMOTH.

Conspiracy nut news

Conspiracy news must be a money maker. Alex Jones and others have websites and podcasts that promote nit-pick arguments against certain issues with full blown malevolent conspiracy origins.

Ed Snowden gave the "Black Helicopter" and "Truther"crowds reason to believe the most irrational rants by Alex Jones. Nothing that was released seemed beyond the stuff shown in Enemy of the State (1998), which was 15 years ago, and three years before the towers went down. Obviously that movie was pure fiction since the towers going down would have been avoided, unless they knew from spying and allowed the attack to occur.

Okay, World Net Daily is a site that seems to have legit news, but a lot of their arguments are based on emotion. I admit the timing and circumstances of the deaths of Seal Team Six is odd but I suspect a coverup of incompetence over their deliberate execution at the hands of President Obama.

Fwd.us

You can't please all the people all the time... Fwd.us has shown that "bipartisanship" is a dirty word to environmentalists and liberal groups.

Bullying your allies is a great sign of being willing to end gridlock with your "foes."

There's simply too many special interest groups that show that co-existing is not in their game plans.

Gun Control pt. II

Just saw this headline: New York Police Confiscating Firearms from People Taking Anti-anxiety Medication

Turns out it's an article on Infowars.com, which is in the realm of "black helicopters" fodder, but goes well with my earlier post regarding guns and PTSD.

550lb Former Convicted Murder Wanted in Shootings of Two Dayton 13 Year Old Girls

I was listening to the radio this afternoon and the news break mentioned a homicide in Dayton. Two teenage girls were shot. One dead and the other is in critical condition. The police were looking for Dameon Wesley, who was described as being 6'3" and 550lbs.

I seriously thought I heard the radio wrong, or the news reader was wrong, so I went to the Dayton Daily News site and sure enough, the dude is HUGE.

The whole article was a head scratcher beyond the fact the police were having a hard time locating the guy. Here are a hand full of things that bother me the most(aside from 6 murders in six days in Dayton and the half-sib of the dead girl was murdered a couple months ago):

1. The guy was paroled in September. He serviced 18 years of a 15 years to life sentence for MURDERING HIS ROOMMATE BY SHOOTING HIM TWICE IN THE HEAD WHILE HAVING HIM IN A HEADLOCK. 
2. Ever see Pulp Fiction? This roommate's name was Marvin, too. Just think of the blood and brains splattered about in PF, and this Marvin was in a headlock.
3. The dude was 19 when he killed his roommate. What was he doing with a handgun then? As a convicted murderer, what was he doing with a gun now?
4. Who would date a 550lb ex-con?
5. Dude weighed 550lbs after being in prison for 18 years. DDN had a story a few weeks back that suggested that the prisoners were being starved to save money.

Just read any article about this incident and you find yourself further bothered by the circumstances which allowed for these girls to be shot.

Winter weight gain

With winter in full swing once again, the familiar retreat indoors is without a second guess as to where to be warm and cozy. Being outside less means more time lounging upon the couch. The treadmill could be used, but I have a job which may make the treadmill seem like sleeping.

In all seriousness, who writes trash filler for those pesky AAA newsletters I get in my email? I mean they appear to have potential for relevant information only to be painfully dull through their redundancy of making common sense realities seem to be the result of deeper contemplation.

Rather than blathering about my mediocre days of productivity every day, I have borrowed thoughts from various articles I have found. Through borrowing, I have infused a floor for my blog's conversation in terms of being approachable and consumed.Winter is a time of weight gain beyond the holidays and the coldness outside. There's more things on TV and the days are shorter. During the summer, there's re-runs and a lack of sports to watch beyond baseball. Winter still has first-run programming and three professional sports seasons in full swing....

Trade-in Versus Private Sale

I get emails from AAA all the time. They're mostly about Disney vacations or other adventure beyond my financial priorities, and I delete them quickly. The other day, I gleaned the message and saw a few items worth noting.  One item was titled: Trade-in Versus Private Sale

We own three cars. When we got the Journey, I figured that the other two cars we had were worth more to us than we could get for them. Obviously, I didn't realize I'd lose my job and essentially have two cars sitting at home regularly, but I still feel as though having three cars makes sense.

First, the older two cars ARE PAID OFF, and have regular maintenance. I trust my mechanic, and I figure using the older cars until they cease to run or cost too much to repair to keep.

How much is too much?  I usually think about the cost of a car payment. If a car's repair will keep it going at a better rate in return of a car payment, then I figure it's worthwhile to get items fixed. Buying new tires is nothing to look short-term. One has to look at the history of the manufacturer's cars' longevity with regards to variable not limited to mileage.

The biggest fear I have for a car, is to have it die on the highway. We have AAA for that very reason.

Another consideration is the price of insuring the car. Insurance is affordable if you carry the minimum coverage allowed by law. It also makes sense on the cars that would yield a value less than the deductible upon being totaled. Why pay for full coverage if you won't get anything if you are in an accident?


Cars don't last forever. I always keep an eye on the classifieds to see what the going price on new and used cars is. I know I will someday need to replace one of our cars, so I like to gauge the market.
 
When the time came to upgrade our vehicle, we will either choose to trade in our current vehicle or selling it on our own. Craig's List makes the latter very worthwhile to ensure a higher resale amount, but the trade-in process is easier since the paperwork gets moved by the dealer and we wouldn't have to fix trivial matters that cause the "check engine" light to stay on.

Irony of the 1st Amendment kind

Just saw an headline somewhere that CBS had a segment titled, "Let's give up on the Constitution." 
I googled, and found that it originated as an Op-Ed that ran in the New York Times on December 30, 2012 by said Professor of Constitutional Law at Georgetown University, Louis Michael Seidman. 

Funny that a guy would seemingly advocate against a document that guarantees his view a chance of being heard. Just a random thought, given I don't care to read too closely aside from his saying Lincoln bent his powers.

Seriously, who goes by three names other than the likes of Mark David Chapman or John Wayne Gacy? And the dude even hints that he believes that Barack Obama really wasn't a natural-born citizen, but differs from birthers for his opinion is that the Constitution is stupid for stating such a person can't be president.

Playboy Market Research

Seems that this blog's only google traffic is from people who received postcards from Playboy regarding a special discount price.

With the internet being what it is, why should anyone bother subscribing to Playboy?

Granted it's not much of a nudie magazine aside from a few pictorials of T & A, but the items I found of interest can be found by following various sources on Twitter.

I think I bought my first issue because it had chapter of Vonnegut's Timequake. I was disappointed, but I found myself reading most of the issue. It was like Reader's Digest with better jokes.

One doesn't need a subscription to Playboy to stumble upon new writers.

Support your public libraries, schools, etc...

Just saw an article updating the process in fixing something that seems to be the root of a lot of budget problems. Seems that bi-partisan support exists to help collection of states' sales tax on web purchases.
Not sure how anyone can argue that it's a tax increase by making enforcement simpler, but that's what the Amazons want to say to help their advantage over brick-n-mortar retailers.

Rodman's Rainbow Obamaburger?

Okay, I am so puzzled by this story that came across my twitter feed about Dennis Rodman meeting his father, Philander Rodman Jr., for the first time in 42 years.

Dennis Rodman was born in 1961. So he was 9 when he last saw his father?

Okay, that's not weird but the fact that the father is named "Philander Rodman, Jr" and has 29 children by 16 mothers is strange considering what philander means.

I'm further puzzled that the elder Rodman operates a restaurant called "Rodman's Rainbow Obamaburger" in the Philippines where he's lived the past five decades.

What the heck is an "Obamaburger" joint doing in northern Angeles City?


It seems that the burgers are dyed various colors associated with Dennis Rodman's hair. Thanks J for sending the link to a better article from across the pond.

Bags are for the embarrassed

The image blocker app I had in mind would make the fugly look like Rockies fans.

Interestingly, those covering their heads when seeing the PITTSBURGH PIRATES take 2 of 3 from the Rockies this week were considered potential threats.

"As a security measure, post-9/11, any clothing which conceals a guest's face is prohibited, including but not limited to, costumes and masks," explained Jay Alves, the Rockies' vice president of communications and public relations. "That would include bags over a guest's head."

Does that mean that they profile those that would wear a burqa to see "America's Pass time" in person?

Where's the ACLU?

Google to help fight Mexican Drug Cartels?

Joel Cohen and Eric Schmidt had an op-ed yesterday in the Washington Post that suggested that technology/clutternet can end the violence in Juarez where denizens who are scared to combat the cartels can snitch via secure communication systems like email.

On the surface, it is pretty much a nothing piece, but it deviates from the meme that Americans' need for illicit drugs is what drives the cartels to administer violence, while the weapons supposedly originate in the US.

Do all Mexicans have smart phones? Schmidt and Cohen suggest that Mexico is a primitive nation where peasants live without electricity, yet cartels use GPS to monitor their shipments.  Why not use their GPS to hone Predator Drones in on them?

Combining the two to end the violence from Mexico is perhaps already in the works. Domestic use of drones is all the rage in the news, about as much as what to do about undocumented persons living within the country.

If all non-citizens living within the country are made citizens via amnesty or DREAM Act, then anyone crossing the border afterward is thus an invader.

Drones are nice since they eliminate profiling based on race. Simply monitor the boundary looking for GPS signals moving north and gun them down once they cross. Drug flow is impeded without border patrol officers or citizens being caught in the fray, and there's less violence in Juarez.

Schmidt and Cohen are brilliant!

What's the point of college football?

The whole Paterno matter at Penn State begs the question, why is college football so sacred?

Covering up CHILD RAPE is accessory to CHILD RAPE, as far as I'm concerned.

Jerry Sandusky is a monster, just based on the accounts that we know occurred, but I would be shocked if there weren't more victims we will never hear mentioned now that the scum is set to rot in prison.

Joe Paterno surely knew something about Jerry Sandusky being a creap back in 1998, as was indicated earlier today. An argument could be made that JoePa didn't think that those relationships were "rape-rape," but only a Penn Stater would make such claim, right?

"Penn State" sounded like a prison moniker to me when I was a kid. Sounded fake. I didn't know what a "nittany lion" was until I googled it moments ago. Sounds fake.

Anyways, the point of all of the covering up of Jerry Sandusky by the legendary College Football Coach was to protect the good name of the program?

It is a state school. What did the cover-up teach us?

It taught us that football is more important than children to some very sick individuals.

Shame on you! They were children, and football is just a game.*

*Games don't matter, for they are merely to pass time without having to deal with the mundane of daily life.

I like football, but I don't say "we" with reference to the teams I follow. My college roommate used to say "we" all the time with regards to John Cooper's Buckeyes. I know about football being sacred for said roommate was the "Crazy Bearded Guy" that added an extra quarter before graduating to be able to get another season of student tickets.

I haven't talked to that roommate since 12/27/03 when we were at the reception of another roommate's wedding here in Dayton. He could be dead, I've not seen him on Facebook or Twitter, hence I mention him here, for the person he knew me as is no more.

Cleveland, land of uninformed

From the Cleveland Plainer Dealer Online:

A myth that President Obama is giving people money to pay their bills has prompted thousands of people across the country to try to pay for utilities, phone service and loans using bogus bank routing numbers.

Amazon makes more news

Financial Times Online has the headline: Amazon ‘robo-pricing’ sparks fears.

Strange article in that it states Amazon affiliates compete with themselves thus drive down their prices. Prices can change ever 15 minutes. Sounds like the opposite of Ebay. Wonder if there are profits being made. Seems to be an interesting development, nonetheless.