Historically, online dating was thought of as a tool for the desperate. Even though it's more popular, it still gets bashed a lot. But it opens up a single person to more potential dates. You get to meet people that you likely would never have met offline. And to think that our parents met through random chance in meatspace.
For me, online dating was like college: enjoyable but stressful, and I'm glad I don't have to do it anymore. Here are my thoughts for anyone who is still looking:
1. Never post your thoughts about online dating on your blog if you still are active in online dating. You will sound like a complainer. You probably are a complainer if you do this. So stop it. I get to rant about online dating because I'm in a stable relationship now.
2, Your parents probably give better dating advice than your single friends.
3. I saw a lot of single mothers on OKCupid. I know that kids come first. But just check off the box that says you have a kid or kids. Don't gush about how amazing your kids are in your dating profile bio. "Amazing" was a pretty common adjective to describe toddlers. I would have liked to meet the mother of a mediocre three-year old. That would have been a woman with realistic expectations.
4. Platonic friends and coworkers can sometimes stumble across your dating profile. It's probably best to keep things PG.
5. I think people who put up ads that say they are looking for a platonic relationship with a member of the opposite sex are either lying to themselves or don't know what "platonic" means.
6. You don't save yourself up for marriage. You save yourself up for a house full of cats.
7. People say there is no such thing as the friendzone. But I think it's real. It's like getting a bronze medal in the Olympics. My best advice is not argue with the judge, and just move on to the next event and try again. (Silver medal is when you are friends with benefits.)
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Monday, February 22, 2016
Filling Scalia's vacancy
People have been going on Twitter rages complaining that Republican senators are refusing to do their job. The word "treason" has been thrown about like f-bombs on Xbox Live. And most of the adults using the "t-word" have no idea what it really means. It's just something they say when they are angry. If people are going to be upset about the nomination process, then let's be honest about our real reasons for being upset. Conservatives are upset about the possibility that Scalia might not be replaced by another conservative, and liberals are mad that Obama's nominee might get borked.
Article 2, Section 2 Clause 2 gives the President the power to nominate Supreme Court justices with the advise and consent of the Senate. The President can nominate whoever he wants, and the Senate is under no obligation to consent to anything. Obama can systematically nominate everyone who has ever graduated from law school and the Senate can vote them all down if they so choose. And the Supreme Court can function fine with a vacancy. Nine isn't a sacred number or anything, especially back when FDR was President.
There are a couple things that I think might happen. Mitch McConnell can hold the line until after the election, but he would run the risk of Hillary Clinton winning and then nominating Barack Obama for SCOTUS. But he isn't going to confirm the first person Obama nominates either. So what might happen is Obama will nominate a very liberal sacrificial lamb for the Senate to vote down. And then he'll nominate what passes for a moderate these days, and the Senate will confirm that judge to keep this from being an issue during the election.
Article 2, Section 2 Clause 2 gives the President the power to nominate Supreme Court justices with the advise and consent of the Senate. The President can nominate whoever he wants, and the Senate is under no obligation to consent to anything. Obama can systematically nominate everyone who has ever graduated from law school and the Senate can vote them all down if they so choose. And the Supreme Court can function fine with a vacancy. Nine isn't a sacred number or anything, especially back when FDR was President.
There are a couple things that I think might happen. Mitch McConnell can hold the line until after the election, but he would run the risk of Hillary Clinton winning and then nominating Barack Obama for SCOTUS. But he isn't going to confirm the first person Obama nominates either. So what might happen is Obama will nominate a very liberal sacrificial lamb for the Senate to vote down. And then he'll nominate what passes for a moderate these days, and the Senate will confirm that judge to keep this from being an issue during the election.
Wednesday, July 01, 2015
Music videos that look like they are older than they really are.
It's getting harder and harder to tell when songs were recorded. For example, you could show this to your friends and convince them it's a 90's song that they forgot about.
I like that song, but I kind of wish they were singing a cover of the Nine Inch Nails song of the same name.
Here's Walk The Moon, using synthesizers from back when it was somehow okay for men to wear pastels in public but not get married to each other.
Play this at a 50 year class reunion, and see who "remembers" it.
Lastly, there are college students who think this a propaganda reel from the 1940's.
I like that song, but I kind of wish they were singing a cover of the Nine Inch Nails song of the same name.
Here's Walk The Moon, using synthesizers from back when it was somehow okay for men to wear pastels in public but not get married to each other.
Play this at a 50 year class reunion, and see who "remembers" it.
Lastly, there are college students who think this a propaganda reel from the 1940's.
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Indiana's new bad law.
Several thoughts:
1. There should never be religious exemptions for any law. Laws against murder are great laws, and there are no religious exemptions for those laws. Even if you believe that consuming the hearts of your enemies will cause you to absorb their strength and courage, you still aren't allowed to kill a person and cut open their chest for that purpose. Good laws shouldn't have religious exemptions, and bad laws should just be repealed entirely. If it's ok for Indian tribes to take peyote, anybody should be allowed to take peyote.
2. The First Amendment already guarantees your right to believe whatever you want. But certain beliefs will hold you back from pursuing certain careers. If you are Amish, you probably can't work in IT. If you believe that killing animals is wrong, you can't work in a slaughterhouse. If you are a pacifist, then you can't be a US Marine. And if your beliefs prevent you from providing service to an entire group of customers, then your beliefs will prevent you from succeeding in the retail industry. I do wish all of the above groups the best of luck in finding gainful employment, but they just won't have the same options as the rest of us.
3, Real business owners don't want to discriminate. They don't want to turn down paying customers. And they really don't want paying customers to be under any impression at all that they would be discriminated against in their stores. This is why most business leaders don't lobby against anti-discrimination laws. Anti-discrimination laws ultimately protect businesses because with such laws in place, people know that they are welcome in any store. Governor Pence is going out of his way to protect a very small number of businesses that are doomed to fail anyway.
4. People make up new religions all the time. And who is to say which new faiths are sincere? I'm sure the Heaven's Gate cult members were sincere about their new faith when they all poisoned themselves. So if someone starts the High Church Of Tall Grass And Smoking Crack, will the City of Fort Wayne intervene by forcing HCOTGASC members to stop smoking crack and start mowing their yards?
5. If you are going to open a business that doesn't serve gay people because of your religious beliefs, why not just call your business a church and claim tax exempt status? Heck, if the law sticks then I wonder what would happen if a burning bush told me to stop paying Indiana taxes?
1. There should never be religious exemptions for any law. Laws against murder are great laws, and there are no religious exemptions for those laws. Even if you believe that consuming the hearts of your enemies will cause you to absorb their strength and courage, you still aren't allowed to kill a person and cut open their chest for that purpose. Good laws shouldn't have religious exemptions, and bad laws should just be repealed entirely. If it's ok for Indian tribes to take peyote, anybody should be allowed to take peyote.
2. The First Amendment already guarantees your right to believe whatever you want. But certain beliefs will hold you back from pursuing certain careers. If you are Amish, you probably can't work in IT. If you believe that killing animals is wrong, you can't work in a slaughterhouse. If you are a pacifist, then you can't be a US Marine. And if your beliefs prevent you from providing service to an entire group of customers, then your beliefs will prevent you from succeeding in the retail industry. I do wish all of the above groups the best of luck in finding gainful employment, but they just won't have the same options as the rest of us.
3, Real business owners don't want to discriminate. They don't want to turn down paying customers. And they really don't want paying customers to be under any impression at all that they would be discriminated against in their stores. This is why most business leaders don't lobby against anti-discrimination laws. Anti-discrimination laws ultimately protect businesses because with such laws in place, people know that they are welcome in any store. Governor Pence is going out of his way to protect a very small number of businesses that are doomed to fail anyway.
4. People make up new religions all the time. And who is to say which new faiths are sincere? I'm sure the Heaven's Gate cult members were sincere about their new faith when they all poisoned themselves. So if someone starts the High Church Of Tall Grass And Smoking Crack, will the City of Fort Wayne intervene by forcing HCOTGASC members to stop smoking crack and start mowing their yards?
5. If you are going to open a business that doesn't serve gay people because of your religious beliefs, why not just call your business a church and claim tax exempt status? Heck, if the law sticks then I wonder what would happen if a burning bush told me to stop paying Indiana taxes?
Friday, December 12, 2014
Recent Photo
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1. I will become Amish before ever using Verizon for my cell phone service again.
2. I will abandon even Amish levels of technology and become a hunter-gatherer before ever talking to one of Xfinity's customer retention specialists again. Stop trying to take me for a sucker. Stop making me have to threaten to cancel my service in order to keep from being charged $80 a month for Internet access. Because I don't make threats. I make promises, and I keep them.
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Things to take away from the Gamergate controversy.
I'm not going to take sides in this idiotic debate. Seriously, two months of shouting over a video game review? Anyway, this is all stuff that both sides should have learned by now.
1. There will be jerks and sociopaths on all sides of any controversy. Just because Nixon created the EPA doesn't mean that environmental regulations are a bad idea. Just because Josef Stalin was part of the Allies doesn't mean you should support the Axis.
2. Being a jerk doesn't help your cause either. People have an understandable bias against good ideas when they hear them from bad people.
3. Being offended doesn't mean that you are right.
4. A review of a work of art cannot be completely objective. Whether it is a novel, a movie, gourmet food, or a video game, different people can have different opinions of it. A review reflects the opinion of the reviewer. Opinions aren't right or wrong, but they can be unpopular. Roger Ebert gave 3.5 stars out of a possible 4 to 'Phantom Menace'. Any reviewer can give any rating to anything.
5. Sending death threats to activists only serves to convince them that their cause is vital and just.
6. Decrying offensive content of video games only serves to boost sales.
7. Nothing ever gets resolved on Twitter.
8. If we're arguing, don't send me a video. I hate watching preachy videos on the Internet. You can blame Upworthy for that. Consider yourself lucky that I'm reading what you've typed. If your reason and logic won't convince me, then talking heads and dramatic music won't work either.
1. There will be jerks and sociopaths on all sides of any controversy. Just because Nixon created the EPA doesn't mean that environmental regulations are a bad idea. Just because Josef Stalin was part of the Allies doesn't mean you should support the Axis.
2. Being a jerk doesn't help your cause either. People have an understandable bias against good ideas when they hear them from bad people.
3. Being offended doesn't mean that you are right.
4. A review of a work of art cannot be completely objective. Whether it is a novel, a movie, gourmet food, or a video game, different people can have different opinions of it. A review reflects the opinion of the reviewer. Opinions aren't right or wrong, but they can be unpopular. Roger Ebert gave 3.5 stars out of a possible 4 to 'Phantom Menace'. Any reviewer can give any rating to anything.
5. Sending death threats to activists only serves to convince them that their cause is vital and just.
6. Decrying offensive content of video games only serves to boost sales.
7. Nothing ever gets resolved on Twitter.
8. If we're arguing, don't send me a video. I hate watching preachy videos on the Internet. You can blame Upworthy for that. Consider yourself lucky that I'm reading what you've typed. If your reason and logic won't convince me, then talking heads and dramatic music won't work either.
Friday, October 10, 2014
Why Red Cross Pheresis Donors Should Be Allowed to Play Civilization On Red Cross Computers
A pheresis donation is where a blood donor donates blood platelets and plasma. A needle is inserted into the donor's arm and blood is extracted by a pheresis machine. This machine separates red blood cells, plasma, and platelets. The red blood cells are returned to the donor, and the plasma and platelets are stored in plastic bags. The plasma has various important medical uses. The platelets are used for medical patients who have trouble forming blood clots.
Pheresis donors are NOT paid, because the FDA prohibits blood products from paid donors to be used in patients. We do this because it saves lives. The ideal pheresis donor has an AB+ or AB- blood type, because these blood types lack the antibodies that could trigger rejection in donors with different blood types.
This process takes several hours, during which the donor just sits in a reclining chair with a needle in his or her arm. .Sometimes the process can be quicker if the donor has a needle in both arms. The donor has the option of watching daytime television oc PG or G rated movies. If the donor has an arm that doesn't have a needle in it, then that they can use their free arm to use a computer to the extent possible with one hand. But since this is a shared public computer, that severely limits what I'm able to do with it. The only games on this thing are Pinball, Solitaire, and Minesweeper.
Yes, it's a first world problem. I'm healthy enough to share my blood with cancer patients and save their lives. And I'm bored out of my mind during the process.
So I propose that additional games be installed if donors are willing to pay for the Red Cross to have its own copy. The games must be rated "E for Everyone" and be able to be played with a trackball mouse. One such game that can be played for hours on end is Civilization. It is a wholesome, educational game in which the player builds a civilization from scratch, founding cities and building libraries, universities, and a military to protect those cities. If you played it, you know how addicting it is. Other games will make your thumbs sore and your brain numb. People who play Civilization can and do play it for hours. A single game of Civilization can take 24 hours or more to complete. So pheresis donors would have to play their games over the course of several visits.
Civilization is a game that reminds players of the greater good. The donors who enjoy this game will be motivated to make donation appointments on a regular basis. Ultimately, this would benefit the cancer patients and hemophilia patients that the Red Cross is trying to help.
Pheresis donors are NOT paid, because the FDA prohibits blood products from paid donors to be used in patients. We do this because it saves lives. The ideal pheresis donor has an AB+ or AB- blood type, because these blood types lack the antibodies that could trigger rejection in donors with different blood types.
This process takes several hours, during which the donor just sits in a reclining chair with a needle in his or her arm. .Sometimes the process can be quicker if the donor has a needle in both arms. The donor has the option of watching daytime television oc PG or G rated movies. If the donor has an arm that doesn't have a needle in it, then that they can use their free arm to use a computer to the extent possible with one hand. But since this is a shared public computer, that severely limits what I'm able to do with it. The only games on this thing are Pinball, Solitaire, and Minesweeper.
Yes, it's a first world problem. I'm healthy enough to share my blood with cancer patients and save their lives. And I'm bored out of my mind during the process.
So I propose that additional games be installed if donors are willing to pay for the Red Cross to have its own copy. The games must be rated "E for Everyone" and be able to be played with a trackball mouse. One such game that can be played for hours on end is Civilization. It is a wholesome, educational game in which the player builds a civilization from scratch, founding cities and building libraries, universities, and a military to protect those cities. If you played it, you know how addicting it is. Other games will make your thumbs sore and your brain numb. People who play Civilization can and do play it for hours. A single game of Civilization can take 24 hours or more to complete. So pheresis donors would have to play their games over the course of several visits.
Civilization is a game that reminds players of the greater good. The donors who enjoy this game will be motivated to make donation appointments on a regular basis. Ultimately, this would benefit the cancer patients and hemophilia patients that the Red Cross is trying to help.
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