Aspiring to laziness

I posted before about the price we must pay for knowledge.  There's quite a few people who don't like paying the price for much of anything.  In fact they think everything would be much better if we didn't have to earn a living at all.

Let's consider that phrase for a moment, "earning a living".  It mean working so that you have the means to support yourself.  You're able to keep a roof over your head and food in your belly.  It may not be much.  You might be sharing a two bedroom, one bathroom apartment with three other people, and be chowing down on some of that glorious Top Ramen; but you're surviving.  Lots of people start out that way.  They get a job, which may not be great, but it keeps money coming in.  Then eventually, and hopefully they can work their way up to the point where they don't need the three roommates.  Maybe even have a bit of money stashed away in savings.

There are those however who think this concept is completely horrible.  Legislation has been seriously considered in some countries to pay people a minimum wage just for existing.  The notion is that people are happier when they don't have worry about paying their bills.  Happier people are more productive.

Yeah, right.

While there are some people who use their free time for self improvement and community works, we live in the era of Netflix, weed being legalized, and free internet porn.  There's a lot of people who if they didn't have to work they wouldn't be doing anything at all.  I lived at the beach for years.  I worked in a little bar.  I've seen these people.  They only want enough money to pay bills and have some left over for booze and drugs.  If they didn't have to pay bills that would just mean more money for booze and drugs.

Not everyone has the self-motivation to succeed in this world.  By succeed, I mean support yourself.  If it wasn't for hunger and a firm desire not to sleep in one's car a lot of people wouldn't work at all.

Then there's those who say if a person does not want to work then they shouldn't.  They can go write poetry or something.  That's ridiculous.  They have this pipedream about some person being freed from the shackles of employment and being the new Thoreau.  The reality is Thoreau was writing about the beauty of a simple life because he was mooching of his friends, and if you're doing that then you better be expressing the greatness of simplicity.

This isn't anything new.  People throughout history have been trying to build a better economic mousetrap.  Karl Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto because he was lazy dope who wanted the government to pay his bills.  He was so lazy he didn't even finish writing the stupid thing.

My old boss tried convincing us that if we just worked four ten-hour days then we could have three day weekends all the time.  Sounds great, but we were roofers.  You work two ten hour days doing that and you're ready to croak.  And that's when the temperture is decent.

Money to live is motivation to get people to do jobs that no one else wants to do.  Nobody goes into roofing because it looks like fun.  How about sewage treatment?  Road paving?  I don't go out six days a week to build, destroy, paint, replace, lift, load, dismantle, bleed, cough, and everything else I do on the regular because I really enjoy back aches and sore knees.  I do it because there's money to be made, and I've allied myself with men who watch out for me and I'll damn sure do whatever I can to look after their best interests.  We get things done because we don't want to eek out a living, but we want good lives for ourselves and our families.

And we'd give it up if we suddenly didn't have to do it anymore.

But then, who would do it?

This world functions because there's one truth that we cannot escape: we have to earn our way through it a dime at a time.  In earning our way through it the world keep turning.  Money makes the world go round, and our sweat is the lubricant.  Take that away, and watch it all grind to halt.

Hope its over

The George Zimmerman trial has concluded.  The not guilty verdict is in.  If you have no clue what I'm talking about then I look forward to hearing your tales of life under a rock.  I'm so glad its over.  I don't care about the verdict.  I'm just hoping this blows over without riots or any more violence and hopefully the dimwits shouting how "the system" is racist, and there's no justice will eventually settle down.

This whole thing breaks down to two guys who made a bunch of bad choices.  Unfortunately one of them ended up dead.  Tons of public outrage.  Obama spouting bullshit about "if I had a son, he's probably look like Treyvon Martin."  All this pressure to put Zimmerman away.  Ridiculous amounts of news coverage.

The prosecuting attornies should have gone for a manslaughter charge, but think about how that would have played out.  "How can they not go for a murder charge!" would be the battle cry from all the people who had already made up their minds about what happened despite not having seen all the evidence.  This of course has much to do with media spewing forth every little factoid (regardless of accuracy) and opinion that someone has to offer.

This was such a circus.  A big stupid circus.  The media hyped it up for ratings.  People got their outrage on and fed the media beast.  It spiraled out of control.  Everyone who disagreed with someone else was somehow a racist, and then there were the actual full on bigots that popped up to either call for the lynching of Zimmerman or say disgusting things about a dead teenager.  If everyone had just shut their yeps and let this play out and let the police, and investigators, and the attornies do their jobs then Zimmerman would probably be in jail over a manslaughter charge.

Keep that in mind.

When six year olds attack...

This is not really about kids doing things, but about grown people who claim to be intelligent, but insist upon fighting their battles as a child would.  Kids get upset when they don't get their way.  So do adults, but one hopes that we handle things in a better, more mature fashion.  And we have to handle things more maturely because the way kids wage their battles does not succeed when faced with an opponent with any type of backbone or intellect.

The tools kids have to wage their campaigns are very limited.  They include, causing a scene, yelling really loudly, and just flat out lying to hopefully somehow change the perception of reality around them.

This brings us to what went on at Chik-Fil-A this past week.  As I posted before, some people got all ticked off at Dan Cathy for making statements supporting his view of marriage.  His statements shouldn't have surprised anyone as its no secret that the man is a strong Christian.  However, the dum-dums out there began wailing about hate speech and intolerance.  This is the lying in hopes of changing perception of reality.  Cathy made no statements about hating anyone.  Also his stores do not discriminate at all in regards to hiring or serving customers.  That's tolerance.  That's the definition of tolerance.

The yelling loudly, was mostly done in the way people yell loudly nowadays, on the internet.  There were all these posts and articles denouncing Cathy and his company.  Most of them distorting the truth.  Media matters even posted forged documents.  Then there was the moron who decided to film himself being a complete douchbag to a poor girl working at the drive-thru at a Chik-Fil-A.

Finally, we get to the causing a scene portion in which same sex couples kissed in stores and took pictures, with one couple proclaiming "We win".

But who is the real winner here?  Chik-Fil-A.  They posted record sales this week.  They didn't really react to the same sex kissing thing except with a few amusing bits of giving sandwiches and lemonade to a few of the couples.  That guy who made the video?  He got fired from his job.  So this little campaign against Chik-Fil-A has completely backfired.  This is good, not only because it reaffirms that civilized folks won't cave to an irrational mob, but also because I love Chik-Fil-A.  Its my favorite fast food place ever.

This of course isn't the first time groups have used these tactics.  Remember the stupidity that was Everybody Draw Muhammad Day?  That was been a bunch of people got ticked off that nutjob Muslims made death threats to artists making cartoons of Muhammad and a Dutch cartoonist was actually killed.  This was a case of there being a legitimate issue, but the group that decided to take action did so in the stupidest way possible.  The plan was to put so many pictures of Muhammad out there that Islamic rule about not depicting the Prophet (because they consider that idolatry) would be crushed in the name of freedom of speech and expression.  What actually happened was stupid people got their lulz on and Pakistan shut down the internet in their country.  Why did they do that?  Because the people in that country did not want to see those pictures and it makes western civilization look like a bunch of douchebags.  So the internet, being the biggest tool for free speech around, got shut down because of people abusing that freedom.  Probably good thing because I don't want to see what kind of government gets elected over there riding a wave of anti-western sentiment.

And of course there the biggest example of people throwing a collective hissyfit like a gaggle of petulant children: the Occupy goobers.  Remember when these pinheads were running around saying how they were going to change everything and weren't going to leave their little camps until things changed.  They didn't even know what kind of changes they wanted made, but as long as people who had more money than them suffered, they were cool with it.  Massive fail.  The only thing that happened there was sexual assaults, people getting stuff stolen, money getting wasted, and dopes now have a police record.  But at least some old hippies got to relive their glory days, right?  And the pathetic thing is some people just can't let this one go.  They want to be the liberal version of the Tea Party or something, but have netted zero results in anything productive.  So, the all the lying, yelling, and causing a scene amounted to squat.

So what do we learn from this?

Being louder doesn't win a debate.

You can try to distort truth, but people will only put up with a certain amount of BS.

Causing a scene to try to bully an issue will always fail against having an issue or idea strong enough that a scene forms on its own.

The thing is, these three examples do have legitimate issues at the hearts of them.  Equal rights for homosexual couples, artistic freedom of expression, and current economic/social-political climates are all things that should be up for intelligent discussion and debate so that one day, hopefully, we can make some meaningful progress that everyone can live with.  However, there'll always be those that have that gut instinct to stand in the middle of the grocery aisle and scream and bawl because mommy didn't buy the Lucky Charms.  When and if those people wise up and grow up we have another generation coming up and there's a lot of them with a very entitled mentality that leads to this sort of crap.

So be ready.

And eat more chicken.

Target: Kids?

Urp.  Its Wednesday, January 25, 2012, its all my fault, and this is The Side.  Grabbed a drink yesterday morning from the market.  The market has a deli which is pretty much the only lunch option in Sandbridge.  I asked what the special was going to be that day.  The lady asked me what I wanted.  I said hamburgers, because I miss burger day all the time.


Fast forward through me shoveling wet sand for hours.  I head up to the market to grab another drink and a bit to eat.  Sure enough the special was hamburgers.  Big old quarter pounders.  Guy in line in front of me looked at it and said, "Burgers, hunh?"


And then the lady behind the counter replied "That's right..." Then she pointed right at me, "... AND ITS ALL HIS FAULT!"

JERKS!!

This story broke late last week, and when I posted the news story on G+ it led to a few good and pretty heated discussion.  Its about the parents who finally revealed the gender of their five year old.  They parents are all about keeping things gender neutral under the pretense that they don't want their child stifled by gender roles.  On the surface it sounds all enlightened and well meaning.  Really, its something really despicable.

This is a case of parents using their child to push their agenda.


Let's be plain: there's nothing wrong with a little boy having an interest in things that society typically considers a girl's thing, and vice versa.  I've got a little girl who loves trains, Legos, super heroes, and thinks Jackie Chan is really cool.  Got another little girl who like dolls and her little tea set.  That's how they roll.  So if this little boy wants to play with a doll, it seems a little weird to me, but that's how he rolls, and he's not hurting anybody.


But here we have parents who are encouraging the boy to play with dolls, as long as it isn't a Barbie, because she's "horrible".  And they're oh so happy to put him in dresses and a tutu.  I really wonder how much is this kid's choice, or are his folks coaching him into cross dressing.  He's not allowed to wear "hyper masculine" things like shirts with skulls, or cargo pants.


I really need someone to explain the cargo pants thing to me.  Those are "hyper masculine"?  What?


Now the kid's gender is revealed because he's going to school.  Here's the part that really is telling.  They're sending the kid to a school that requires uniforms.  So they're having the boy wear boy's pants, but a girl's shirt.  So, they're looking to have things their way even thought the rules are specific.


The parents are using the boy to make a statement.  Just like when those parents sent their poor kid to confront Michelle Bachmann.  Sure, Bachmann is a kook, but you don't coach your child to confront people like that and then send them out in front of a camera for that "gotcha" moment.  I don't care if you've got he best point in the world.  You could be advocating protecting kittens.  YOU DON'T PUT A BULLSEYE ON YOUR CHILD AND SEND THEM OUT IN PUBLIC JUST TO MAKE A POINT!


I want to say I can't believe that some people are this self absorbed, but here we are again.


We have societal norms.  Those do need to get challenged from time to time.  Some people, like these idiot parents, think there won't be a blowback against a kid.  This is failing to consider all of the other kids, not to mention a serious nutters who have no qualms about hurting a child.  Standing out can easily make you a target of unpleasantness.  As a parent you have to teach your child about the world, and society so they can eventually find his or her own place in it.


Let's say hypothetically that this little boy just likes dolls and dresses all on his own without being pushed in that direction by his parents.  The parents should let the boy know that there's nothing wrong with it, but other little boys don't do that, so wearing a dress out in public might not be a good idea.


Now, I'm sure there are people who are upset by this, and aren't happy with me not going along with the gender neutral thing.  There are those people who view gender roles as a "box" which confines a person, and who would want to do that to a child?  Those boxes label "boy" and "girl" are very large and have plenty of room and company.  That gender neutral box is very small and the label is easily mistaken for one that says "freak".  Kids are going to like what they like, and in couple years they'll like something else.


If those parents really gave a damn about letting their child enjoy what he wants to enjoy then those rules about "hyper masculine" things and barbie wouldn't be their.  I just hope those hypocrites have the money for the mountains of therapy this poor kid will need later.

MUSIC!!

Couldn't resist.  Well, I could have, but I thought it was funny.





That's it for me. I'll see y'all Friday.

Boys will be girls?

Wasabi? Its Friday, November 18, 2011, I'm going to get beat up tonight, and this is The Side. I'm holding a women's self defense class tonight. These are one night crash courses which usually include me ending up very sore for the next few days. The things I do for a good cause. Ah well, I could certainly use the karma.

KIDS!

Anderson Cooper was talking to family on his show that are raising their six year old son as a girl. I didn't see the actual show because there's no power on earth that could make me sit down to watch Anderson Cooper's show. However, this show got some new traction because apparently its like a Transgender Memorial Week or some such. The Missus is actually the one who spotted this story, and it caught her eye because the kid was being picked on for being a boy who brought a princess backpack to school. Of course the solution was simple, raise the boy as a girl.

Does this mean that if a child likes something that we typically consider to be preferred by the opposite gender that this kid is transgender? Is my daughter transgender because she's a little tomboy and likes Spider-man and Ironman stuff and refuses to wear cute, "girly" clothes?

Perhaps, and this is just me going out on the limb here, its just a phase and the kid will grow out of it. My kids are four. The kid on the Cooper TV show was six. Kids change. They can be totally into something one week and the next its something different. What these parents are doing to their kids is completely nuts. All this is going to lead to is serious therapy down the road. I'm not talking about teenagers or older who have done some serious introspection and seen therapists. They know what and how they feel. They can hopefully articulate it. I'm talking about pre-sexual kids.

What happens when they get older and hit puberty? Let's leave the complications of what could happen in a public school out for right now, because it doesn't take a stretch of the imagination to realize the special hell that would be. Let's say this little boy who is now being raised as a girl gets older and starts liking girls. Does that make him a transgender lesbian, or just a straight guy who maybe likes to wear a dress on occasion? I do hear the air flow this those is quite nice. Back to topic, once you slap this label on a kid, its not something you can take off easy peasy.

It just seems like some people have lost their marbles when it comes to gender roles. There's couples who are actively trying to keep everything "gender neutral". There's been couple who give little boys dolls for whatever reason. There's been this weird movement to try to make guys more "sensitive". So if there's a little boy who actually likes some things girls like he's supposed to be treated like a girl? That's stupid. The Missus actually looked at a few stories about transgender kids and the vast majority of them were little boys who were going to be raised as girls.

I know transgenderism is the vogue cause right now with Lady Gaga rambling on about it and Chaz Bono being on Dancing with the Stars. Chaz Bono is an adult and can make his own decisions. Lady Gaga is a vapid caricature who shouldn't be asked about her opinion on anything aside from piano playing. Leave the kids out of it. People want to say that they're wanting these kids to be able to just be themselves. Bullshit. They're slapping a label on kids because they can't grasp the concept of just letting kids like what they like, and that's just flat out wrong.

MUSIC!

Yeah, they editted this version. Damned Vevo.



That's the ballgame for today. Have a good weekend and I'll see y'all Sunday.

French morons picking a fight

RAGE! Its Friday, November 11, 2011, I'm ticked again, or is it as usual now, and this is the Side. Lot of 1s in today's day. Ah well.

Onward!

BATTLEGROUND: FRANCE?

I'm pretty ticked off today, and its all about people being stupid. A French magazine has decided to piss off Muslims. They're doing it because they say they have a right to. Worse, they're being praised for it.

The break down is a french magazine decided to have cartoons of Muhammad in it, which Muslims don't like because they consider it idolatry. Crazy extremist Moslims decided to firebomb the magazine's office. The magazine then responded with putting another cartoon on its cover of what is possible Muhammad, but definitely a Muslim kissing a man to further tick people off. I'm sitting here thinking that the French haven't picked a fight with anyone since the French Revolution and maybe their economic problems are a lot worse than anyone thought.

This is the same type of stupidity that brought us Everyone Draw Muhammad Day, which I've talked about at length. Its abusing Freedom of Speech and freedom of Press. The part that's really stupid is that there are Muslims out there who are just living their lives and this offends them. This gives them a common ground with the crazy extremists. And the people at the magazine are complete douchebags. This is seriously the equivalent of putting out stuff against all of Christianity just to take a shot at the Westboro Baptist Church. They don't care about who they might offend, just as long as they offend someone.

Here's something that these morons, and many other morons don't want to admit: Freedom means responsibility. And when you shirk that responsibility, that's when you run the risk of that freedom being taken away. Can assholes protesting at soldier's funerals make people question the extent that we should have freedom of Speech? It does happen. Can these idiots at that magazine make people really wonder if having the freedom to offend people who haven't done anything to deserve it is worth it? Yeah, they can.

And then there's the real winners who are defending this. The first comment in the Gawker article i linked to posted a cartoon and dared Muslims to attack him. This is the mindset of the type of moron we're dealing with. They want nothing more than to count coup. But, of course, they're just looking to insult those "close minded" people who aren't enlightened enough to see things their way. "How could anyone be offended at a comic?"

How about a word?

What if I decided to start using the N-word in this blog? But I'm not directing it at all blacks. I'm just directing it at that black guy who threatened to shoot me for being the wrong color on his street and his buddies who thought that was funny. The other black people who I like shouldn't have a problem with it, right?

See the point yet?

I hope so, because there's a lot of people who don't.

Bottom line: that French magazine isn't ballsy, because being racist isn't ballsy. Its just stupid.

MUSIC!!

This dude really likes this song!



That's it for me today. Happy Veteran's Day, and thank you to everyone who has served our country. See y'all Sunday.

You want me to save the world AND look good doing it?

Howdy! Its Wednesday, November 9, 2011, my brain is still sorting through last nights episode of RINGER, and this is The Side. I'm going to be amazed if that show makes it to a second season. Its not that it isn't a great show. Its absolutely brilliant. However, they've managed to weave such an intricate web of deception between all these characters that its almost impossible for a new viewer to penetrate.

But, mna-o-man its fun to watch.

COMIX!!

Something got brought up the other day, and it seems obvious, but no one seems to talk about it. I'm a big old nerd. I nerds it up like nobodies business. However, one thing that doesn't really affect me is comparing myself physically to the characters I read about. This does happen though, and its sometimes leading to serious problem: eating disorders.

In looking at how women are portrayed in superhero comics, its easy to see the problem. Artists often work to "idealize" how they are portrayed. Tiny waists, and plenty of curves are pretty common in the spandex crowd. Some artists take things further than others. Some have difficulty showing women of differing body types. It is obvious that it you have a woman who is a successful crime fighter then she will most likely have to be in top physical condition.

The problem is there's been a disconnect as to what a woman in top physical condition really looks like. That's one of the reasons there's such scrutiny over casting female superheros. We like it when the actors actually resemble the characters they're playing, but real women don't look like how women are portrayed in comics. Yes, there are some out there, but they absolutely aren't the norm.

If you're a guy and want a woman that looks like the one you read about in comics, its not going to happen. If that's the standard you are judging against, then you're standard is flat out messed up. This makes you part of the problem, but there's an easy solution. Take a good hard look in the mirror. Do you look like Bruce Wayne? It you put on a Batman costume right now, and not one of those padded things, could you pull it off convincingly? Probably not. And don't try saying to yourself that you could if you hit the gym and ate right. That's a lot for gym time, and while I'm all for people eating right and getting plenty of exercise, there's a little something called body type to consider. Some people are built trimmer than others. Some are stockier. It goes on, and its both genders.

Do I find the women in comics attractive? Some of them, yes. I've had my own comic book crushes over the years. When I was a kid I was a really big fan of Kitty Pryde, and the New Mutants. They were just a little older than me and I really liked how Chris Claremont wrote them. The artists didn't draw them as sexed up bombshells. I was attracted to the girls in those comics, and while they were attractively draw, it was more their characters that I liked.

I think about this more as a parent now, especially with daughters. They know about superheros. They know about the Justice League, and the Avengers, and the X-Men. However, when they see Wonder Woman, Wasp, or Storm in action they're don't seem to be thinking about how they look. They want them to see them doing awesome stuff. One of my girls only wants to wear clothes that are 'awesome'. If the shirt isn't 'awesome', she doesn't want to wear it. As a parent I have to keep an eye on what they're watching. When they're watching their favorite superheroes in action, its up to me and the missus to guide they're viewing a bit. We focus on the attributes of these characters that make them strong and noble.

So, of course I want my girls to Wonder Woman's grace, Kitty Pryde's guts, Oracle's brains and perseverance. I don't want them to think that they have to look like the sex up versions that some artist put out there.

I do feel bad for the women out there that see characters in comics, or some girl with freakish genetics and/or strategically placed silicone parading the goods around in a cosplay costume, and feel like they don't measure up. As far as your body goes I've always thought that if you're a healthy weight and can make your body do what you want it to do, then you're just fine. Unfortunately, there's still that matter of being happy with what you see in the mirror. If you're not happy with it, then there's plenty of healthy ways to make your body change and bit fitter. No, you don't have to go to extremes like a top flight athlete, or have a training regime like you'd imagine Black Canary would have.

And a lot of this is at the feet of the artists, and the higher ups that push these images. To those people I just have to say: I've seen real, beautiful women and they don't look like how some of you are depicting them.

MUSIC!!

Because anthropologically speaking, they're still drawing them wrong.



Time to hit the ground running. See y'all Friday.

The Not So Great Divide

It's Friday, November 4, 2011, its my stepmother's birthday, and this is The Side. Hopefully the HITMAN volume 5 trade I ordered for her will get here soon.

I'm very tired right now.

I'm thinking today about the division of things, mainly groups of people. It seems like there's a lot of focus on it now. In many areas I'm all for it when we keep things in perspective. Splitting things up can bring about competition, which can be fun and enjoyable. The competition can be physical, mental, or emotional.

Physical competition is pretty obvious. We typically see it in sports. It gets the blood up, and pushes those competing to be the best person out there.

Mental competition also pushes folks. We see this in debates, spelling bees, chess matches, and any other intellectual pursuit that can involve more than one person. This is also good. It keeps the mind sharp.

Emotional competition is along the lines of being a fan of something. Let's say you're a Yankees fan. If your team is on the field you're invested at least a little bit emotionally. Well, there's someone else out there who's invested emotionally in whoever the Yanks are playing. Being passionate about something is good for the soul.

There's a flip side to all this. Competition can bring out a lot of bad stuff. people can cheat. They can do something to intentionally hurt someone. They can get so obsesses with winning that they hurt themselves. This happens when people forget something very important: they are part of a larger group.

That person cheering for the sports team that's playing against the team you love. You both love the same game.

That guy at the comic shop who loves Marvel Comics instead of DC. Guess what. You both love comics.

That guy I face in the ring when the gloves go on. He's there because he loves martial arts just like me. That's why the first thing we do is bow.

Unfortunately, there are people out there who want to focus so much on the divides in things that they do some really stupid stuff. There's no competition to see who is a better person. In that its when you start behaving like you're better than someone else because of some divide that separates you, you become a worse person.

Atheists that malign religious folks needlessly, and just as much a bunch of douchebags as those 'Christians' who tell people "You're going to hell" for not living their lives a certain way.

Anyone who assaults another person for being a fan of a particular sports team should get to spend time in cell to think about what they've done.

People standing around pointlessly in the streets because they're not as successful as they wish they were and someone else is doing well because they worked hard and got a little lucky are just being petty.

Calling somebody a "racist" simply for having a differing political view that has nothing to do with race at all simply because you want to tear down those people is pretty disgusting.

However, all this ranting probably will be forgotten fairly quickly by anyone who reads it. After all. Next year is an election year.

MUSIC!!

Heard these guys broke up.



See y'all Sunday.

Insert "Bunky" joke here

I feel thuper! Its Friday, September 23, 2011, thanks for asking, and this is The Side. Spent some quality time under a house fixing insulation that wasn't installed properly by another contractor on a house that's suppose to close today. Time crunch, couldn't get the person who did the original work in time, under I go.

Its unpleasant to work with that stuff. The fiberglass insulation itches something fierce. Being the crawl space isn't fun and even if you don't have claustrophobia, being down there is nearly enough to make you want to start. But the job is done, and while it was pretty unpleasant I can't really complain because first off I was working and right now, working is a very good thing.

Also it being a vacant house with newly renovated bathrooms and nice showers to choose from after the ordeal was a bit of luxury.

COMIX!!

The DC reboot is in full swing. The new #1 issues are steadily rolling out. I haven't been buying any of them, but a few have ended up in my pull box. Joey at Comic Kings has been very happy when I told him I didn't want them, as he had a serious run of people who came in at the last minute asking for the books. You can't pre-order books a week in advance. If you didn't know that before, you do now. So even with ordering a lot of extra books, he's still a little short. Seems that people will still show up for first issues. The real question is, will they show up for subsequent issues.

There's been a lot of talk about diversity with the characters. Its not just white guys on parade anymore. Although there's still a bit of fanboyism that's in the way. Hal Jordan is still Green Lantern, even though John Stewart has a strong following thanks to the old JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED cartoon. If DC wanted to really impress me with their push for diversity they'd have made John the main Green Lantern. It might almost make up their their notion that diversity is good unless we're talking about paraplegic women.

We do have new gay heroes too! That should be good, but when I hear people talking about Bunker, I'm having my doubts. I have no problems with gay characters. Greg Rucka created some really great ones. The thing that has me worried is reading Brett Booth tweet that:

We’re trying to make being gay a part of who he is, your gaydar should be pinged right off the bat:)

OK, that's a pretty poorly phrased statement. Your sexuality is a part of who you are. Its not difficult to make being gay a part of who a character is. If that character is romantically attracted to other characters of his or her same gender, then they are pretty much gay. Now, what I'm really, really, REALLY hoping that he doesn't mean that being gay is going to be this characters defining characteristic. This is partly due to this character being on the Teen Titans and defining teenage characters by their sexuality just isn't a good idea. Moreso, defining any character by their sexuality is a bad idea. Is Bunker's (Whose dumb idea was that name? Why don't you just set the ball on the tee?) main motivation for everything he does going to center around him being gay?

I'm not saying that having an openly gay character is a bad idea. I'm not saying that having an openly gay character in the Teen Titans is a bad idea. In fact, its a great idea because it opens the door to having great stories addressing issues of prejudice. Much like Chris Claremont's 80's UNCANNY X-MEN run used the genre to look at prejudice. Unfortunately, I seriously doubt that we're going to have the same thoughtful and nuanced approach to the issue here. When I think of a character like Tommy Jagger, who was gay, I don't just think "Oh, he's gay." No, I think about what a great character he was and how much I could relate to him. I looked forward to reading comics with him in them. He wasn't there to be in my face to make me think about diversity, but the way the entire Rucka CHECKMATE series was written you accepted diversity because everyone brought something awesome to the table.

So the question is: Will Bunker bring something to the table that fans and readers can appreciate, or will he be there to pander to one group of people for the sake of being "diverse"? I'm really hoping its the former, but unfortunately I'm having serious doubts.

MUSIC!!

Because gay dudes are hardcore, yo!



That's all for me today. Looks like its going to be a soggy weekend again, but I'll still see y'all Sunday.

"$@#& You!", said the hero...

I'm a baaaaaad man! Its Friday, August 19, 2011, I'm trying some new stuff, and this is The Side. Comic reviews will be up on Sunday from here on out, for those of you who didn't read that on Wednesday. Also, Firefox for whatever reason decided to just stop working on my computer. I spent some time trying to get it squared away. I uninstalled it, and installed a fresh file. No good. So we're going to be using Google Chrome for bit and see how that works out.

I will say this: Its working faster.

SOCIETY

Something really caught my attention in regards to the BBC's SHERLOCK series. It was profanity. Actually, it was the lack of profanity. The bad guy didn't use any. Actually, as far as bad guys go he didn't look all that bad either. I'm not referring to attractiveness. Its just that this guy was evil and he didn't look evil.

Things have changed a bit. I remember listing to Mike Powers on 96X before Bob Fresh came on board they formed the Mike and Bob Show, so I'm going back over 12 years. Mike was interviewing a professional wrestler from the old ECW promotion. They were doing a show in town. I can't remember that guy's name for the life of, but he was one of the bad guys or "heels". Mike's big strength on the radio is that he's one of the best interviewers I've ever heard, and he really got the guy open up. He asked what it was like to play a "heel", because the guy sounded like a really nice dude. He said he struggled a bit with it but another wrestler, Tazz, gave him some of the best advice, "Don't curse.", and it worked beautifully.

So wrestlers who didn't curse had an easily time being accepted as villains? Wrestlers who did came off as more popular? Yes, to both. Maybe it was that particular crowd which liked seeing "anti-heroes", who have no problem being horrible bastards, but didn't cross certain lines. Maybe no cursing made the wrestler sound more "elite" than the crowd, most of whom I imagine have no trouble cursing, and it played into a subconscious class warfare mentality.

Things that we used to identify with people that probably should be avoided are now the norm. Tattoos are another example. More to the point, excessive tattooing. Back in the day, if you saw someone covered in tattoos they were probably in the freak show at the travelling carny. Now you can fine them in the mall. Mohawks were the haircut of rebels and punks, and now I keep seeing two year olds with them.

You can tell a lot about people by their heroes. We're at a time now in which Batman is a lot more popular than Superman, but the key thing is why. Ask some comic fans and they'll tell you about Batman will do "whatever it takes" to win. "Sure, he could beat Superman. He's nothing but a big blue Boy Scout." Being a Boy Scout is a bad thing now? Here's another favorite. "It doesn't matter that Captain America is a better fighter, Batman would win because he'd cheat." So how Batman is victorious doesn't really matter to some people so much as that he's victorious. In fact, if he does it in a really "bad ass" manner then he receive even more praise from these fans.

Not sure where being a true-blue, stand up guy fell out of fashion with our heroes. Not sure when having more tattoos than a convict became the norm. Not sure when not swearing started becoming the best way to turn a crowd against you in some circles. Maybe we want our heroes to be flawed like we are. Do we still want heroes to inspire us and give us an example to aspire to? Or do we want to identify with them because of their flaws and see them do awesome things which may make us feel better about ourselves and give us hope that we ourselves may one day do awesome stuff.

"Bad" may be good, but I certainly hope "good" doesn't start really getting equated to bad.

MUSIC!!

I'm just in an Elvis Costello mood this week.



That's all for me today. I'll see y'all Sunday. Have a great weekend.

The stuff that people do

OSU! Its Sunday, June 5, 2011, I'm exhausted, and this is The Side. I'll get to why I'm worn out in a bit. Real quick: on the shameless internet number whoring front, my cunning plan has worked. After getting less then half the page views in May than I did in April I put in a post with a ton of Pocoyo pictures and sure enough I'm back to getting the numbers I previously was and my "sell out" post is one of the most viewed posts on this log.

This let's me know one thing: my opinions and thoughts aren't nearly as sought after as a little cartoon kid and his little animal companions.

Of course, that's not going to stop me from continuing to spew them forth at you people thrice weekly.

PEOPLE

So much of what we see and read about our fellow man is terrible. Its so easy to sit and just have a dim view of humanity if we don't get out and away from those trying to get ratings. In news there's a saying "If it bleeds, it leads" meaning the more horrible the story the better the ratings for it will be. And this thought spreads.

Recently a discussion sprung up on the internet making the case that George Washington was an evil person. Really? George Washington? of course nowadays its practically en vogue to bash America, but at a certain point it just gets stupid. One of the main points those making the case that Washington was evil was that Washington owned slaves. However, Robert E. Lee didn't. So does that make Lee a better person than Washington? Well, that can't be the case because Lee fought for slavery during the Civil Wars. At least, that's what you're told because making that war all about slavery makes the winners look better. Saying it was really about States rights versus the powers of the federal government makes things a lot less cut and dried. Were either Washington or Lee evil? Of course not. But demonizing people is easy. Its a low road, and fairly stupid. It ends up leading to stuff like that yearbook page that listed the worst people ever as Adolf Hitler, Osama bin laden, Charles Manson, George W. Bush, and Dick Cheney. Three of those people are actually evil. Two are not. If I have to point out which, you've got a problem.

But with all this stupidity and people thinking the worst of people you can still find all these great folks our there. there's still people going out and trying to be a good example, and even better those who aren't trying and simply are a good example. I was at a karate tournament yesterday, which is why I mentioned earlier that I was so tired. I left everything I had on the floor, and even though I didn't win big, I still tried my best to inspire others with my display of skill and show good sportsmanship with my fellow competitors. I had a bunch of students there, and they all worked hard and did well. I'm proud of all of them. One of things i was really glad to see was two of the teenage students helping one of the younger one who had placed in his division, but didn't know where to get his trophy. They more proud of him and more than happy to take him over to get prize. Its little things like that which makes me think teaching is worth it.

Being inspiring can be a simple thing. It can be as simple as the little old lady who had the save bank account for nearly 100 years, and how great that bank treated her on her 100th birthday. Or it could be something a little more showy, like the little girl who did a great job singing the National Anthem, which wouldn't seem like much of a feat, but considering how many high profile singers have messed it up, its refreshing to see a kid do it right.

And then there's those who protect and serve who can inspire us. The people who don't choose the easy path, but above and beyond, not for the glory, but because it was the right thing to do. People like the Iraq War veteran who protected his children during a bank robbery and then turned around and caught the robber. People with the skills needed to help, the decency to do so, and the intelligence to know when to act.

And finally there are those people who never set out to inspire, but placed in extraordinary circumstances, do so anyway. Such was the case of the British Military man http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifwhose checkpoint was overrun in Afghanistan by 30 Taliban fighters who did their level best to leave him a bullet riddled corpse. Now for those familiar with the story you may be saying "But Nozz, that soldier was a Gurkha! That fight was in no way fair to those Taliban folks!" Which is true, but the Taliban guys started it, and didn't leave that fella any choice but to take all 30 of them out. What's lesson there? Don't quit. Some things only look impossible.

Life isn't simple. Its not really down to good versus evil a lot of times, but sometimes it is. Evil is fairly easy to find if you look for it. News media makes it pretty easy. However good can be found too, and you may have to look a little harder, but its worth the extra effort.

MUSIC!!

My college roommate dated a girl who looked just like the girl in this video, complete with the legs that went all the way up to her neck. Of course, I've got the video in here due to this being a really great song and video, and not because the girl in question is in a really short skirt.



Alrighty, I'm done. I'm going to go recover, and then go workout, and then go recover. Yeesh. Talk about a vicious cycle.

Racism, or just needing to try harder?

Its Wednesday, May 18, 2011, all's fair in love and way, and if its not you can always get a lawyer, and this is The Side. Sometimes I wonder if I'm just really, really naive. I understand that life is not fair. There's people out there stronger, smarter, faster, and more skilled than me. But I do try to give myself what advantages I can. I try to pay attention. I try to implement tactics that play to my strengths. I identify my strengths so I know what tactics will work best for me. I identify my weaknesses so I can try to fix them, or at least have a back up plan in case those weaknesses get preyed upon.

So it does kinda tick me off to hear people whine about something not being fair. Of course there is injustice in the world, but it gets hard to spot sometimes amidst all the claims of injustice. If you want fair, play "Chutes and Ladders". That's about as fair as the world is gonna get.

But you can't tell some people that.

THE CHICAGO WAY

So let me get this straight, Chicago has to hire 111 black firefighters and pay out buckets of money because of racist hiring practices? A bunch of people take a test. 64% is considered passing. They have a limited number of positions to fill. They randomly select the number of people they need from those scoring 89% on the test or higher. Now because most of the people that scored 89% or higher weren't black the hiring process must be racist and the city has to stroke out checks?

Just when you think society had a prayer.

Screw this. Screw this on every level. This is the most idiotic, patronizing thing I've seen in a long time. People keep saying its what's on the inside that counts, and we're all the same under our skin, but when there's a check to cashed from accusations of racism folks still line right up. Was there a question on that test anywhere asking "Hey, are you a black guy?" that if answered "yes" knocked their score down a few points? I kinda doubt it. But this isn't the first story of "test bias" that I'm heard. There was a case in Florida back in 04 where the police department was accused of having their hiring practices being biased. It was the swimming test of all things. They said the black candidates were having trouble with the swimming test, so they dropped that test as a requirement. So, for those of you in North Miami, ya better be wearing your floaties.

Now, this differs significantly from the Chicago case. The Miami case happened because they were understaffed and couldn't get people through the test. That's kinda scary that the lack of qualified people was to the point where they had to lower the qualifications. The Chicago case is really different in that the Chicago Fire Department had plenty of qualified applicants. More than enough people passed the test. More than enough people did so well on the test that they were able to hire strictly from high scorers. And that's what they did. They hired the amount of the people that they needed randomly from the pool of high scorers. They didn't factor in skin color.

Which is why they're getting sued.

I'm a white guy. If I was told that standards didn't apply to me because of my skin color I'd a be pretty damn insulted. If I come up short on a level playing field, that's how it goes. I shouldn't get special considerations over people who perform better than me based solely on race. How does that work? "Oh, you're white. You don't have to do as good on this test. We understand you're not as good as other people who aren't white. Have a cookie."

Even worse, imagine being a citizen of Chicago! If there's a fire or emergency, you aren't getting the best qualified people coming to your aid! But you better not have a problem with that or someone might call you a racist.

I thought we were past this. I thought it was supposed to be all about doing your best and trying to better yourself. You didn't get a good enough score on the test? Study harder and try again. My cousin didn't whine about his SAT scores when he knew what college he wanted to go to. He didn't demand that the college lower their expectations. He kept retaking the test until the score was good enough. That college was Harvard, so it wasn't a walk in the park.

But the case in Chicago is going forward. I guess there's a lesson here. You don't have to man up when you can lawyer up. Hope no cows get near any lanterns any time soon.

MUSIC!!!

Ironically, these guys seem a lot more realistic than Lady Gaga.



That's my bit for today. See y'all Friday. Hope you don't have to take any racist tests.

Batman's puttin' on a few pounds

Get in my belly! Its Friday, March 25, 2011, the hunger is upon me, and this is The Side. Came across one of those "Parents need to read this" articles on Yahoo, featuring the First Lady. Her current cause is fighting childhood obesity, which is fine. That's something I can support and do my part to get my students in shape through various and sundry methods of torture. Unfortunately Michelle Obama is still rambling on about the importance of BMI (Body Mass Index). So its nice she doing something, but unfortunately she's going about it in a stupid way.

Never go by BMI. It don't take into account bone density, muscle mass, or body fat percentages. According to BMI Shane Carwin, and Randy Couture are overweight. So we're going to tell children that their overweight based on number from a fatally flawed system? Why don't we just give them all eating disorders now and be done with it.

COMIX!!!

BATMAN INCORPORATED #4 hit this week. That's right, two issue in the same month which makes up for the lag between issues 2 and 3 for me. Chris Burnham joins Morrison on this one, and this guy can draw his ass off. At first I was a a little bummed that it was different artist, but that only lasted about three pages. Wow. Batman and Gaucho are still pitted against each other in a deathmatch to save three children. Meanwhile we have a little story shift with Batwomen, both the awesome Kate Kane and the silver age Kathy Kane whose superpower seems to have been fighting crime while supporting massive boobs. This issue is starting to tie a lot of things together, and digs up a ton of Silver Age stuff. Its got Ace the Bat-Hound in there for cryin' out loud. For those thinking "what the hell" I thought the Silver Age was all gone bye bye. That's not the case. Since INFINITE CRISIS the Silver Age has been acknowledged a lot more, especially by Morrison in his Bat run. I think that's one of the bones of contention with the Morrison haters. They like the dark 90s version of Batman, and don't want to think about the really weird bat-stories from the 50s. Morrison draws from those stories and makes really incredible stuff from them. I've hit the point in the storyline in which I've gone from just liking the story to going all in and waiting for the next issue with what little patience I can muster.

SUPERGIRL #62 was good, but I'm still wondering where Nick Spencer got to. I'm enjoying the storyline, but with this being the maiden voyage for James Peaty and Bernard Chang on this title I'm wondering if this is really the right time for a big team-up. I'm always happy to see Robin, Blue Beetle, and Miss Martian, but it just seems to me that they should be focusing a bit more on our main character. It kind of read like a Mini-Teen Titans. That's not really a bad thing as I love the Teen Titans, but it just seems a bit odd to have so many guests so soon. The truth about Alex is revealed, and he's a lot more dangerous than previously thought, and that's saying something as he was previously pretty damn scary. Its a fun ride, and while I'm a little put off by all the guest stars so soon, I can't really hold it against the book because they're all handled very well.

ATOMICA #6 hit the shelves this week. The story has been building up for the last couple of issues, but we're getting all the answers in "Atomica Must Die!" The title seemed pretty retro, and one of the things that drew me to this book was how Rose Lockhart was such an homage to many silver age heroines. Now it all comes crashing down as the Metavore, which Dr. Astray warned of last issue, arrives. Its baffling how Rose could be linked to something that consumes realities, but its all laid out for readers. It was a pretty tough read. This character is a lot of fun, but the romp may well end in tragedy. It seems for the world to survive, as the title says, Atomica must die. There's big cliffhanger as to whether or not her friends will do what they have to do to say the world, or will the love for their friend mean the end of everything. We'll find out soon enough.

MUSIC!!!

I really need to go bowling again.



That's the whole nine yards this time around. See y'all Sunday.

Brock Lesnar versus Zangief?!?

Its Wednesday, March 16, 2011, my joystick is doing a 360 while I mash the punch button, and this is The Side. So much is going on in the world right now. Libya is in a civil war. Japan is in deep trouble and working hard to recover, and that's going to take years. Our financial woes here and going to get worse with energy prices rising because out Pop Star-in-Chief won't lift his idiotic oil drilling moratoriums and think windmills are the way to go.

Makes somebody want to hit something. Or write about people hitting things.

MOVIN' AND SHAKIN'!!!

Big news for MMA fans like me. Zuffa who owns the UFC has bought Strikeforce. This brings some really great talent into the UFC roster and makes some dream matches possible. A lot of people have been wanting to see Fedor for Lesnar, and know that's possible. There's also the possibility of of Women's MMA matches in the UFC.

But there's some people crying foul. The UFC and Strikeforce were the two top MMA promotions. Some are saying that in buying Strikeforce Dana White and Zuffa have created a monopoly. It is true that the UFC is the only big show now, but its not a monopoly. There's still plenty of independent promotions around. They don't have the resources that the UFC does, but that's just how it is. Strikeforce was in a bit of money trouble. Their parent company wasn't interested in pursuing maintaining Strikeforce, and Zuffa was in a position to buy. Pretty simple. A lot of people aren't happy because the UFC has bought up a few other companies in the past and some think its their way of getting rid of their competition.

Competition is what MMA is all about. When the UFC bought the Japanese PRIDE promotion the reason was they wanted to expand their roster of fighters. The WEC was faced with some financial issues and the UFC bought them and in the bargain gained fighters in the featherweight and bantamweight divisions thus adding new and exciting fighters and divisions. The UFC is still growing, it has to because not growing and adding new fighters runs the risk of things becoming stagnant. There's a heavy demand for the UFC to do shows in other countries. Now this is a lot easier because the they don't risk spreading their roster too thin and can do more than one show per month. This is the fight game. It takes time for these people to train and recover so they can stay healthy.

Will there be another promotion that'll rise up and become the new "number 2" as Strikeforce was? Sure. It'll take some time, but the sport of MMA is based on guts, and that's not just the fighters. The promoters have them too, and a hunger to succeed. Someone will rise. n the meantime, I'll be checking out the UFC PPV this weekend.

ZANGIEF'D!!!

OK, we all know bullying is bad. Kids pick on other kids for a ton of different reasons and kids are targeted for many different reasons. So, when a kid in high school was the target of bullying for years because he was overweight it wasn't anything new. The thing is when the person who is being bullied outweighs the bully by a good hundred pounds, its pretty obvious that the bully is a complete moron.

I was on Twitter and was surprised to see "Zangief" trending. "How the hell does that happen?" Sure, I love the character from the STREET FIGHTER video games, but it just seemed so random. So i did a little investigating, and it didn't take much before a discovered "The Zangief Kid". I'm not posting the video on here because frankly, I'm not looking to get into hot water with blogger again. Seriously, YouTube was yanking down videos of this as quick as they possibly could.

For those not familiar with the STREET FIGHTER games Zangief was a larger than life Russian grappler with buckets of throws. Essentially if he got close enough to get his hands on you you could probably kiss half of your life bar good-bye.

In the video the bully approaches the overweight teen grabs him by the shirt and punches him in the face. Other students are around and do nothing. It looks like a school, but there's no faculty around. The bully tries to punch the kid in the face again and this time the kid blocks the punch. At this point the bully dances around and throws some punches at the kids belly. Well, at this point the kids springs off the wall grabbing at the bully, and despite acting like a tough guy a second ago the little weasel scrambles desperately to get away. The kid grabs the bully, yanks him into the air and slams him to the pavement. The kid them walks away as the now broken bully tries to walk on a, quite possibly, broken leg. As face is a pathetic mask of a whimpering child who had bought a ticket on a ride he could not ride.

The kid in question has been suspended from school of course, because if you are being bullied and/or assaulted in schools you aren't supposed to defend yourself at all. Hey, you may end up in the hospital, but at least you won't get expelled. If any of my students are forced to use anything I've taught them to defend themselves they'll likely get expelled. Doesn't matter if someone is beating them for all their worth, if a kid punches back to try to stop them, he's going to get suspended or expelled. They're supposed to get out of the situation and go get a teacher. If there was a teacher around then the bullies wouldn't be assaulting anyone, now would they.

So, the rules about defending yourself are idiocy imposed by pussies, but they're just trying to keep the children safe, so it should be hugs and pie all around. See, these bullies just need understanding.

No.

They need the Zangief Kid to bounce them off the pavement.

The internet has made this kid a celebrity. I haven't seen a single comment anywhere against this guy. Why? Because everyone knows what the idiots in charge don't: these little bastards have a world of hurt coming and they're past due to get it.

MUSIC!!!

The only Oasis song that doesn't suck.



That's the skinny for today. Please continue to keep Japan in your thoughts, and if you can, donate to help. See y'all Friday.

Q, A, and Dough-ray-me!

Here we go! Its Wednesday, February 23, 2011, I'm one hard workin' dude, and this is The Side. I'm very glad to be working. After crawling around under houses looking to shore them up a bit I was sore an tired. So on my lunch break when I see some asshole from Wisconsin bitching and moaning that thinks the unions are getting crapped on I had little sympathy. The woman interviewing him told him a lot of people support teachers and think they need great pay and benefits, but they don't like that they're getting fraudulent doctor's notes so they can go protest. She asked the guy if he supported them doing this, and he blatantly avoided answering five times.

State senators are hiding to avoid a vote which wouldn't be taking away any pay or pensions from anybody. Its just unions getting pissy because they won't be able to throw their weights around as much. And some people wonder why I think unions suck. Get back to work, you whiney bitches.

ASK NOZZ DAY #2!!!

Joe Arnold had a bunch of questions that demand answers. Who am I to refuse his demands?

Why do we drive on a parkway, and park on a driveway?

Here in Virginia we have Skyline Drive which overlooks Shenandoah National Park. Its a very lovely drive. Very scenic. It was deemed a "parkway" due to it overlooking the park. Since then many very long, scenic roads have been referred to as "parkways". Driveways used to be much different than we know now. Many very large homes and manors had very long driveways leading from the house to the main road. Back then you really did drive on the drive way, since if you had the money for a personal carriage or the like you usually had a lot of property.

What is the air speed velocity of an unladen swallow?

Assuming you're referring to the European swallow, around 24 miles per hours.

Can't we all get along?

Yes we can. As long as everybody agrees with everything I say and does everything I tell them then we'll all get along just fine.

How many roads must a man walk down before you can call him a man?

Usually the answer is blowing in the wind, but that's the kind off crap answer you can expect from some hippy, and this here is a no hippy zone. The path to being a real man isn't about the quantity of roads, its about the quality. You can walk a hundred roads, but if they're all named "Easy Street" then you won't be much of a man. Its those long, rough roads that make you a man. The ones with lots of detours and shortcuts that look real tempting but don't take you anywhere worthwhile. And a real man is always walking that road and sometimes showing the way to those who need guidance. Those who stay true to the road get they're reward when they reach that destination, and hopefully leave clear footprints so others will know the path they walked.

IT'S A TRAP!!

I got the call Sunday evening after a full day or working and torturing children. "Dave just about cut his finger off, so I'm really needing you to work this week." The details were sketchy but when fingers are possibly missing its time to spring into action. Seems Dave had an accident while splitting wood over the weekend and took off a good portion of his middle finger. He'll be needing a skin graft which hopefully he'll be able to get soon to speed up his recovery. Nonetheless, I was out at the beach on Monday to try to help out and Dave made it out too hoping he'd still be able to work in his condition. Turns out he's still pretty capable, but every so ofter he gets a nasty jolt for wound.

So we were destroying a few walls and cutting up some floor and one thing we had to do was more an amour in the next room so it wouldn't get damaged. There was a small TV in it so I picked it up to move it and there he was: Ben Franklin.

I've found a lot of things in houses as I've worked in them. I've found porn stashes and sex toys. I've found things that home owners really should have cleaned up before I've gotten there. I've found a few bucks here and there that I never touched because that's a damn good way to lose your job.

This was different. This was a winterized beach house that no one had stayed in for months. We don't even know the last time the owner was there. But there was the most money I've ever found in a house that was essentially deserted. Was it a trap? Had the home owner planted it to test the honesty of the people working there? Had the last renter been just really absent-minded?

Oh how that one bill tormented us as we worked. It was like a test of our moral fortitude. We could have split it. Dave needed more bandages for his finger. There's a book I really wanted to buy. What could we do?

I won't tell you what we did.

But I will say I'm going to the comic shop happy today.

MUSIC!!

Those schmucks drive around in their cars blasting bass to the point to rattling windows. There used to be competitions to see whose car's sound system had the most bass. People would buy those stupid cars that look like toasters on wheels for the acoustics so they could really get their bass going.

Dumb bastards don't know shit about bass. Hit it Les.



That's the shooting match for today. I'm going to get some more work done. See y'all Friday. Behave yourselves. And if you can't, send me pictures.

Thor cheats!

For Asgard! Its Sunday, February 20, 2011, I'm ready for ale and wenches, and this is The Side. I don't drink nearly as much as I used to, but just last night I dreamed I was drinking a MGD and it was good. Things must be bad when my subconscious is telling me to go have a cold one.

As for the wenches, well, someone needs to clean up around this joint.

CHANGE. BELIEVE IT.

New Thor movie trailer hit the web this week. Looks great. I was already looking forward to this flick, and this just makes me more excited for it.



There's is a few things that strike me as odd. I already discussed having a black guy running around Asgard. They're also changing things up a bit in having Jane Foster (Played here by Natalie Portman) be an astro-physicist and not a nurse. That's not too big a deal. What does seem odd to me is this movie's take on Asgard itself.

According to this movie Asgard is so technically advanced that their technology takes on the trappings of magic. I just seems odd that the concept of magic is getting explained away in this manner. Its interesting as hell, but its just such an odd shift for a set of characters based of Norse Gods. Maybe they wanted to take this direction to distinguish themselves from the slew of other movies that have magical characters. It could be that they have a lot of really cool ideas to put up on the screen that they've based on this concept. Its not a deal breaker change, and its not even a dumb one, but its just so striking to me. I think that comes from Thor being the part of the Marvel Trinity that represents magic and mythology, and this shift sort of removes him from that spot and places him more in the science fiction slot.

But yes I am definitely looking forward to this movie. The guy playing Thor looks absolutely spot on. I spotted the Warriors Three in the new trailer, and I'm a fan of them. Really the only thing that's a drawback is the 3D thing, but I'm sure I'll be able to find showings that aren't 3D. Bottom line: the new trailer is cool, and I'm very excited for the movie.

NOT FAIR!!

There's a lot of people concerned with things being "fair". Sure, things being fair is fine and dandy, but its easy to go overboard. How can you go overboard on being fair? Isn't fairness a good thing? If something is good then there should be no such thing as too much of it, right? Wrong.

Let's look at a very old game. By old I mean a few thousand years. Its called Go, and its still very popular. It originated in Asia and the premise of it is pretty simple, but the game itself is very complex. Its played on a board with a grid on it and two players take turns placing stones where the lines intersect to gain territory. You get points by successfully surrounding space on the board. You can also take your opponents stones if you surround them and cut them off from any openings. It takes little time to learn but a lifetime to master.

Its a very simple game but when you have someone who is very good at it playing someone not as skilled they can receive a handicap. There's 9 key positions on a Go board and depending on the handicap a player can allow his opponent to start the game with stones in these locations. In a game where one well placed stone can turn the tide of a game this is a huge advantage which can sufficiently counter gaps in skill between players.

Over time it was determined that even going first was a huge advantage so the concept of komi was developed. Black always goes first, so in a match between evenly skilled opponents where there is no handicap, the player with the white stones receives 2 1/2 points to off set the disadvantage.

These rules have been in place for a very long time. They weren't just created on a whim. The game was analyzed and proper ways of keeping the matches even were developed. But what if someone still doesn't think that's enough to make things even? I knew a kid who cheated in pretty much every game I ever saw him play. When I attempted to teach him Go he would blatantly attempt to place more than one stone during his turn. The game had been explained and he understood how it worked. Still he attempted to place multiple stones even after I told him it was against the rules. In truth there is a rule about placing multiple stones in one turn and I enforced it the very next turn when he tried to do it again.

"You lose."

"What?"

"You just lost this game. If you place more than one stone during your turn then you automatically lose."

Thus ended his playing the game. Once he found out he could not manipulate the game to his liking he had no interest in playing anymore. This mindset isn't limited to children. In life you cannot expect everything to work out your way. Fairness means everybody has the same opportunity to be successful in their ventures. It doesn't mean you can change the rules just try to stick it to someone you don't like. Its like the movement to up the Capital Gains Taxes. Some people want this don't because they say that wealthier people aren't paying their fair share even though wealthier people pay the majority of the taxes taken in by the government. Its been proven that upping this tax actually decreases the amount of revenue taken in by the government, but still they push for it in the name of "fairness".

We play games as children, but what we learn is how to deal with life. Some people are winners. Some people don't win quite so much. I'm still waiting on my ship to come in, but unfortunately I think its off the coast of Somalia. So you shouldn't get all butt-hurt when you think of successful people. They just happen to be winning out a bit more. If you're smart you should look at them as you would a person you beats you at Go, Chess, or anything competitive. When I put the gloves on and get my ass kicked, its a learning experience, and I look to the person who beat me and ask "How can I do this better?"

When the world stops being a level playing field because whiny little pansies claim "its not fair", look at them as the children they're acting like and do what I do when a student gripes about something not being fair. Laugh right at them, and then get back in the game.

SHAMELESS PROMOTION!!

Today's post is brought to you by The American Budget. For the best in high quality, low price items, its The American Budget. Call now.



That's the shooting match for today. I'm going to see if my sinuses will actually explode with the temperature bouncing up and down over the next few days. If they do explode hopefully a hippy will get caught in the blast. Nothing says "TAKE THAT!" like a snotty sinus detonation, except for Phoenix Wright. ASK NOZZ DAY #2 will be this Wednesday! So, if you have any questions about anything you'd like me to answer you can leave a comment here or e-mail it too me at martynozz@yahoo.com and I'll have the answers up next time around. See y'all then.