Sims 2 Mods

I've found it interesting talk on Modthesims2 about 'creating' patches for Sims 2. While no one SEEMED to have a problem changing 'woohoo' to the F word on screen they DID seem to have a problem with a) teenagers having sex and b) a discussion was had about gays having genetic kids.

I was surprised and a little peeved that gays couldn't mix their genetics to have kids. While I've spent very little time playing the game- part of it was that I wanted the game to be 'just right' to me before playing.

The first thing I wanted was naked skins for the girls. I got that >:) It was about a week or two AFTER the official release that 'atomically correct' females started showing up. In fact I found that some male skins that I had downloaded for 'body hair'- ya know hairy chests- ended up being nice for the girls as well.
It took a while, last week, til I found a 'default nude' that was atomically correct. By default it means that when I start creating a female... she'll automatically have the naughty bits instead of me having to change to another skin. Though to be trueful my 'favorite' nude isn't the default and I don't know if I can change it- but oh well it's good to have different body types.
For the men- while I have hairy bodies- and like that body hair... none of them are truly 'real'... this is because the Sims bodies are 3-d and the shells that EA created are smooth down there. So while people can 'draw' the male naughty bit on the stomach- as if 'at attention'- it doesn't dangle or stick out. Since I'm not into the male body- it doesn't bother me a whole lot.

Then I needed comic and 'adult' slash risque outfits for my girls. This has taken the most time as I look for stuff that's JUST right... that I think is fun looking. I've downloaded over a gig of stuff for my Sims.... different nude skin types, different eyes, different hair, different clothes- for baby, kid, teen, adult and what few elder outfits I can. Oh and FYI I've got a 56K modem so THINK for a moment how long it has taken me not only to find the outfit and stuff I want BUT also download time.

I've got Harley Quinn, the New New Mutants in teen and adult outfits, both Kid Flashes( Wally and Bart), Wolfsbane, Crighton from Farscape, a couple of Legion of Superheroes( in their old 50's outfits) and a few wonder womans.
Sadly for the comic scene... well as mentioned, the skins are 3-d and there's no mod for CAPES, so I have no REAL Superman... Likewise Batman seems to be a problem because of the cape as well as the 'pointy things up top'- the closest they've gotten was to make the ears spockish.
I also thought that it would be AGES til I could get a G'nort. As I liked G'nort in the first one- so he would need ears up top( like bats) and a tail. HOWEVER I realized as I looked at the EA Sims 2 official skin site, that G'nort would be a 'furry', he'd be humanesque but would have fur and would possibly pass that fur down. Ick. So it's not in the cards to have a G'nort this time.
Now that I have a scanner- I intend to TRY and get someone to make Guy, in his one true Lantern outfit and Powergirl( what can I say I'm a sucker for her outfit).

I JUST( while writing this- though I started this post last week before T-day) found a patch that will let gays get kids. I am SOOO happy! I really am. Since I've downloaded a good amount of CUTE women, I've really thought of making a mostly women trampy town... with maybe a few males( like Guy). I wanted male outfits because I figured that while the first generation might be mostly female, they might bred male and I'd want outfits for their kids.
I'm really happy that somebody made this patch. I had thought when I had read that gays couldn't have kids that EA had dropped the ball. I mean if they let you kill your Sims in 'interesting ways', have the people try to stop the Grim Reaper from taking their loved ones, and have the males get abducted AND impregnated by aliens--- the least they could do was let two adult females have kids.

Right now I also have a patch that lets teens 'fool around'- ie have sex. I'm glad they can do that ;-) As it will make them more fun and a tad more 'real'. They can't get pregnant... which people on modthesims debate back and forth about whether that is right or wrong. Personally I don't care. I just like that they can fool around. If they can't have kids themselves, I'm just going to imagine that they live in a world where they are properly taught birth control and no one has kids unless THEY want the kids.

I'm pretty happy. Now that I have a patch so that I can have lesbians have kids- I'll prolly be playing/ messing around with Sims 2 later this week/ weekend. Yes there are prolly PLENTY of outfits that I'd like my sims to be able to wear... but again I've downloaded over of gig of stuff- spending weeks on this game that I've played for maybe 5 hours actually playing it. The tipping point was my desire for adult skins which I have, and for gays to be able to have kids- which I got today, so there's no reason NOT to play...

... except, oh yeah, I need to spend some time looking for a job ;-)

My anger at an ex friend.

There's this guy I know- JP, and I stopped hanging out with him years ago because he's an asshole. Now it took me a while to realize that he was an asshole because I'm used to being a beta wolf. All my family are alpha wolves and big on having THEIR way so I'm used to 'not rocking the boat'( though they will tell you how stubborn I am). So I didn't notice at first that HE'D be the one to decide where we were eating... and I didn't mind SOO much that I'd have to trek out to his place, as I'm a messy person so I preferred to go to him then clean up... though he never offered to help pay my t-fare. He also was a bad host and would force me to play magic with him... something I cared not a whit for. However he was funny and SEEMED to be an easy going person so he hid his assholeness well, and some people thought it was worth it as he was amusing...

I stopped hanging out with him because we were walking and he started hitting me in the arm... He mentioned that someone else did this to him every time they passed a fire station... and how wasn't this JUST the most annoying thing EVER! For some reason, I'm not sure why, I turned to him opened up. I told him the most annoying thing was that my older brother used to beat me up as a kid. That to me was the most annoying. This idiot, rather then being touched that I shared... started hitting my upper arm more- proclaiming he wanted to be more annoying then my brother.

I told him about a 1/2 hour later- that if he didn't stop... I would stop hanging out with him. He made this into a game, suggesting that we meet a few years later on the top of the pru( ala affair to remember)... Since he took it as a joke and since to celebrate MY birthday( yeah he did this annoying behavior on my b'day)we went to a place HE wanted to go, I stopped hanging out with him.

I ran into him a few times over the past few years... Boston is sorta a small town and when you work retail there's always a chance that someone you don't want to see will walk into the store. He contacted me a few months ago, saying he was moving to England to find a job. I saw a movie with him.... but I realized I couldn't SUGGEST a movie, I had to shoot down his ideas till HE came up with a movie I'd like to see... which was fine. We then went to a vegan Chinese restaurant. I don't eat red meat or pork but I would NEVER subject anyone to vegan 'pretend' food. It's one thing to eat a salad or a vegetable soup( like gazpatco) but subject someone to tofu. ick.

Anyway I recently emailed him to ask him how things were in England. He mentioned he couldn't find a job and had moved in with his sister. A week later I emailed him about Invincible- a comic a friend lent me. I loved Invincible and wanted to share my love of this book with all my comic reading friends. He thanked me and told me "my life is hell" he then asked me how my life was.

I told him that I didn't want to talk about my life- that I had no job, no job prospects, that I fear the two years of hard work and money for grad school will count for naught and I'll have to get a shit job, I had to shave my beard for job prospects, and " And bush fucking won. It drives me insane that he won and considers getting 3 million votes more then his opponent to be a MANDATE from insane Christians to do their bidding"

His response has my blood boiling... and reminds me why I don't want to hang out with him. He had the BALLS to try and one up me. I wasn't saying MY problems were worse then his... just explaining part of why my life sucks. JP however used this to point out that since HE'S gay- he has it worse because " being of a minority that the fundies thinkis the reason that everything's wrong with the country" Now I see NO way that he could've used the 'gay card' properly here. I'm Jewish so we've gotten blamed for as much or more then gays, the history of Israel is the history of people beating us up. Yes 11 states voted not to allow gays to marry, but even if he had brought that up- I would've countered by pointing out that I don't have ANY marriage prospects, so it's better to have a loved one and not be able to marry them then not to have anyone at all... This might sound crass of me, but I think HE started the crassness. All of us minorities are in the same boat. THAT'S what I was trying to say... Everyone but insane Christians are fucked. He however wanted to remind me that HE was more fucked then me... So I told him f' off.

3 Billion for a Sub ?!

I read in this month's maxim that the USS Jimmy Carter, a nuk-leker sub cost $3 Billion. And my first thought was- gee couldn't that money have been spent better?

I mean even IF you say that it's important to PROTECT our nation from those EVIL EVIL TERRORISTS... well most of these terrorists are either a) in the desert, where the subs can NOT go no matter how quiet they are or b) sleeper agents in OUR own cities... which we don't want the subs lobbing missiles at.
So if True Majority is correct, the pentagon gets like 400 billion dollars a year- and that's NOT including the added handouts they've been asking for the Iraqi War.

For 400 Billion dollars I think we should be able to get freedom AND security. I mean that's a lot of money. That SHOULD be able to pay for all sorts of wonderful things to protect us.... Like air marshals, airport security, better VA hospitals... and perhaps LEAD bullets instead of that DU crap... Sorry, there I go thinking of the troops instead of my safety.

I just wish there was someone in the white house or senate that would look the pentagon paper pushers or the defense contractors and ask them: Do you really think this is worth it? Would you be willing to promise me/ the American people that THIS sub /jet /tank /aircraft carrier/ other expensive product would save more lives then just giving the troops better CHEAPER equipment( like GOOD flak jackets, which I hear our troops in Iraq are lacking).

Stupid Tax

Ok... Tonight when I was out for a walk, I saw that the lottery was up to $140 million. Now I'm educated enough to know that my chances of winning are soooo small to be insignificant. Many of the people I know consider the lottery and scratch tickets to be 'Stupid Tax' as you're just throwing your money away.

Which I totally agree with. HOWEVER when the lottery gets over 50 million dollars, I often spend $5 for a quick pick. Right now I'm poor so that 5 bucks could've gone to a meal, a comic or two, or other useful stuff. I will sort of miss that 5 bucks

BUT isn't it worth 5 bucks every so often for a teeny tiny chance of something better? I mean granted the 'dream' only lasts a day at most for me, from the time I buy the ticket til I find out I lost.... but I feel for the idea of getting 50 mill( one lump sum, after taxes) is worth it...

I could be wrong. But I don't gamble a whole lot and I know a lot of people who also buy a ticket or two once that prize gets up there. So I might be stupid but I'm not the only one- and I'm not the stupidest as the day I quit I didn't take all the money out of my bank account and buy scratch tickets. ;-)

And who knows- maybe tomorrow when I go to the quickie mart and check the numbers I'll be a millionaire.

My religion...

Ok since the quiz I took a bit ago didn't work- I started this shortly after the quiz but forgot to finish, which is silly as I did most of it right after. I consider myself an agnostic polytheist Jew. I'm not sure if there ARE gods, but I pray to the god of Abraham.

There are many reasons for my beliefs. I'll start with the polytheist part. The Ten Commandments say " I am the lord, thy god. Thou shalt have no other god before me." To *ME* this means that there could be other gods, BUT that they are not equal to OUR god. So the god who wrote the 10 Commandments gets to sit at the head of the 'god table'.

This gets tied into the agnostic part. I would like to believe in a kind, benevolent god. I want a god who's BETTER then me. So like millions of others, I have a hard time reconciling a kind god with the Holocaust. How can a being of infinite power ALLOW such a thing to happen? I mean it angers me when I read about the American appeasers who felt that Hitler wasn't THEIR problem, so how much worse would it be for God to say it wasn't his problem.

Now my father is a Deist, like some of the founding fathers. He believes God= Clockmaker. That God created the universe and then has left the universe to it's own accord. Just watching to see what happens.
This doesn't work for me. As clockmakers still watch the clocks they make... And if the gears start stripping other gears( i.e. genocide) you'd think that the clock maker would stop the clock and try to fix it.

I then revisit the polytheist argument. Well, what if there is more then one god? Maybe then they fight... and bad crap happens because either a bad god(small g) makes it happen or a couple of good gods are fighting and they 'accidently' cause bad stuff. Sorta like in superhero comics where the good guys sometimes fight each other because they don't know better or their beliefs are different.
I think this works. Maybe MY God wouldn't allow it to happen but maybe he couldn't stop it because there were a bunch of other gods against him. He might be the strongest SINGLE god- but combined the others could give him a run for his money.
So I sorta like this idea.

However, again with the agnostic, I'd LIKE to believe that there's a HIGHER power but certain things make me doubt it... and wonder. It's hard to be sure of something that nobody can prove. And if there were many gods, wouldn't ONE of them have left 'real' proof by now?
And which god would be stupid enough to create George W. Bush ;-)

I know I believe in free will. I refuse to say that what I do, I do because GOD WISHES... though I do think there is something to be said for Nature and Nurture. While I can make my own decisions, some of my decision making processes might come from my upbringing and low blood sugar levels...

I AM sure that I'm a Jew. This I am sure of. My mother is Jewish, as was her mother, as was her mother as was her mother as was her mother... for a few thousand of years of mothers.
When I think of Jewish holidays- I think of family. I recently compared notes with my mother, as when Passover comes around I think of her father- my grandfather. You see for Passover, each family performs their own religious service. My grandfather was 'in charge' of the service and conducted it. Even when his memory started failing, he was still good at Passover because it was route and he'd done it for quite awhile. She however, thought of her mother... who slaved away in the kitchen and loved it. I pointed out that I thought of her more for Hannuka, as I remember her making latkas. As my grandmother was old school, she would stay in the kitchen and keep making potato pancakes as we ate them, so they were all fresh, whereas my mother being new school would put the pancakes in the stove and keep them warm that way. The Jewish holidays make me remember my grandmother and my grandfather- and I think that's a good thing for a religion to give you a sense of connection.

I think many of the Jewish laws make sense. Yeah in these days, I think pork can be prepared in such as a manner as to decrease the chances of contamination- but back then eating such an unclean animal sorta of make sense. Likewise I'm happy that it's considered bad form to name a person after a living person, I just feel it's the HEIGHT of egotism to name your kid after you.

I'm also proud that Reformed Jews are one of the two religions that embraced gay marriages. I'm a reformed Jew because a) I'm liberal and b) I think it's more important to BE GOOD, then to follow rules.

So in conclusion- I'm not sure if there's one god or many gods, but I'm sure I'm a Jew. I celebrate the big holidays, even if I don't get down to NYC to celebrate them with my mother. For by celebrating them, I am reminded of my heritage. I think of my Jewishness as my racial heritage... more then the fact that all of my great grandparents ALL come from Russia. I mean I don't think of myself as a Russo-American but I am a Jewish American ;-)

I hope this makes sense as I started the first part days before the second part- and I wrote the second part while sorta tired- because I wanted to finish it.

Fallujah

Current goings on in Fallujah


You know the Nazi soldiers at Nuremberg kept saying they were just following orders, and the world said "No, this is wrong."

In fact I went over the Articles of Nuremberg and Article 6 REALLY caught my attention

The following acts, or any of them, are crimes coming within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal for which there shall be individual responsibility:

(a) Crimes against Peace: namely, planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances, or participation in a Common Plan or Conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the foregoing;
(b) War Crimes: namely, violations of the laws or customs of war. Such violations shall include, but not be limited to, murder, ill-treatment or deportation to slave labor or for any other purpose of civilian population of or in occupied territory, murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of war or persons on the seas, killing of hostages, plunder of public or private property, wanton destruction of cities, towns, or villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity;
(c) Crimes against Humanity: namely, murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population, before or during the war,14 or persecutions on political, racial, or religious grounds in execution of or in connection with any crime within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal, whether or not in violation of domestic law of the country where perpetrated.

Leaders, organizers, instigators, and accomplices participating in the formulation or execution
of a Common Plan or Conspiracy to commit any of the foregoing crimes are responsible for all acts performed by any persons in execution of such plan.

I fear that these apply to the U.S.'s actions in starting and waging the war in Iraq. Now wonder Bush fears the International Criminal Court and won't have the U.S. join it. He fears, rightly so, that the U.N. would then start prosecuting U.S. soldiers for what they're doing in Iraq.

Heck MAYBE Canada can do what the U.S. can't/won't PUT GEORGE W. IN JAIL.

War Movies are UNAMERICAN!

I just was speechless when I read about this. Granted it happened last Thursday but I didn't read about it till today in USAtoday...

66 stations refused to show Private Ryan for fear that they'd get in trouble with the FCC for the level of profanity.

FUCK!

And the article went on to mention that Randy Sharp of the American Family Association has INSTRUCTED his followers to file complaints about PRIVATE RYAN- and how indecent Private Ryan is.


Private Ryan... WTF?!?!? What's the deal there? Does cussing make you LESS American?>


Then a friend of mine reminded me about the PROBLEMS with Schindler's List. See as a Jew I didn't know that it was un-Christian. What with watching the deaths of hordes of JEWS, I forgot that there were nekkid people- thank goodness a Christian reviewer has set me straight. The reviewer mentions there is FAR too much nudity, and gives it a moral rating of "VERY OFFENSIVE'.
Now I will admit that neither Private Ryan and Schindler's List are KID movies. I wouldn't suggest that Evan's kids are old enough to see them, BUT I do think that both are good and sorta IMPORTANT movies. There are many other movies I own and like to see that I would not consider to be kiddie fare( like the Godfather, Bound, and Army of Darkness), so I'm not going to show them to kids.

I can understand if someone doesn't want to see a movie, they can TURN THE CHANNEL, and if they don't want their child to see something they can TURN THE CHANNEL.


I really don't like that we live in an America, where if you don't like a show- you boycott it's sponser.
Maybe WE can start a boycott of Bill O'Riely's sponsers. I mean if they get rid of Desperate Housewives, Billy's gotta go as well.

Wedding Bells North V. South

I was just watching the news, flipping channels and I heard an interesting FACT, Ma. has a LOWER divorce rate then southern bible belt states.
LET me repeat that.
The 'red states' are worried because Massachusetts has allowed GAY marriages, and this will somehow WEAKEN the holy sacity of marriage, HOWEVER there is a higher divorce rate in Alabama- a 'red state' that's against gay marriage.

So what's their excuse for getting divorced?

Now I realized that the first site I found was a Boston paper so I went to try and find other sites. One of the ones I found was THIS, I thought it was rather funny. Basically the Mormons have also noted that the divorce rate- oddly seems HIGHER in the southern states, which claim to be more religious. So the Church of Latter Day Saints tries to point out that THEIR state has the lowest divorce rate, if you don't count the Northeast States- which I do ;-)
Two old sites cites that Ma. has had the lowest rate in 1994 and 1998. In fact in both of those years Ma. has a rate of 2.4 compared to Texas' 5.4. And it amazes me that Utah has a higher rate then Ca.

Troubled by Quiz

Ok... I was downloading MORE Sims 2 stuff( more later next week about that) and I decided to take a quiz... I looked at the ones I hadn't taken and I ran into 'what religion best suits you', now as I mentioned earlier today I took philosophy for a year or two so I took this test.

I was very disappointed. See on Zenhex after you take a quiz they tell you how you scored on each possible category and for what religion are you - here's the categories:

All of the possible quiz results for this quiz:

* Fundamentalist Christian
* Holy Roller
* Average Christian
* True Christian
* Modern Satanist
* Theistic/Traditional Satanist
* Luciferian
* Devil Worshipper
* Atheist
* Agnostic
* New Aged/Wiccan
* Pagan/Occultist
* Discordian
* Category Unknown


Now I felt WHILE I was taken this quiz that it was unbalanced with FAR too many answers mentioned SATAN and how he could be your lord and master. When I think of 'religion' well 1) I think of Satanism is the flipside of Christianity. You can't have Satan without Jesus and 2) that there are at LEAST a 5 major religions( Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism to name the big guns) and dozens of minor beliefs...

So I was a little taken aback by the fact that there was nothing I could answer to say JEW! But apparently had I answered a certain way I could be Wiccan, and in fact my score for wiccan was 1- as was my score for Average Christian AND True Christian. Ick.
My two scores were for Category Unknown( no duh!) and atheist( I guess because I don't really believe in creationism or Satan).

I scored the best as Agnostic... Which while I think is sort of near where I am- It just peeved me that quiz didn't take into account MY religion(Judaism) putting more of an emphasis on Satanism.

Take the quiz: "WHAT RELIGION BESTS SUITS YOU?"

Agnostic
You've probably studied loads of different religions, but you're just not sure if any of it is true. Evolution makes some sense to you, but it doesn't satisfy you. Lastly, your personality is one of question, but you won't go out of your way to find -The Truth- It's more of a hobby

Imagine this in your home town...

I was with my folks this week, sad but true, and I was reading about Fallujah and the military offensive there.

I looked up from my paper and I asked my mom if she could imagine the military taking over the place where she had her 'country home'. You see we were in New York City and I felt a better comparison of Fallujah was the small town of Ivorton, Conn. where she and my step dad have a home. I actually think that Fallujah would be somewhere in the middle, but nearer to Ivorton... BUT what I really was trying to do was picture this military action.

I know we are seeing pictures on TV of the military, but I wanted to try and UNDERSTAND what it would be like to be in a town and have an army attack the block by block- destroying buildings and getting to people.

I asked my mom if she could picture it, because I thought if she could- maybe she could help me understand it. I felt that we both were against the war but there's a difference between being against something and properly understanding it.

And even though she was against the war- she tried to tell me that it was somehow DIFFERENT because Fallujah was over run by terrorists. Now I read comics and watch cartoons so I've seen drawing of 'evil bases' but I really could not wrap my mind around the idea of a whole REAL town of evil people with a Taliban dentist and an Al-quida 'soccer' mom driving her kids to 'suicide bombing practice'.
Just like I can't picture all of the people on the Death Star to have earned their death( evil plumbers?), I can't imagine a terrorist town.

Fallujah was a town filled with people. Yes there might have been a lot of terrorists there, but imagine if the cops went block by block in NYC looking for crooks. I mean I figure out of the millions of people- thousands have got to have committed SOME crime.

How did all the 'innocent' people get out of Fallujah? And does our army know or care if the woman they shoot down is a member of Taliban, or just a mom looking for her kid.

I think that Saddam was evil- but I've already posted the link here pointing out over 14,000 innocent bystander Iraqis have died. Innocent people dead. With a verified number like that- how can we believe our military that Fallujah is filled with EVIL people who are asking for it...

I can't picture what the U.S. Army is doing in Iraq- because they're doing horrible stuff in the name of... what?
I don't think I'm safer for the Army destroying a town in Iraq... And I don't think the Iraqis are going to like us any more for destroying a small town.

Carz... I's hates me Carz

My name is Drew Harris and I have an irrational fear of cars....

OR at least that's what OTHERS think. I personally think that my fear of cars is quite rational and sane and built on 'life lessons'... However I can live with people saying that my fear is irrational, so long as they understand that cars are scary to me.

I say this because I had a talk with my father recently and he explained to me that I would have an easier time finding a job IF I knew how to drive. I told this to a friend, Adam, getting peeved that my father didn't understand my fear/dislike of cars. My friend pointed out that my father was right, i.e. there is freedom to driving. I responded, that I had been in 3 car accidents. He retorted that he felt BEING the driver made him feel in control, but that he could 'understand' if I said that I had an 'irrational fear'. I thought about this for a sec and was like ok, put me down for irrational fear.

HOWEVER just to go over the reasons I'm scared of cars- the 3 accidents + 1.

-1, four wheeled vesicle of DOOM. Many people have had little red wagons... more people know what they are. I had a little red wagon, a hill a block away from my home with the little red wagon and an older brother who dared me to do stupid stuff. In this case it wasn't SO stupid but the results were bad.

I grew up in NYC, so the 'hill' in question was in Riverside Park. It was at the entrance of the park. Imagine an J shaped path in 3d... the top is higher and it loops down instead of going down straight. Now this being NYC, the path is made of asphalt. Got the path in your mind? Now add a fence on both sides. The fence is anchored at key points by putting the steel into concrete bases in the ground( to stabilize it). Ok got that... NOW erase the fence. The fence is gone however you are left with the concrete bases, which have steel spikes sticking out- the remains of the fence. Add to this a little red wagon, which has shit for steering controls and a little kid that has shit for reflexes. See my brother has good reflexes, so he was able to steer the wagon down this simple path, so I thought I could and he egged me on.
I went down the hill and hit one of the concrete bases. I was young and therefore immortal. I went 'ouch!', got up and brushed myself off. I didn't want to do it again but thought 'ok. that was stupid. I need my brother to steer.' My brother however went somewhat ashen... He looks at me and said 'time to go home!' I shrug. I didn't know why he wanted to go home so bad, but he was the older brother so we went. We go home and I remember, better then most of my childhood memories, my step mother ( dad's second wife) going apeshit. She is normally a very reserved person but she gets down on her knees to be at my level and starts asking what happened? How do I feel??!! I'm like Ok, I guess. I have no idea what's going on but figure something bad. She drags me to the bathroom, where I find out that I'm bleeding on my forehead. I was like- thanks Jon( my brother) in an ironic tone. We go to the doctor. He's worried that it could be a concussion, so in one of those baffling science thing they want you to stay up even though you want to sleep

Accident 1- Bike V. Car. This happened when I was about 14-16, I'm pretty sure I was in Jr. High or starting High School. I had taken to biking to school. It was a pretty simple route and about a mile or so. I had gotten to a T intersection. I was going straight but a car next me was getting ready to turn right. I was on the right of the vehicle. TOTALLY obeying traffic laws, I was riding WITH traffic between the parked cars and the first lane of moving cars. I waited for the light like the guy. Since he had already started turning his car, I decided I'd turn AROUND him, doing like a 1/2 circle so I could continue to the next street and he could make his turn. I figured I had right of way... so I did this.
I don't remember being hit- I just remember waking up on the other side of the intersection. The bike she was total. I hurt but still had my cloak of childhood immortality around me, I walked home and then said I felt ok enough to go to school. At school I realized that I could've gotten away with a day off- so said I wasn't feeling well even though I felt ok( save for losing the bike).

Accident 2- Porshe V. Pole. Ok this is the BIG one. This is the one that made me go "oh, shit! I'm not immortal, am I????" I was 18,freshman year of college. My older brother had given me a couple of driving lessons but I wasn't really into driving. I justified it as--- in NYC, a car is a luxury item and didn't NEED to learn to drive. Maybe if the accident hadn't have happened, I'd've learnt to drive by graduation.
Anyway my mom was visiting me and she was staying with a cousin of hers who lived in Eastern Mass. He has a nice nifty porshe which he wanted to show off. I'm in the passenger seat, his teenage daugher and her friend are in what he calls the 'backseat' . We're traveling on back roads.... It MIGHT"VE been paved but it definitely was a one lane road. Anyway, I don't remember the accident. One minute we're driving along at at least 70mph... and the next, I'm in the hospital and my mom, dad and step dad at the hospital. I remember bits of the weekend. The accident happened on Friday, I was released on Sunday night( in the care of my mom's cousins) and remember a few hours of it.
I'm told that the cousin saw an animal on the road( not sure if it was like a deer or a raccoon), he swerved out of the way and into an oncoming telephone pole. I got it the worst. He and his daughter was fine. Me I was lucky to be wearing my safety belt( didn't always do it back then). My head went through the side window. They told me they TRIED to get all of the glass out- but wasn't sure and felt that I could live with a little glass.

Now, I know there might be drunks out there, but this was the first time I had ZERO sense of balance. I'm clumsy but usually know up from down... not so much after the hospital. I remember a real problem with the stairs in my mom's cousin's place.

So after this I realize I could've died in the crash which means I'm MORTAL. Wow I mean a couple of people I knew( including my grandma) had died but I believed as only kids believe that I was immortal till this accident. I also realized, Hey... If *I* had been driving- not only can I kill myself by making a mistake- BUT I could kill a passenger or pedestrian. This made me major in philosophy for two years trying to find the point of things.
But man, I didn't want to drive. I have crappy reflexes and my attention span is... Hey what's that over there on my desk ;-)

I made sure I buckled ALL the time after that... even looked for buckles in cabs. I also remember and tell with glee, I was at a friend's house that holiday break. I scratched my head and felt a piece of glass, so I started scratching it more and trying to work the glass out. So I'm sitting there watching TV, and I pulled a piece of bloody glass from my head. Freaked out my friend and his mom.

Accident 3- Old people shouldn't be allowed to drive.
This was stupid of me. Basically I was visiting my grandfather- who was in his 80's at this point. I was at his place due to the Jewish new year. His wife( he remarried after my grandmother died) decided that he was taking too long to get ready, so she drove to the temple herself and left my grandfather to get ready. I stayed with my grandpa cause... well he was my grandpa. I also was under TWO misconception- 1) that if he had a driver's license that he could drive and 2) that if his wife thought that he could drive... He could drive.
He got into a minor fender bender, nothing as bad as the first or second car accidents I had HOWEVER there was a bit of panic on my part. See as he was 80+ the police thought it best for him to go to the hospital. Which was the entirely right thing to do HOWEVER, I didn't have a) a cell phone or b) his home phone number. At the hospital, I called the temple- as I remembered it's name and told them what happened.

I suffered NO damage from accident #3 but it made me realize that there are people like my grandfather on the road- so when/ if I drove, I'd not only have to fear my own lack of attention and reflexes but OTHER PEOPLE'S PROBLEMS.

This led to what I thought was an odd argument with my father about driving RIGHTS. My grandfather's reflexes were shot and I realized, after the accident, that he was blind in one eye. I felt it was in the interest of my grandfather AND THE PUBLIC to keep him off the roads. My dad argued, almost as if he saw his own license in jeopardy, that there was a certain FREEDOM to be had from being able to drive.
I didn't like this argument as 1) I don't have a driver's license but still feel pretty free' and 2) My dad drives an SUV. If my grandfather hit my dad's car with his Pontiac, my dad would be little worse for the wear. I felt that perhaps if my grandfather was driving an SUV and my younger brother a porshe my father's views might be different.

So yes, maybe if I could drive I'd have a bit more freedom- but IN my mind I feel I'm safer by not driving. I also factor into the driving equation, not only are there people on the road who SHOULDN'T be( I've cringed a couple of times while watching Motormouth that people take their hands off the wheel), but financial reasons.

See IF I knew how to drive... I'd want a car, and a car- to me a non driver is a money pit. It seems you need something like $200-500 in your bank account 'just in case' if you owned a car.

So I have a dislike slash fear slash irrational fear of cars. I can live with it, even if my father feels my quality of life is diminished because of my inability to sit behind the wheel of a couple of tons of steel that can go 60 mph.

Your Rights.... currently

I was cleaning my wallet today of all the receipts in it( I do this from time to time) and I was reminded I have in my wallet- Know your Rights. This list was published in High Times after United States V. Drayton where the Supreme Court ruled that the police didn't HAVE to inform you of your 4th amendment rights. Which is to say if the police ASK to look in your bag, and you let them... The court says you are waiving your 4th amendment rights, even if you didn't know that you could refuse them.

So here's the list. I would advise everyone to print a wallet friendly version and carry it with you. I know that with the patriot Act and 'the war on terror', the police have asked us to forget these rights... but as of 11/04 we still have them.

To all Government Agents and Officers:

* I hereby invoke and refuse to waive all of the following rights and privileges afforded to me by the U.S. Constitution.

* I invoke and refuse to waive my Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. Do not ask me any questions.

* I invoke and refuse to waive my Sixth Amendment right to an attorney of my choice. Do not ask me any questions without my attorney present.

* I invoke and refuse to waive all priviledges and rights pursuant to the case Miranda V. Arizona. Do not ask me any questions or make any comment to me about this decision.

* I invoke and refuse to waive my Fourth Amendment right to be free from searches and seizures of myself or of any residence, property or vehicle. Do not ask me about my ownership interest in any property. I do not consent to this contact. If I am not presently under arrest or under investigatory detention, advise me of my freedom to discontinue contact with you and leave me alone.

I post this list because during the DNC convention here in Boston, there were 'random bag checks' on the train system. You were asked to bring smaller bags that week AND I know at one stop on the Orange line, they checked EVERYONE'S bag. Now you did have a choice to show or not show your bag- but if you didn't show it, you had to get off the train( never mind that you paid your money). I have often heard that they PLAN to bring this back as WE here in Boston were oh so safe during the convention, and SOOO many acts of terrorism have taken place here since.

Lest we forget

I've been talking since tuesday about how the election has/will affect the U.S..... However this election wasn't just about us AMERICANS at home, but the unjust war we are fighting in Iraq. I've already mentioned Camp X-Ray here and if/when the war drums start talking about Iran or Syria- I'll try to talk about them as well.

People looked up at the sky, taking in the sun on a crisp fall day. They streamed in and out of the Disney store. They lived their lives. I lived mine. Half a world away, meanwhile, AC-130 planes and tanks bought by American citizens and dispatched on the orders of criminal goons busily declaring themselves a mandate dropped bombs and shot shells into a city called Fallujah. "Marine Expeditionary Forces will continue to conduct operations and will not cease until Fallujah is free of foreign terrorists and insurgents," read an official military statement. Issam Mohammad, spokesman for the Fallujah hospital, said that a woman was "badly wounded." A young girl lost her leg.

Quote taken from Ted Rall's weekly column.

Diebold is Republican

First a link that came out IN MARCH, explaining that Ohio would be this year's 'Florida' because of their Diebold Machines and lack of paper trail. Then what follows is a quote from Common Dreams.

COLUMBUS - The head of a company vying to sell voting machines in Ohio told Republicans in a recent fund-raising letter that he is "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."

The Aug. 14 letter from Walden O'Dell, chief executive of Diebold Inc. - who has become active in the re-election effort of President Bush - prompted Democrats this week to question the propriety of allowing O'Dell's company to calculate votes in the 2004 presidential election.

O'Dell attended a strategy pow-wow with wealthy Bush benefactors - known as Rangers and Pioneers - at the president's Crawford, Texas, ranch earlier this month. The next week, he penned invitations to a $1,000-a-plate fund-raiser to benefit the Ohio Republican Party's federal campaign fund - partially benefiting Bush - at his mansion in the Columbus suburb of Upper Arlington.

The letter went out the day before Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, also a Republican, was set to qualify Diebold as one of three firms eligible to sell upgraded electronic voting machines to Ohio counties in time for the 2004 election.

Blackwell's announcement is still in limbo because of a court challenge over the fairness of the selection process by a disqualified bidder, Sequoia Voting Systems.

In his invitation letter, O'Dell asked guests to consider donating or raising up to $10,000 each for the federal account that the state GOP will use to help Bush and other federal candidates - money that legislative Democratic leaders charged could come back to benefit Blackwell.

They urged Blackwell to remove Diebold from the field of voting-machine companies eligible to sell to Ohio counties.

This is the second such request in as many months. State Sen. Jeff Jacobson, a Dayton-area Republican, asked Blackwell in July to disqualify Diebold after security concerns arose over its equipment.

"Ordinary Ohioans may infer that Blackwell's office is looking past Diebold's security issues because its CEO is seeking $10,000 donations for Blackwell's party - donations that could be made with statewide elected officials right there in the same room," said Senate Democratic Leader Greg DiDonato.

And another article from 2003 about problems in the 2002 elections using computers that leave NO PAPER TRAIL

Another site that MIGHT be worth watching in the coming week/months/ arround the 2006 mid term elections is Black Box Voting.

Voting Errors... Again

I'm sorry but part of me HAS to throw salt on the wound. If I know this stuff, so must YOU!

Go here to see the wonders of computer voting in 2004. Here to revisit the hanging chads.

Now me, I still blame the people who voted for W. of their OWN free will more then I blame W. for his dirty tricks. Because W. wouldn't have gotten away with it without those STUPID STUPID people in the south. But this also makes me sad that Kerry caved...

Sigh. It doesn't matter... Kerry kaved and we have Bushco for 4 more years or till the Rapture, whichever comes first.

Dividing the Nation

(excuse me but Evan suggested i cross post my political blogs putting them here and on Good Mourning in America. I should point out that times might be way off as I'm on EST and Mourning is on PST)

I want to split the union asunder... as the south did during the civil war. I think we in the North have given them FAR too much and it's time to take back what's ours.

I would prefer saying to the south- you keep saying the south shall rise again... well we give up. You can have the Confederacy(CSA) WITH W. at it's head... and we'll be the USA. We just want a land bridge from east to west for our trains and hybrid cars.

failing that I want the BLUE states to join Canada. Now I want to explain I don't mean I want to pay movers to bring my comics and toys to Canada... I'm a lazy ass, I want the STATE OF MA. to join Canada. I had to explain this to my r/l friend as he pointed out that there are ALOT of Americans who are thinking of moving to Canada, and I'm like I don't want to move to Canada- I want Canada to move to us.

I think the blue states have a good bit to offer Canada and they have ALOT to offer us. We've got Hollywood, good bio tech industries( which will be quashed if we don't move), Broadway, and host of cool other things... INCLUDING a nice warm place to vacation. You see Hawaii is a blue state, so if you added it to Canada there would finally be a place in Canada with year long weather ABOVE 70 degrees....
I realize that we'll have to get used to a few new things- like Celsius vs. Fahrenheit and learn the metric system- but that's a SMALL price to pay for a sane leader, no jail time for 'small portions' of pot, gay marriages and 'social medicine'. Heck as we've learnt from this year's election cycle drugs are cheaper in Canada.

And I've been informed by my Canadian friend that they have FOOTBALL, so that we don't have to give up our love of sports. ;-) Which reminds me that's another reason for Canada to let us in- Two of the orginal Hockey teams would then be playing in Canada( Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers)

I shaved the other day

I grew a beard around last x-mas. I loved my beard. I had originally grown it so that my mom would complain about IT instead of my weight. See I'm over weight and the ONLY over weight member of my family so I get a lot of flack for it. I also know that my mom prefers me clean shaven so I figured MAYBE her dislike of the beard would trump her whining about my weight.

I grew to like the beard as I grew it. I preferred it long and sort of unkempt. I did however get it trimmed before job interviews and seeing my family

HOWEVER after the election, I realized that the job market is about to get MUCH harder for me. Thus I have to appear neat looking and clean shaven looks 'more proper' then a beard.

So on Wednesday, I faced the truth about my unemployment... I took out a pair sissors and I cut my beard and then dulled two razor blades making my face clean shaven again.

I haven't been able to sleep well the past couple of nights... tossing and turning and I can't help but think PART of it is for the first time in about a year I feel the pillow next to my cheek.

I hate the fact that I have to 'look' a certain way to get a job. But right now, and prolly for the next decade or so, the employers hold ALL the cards

Proper Blessing for Bush ?

I watched Fiddler on the Roof yesterday... I prolly shouldn't've because it's sort of a depressing movie. While it's one of the MOST Jewish movies out there, and has a couple of good songs, the undercurrent is that our hero Tevya has to face a 'changing' world as he tries to help his daughters find happiness which means actually BREAKING with tradition, and must also deal with Russian Cossacks, who live at the fringe of the village and act as an unwanted police force.
I could not bring myself to watch the end, where the Cossacks force the whole village to move... just because the Czar wants them moved. HOWEVER the real reason I put it in was a line at the beginning, which I prolly should've stopped the dvd after seeing.

A bunch of Jews ask their Rabbi "Is their a proper blessing for the Czar?" Now as I said, under the Czar Jews were terribly oppressed, so they are sort of asking 'is there a blessing for our enemy?'

To which the Rabbi says " Yes, may god bless and keep the Czar.... FAR AWAY FROM US"

(W)orse the Nixon?

I got an email today from my dad, he told me that he'd lived through worse- that he'd lived thru Nixon.

I wanted to bitch slap my father. I pointed out:
1- from what I've read W. is MUCH more secretive then Nixon. I mean we don't know who was on Cheney's Energy commission
2- Nixon had us in only ONE war, W. is 2 and counting. I spoke to friends and it wasn't IF W. was going to attack another country but WHICH ONE? ( We currently think Syria or Iran, or both)
3- Diebold Machines. Hence the non recount in Ohio. Expect them to be in EVERY 'swing state' come 2008.
4- Checks and balances. I'm not sure but did Nixon have both the legislative branch AND judiciary under his control? Rehnquist, is not long for the world. So look for Scalia or Thomas to be chief Justice and look for another Thomas or Bork type person to replace 2 or more justices in the next 4 years


I should've mentioned, but forgot to, Camp X-ray and the whole job loss thing( the country's not mine).

So if anyone agrees with my DAD, or me, please let me know. I'm not best at history, but I *KNOW* that W. isn't going to get impeached for any of his crimes against the U.S. or humanity

.... And in 10 years, we'll all be working at Wal*Mart.

The country is falling....

God...

I went to talk to my game store friend at about 11:30am. I wanted to hear the Al Franken show and talk to my friend about the fact that Keyes got 10% of the vote and a republican WHO REFUSED TO DEBATE HIS OPPONENT won. We listened to Al Franken mention that Kerry lost... and I told my friend to turn it off.

My friend then went on for 5 min. about what this MEANS. I held up my hand and asked if the democrats still had enough votes in the senate for a filibuster. He said no... I shook my head and sighed... pointing how I was unemployed and my chance of a semi decent employment just went out the window... He reminded me that I have a 'part time job' at the game store. I responded that 10 hours a week isn't really part time.

God. I've got to eat. Perhaps later I'll list how MUCH I think the U.S. is boned. My top five RIGHT THIS minute are
1) More conservative judges
2) More wars
3) worse working conditions
4) blending of church and state
5) gay rights out the window, as well as basic human rights of anyone who can't afford a EXPENSIVE lawyer.

Down to the wire....

Ok we all voted and we still don't know who the president is... 'cept for W. who's convinced that he won re-election-

President Bush is convinced he has won re-election, but will hold off a formal victory declaration to give Democrat John Kerry "time to reflect"

What a sore winner. Seriously though I'm unhappy that Kerry didn't win in a CAKE WALK... IN MY MIND Kerry hasn't lost yet. I thought of not allowing comments to this, because I don't want to hear from any Bush Backers say 'netter, netter- Bush Won!" but then I thought there might be Kerry supporters who want to share how much today is gonna be a nail biter. I know I'm not gonna be able to REALLY relax till we have Kerry in the white house.

Viva La Revolution!

Al Franken's Voting Song

Was at the Al Franken broadcast today( live in Cambridge, Ma.) and he sang a song... which I'm gonna share with you.

As I had to explain to a freind- I will explain to my reader(s?) that the nugget of thought behind this is that lines are gonna be long today but you HAVE to stay and have your vote counted.

Lyrics

Bring a book, Bring a Book, when you go to vote
You might be in line all day
You might as well make the most of it
and read the time away

You can memorize the dictonary
As you wait to vote for Kerry
Or if yer votin' for the guy who don't read
God help us where that line might lead

Reading's educational
Reading can be fun
You could look through the Hubble telescope
and not see where the line's begun

Bring a book, Bring a book, when you go to vote
Oh lordy, it's a long long line
You can read everything by Steven King
When you're done with his, read mine

Read how to shape
your tummy
And how to vote
for dummies

Cause if yer votin' for that texas dummy
the line has prob'ly passed you by

You can read the whole works of Shakespeare
in a snap they'll be completed
Believe me, in the Florida polls
you'll have plenty of time to read it

You can read all of world hist'ry
as told by the Durants
You can read all of Dostoyevsky
and Captain Underpants

You can read all the yellow pages
as well as the white ones
not only you can read a book
heck, you got time to write one

Bring a book when you vote in Ohio too
Like the bio of John Glenn
And after you've finished my last book
you can read the first one again

Those endless lines aren't as long as they look
as long as you bring a book

Killing Time... taking silly quizzes

Well I'm downloading MORE sim stuff... I've spent like over 48 hours downloading skins and less then 3 hours playing. Like the 1st game I kept downloading til I felt I had 'enough'/ just the right sims for the game. Right now I have an idea for two families to create... but...BUT.. I'm afraid I'm missing the 'perfect' sim. Odds are I'll actually start playing the game next week.
Besides it's not like I'm spending ALL my time looking for a job ;-) I've been play Leisure Suit Larry and Mortal Kombat( and got sim skins that look like characters from both games ;-) )

I am an Asteroid. I am a drifter. I go where life leads, which makes me usually a very calm and content sort of person. That or thoroughly apathetic. Usually I keep on doing whatever I'm doing, and it takes something special to make me change my mind. What Video Game Character Are You?

Take the quiz: "Which Daria character are you?"

Daria
You're Daria, the title character! You're the poster child for sarcasm. Although quite intelligent, you have a hidden vulnerability from feeling so different.
Although I will admit I sorta AIMED at being Daria. Sue me. I want to be the main character 8-)

Take the quiz: "What SuPeR HeRo Would You Be?"

Spiderman
You are a little on the geeky side, but you love saving that special someone, you jump from rooftop to windows trying to save the people of your town!

And here's the fun part-
Take the quiz: "Which SuperVillian are you?"

Green Goblin
You are a disturbed scientist with an extreme dark-side, way to go!

So even though I'm don't read alot of Spidey- I'm a spidy sorta hero/villian


And even though I've only seen about 1/2 of this episode
Take the quiz: "what song from the buffy musical r u?"

Going through the motions
Your just like Buffy. Ur bored and need direction hang in there and you'll be fine.

Take the quiz: "Which Myth Adventures character are you?"

Skeeve
You are Skeeve the Great! You are able to achieve greatness if guided in the right direction and if you have the right resources. You may be a Klahd, but you're no dumb ass! Definetly the nice guy who stands up for the little guy.

Camp X-Ray

Before going to bed last night- I wondered which I should blog today- the many failing grades I feel W. deserves or just talk about Camp X-Ray. You see to me there are many 'fail points' for George W. Bush, wherein if George had done JUST ONE, I would feel compelled to vote against him but one of the biggies is Camp X-Ray.

Since Camp X-Ray wasn't mentioned in any of the debates and indeed hasn't been talked about NEARLY enough for my sensibilities... I'm going to try and talk about it today.

Basically after INVADING Afghanistan, because you know they ATTACKED US, Rummy and the army ended up with a lot of prisoner type people. However, Rumsfeld et al., did NOT want to treat these people as WAR prisoners. For even though the PRESIDENT had declared this to be 'A war against terror', they didn't want to give the TERRORIST actual HUMAN RIGHTS.

So the U.S. Military ends up with a lot of people they wish to 'question' and detain, BUT they don't wish to give these people HUMAN RIGHTS and call them 'enemy combantants' so they can't set up a POW camp in Afghanistan. See, Afghanistan after our invasion MIGHT be considered part of U.S. jurisdiction( as our army is in charge of it), so they decide to set up Camp X-Ray.

Camp X-Ray is considered to be OUTSIDE the U.S. Guantanamo Bay, where Camp X-Ray is, is LEASED from Cuba and U.S. Courts BEFORE 9/11 ruled that people held at Guantanamo Bay did not have legal recourse within the U.S. So these people don't have any LEGAL protection. Which means that the U.S. is allowed to torture people. You see the Geneva Convention( which followed the Hague Convention of 1907) mentions that there are certain ways to treat POWs. So even though the Germans in WWII were treating the Jews worse then you'd treat a dog. That's why there's a difference between Stalag 17 and Schindler's List- is that even the Nazis realized there were protocols to treating ENEMY combatants. Like no torture AND basic 5th amendment type rights( not being forced to admit to any wrongdoing.) Rummy and company say they NEED information from these people and the only language they understand is TORTURE.

Heck in January the Supreme Court ruled that the Army doesn't even have to revel the NAMES of people held at Guantanamo Bay. The Supreme Court has ruled since then in June that the prisoners, after 2 years of the creation of Camp X-Ray, could in fact use the U.S. legal system to LEGALLY challenge their imprisonment.

Think about that, the U.S. under President Bush, invaded a country, took a bunch of people who lived there and shipped them to another country, whereupon people in the U.S. military tortured them and treated them in SUCH a cruel manner that had this taken place within the U.S., the jailers would be on trial. This is the type of thing that takes place in the U.S.

More info can be found HERE, HERE and a personal account of one of captives the can be found HERE.