from overheardinnewyork.com

Dumb teen: Hey, look at this! It says "Train for jobs in biotch."
Smarter teen: Fool! That word is biotech. Why you gotta be ignorant all your life?

--1 train

Computer techs turn to fisticuffs for fun

the first rule of fight club is YOU DO NOT GET THE FIGHT CLUB FEATURED ON THE FRONT PAGE OF CNN.COM.

from here

they'd probably say this is wrong.

then again, i'm sure other religions would get this kind of scrutiny if they were recent enough. other religions simply have the benefit of their origins being before printing presses and newspapers and people actually accurately documenting what the hell was going on.

so all religions are kooky, right? i'm thinking so. here's something i read that made me feel a lot better about what i believe:
it's called An Atheist Manifesto. It's really well written and will make you think (if you're someone who likes to think) or will maybe make you mad (if you're someone who believes and doesn't like to think).

Here's a great paragraph discussing people's rational explanations for their beliefs:

It is perfectly absurd for religious moderates to suggest that a rational human being can believe in God simply because this belief makes him happy, relieves his fear of death or gives his life meaning. The absurdity becomes obvious the moment we swap the notion of God for some other consoling proposition: Imagine, for instance, that a man wants to believe that there is a diamond buried somewhere in his yard that is the size of a refrigerator. No doubt it would feel uncommonly good to believe this. Just imagine what would happen if he then followed the example of religious moderates and maintained this belief along pragmatic lines: When asked why he thinks that there is a diamond in his yard that is thousands of times larger than any yet discovered, he says things like, "This belief gives my life meaning," or "My family and I enjoy digging for it on Sundays," or "I wouldn't want to live in a universe where there wasn't a diamond buried in my backyard that is the size of a refrigerator." Clearly these responses are inadequate. But they are worse than that. They are the responses of a madman or an idiot.

The book is filled with stuff about how God wants you to be really awesome, but you're messing everything up by being less-than-awesome. He tells stories of how he lives with the belief that he has the 'favor of God' and it helps him get good jobs and sweet parking spots (the sweet parking spot story is actually in the book. I could have made it up, but I didn't have to).

Now I'm all for being happy, but can't helping feeling like I'm cheating myself by saying "Well, everything's gonna be ok, 'cause God is trying to make awesome stuff happen to me." I'm not using this post to debate the existance of God, I just don't think he's wrapped up in whether or not I get a good parking spot.

I don't really buy it, but I can't really muster the strength to fight against it. If people believe that God 'wants to increase you financially,' is that so bad? Maybe not. If religion helps you feel happier and do better things and get off the drugs and move off of the street, cool. Keep it up. Just realize that it's not for everyone. I appreciate you praying for my soul, but it probably won't make me show up on Sundays.

I'm trying to see the book for what it says that's not about God. Maybe thinking positively will help you focus on happier things. Getting up and doing something will open more door than doing nothing. Good things (along with bad) happen to everyone, and you have a choice in which ones you think about more.

Since I've started reading the book, I've been doing more. I've made little changes to what I do. The TV isn't on the entire time I'm home. I make it a point to leave my studio to do things, I bring the laptop and do work outside. I'm trying to make the most out of living here, instead of waiting for something to happen.

I feel like it's more about self-motivation than religion. I think the book wants me to say, "I'm not serving the God the right way if I stay at home. I should go do something."

Instead, I'm thinking: "Dude, if nutjobs like this author can make it big, I can doing something wrong."

I think that's what I need. I just need to remind myself to do stuff. I can do so much more than I do, I just get lazy then stuck. Maybe just reading more of any kind of book would help. Maybe books that have a little more meat to them would make me do even more than this book has.

Either way, the book's kind of a success. I'm off my ass, doing more, and getting myself tired enough to get a better sleep. Don't buy the book, though. Just borrow it from me.

more background on it from the honolulu advertiser

i have some pics that i'll put up. but really, they won't really be effective in conveying what the island is/was about. as someone on the island said to me, "there's more to the island than the just the land."

i got to meet and become friends with amazing people, from one of the original 9 that is mentioned in that advertiser article to the (formerly) scary big guy that i sometimes play ball with on saturdays. i was met with an incredible feeling that i was at just the right place at just the right time. the friend who invited me (who took amazingly awesome care of me) mentioned that the island is there whenever people are ready to experience it. i think it was my time.

i'm going back. i'm not sure when, but i don't think i'm done helping the island, and i'm sure i need more help from the island. if you're interested, let me know. i can share my experiences and connect you with those who know much more.

other than that, i don't think i'll be talking about it too much. i just don't feel i can articulate the experience in a way that would do the island any justice. maybe i'll take a stab at it later. maybe.

**the image is a map of where in the US people are viewing the blogs i've set up at work.

it's simple with my web hosting deal. that's because all the online documentation says things like, "if you need to do that, you need to ask your system administrator." i'm not the system administrator. good for me.

but for work, I'M the system administrator (more or less). so i'm screwed. sorry guys. we lose.

will keep trying, though.

anyway. while this is a loss for the children, this is a big win for the good chairman.

i'm heading to kahoolawe tonight. well, tonight i go to maui, and on to "the island" tomorrow. check out www.kahoolawe.org to see what i'll be doing. it's cool stuff. hopefully i'll put up pictures here. all auto-thumbnailed and pretty. hopefully.

then i try to install mysql. not so straightforward.

i downloaded the mysql5.0 distribution from www.mysql.com. but then when i go to terminal and type "mysql" or "mysql -v" or something, i get this:

that would have worked if i was installing with window, i think. blah.

anyway, i found tony arnold's instructions, and while he didn't explain why or how, they work. i'm blogging this more so i can remember what i did than for you, america.

basically, i hadn't installed the mysql bindings. and that made everything all pissy.

1. go to www.mysql.com. get latest stable version of mysql. (for me, it was 5.0.18-standard for powerpc)
2. unzip/untar and run the installer
3. Un-install any MySQL rubygems you may already have installed. We need to remove any earlier - possibly failed - attempts at installing the binding:

then it says:
checking for mysql_ssl_set()... yes
checking for mysql.h... yes
creating Makefile

then i'm like:

then he's all:

gcc -fno-common -arch ppc -g -Os -pipe -fno-common -arch ppc -pipe -pipe -fno-common -I. -I/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/powerpc-darwin8.0 -I/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/powerpc-darwin8.0 -I. -DHAVE_MYSQL_SSL_SET -DHAVE_MYSQL_H -I/usr/local/mysql/include -Os -arch ppc -c mysql.c
cc -dynamic -bundle -undefined suppress -flat_namespace -L"/usr/lib" -o mysql.bundle mysql.o -L/usr/local/mysql/lib -lmysqlclient -lz -lm -lpthread -ldl -lobjc

then i say:

then he said:
install -c -p -m 0755 mysql.bundle /usr/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/powerpc-darwin8.0

and i'm done. then, i can say "mysql" in terminal and it works.
for now.

i also found out that my fancy AWStats stuff that i set up a while back broke. on Dec 25th, it stopped working. merry xmas to me! what was wrong? who knows. is it fixed? not yet.

but i updated the stuff by following directions from here:

so it's up to date. still broken. but whatever. blah!

it got me thinking about all those great actors who are in a lot of movies whose names you don't know. like jim's dad from american pie. and this guy. they're pretty awesome. and they've been in WAY more movies than your standard movie stars like tom hanks or julia roberts.

anyway, it got me wondering who the most prolific actor and actress are. so, the challenge:

name the (living) actor and actress that has been in the most movies.

weaksauce "ask yahoo" names some dead guy as the most ever, then gives some vague answer dealing with how prolific bollywood is. lame.

imdb gives this list, but it's all people i've never heard of who i assume are dead.

my answer for most prolific actor is "the mexican guy who's in everything" (danny trejo). think about it. he's been in EVERYTHING!

your move...

**i just looked up Brian Dennehy, and he has more. but he's way old and not nearly as cool as that mexican guy.

the problem was that my preferred break was ultra-crowded. and not normal-crowded with a bunch of people who like to sit out on their surfboards and not catch waves. i don't mind those crowds. this was a crowd of people who all knew each other and were doing some disney-mighty-ducks-on-the-ice-formations to keep others off of waves. it wasn't just lame, it was lame enough. (didn't really work that time, huh?)

anyway, i saw a friend at a nearby break and paddled there. we talked for a while, and i tried to work on going left.

for the non-surfers: you don't just catch a wave straight. well, you can, but it's way more fun and productive to catch a wave and go one way or the other. the wave, and your place on it, usually dictates which way you should go. here we see a left, pipeline (left), and a right, backdoor (right). the direction is from the surfer's perspective as he/she is riding the wave.
 

i'm really bad at going left. i stand with my left foot forward on the board ("regular"-footed vs. "goofy"), and i find it way easier to surf with my body facing the wave rather than my back facing the wave. i usually shy away from going left and seek out breaks that are rights. but hey, i'm not getting any younger, i might as well practice something i'm bad at and learn stuff. yay learning!

well, someone that has influence on the outcome of things hates me. after doing moderately forgettable on a few waves, i wound up getting dragged across the reef. my back is all bloody and torn up. not a huge part of my back, maybe just the size of two or three credit cards. but it's in just the right spot so it's hard to wipe with soap and/or alcohol.

i just hope i get the hang of going left. cause there's a ton of really good lefts out there that i'd love to ride. places at which i don't look forward to getting scraped up.

well, he's managed to help his parents move out of his studio, clean up the aftermath of the parents' occupation, run the honolulu marathon without causing himself the permanent damage caused by last year's run, and max out his annual IRA contribution.

you're saying to yourself, "wow. that chairman is one grownup and mature guy." and i'd say, "psht! ...sucka". the cleaning was the only thing i could do pre-marathon. and the IRA stuff was something i put on my todo list in FEBRUARY.

the marathon is a blessing and a curse. the blessing, as i'm sure you've heard from others, is how "blah blah blah you overcome your preconceived physical limits and achieve your goals."

the curses come before and after.
after: (clearly), the inability to walk easily and live life without pain.
before: the idea that you can't do anything, because you need to 'save yourself' for the marathon. i didn't do anything friday or saturday. no surfing, no lifting, no physical anything. no drinking, no laughing, no smiling. nothing.

anyway, i haven't done much in the past two weeks. but i gots plans. if i can just finish this damn xmas shopping.