Pilot's Log

Sagittarius Horoscope for week of June 20, 2013

Astronauts on lunar expeditions have orbited the moon and seen its entire surface. But the rest of us have never seen more than 59 percent of it. As the moon revolves around the Earth, it always keeps one side turned away from our view. Isn't that amazing and eerie? The second most important heavenly body, which is such a constant and intimate factor in our lives, is half-hidden. I'd like to propose that there is an analogous phenomenon in your inner world, Sagittarius: a part of you that forever conceals some of its true nature. But I'm pretty sure you will soon be offered an unprecedented chance to explore that mysterious realm.

I can't conceive of any part of my persona--public or otherwise--that has any real mystery to it. *shrug* Perhaps I can't see it myself.

"Anyone can be nice (...) there's much more to life than that, there's the other side. Some call it the darker side; I don't think so. I think it's more fun that that."--John "Johnny Rotten" Lydon of the Sex Pistols

*Wonders whether to put on the Lazarus Long hat or the George Carlin hat...*

Okay. Let's see...

Capitalism is based on the premise that work has value but the worker doesn't. Well, that's fine if you're rich or powerful, but not so good for the masses.

Communism is based on the premise that the worker has value but work doesn't. That seemed fine for the masses at the time it started, but soon enough only the powerful benefited from it, which is why it's only happening in the most fanatical nations now.

Socialism is based on the premise that to give both work and the worker value the State needs to be in control of industry. But which industries? Only the big ones? Only the ones in which the State is the main customer?

I took two semesters of Economics in College and I don't feel any closer to understanding it than I did as a child. Too much of it is aimed at making the individual (or the company owned by individuals) rich, and too little of it is aimed at making a society's standard of living better. And too much of Politics is about making the individual (or political party) powerful than addressing the real needs of a nation's populace.

No wonder things are in a perpetual mess. Enjoy your day off. If you have a job to go back to this week, that is.

My IMDB.com Reviews so far.

Want me to write more of these? Comment here and tell me what works of TV or film about which I should share opinions with the world. Things that you think I know more about than the average bear.

...Be glad I'm not writing a long diatribe of distorted paranoia and politics.

I'm on nobody's side.

Which now makes me everybody's enemy.

I know that sounds paranoid, but the facts are what they are.

*) We still don't have water to the bathtub after the pipes froze Tuesday night and cracked open yesterday...

*) Dad got a call from a bill collector trying to reach the previous owner of his cell phone's number...

*) I'm trying to get back into the mood to write or build models again. Else I'm going shopping in Sevier County.

[Error: unknown template qotd]

Mobile phone, definitely. Because my mobile phone is a useless piece of technotrash that I don't know how to use, have never actually wanted, and nobody calls on it who wants to talk to me.

A couple years ago, a friend pointed me to Joost, because they host fansub anime programs that we both like. Unfortunately for me, I don't have the bandwidth to actually watch programming on Joost yet, so while I have an account, I haven't done diddly with it.

Sometime earlier this year, when updating my Like list on Facebook, I thought, why not include Joost so I could see what they're doing with their site, and perhaps learn more about how to use it?

Bad Idea.

Just looking over the current month of Wall entries makes me think that Joost ONLY wants the Lowest Common Denominator as their user base. Shillage related to Fashion Week, Dinner For Schmucks, Eat Pray Love, Glee, Jersey Shore (whatever THAT is), Justin Bieber, Paris Hilton--everything in pop culture that is 180 degrees from where I am. The last straw was yesterday when they did a promo for America's Next Top Model allegedly featuring Tyra Banks that disgusted not only myself but others in the crowd.

A long time ago, my brother wrote, for his college newspaper, an ode to Berry Blue Kool-Aid_TM that I wish I could quote. Suffice it to say that the feelings there mirror my feelings here--NOT EVERYBODY WANTS WHAT'S "POPULAR"!

The whole point of an Internet-based alternative video media outlet is to be alternative--not necessarily a mirror source for what we can already get from the Idiot Box. If we didn't want SOMETHING ELSE, we wouldn't need Joost. Joost, you're worse than lame; you're gangrene. Be glad I'm not deleting my account--yet.

FP

[Error: unknown template qotd]

I live without a mobile phone. :P

They just had this question a few days ago, didn't they?