iMike

Thoughts
These are some of my thoughts... this is a free look into my head... that is as much of a heartwarming greeting as it is a warning.
You know what's the best thing about rational thought? Every answer spawns infinite questions, and those questions spawn infinite answers. Thought is endless... a perfect circle. Thought is the most beautiful thing that human beings are capable of, and nobody does it enough. (Not even Brian)
Next time you have an answer, contradict yourself. Question your answer, even if you think it's right. It can be fun. Just don't dedicate your entire life to questions... you'd never get anything done. ;)
"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. "
- Galileo Galilei

Uninteresting
People

01/01/01: You know, uninteresting people really don't excite me. I suppose they shouldn't, as that is the nature of something uninteresting, but still if you're going to talk to me, have the courtesy to NOT be boring. Please, do this for me. I think from now on, I'm going to have a secret code word, something like "Hey, is that Hawkeye Shantankarrah?" If I say that, please do your best to find something a little more exciting to say then what you are currently saying. Likewise, please feel free to do the same to me if I become boring.

Limp Bizkit

12/27/00: People have to realize something: Limp Bizkit is nothing more than a commercial boy band. Sure, they're 'angrier' than other bands and sure, they play instruments, but let's look at the marketplace of music right now. We can basically lump all teenage music listeners into a few categories:

Angry people
Happy people

And corporations already fabricate musical groups in order to appeal to the people in these categories.

Limp Bizkit
Boy and girl bands

There are many people that go into the category with Limp Bizkit, granted, but they sure head it up. Think about it, the new song by Limp Bizkit, "My Generation" is appealing to the young generation. Not Fred Durst's generation, of course, because Fred is, like, almost thirty years old, if not older. (Admittance: I don't know Durst's age, but I don't care to know that information either. My point still remains unharmed regardless of his age). He's marketing the song to the new generation's anger. It has absolutely NOTHING to do with Durst's own personal experiences or opinions, regardless of what anybody says. Durst is in it for the money, and nothing more. So let's sum this up: the lead 'rebel' in Limp Bizkit is a sham. His anger is completely manufactured.

Religion

12/17/00: I was sitting down watching G-Force, a plug-in for Macast, and I was thinking to myself, "Would I have downloaded this plug-in if it had been called it's full name, 'God-Force' instead?" And I came to a conclusion that, no, I probably would not have gave it a second glance. And that really threw me off because it's really a wonderful thing. I'm quite glad that I did. And then I thought, "Well, is there a lot of things out there in this world that I'm passing up simply because they have a religious implementation?" There probably is, and I can't believe that I was that self-absorbed and arrogant. I've come to a new understanding because of this, and that is that just because I don't readily believe in a higher being, doesn't really give me the right to force this onto others, as long as they don't force their beliefs onto me. It's essentially the Golden Rule. I'm also not going to be as "ethnocentric" I suppose on this subject. Because of Brian (or raig, as he prefers) I've gained a new insight on how to properly handle an argument. You listen. Thank you Brian.
Before...: Religion, my friends, is going the way of the dinosaur. It's becoming extinct as generations grow up. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. The only thing that one could possibly say is useful about organized religion is that we get a sense of morals from it. Bullshit. I know many people that never go to church, myself included, and that doesn't mean I'm going to go out and commit arson or shoot somebody in the head. If somebody's got problems that are bad enough that they have to kill somebody, showing them the way of God is only going to delay them. It won't change their ideas or their views on the world. Period.

Television

Jaqueline had an interesting idea that I thought was very accurate.
We say, "I'm going to go watch television." Television, however, is a noun, and the correct sentence should be, "I'm going to go watch the television." Why don't we say the latter instead of the former?
Through the years we've actually been able (or ignorant enough to) personify the television as a member of our family. For example, "I'm going to go watch Fred." It's quite creepy, but true in a very logical sense.
Which brings up an interesting point of convesation, have we as a society done this to anything else? Have we personified any other non-living objects? None are really coming to mind, but I suppose neither did the television incident. The truth is that we do this every day... we give material objects human characteristics and then treat them as humans. With religion becoming less and less of a force in the modern world, we look to other things for religious qualities. Freud said, "Religion is the opium of the masses." We're looking for a new source of opium every day in the way of movies, television, music, literature. So does this make us any worse off than popes, priests, and the people that listen to them? No, in this sense, we're all guilty of some form of religion.

This Generation

12/23/00: These days, people want a better job title, but they don't necessarily want to be better at that job.
12/17/00: No, I'm not talking about Pepsi here, folks. The new generation. I'm really talking about kids born between 1980-1990, whatever you want to dub them. Kids these days seem to be losing respect for everyone and everything as time passes. This can be attributed to laziness, I suppose, and that can be attributed directly to technology. As technology gets further and further along, we're essentially getting lazier and lazier. If there's another, easier way to do something, that's how we'll do it.
Not only that, but think to yourself about the last time you went to get a burger at McDonald's. (I use McDonald's in this scenario simply because it is popular. Substitute in any restaurant where the majority of employees are youth if it pleases you.) Your food wasn't prepared properly. This goes back to the kid that was making it, not taking care to prepare it properly. They could argue that they weren't trained properly. Well, that goes back to laziness too, because they certainly could have asked somebody how to do their job properly.
The problem these days is that nobody wants to work. Well, people want to work because of the money, I suppose, but they don't want to do a good job at their work. Everybody wants the easier way out. My challenge to you: next time you're faced with a problem, take whatever way out that leaves the results as best as possible. Don't cut corners. Do it right. Because the next burger I order, I damn well want it made properly. =)

IBM/Macintosh

Macs are better. PC's are just more affordable.
12/17/00: In the spirit of the 'Religion' section of this page, I will try not to force my views of the Macintosh system onto anybody else. Again, thank you Brian. Or, perhaps, you're welcome, Brian.
12/16/00: Feel fortunate. I've decided I owe it to you to elaborate. =)
There was a study done a while back where they took a brand new Macintosh computer and a brand new PC (Pentium III, I believe). They were all normalized and of good functioning order. They opened the same files in Photoshop and did the same filters on them, and the Windows machine (Win98 or 2k, if I remember correctly) froze the machine three times before the Macintosh did. And that was something like four months later.
Macs are more stable.
The fastest PC will never catch up to the fastest Macintosh computer. The current 800 MHz Pentium III computer is 2.5 times slower than the 450 MHz G4 computer. It has been proven over and over again.
Macs are faster.
Macintosh users are not as ignorant. Get a PC user into an argument along these lines and they'll say, "Macs suck." Whereas a Macintosh user will give a specific reason why they don't like PC. PC users battle with opinion and not fact. Also, most PC users who say, "Macs suck," have never even used a Mac. They are unenlightened.
More and more companies (especially in the printing trade) are switching and buying Mac computers. Blair Witch was made on four G4 computers. Professionals use Macs.
10/11/00: Lately, especially in school, people have been saying that they hate Macs. I'm trying to figure this out, and maybe somebody can help me. I can understand how people could get a false impression about how much superior Macintosh computers are to Windows-based machines because at school we are using old hardware that's trying to push new software while the IBM lab contains brand new everythings.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the Macintosh Operating System is much more stable, much more configurable, and much simpler. A completely Macintosh world would be Heaven.

Women

You know, in a Maxim Magazine interview, Chris Rock said it best...
"Women like it when the guy they want to sleep with also happens to be funny. It's never the guy they find funny is the guy they want to sleep with. If you're attractive, women want to have sex with you, then get to know you. If you're not attractive, they get to know you really well before they'll have sex with you."
You can say that it's not true as much as you want, but it is! A girl doesn't start talking to a guy because she thinks he's funny, she'll talk to him if he's attractive. I don't know where I'm going with this, though... it's 3:39 in the morning, I've just started watching 200 Cigarettes for the thirtieth time, and it just hit me.
Damn, I need a girlfriend.
I'll start taking applications for the aformentioned position tomorrow.

I Am Canadian

Yeah, everybody knows I'm a die hard Canadian. I love my country, blah blah blah, but I'm really starting to hate Molson Canadian's 'I Am Canadian' slogan. Why? Well, I'm not exactly fond of the idea that they are using nationalism to sell their product. To me it kind of sounds like they're cheating people into buying their beer. Drink Canadian or else you're a Yankee. Got me?
I suppose it would be okay to call your product "Canadian" if the customers realize that when you order a Canadian it has no reflection whatsoever on your personality, national pride, or personal beliefs.

Jocks

I'm getting sick of seeing jocks get drunk either at a bar or at a party. Then the assholes want to show off how tough they are by picking fights with everybody. Why can't they just go out some place and just have a good time? They always seem to have to beat the piss out of anybody there for no reason.
Note: this never happened to me yet, but I still feel threatened any time I enter a bar.

Skaters

My friends skateboard. They're always complaining about how nobody ever lets them skate anywhere and that skaters have bad reputations. And then whenever they go out to skate, they'll break stuff, move things like garbage cans and picnic tables, take signs, etc. Doesn't this seem a tad hypocritical to anybody else?

Napster

Napster is good. Very good. I saw an interview with Face To Face the other day... one of the band members said something really good, and it was something along the lines of '... artists should embrace the technology...'
Artists should embrace this technology completely, not fear it. (Metallica.)
If anything, the outcome of this whole Napster debate will lead to record companies having to reduce the prices of their albums to something a little more reasonable.
Again, Brian has given me some good insight. The cost of albums probably won't be reduced any time soon... the bottom line is that nobody is losing money. The entertainment and music industry are thriving, so there is no need for change yet.

Americans

Yeah, yeah... many of the Americans I've met have been moderately nice people, some have even been downright cool, but Americans as a culture are completely useless. I'm insanely embarassed for our countries to even be near each other, let alone share borders.

How come the Americans have, for argument's sake, the second best technology in the world (second to Japan, 'natch), yet they've shown the least progress with it than any first world country? There's too much inner war in the United States for them to progress at all. Their politics are horrible, their government is in a downward spiral, and their drug-infested disease-ridden population is killing off rest of us.

Now, if I can stop myself from being so harsh on those loveable arrogant bastards, I'll list some things the Americans give us that is useful...

Literature
Television
Movies
Magazines
Music

Gee... how come all that I listed was entertainment related? Oh, right, that's because anything else can be made much more effectively in any other country.
(Side note: Comedian Al Franken once said, "Do everybody a favour. Do it for yourself, do it for us, do it for me. You have a standing army. Invade us."
Oh, and Canadian women are the best women. (Yay, Canada)
(This doesn't apply to Sassy-Ass, the #Edmonton channel operator who happens to be American. Also, PR_Caspian... the coolest guy in the world. He made me an Op. We love him.)

Murder

Yes, I believe that murder is wrong. However, I also believe in capital punishment for those proven guilty.
Can you justify killing a killer? Yes, and quite simply too, as a matter of fact. When a human being takes another life, he is no longer a human being. He is a ruthlessly savage beast, and should no longer have the gift of life. Why should the taxpayers pay with their hard earned money to keep the bastards in prison alive? I know I'd rather have my tax money go to something a little more useful.
"But my that's my son/daughter!" Well, you screwed up when you raised him/her. That's your problem. I mean, come on... it doesn't matter who they are! The fact is they still committed a crime, and should be punished. I don't think our laws these days are strict enough.
Claiming insanity is just like passing blame, when you think about it. Nobody wants to take accountability for their actions any more.

HIV

This is going to be a tricky topic. I think that HIV is not entirely a bad thing. Natural Selection aside, this world is becoming too overpopulated. We're killing ourselves much too fast. If it's weening off the population, great. That will end up saving the lives of others in the future.
It's a fairly simple thing to avoid, when you think about it. My friend called it "The Perfect Disease." And he's probably right. Generally, you can't get it unless you're not careful. Just don't get it on with anybody that is not "safe." Or, at the very least, try some protection, as futile as contraceptives prove to be these days.
However, HIV acquired through rape is an entirely different matter. I do feel compassion for those that are raped and forced to have this disease thrust upon them. Those people that need this kind of savage entertainment should be killed. Nothing less than that.

		Thoughts These are some of my thoughts... this is a free look into my head... that is as much of a heartwarming greeting as it is a warning. You know what's the best thing about rational thought? Every answer spawns infinite questions, and those questions spawn infinite answers. Thought is endless... a perfect circle. Thought is the most beautiful thing that human beings are capable of, and nobody does it enough. (Not even Brian) Next time you have an answer, contradict yourself. Question your answer, even if you think it's right. It can be fun. Just don't dedicate your entire life to questions... you'd never get anything done. ;) "I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. " - Galileo Galilei
Uninteresting People		01/01/01: You know, uninteresting people really don't excite me. I suppose they shouldn't, as that is the nature of something uninteresting, but still if you're going to talk to me, have the courtesy to NOT be boring. Please, do this for me. I think from now on, I'm going to have a secret code word, something like "Hey, is that Hawkeye Shantankarrah?" If I say that, please do your best to find something a little more exciting to say then what you are currently saying. Likewise, please feel free to do the same to me if I become boring.
Limp Bizkit		12/27/00: People have to realize something: Limp Bizkit is nothing more than a commercial boy band. Sure, they're 'angrier' than other bands and sure, they play instruments, but let's look at the marketplace of music right now. We can basically lump all teenage music listeners into a few categories: Angry people Happy people And corporations already fabricate musical groups in order to appeal to the people in these categories. Limp Bizkit Boy and girl bands There are many people that go into the category with Limp Bizkit, granted, but they sure head it up. Think about it, the new song by Limp Bizkit, "My Generation" is appealing to the young generation. Not Fred Durst's generation, of course, because Fred is, like, almost thirty years old, if not older. (Admittance: I don't know Durst's age, but I don't care to know that information either. My point still remains unharmed regardless of his age). He's marketing the song to the new generation's anger. It has absolutely NOTHING to do with Durst's own personal experiences or opinions, regardless of what anybody says. Durst is in it for the money, and nothing more. So let's sum this up: the lead 'rebel' in Limp Bizkit is a sham. His anger is completely manufactured.
Religion		12/17/00: I was sitting down watching G-Force, a plug-in for Macast, and I was thinking to myself, "Would I have downloaded this plug-in if it had been called it's full name, 'God-Force' instead?" And I came to a conclusion that, no, I probably would not have gave it a second glance. And that really threw me off because it's really a wonderful thing. I'm quite glad that I did. And then I thought, "Well, is there a lot of things out there in this world that I'm passing up simply because they have a religious implementation?" There probably is, and I can't believe that I was that self-absorbed and arrogant. I've come to a new understanding because of this, and that is that just because I don't readily believe in a higher being, doesn't really give me the right to force this onto others, as long as they don't force their beliefs onto me. It's essentially the Golden Rule. I'm also not going to be as "ethnocentric" I suppose on this subject. Because of Brian (or raig, as he prefers) I've gained a new insight on how to properly handle an argument. You listen. Thank you Brian. Before...: Religion, my friends, is going the way of the dinosaur. It's becoming extinct as generations grow up. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. The only thing that one could possibly say is useful about organized religion is that we get a sense of morals from it. Bullshit. I know many people that never go to church, myself included, and that doesn't mean I'm going to go out and commit arson or shoot somebody in the head. If somebody's got problems that are bad enough that they have to kill somebody, showing them the way of God is only going to delay them. It won't change their ideas or their views on the world. Period.
Television		Jaqueline had an interesting idea that I thought was very accurate. We say, "I'm going to go watch television." Television, however, is a noun, and the correct sentence should be, "I'm going to go watch the television." Why don't we say the latter instead of the former? Through the years we've actually been able (or ignorant enough to) personify the television as a member of our family. For example, "I'm going to go watch Fred." It's quite creepy, but true in a very logical sense. Which brings up an interesting point of convesation, have we as a society done this to anything else? Have we personified any other non-living objects? None are really coming to mind, but I suppose neither did the television incident. The truth is that we do this every day... we give material objects human characteristics and then treat them as humans. With religion becoming less and less of a force in the modern world, we look to other things for religious qualities. Freud said, "Religion is the opium of the masses." We're looking for a new source of opium every day in the way of movies, television, music, literature. So does this make us any worse off than popes, priests, and the people that listen to them? No, in this sense, we're all guilty of some form of religion.
This Generation		12/23/00: These days, people want a better job title, but they don't necessarily want to be better at that job. 12/17/00: No, I'm not talking about Pepsi here, folks. The new generation. I'm really talking about kids born between 1980-1990, whatever you want to dub them. Kids these days seem to be losing respect for everyone and everything as time passes. This can be attributed to laziness, I suppose, and that can be attributed directly to technology. As technology gets further and further along, we're essentially getting lazier and lazier. If there's another, easier way to do something, that's how we'll do it. Not only that, but think to yourself about the last time you went to get a burger at McDonald's. (I use McDonald's in this scenario simply because it is popular. Substitute in any restaurant where the majority of employees are youth if it pleases you.) Your food wasn't prepared properly. This goes back to the kid that was making it, not taking care to prepare it properly. They could argue that they weren't trained properly. Well, that goes back to laziness too, because they certainly could have asked somebody how to do their job properly. The problem these days is that nobody wants to work. Well, people want to work because of the money, I suppose, but they don't want to do a good job at their work. Everybody wants the easier way out. My challenge to you: next time you're faced with a problem, take whatever way out that leaves the results as best as possible. Don't cut corners. Do it right. Because the next burger I order, I damn well want it made properly. =)
IBM/Macintosh		Macs are better. PC's are just more affordable. 12/17/00: In the spirit of the 'Religion' section of this page, I will try not to force my views of the Macintosh system onto anybody else. Again, thank you Brian. Or, perhaps, you're welcome, Brian. 12/16/00: Feel fortunate. I've decided I owe it to you to elaborate. =) There was a study done a while back where they took a brand new Macintosh computer and a brand new PC (Pentium III, I believe). They were all normalized and of good functioning order. They opened the same files in Photoshop and did the same filters on them, and the Windows machine (Win98 or 2k, if I remember correctly) froze the machine three times before the Macintosh did. And that was something like four months later. Macs are more stable. The fastest PC will never catch up to the fastest Macintosh computer. The current 800 MHz Pentium III computer is 2.5 times slower than the 450 MHz G4 computer. It has been proven over and over again. Macs are faster. Macintosh users are not as ignorant. Get a PC user into an argument along these lines and they'll say, "Macs suck." Whereas a Macintosh user will give a specific reason why they don't like PC. PC users battle with opinion and not fact. Also, most PC users who say, "Macs suck," have never even used a Mac. They are unenlightened. More and more companies (especially in the printing trade) are switching and buying Mac computers. Blair Witch was made on four G4 computers. Professionals use Macs. 10/11/00: Lately, especially in school, people have been saying that they hate Macs. I'm trying to figure this out, and maybe somebody can help me. I can understand how people could get a false impression about how much superior Macintosh computers are to Windows-based machines because at school we are using old hardware that's trying to push new software while the IBM lab contains brand new everythings. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the Macintosh Operating System is much more stable, much more configurable, and much simpler. A completely Macintosh world would be Heaven.
Women		You know, in a Maxim Magazine interview, Chris Rock said it best... "Women like it when the guy they want to sleep with also happens to be funny. It's never the guy they find funny is the guy they want to sleep with. If you're attractive, women want to have sex with you, then get to know you. If you're not attractive, they get to know you really well before they'll have sex with you." You can say that it's not true as much as you want, but it is! A girl doesn't start talking to a guy because she thinks he's funny, she'll talk to him if he's attractive. I don't know where I'm going with this, though... it's 3:39 in the morning, I've just started watching 200 Cigarettes for the thirtieth time, and it just hit me. Damn, I need a girlfriend. I'll start taking applications for the aformentioned position tomorrow.
I Am Canadian		Yeah, everybody knows I'm a die hard Canadian. I love my country, blah blah blah, but I'm really starting to hate Molson Canadian's 'I Am Canadian' slogan. Why? Well, I'm not exactly fond of the idea that they are using nationalism to sell their product. To me it kind of sounds like they're cheating people into buying their beer. Drink Canadian or else you're a Yankee. Got me? I suppose it would be okay to call your product "Canadian" if the customers realize that when you order a Canadian it has no reflection whatsoever on your personality, national pride, or personal beliefs.
Jocks		I'm getting sick of seeing jocks get drunk either at a bar or at a party. Then the assholes want to show off how tough they are by picking fights with everybody. Why can't they just go out some place and just have a good time? They always seem to have to beat the piss out of anybody there for no reason. Note: this never happened to me yet, but I still feel threatened any time I enter a bar.
Skaters		My friends skateboard. They're always complaining about how nobody ever lets them skate anywhere and that skaters have bad reputations. And then whenever they go out to skate, they'll break stuff, move things like garbage cans and picnic tables, take signs, etc. Doesn't this seem a tad hypocritical to anybody else?
Napster		Napster is good. Very good. I saw an interview with Face To Face the other day... one of the band members said something really good, and it was something along the lines of '... artists should embrace the technology...' Artists should embrace this technology completely, not fear it. (Metallica.) If anything, the outcome of this whole Napster debate will lead to record companies having to reduce the prices of their albums to something a little more reasonable. Again, Brian has given me some good insight. The cost of albums probably won't be reduced any time soon... the bottom line is that nobody is losing money. The entertainment and music industry are thriving, so there is no need for change yet.
Americans		Yeah, yeah... many of the Americans I've met have been moderately nice people, some have even been downright cool, but Americans as a culture are completely useless. I'm insanely embarassed for our countries to even be near each other, let alone share borders. How come the Americans have, for argument's sake, the second best technology in the world (second to Japan, 'natch), yet they've shown the least progress with it than any first world country? There's too much inner war in the United States for them to progress at all. Their politics are horrible, their government is in a downward spiral, and their drug-infested disease-ridden population is killing off rest of us. Now, if I can stop myself from being so harsh on those loveable arrogant bastards, I'll list some things the Americans give us that is useful... Literature Television Movies Magazines Music Gee... how come all that I listed was entertainment related? Oh, right, that's because anything else can be made much more effectively in any other country. (Side note: Comedian Al Franken once said, "Do everybody a favour. Do it for yourself, do it for us, do it for me. You have a standing army. Invade us." Oh, and Canadian women are the best women. (Yay, Canada) (This doesn't apply to Sassy-Ass, the #Edmonton channel operator who happens to be American. Also, PR_Caspian... the coolest guy in the world. He made me an Op. We love him.)
Murder		Yes, I believe that murder is wrong. However, I also believe in capital punishment for those proven guilty. Can you justify killing a killer? Yes, and quite simply too, as a matter of fact. When a human being takes another life, he is no longer a human being. He is a ruthlessly savage beast, and should no longer have the gift of life. Why should the taxpayers pay with their hard earned money to keep the bastards in prison alive? I know I'd rather have my tax money go to something a little more useful. "But my that's my son/daughter!" Well, you screwed up when you raised him/her. That's your problem. I mean, come on... it doesn't matter who they are! The fact is they still committed a crime, and should be punished. I don't think our laws these days are strict enough. Claiming insanity is just like passing blame, when you think about it. Nobody wants to take accountability for their actions any more.
HIV		This is going to be a tricky topic. I think that HIV is not entirely a bad thing. Natural Selection aside, this world is becoming too overpopulated. We're killing ourselves much too fast. If it's weening off the population, great. That will end up saving the lives of others in the future. It's a fairly simple thing to avoid, when you think about it. My friend called it "The Perfect Disease." And he's probably right. Generally, you can't get it unless you're not careful. Just don't get it on with anybody that is not "safe." Or, at the very least, try some protection, as futile as contraceptives prove to be these days. However, HIV acquired through rape is an entirely different matter. I do feel compassion for those that are raped and forced to have this disease thrust upon them. Those people that need this kind of savage entertainment should be killed. Nothing less than that.