Barnson.org

I read an article on cnn.com regarding Reese Witherspoon’s upcoming movie, “Extraordinary Rendition“. This movie deals with the US government’s deportation of terrorism suspects to other countries in order to interrogate them in ways which are unlawful in the USA.

People are all over the map on the issue, of course. Some maintain that if torture saves American lives, we should maintain the policy. Others counter that violation of the anti-torture provisions in treaties to which we are a party weakens our hold on the moral high ground and increases the likelihood of torture being used on Americans abroad.

What impressed me about this otherwise hum-ho article pumping the upcoming release of a new movie, though, was the last three paragraphs. Witherspoon took an unusual position for someone with a high Hollywood profile:

While “Rendition” openly challenges U.S. policy in the war on terrorism, Witherspoon plays the diplomat when asked if she thinks unlawful detention and torture are ever justified.

Witherspoon said she prefers to keep her own counsel and not let her beliefs muddy up the debate.

“I have a real aversion to talking about my own personal politics just because I feel the influence sometimes, I see the influence of celebrity on our culture,” Witherspoon said. “And to think that my opinion is any more informed than anyone else’s or taken as thus is erroneous. I’m just like everybody else. I’m learning, reading, I’m trying to figure it out. …

“I can’t imagine being responsible for national security or global security. I can’t imagine having to be in that position and make those decisions. That’s why I’m not. That’s why I’m an actor,” Witherspoon said, laughing. “I’m allowed to question these things, question them and think about them and hopefully get other people talking about them. That’s the best you can hope for.”

I empathize with the desire to use one’s fame to advance worthwhile causes. Were I in the public eye, I probably would be quick to use my new-found exposure to advance positions I support. But Witherspoon now has an immense amount of respect from me for having the wherewithal to admit her lack of competence on a particular issue, and subsequent choice to avoid public advocacy of a position.

Good on ya, Reese.

I walked into the dark bedroom where he laid on the bed, his stomach bloated and discolored, his head free from most hair and sheared close with what remained. A scant few weeks ago, those locks had been a mixture of healthy brown and gray of one approaching his golden years; now they are all white, apparently a result of the failed efforts to put the cancer into remission with chemotherapy.

“Hey, bud, how’s it going?”

“I’m fine… well, no, not really, but you know. Fine.”

“Yeah. I kinda’ figured. Don’t worry about getting up. I just came in to say howdy and share a few good jokes.”

“Knowing you, they won’t be few and they won’t be good. They might not even be jokes.”

This is the heart of how our relationship works. We have some painful history from long ago, but we’ve gotten along for 18 years mostly by ignoring it, focusing on acerbic jokes and keeping our conversations light. I really don’t mind having shallow relationships. But over the course of the better part of two decades, I’ve come to like the guy, even though I know I’d never have met him or struck up a friendship were it not for the fact that my mother married him.

“So an Irishman walks into a bar and orders three beers. He retreats to a corner and slowly drinks all three one by one. After a few weeks, the barman asks him why he orders them all at once rather than one after the other. “‘Well, you see,’ says the Irishman, ‘my two mates back in Ireland and I decided that even though I was moving to the States, we’d still have a beer together every Friday. So I order one for me, and one each for my mates. The bartender agreed with this rationale, and didn’t think much of it until a year later when the Irishman only ordered two beers. The bartender went to his table and expressed condolences for the loss. “‘Oh, my mates are fine,’ said the Irishman. ‘I’m the one that quit drinking.'”

A slight chuckle escaped his lips. In a faint whisper, he said, “I’ve heard that one before, but it was a very long time ago. Do you have another one?” He rolled to his right side, in obvious pain.

“Do you know what the difference is between a pun and a fart?”

One eye creaked open. “No, what?”

“A pun is a shift of wit.”

“You told me that one not long ago. Still funny, though.”

I told him a few more jokes. He was fading in and out of consciousness. “Well, I’m pretty much out of good jokes.”

“Well, those were nothing like good jokes. Send your mother back in.”

I retreated to the kitchen where the family had gathered, receiving flowers from concerned friends and talking about better times. I cut a few flowers and arranged them in a vase, then kept my kids policed to the basement where with a dozen other grandchildren they were playing some kind of role-playing war-game using pieces from my mother’s extensive collection of sewing materials as markers. I replaced a few light-bulbs which had long since burned out, and promised to come see if I could fix the electrical problem which was preventing the porch lights from turning on. With all the guests they are getting, you know, having working porch lights is a necessity.

We retired back to our home late that night. My wife and I discussed the situation at some length, particularly focusing on how we want to handle the scheduled vacation to Seattle this week if he passes. Like many serious subjects, I handle it much better when I’m well-rested and clear-headed, so I asked Christy if we could talk more tomorrow. Funny thing, though… tomorrow is here, and I still don’t want to talk about it.

I wonder why that is.

I just installed Ubuntu 7.04 (soon to be 7.10), and it’s amazing how well things just work right out of the gate.

Chief among them: * 3D acceleration on my Dell Optiplex 745; no extra drivers needed. * XM Radio just required installing two packages: totem-xine and w32codecs. Due to licensing restrictions in the USA, I had to run an installer from an off-shore repository, but that’s been par for the course for Linux due to restrictive US patent law for years. * Blazingly fast. Comparing the speed of Windows Vista to this machine is just night and day, with Linux handily winning in the speed department. * Memory management. Wow. I have 2GB of RAM on this machine, and with all my usual applications running I only consume about 600MB. The longer the box runs, the faster it feels. * No crapware. The Windows laptop right next to this easily takes 10+ minutes to start up due to all the bloated software required both by my company and the hardware manufacturer. * Total control. Obviously I’m a UNIX nerd, so this doesn’t really apply to your average user, but man I love being able to tweak the crap out of any setting on my system… if I just figure out how 🙂 * Able to run Windows applications natively. Through the use of Crossover Office, I have all the Microsoft applications I need to use on a daily basis: Word, Excel, Outlook, Internet Explorer 6. * Seamless network browsing. I can browse to shares or type their names into my browser window, and they just pop right up. * Dynamic DNS works right out of the gate. No joining a domain, no tweaking DHCP settings… I just log on, and my workstation name is accessible by name rather than IP address.

Big progress in the 7.X Ubuntu Linux series. I think I’m in love.

So today, in my inbox, I received an offer from a discount electronics vendor from whom I’ve purchased stuff before. The vendor is reputable, the products they sell are usually name-brand items with full warranties, and I’ve had a good experience with them overall.

Anyway, so I get this offer for a Bluetooth headset. These usually go anywhere from $25 for a low-end model to around $300 for the really good ones. I check out the reviews on this particular headset, and it initially retailed at $79. The reviews are a mixed bag. A lot of people complain about the ear-loop breaking in heavy usage, occasional problems with disconnects, and in rare cases voice quality problems. Overall, very middle-of-the-road.

The price? $9.88 cents per headset.

So here’s the issue: it’s a large-name manufacturer. I had planned on spending around $40-$60 on a headset. I’m a little bit concerned about the earloop breaking… but at that price, I could just buy 5-6 of the things and have a lifetime supply of earloops. The complaints about sound quality and disconnects are fairly typical for most Bluetooth headsets in this range.

Would you pick up several of these guys at the steeply discounted price, or steer clear and go for one higher-priced item? I mean, it retailed for $80 only two years ago, and currently retails for around $50 from discount sellers.

Tough calls when I know I’m getting into an item with a history of a few problems here and there…

Read an interesting article today citing a study that refutes common stereotypes about feminists. Summary: Marriages containing a “feminist” partner (whether male or female) are more likely to have healthier and longer heterosexual relationships than non-feminist relationships. IMHO, the sample size is too small to come to really reliable conclusions, but I think the overall trend solidly refutes the bra-burning lesbian view of feminism.

I attended a conference this past weekend, and I noticed that the average age of the population of the conference has trended dramatically upward over the past four years. Four years ago, most were in their twenties and thirties with a smattering of older people. Last weekend, it was much more like a thirties/forties gathering with a large number of much older people.

Now, I like old people, don’t get me wrong, but an absence of young people, IMHO, indicates a movement that isn’t doing a good job appealing to the next generation of activists. This has been lurking in the back of my mind, and this morning I read a scathing commentary on the Freedom From Religion Foundation Convention (which, coincidentally, took place the same weekend as the convention I was a part of):

There was something like 700 or more people in attendance, and almost all of the meeting time was spent in tight focus on one person standing behind a lectern.

What is our goal at these kinds of meetings? It is to organize. To interact with fellow freethinkers. To get ideas that we can carry home to help advance our goals. To meet new people and to network. To be entertained. Strings of long talks do this very poorly.

Another problem: attendance at this kind of meeting is largely on the gray side of middle age, with very little in the way of young people. Why? Because it’s boring! We should be engaging and recruiting more college-aged people, and this format just won’t do it.

Mix up the format a lot. Every session does not have to be a talking head above a lectern…

I strongly recommend to anyone organizing this kind of freethought convention that they get in touch with some members of the SF community. Science fiction people know at a deep level how to put together a first rate meeting experience that will engage diverse interests, and be informative and entertaining, and most importantly, will appeal to people under the age of 60.

IMHO, a lectern and a speaker with a Powerpoint presentation is the last resort of an uncreative concept. I look back at my weekend, and the best part of it was the part I didn’t record: the meeting of people between lectures, the long hang-out-and-talk-and-drink sessions in the hospitality suite, and the encounters with other conventioneers outside of the convention halls at restaurants, homes, and hotel rooms.

I’m not saying such activist-style conferences should be totally unstructured, but they really need a way to engage people. I have a long tolerance for sitting on my butt and listening to people, and even I grew weary during several presentations.

So I’ve heard that Murphy of MurphyMania has a kick ass AV setup in his house. Well, the time has come to finish my basement, and I could use some suggestions on how to work the AV side of it.

Here’s what I’ll have:

1) Main family room. Will have the home theater in this room as well as a second TV in the kitchenette. 2) Bedroom, want to be able to watch TV 3) Gym, want to watch TY and/or listen to music 4) I also want to be able to throw music outside on the deck.

Now, that’s 4 TVs to add. I have no desire to have to add 4 cable boxes to get video to all 4 of them. That’s where I’d like to know the abilities of the Slingbox. Or Alienware has some cool MediaPC offerings. Do these allow you to take one signal and power 4 different TVs. I know it would work for basic cable, but what about the HD cable you need a box for? If that doesn’t exist, I might as well just split my cable and save money.

I was looking at getting a higher-end receiver to do the audio to 3 rooms, Any suggestions there?

Thanks in advance Weed

OK, just started catching up on Numb3rs. Cool cop series.

That is all.

Me: “You know, we haven’t traded massages in a little while. We should do that.”

Her: “You bet, I like that idea!”

“The massage oil we have though… it’s that Wal-Mart stuff, the self-warming…”

“Yeah, not so good, it smells bad.”

“Heh, tastes bad too.”

(giggles) “We also have that K-Y oil, but it’s really thin and not very good for back rubs either.”

“Maybe we should pick up something nicer? I mean, because if we’re not exchanging back rubs because the oil is gross? Maybe I should hit Bath & Body Works for some.”

“That won’t work. I’ve hunted for hours for decent massage oil there and they don’t have anything good.”

“Huh, I wonder where they might have some?”

“Maybe you should go to a naughty store. They have the good stuff.”

(giggle) “That’s a funny name, because the naughty store is actually kind of…”

“…Nice?”

“Yeah, nice.”

In the last seven days I have…

1) Literally saved a dude from dying. 2) Pretended to be Woody from Toy Story for the President of Hair Cuttery. 3) Had a baby pee on my feet. 4) Pretended to murder 72 people, and got praised for it 5) Yelled at my sister and had her tell me I did a good job at it 6) Saw my face on the cover of a commercially released DVD 7) Written a rap about Santa Claus and Angelina Jolie 8) Put makeup on other men 9) Helped my wife color her hair

and

10) (how white trash is this) Ate instant Mac N Cheese with Red wine at 3am

My life is really strange.