Commentary, Rants, and Raves

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Stay tuned to this space for me to exercise my Constitutionally protected freedom of speech.

Regular Features

My Web Journal - What's my life like? (Yes, I know the in word is blog.)
Themed Webjournal Clippings - Individual entries sorted and organized by topic.

One-Time Editorials

TurboTaxed: Intuit, Makers of QuickBooks, Quicken, and TurboTax, Don't Want My Business Either - (Rant and Log) I tried doing my taxes this year through TurboTax Online, just like in years past. It did not go well. Out of need, I got to experience Intuit's customer support in three different ways. The short version: Intuit managed to make Dell look good! I should've switched to something else years ago.
A "Key" to Civil Disobedience - (Essay) This is not an ill thought out revolt. I have spent a great deal of time mulling this over, and even though it made me late to the bandwagon I decided I should write this. Follow for a number that Hollywood thinks is illegal to write, why it isn't, and why it shouldn't ever be.
The Passing of Alexsi Athenis - (Essay) I was assigned to write an essay about an event that changed the way I look at something. This is about the only friend I ever lost without getting a chance to say good-bye. This friend is one I met online, and her passing cemented the way I look at virtual worlds and online games.
Neighborhood Hazard, or Why the Cops Won't Patrol Brice Street Anymore - We always knew there was something sinister about squirrels... If you need a laugh, here it is.
Cubs Make History the Wrong Way - (Commentary) On their way to the 2003 World Series, the NL Central Division Champion Chicago Cubs fell apart in Game Six. Up three games to two, and up three runs to none, over the wildcard Marlins, just five outs from winning the National League Pennant, the Cubs let one little fan incident stop them cold. One little incident, which in reality was not an incident at all.
Spam Spam Spam Spam Email Spam Spam and Spam - (Rant and How-To.) Updated on Sunday, May 1, 2005. After my experience with Hotmail (who to this day I nickname "Hotspam"), I was desperate to see my spam count drop. Never again will I allow my mailboxes to get nearly 1,000 spam a day. Since then, I remained relatively spam-free at home, at sea, and on the road, and I remained absolutely spam-free at work. The end of spamlessness at work, after six years of success, made me furious. This information must be published and made available to as many present and potential spam victims as possible. Only education will reduce spam. Only diligent self-discipline will eliminate spam.
Football Fans and Football Rules - (Comment.) Football earned a black eye one day when referees, whose job it is to enforce game rules, broke those rules. But everyone focused on the symptom, thousands of flying beer bottles, instead of the cause.
Why Santana Happened - (Rant.) The observation I made on school shootings the day after the one at Santana High School in March 2001. Even though I wrote it a long time ago, I lacked the time to write a cohesive essay until much later. Odds are that my observation will prove true once again in the next school shooting or shooting plot. (If I'm wrong, watch this space for me to eat my words, but I firmly believe I'm right.)

Totally Random Quotes and Tidbits

The sanity-saving chant when living in a strange land: "Non carborundum bastardum." Don't let the bastards get you down.

"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of." -Benjamin Franklin

IRC: <ArielMT:#litestep> spellign onluy cvount sin commands, configs, and code, not inc hat

"I hope you're learning two lessons very few so-called 'hackers' learn: words mean things no matter what language you use, and everything you do has consequences for which you alone are responsible and accountable." -Ariel Millennium Thornton, Thornton 2 Productions Spokesman and Mascot

"It is not the function of our government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error." -Robert H. Jackson

"Example moves the world more than doctrine. The great exemplars are the poets of action, and it makes little difference whether they are forces for good or forces for evil." -Henry Miller

"Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else." -Judy Garland

"The first requisite of a good citizen in this republic of ours is that he shall be able and willing to pull his weight." -Theodore Roosevelt

"There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy. By being happy we sow anonymous benefits upon the world." -Robert Louis Stevenson

"It is easy enough to be friendly to one's friends. But to befriend the one who regards himself as your enemy is the quintessence of true religion. The other is mere business." -Mahatma Gandhi

"All love that has not friendship for its base, is like a mansion built upon the sand." -Ella Wheeler Wilcox

"I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood." -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Q: What do you call an enlightened liberal?
A: A conservative.

Thornton2.com

Commentary, Rants, and Raves

Regular Features

One-Time Editorials

Totally Random Quotes and Tidbits

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