Dieter's words echoed in my head as I googled Captain's [B]log, only to find my attempt at a clever title was, in fact, trite and derivative. There are countless blogs and blog-like pages using this very title. I am emotionally obliterated.
In case you're interested, here's a sample of other captains' blogs.
http://www.enterprisemission.com/weblog/weblog.htm (notice the similarity of appearance?)
http://shavlik.typepad.com/
http://www.earthrace.net/index.php?section=41
http://www.captainsblogcayman.blogspot.com/ (another dark, foreboding black & blue blog, but pretty pictures!)
http://blogs.msdn.com/kdrage/default.aspx
http://ifcblog.ifctv.com/evan/2005/12/this_film_is_no_1.html
http://captnsaj.blogspot.com/
http://whatspocksawintheloo.blogspot.com/ (hmmmm...)
http://www.captainsblog.se/?language=en
http://bugscaptainsblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.parrotbayvillage.com/captainsblog/
http://www.englishbrain.blogspot.com/ (more black & blue.)
http://firefightersworkout.blogspot.com/
http://captaincapitalism.com/blog/blog.html (stop with the black & blue already!)
http://www.stu-wilson.blogspot.com/
http://captainsblog.tumblr.com/
http://tobyvstheworld.blogspot.com/
http://captainhumphreys.blogspot.com/
http://geekswithblogs.net/skibum/Default.aspx
http://jonashoffmann.blogspot.com/
http://captainslog.bloog.pl/?ticaid=63ac3 (pretty, but me no speakski Polish.)
http://nikolez.blogspot.com/ (damn, she ripped off my brackets AND it's black & blue!)
Well, you get the idea. Actually, I opted to go black & green because it tied in nicely with my mature geekiness, meaning I've been a geek since the days of the "green screen." That, and most of my time as a captain was spent staring at little black & green screens inside a big gray airplane. So, black, gray, green... it all makes sense now, huh?
Oh, I should note I only ranked an obscure 16th in Google when I searched for my wee lil' blog. It made me think vhy is it that the truly brilliant are doomed to a life of obscurity, surrounded by a sea of mediocrity, only to end up covered in sores in a pool of their own filth? Oh vell, the beat goes on.
13 comments:
If it's any consolation, I've always found your cleverness to be trite and derivitive. ;)
I am actually quite stunned that many of these are not Star Trek related! (Get it "stunned". "Star Trek". "Set phasers on ___." Oh, never mind...)
I kind of figured the neon green was classic geek. I didn't know you had to stare at green screens, though. Nice touch. You should change the border of your header to same color, too.
I like the title of your blog. It is a component of who you are. There are only a couple of these others in which that same thing is true.
And regarding the last link: Isn't it nice to know you think just like a 19yo girl from LA, CA?
(I really mean that as a compliment!)
LOL There's a reason we've been friends for 30+ years. You disturb me to the point of insanity. There. I am insane now. Now is the time on Sprockets vhen ve dance. ;)
I should change the border. Borders are important to me. Mostly national borders (none of them thar "one-world guv'mints"), but then I'm also a big fan of Border's as well.
As for thinking like a 19 year-old girl, this is only useful if I'm 19 years old and I'm trying to get in her pants. Vould you like to touch my monkey? Touch him! Love him! Liebe meine abst-monkey.
I was trying to be your straight man, so you could say "I'm as happy as a little girl!"
Borders are important to me, also. I think they should build a wall between Florida and Cuba. They could put it just over the horizon. Those damn Commies are just 90 miles away!
Oh, goodness. Are we really going to go THERE?
Okay, this is one of those topics about which I have very strong, but totally uneducated, opinions. I get crazy when people get all hyped up about national borders and official languages. FOR THE MOST PART, I think people who cross our borders are looking for a better life for them and for their families. Yes, it probably raises our taxes. Yes, it probably increases the cost of health care. Yes, it probably taxes the education system. Yes, it probably affects employment rates. But yes, "those people" are people, too . . .and, as Bono asked, "Should an accident of longitude and latitude really determine if someone should live or die?"
Maybe this is why Jack calls me a socialist.
I don't think you have uneducated opinions, Kell. You mentioned some very good, very relevant reasons why illegal immigration is a bad thing in the eyes of those who think illegal immigration is, well, bad.
I don't think anyone is opposed to people looking to make better lives for themselves and their families. Your ancestors did it, as did mine. The fundamental problem with illegal immigration, though, is that it's illegal. It seems to me that if someone is going the reap the benefits of citizenship, they should assume its responsibilities, like adherence to the law. Again, your ancestors did it, as did mine. Why is that too much to ask?
I also support the idea of a national language. When people talk about America, they never describe it as a smorgasbord. On the contrary, "melting pot" seems to be the description of choice. Such a description implies a blending; people of different languages and cultures come together while adding their own flavor to the fondue. But, in order to come together--to assimilate--there needs to be some common culture, and yes, common language. Failing to instill a national identity built on culture and language leads to balkanization. Balkanization is an interesting word. It was a term coined to describe the result of political factionalization of the Balkans, most of which being what we once knew as the country of Yugoslavia. You would think that given the history of the Slavs, there would be enough common ground in which to form a viable country, but in the 74 years that Yugoslavia existed, the various factions were never able to manifest a common culture, let alone agree on a common language. So it comes as no surprise that the country finally disintegrated and some 200,000 people died in the Bosnian genocide. Ok, it's a pretty dramatic example, but you get the point. Besides, if you were to move to, say, Paris, would you expect Parisians to deal with you in English, or would you learn French?
How utterly appropriate to discuss illegal immigration around and on Cinco de Mayo.
Honestly, unless your ancestors came over in the early 20th Century, there were no actual immigration regulations in place. Passports and travel documents were not widely used until the 20's or 30's. If memory serves, it was actually a tool used in Russia and Germany to keep people in their countries.
Immigration is not the real issue. Entitlement mentality is far more egregious. Too many see the U.S. government as "owing" them something. We make it too easy to get on gov't. programs and too hard to get away from them.
But, you are so very correct that English become THE language. Spanish is far too pervasive all through the South.
On the other side of the coin, it don't help none when us "leagles" can't seem to learn it good...
Actually, there uh, Normie, the first federal bureau of immigration was created in 1864. The first restrictive immigration law (no criminals or prostitutes, please) was enacted in 1875. And, the first selective immigration law based on ethnicity was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
I have more to say on the immigration stuff, but it's way late.
Have you heard the way Americans talk about immigrants? The folks I've heard seem to think the worst . . . that "those people" are trying to ruin our country, take our jobs, blah blah blah. It's not exactly a welcoming or empowering message. I wonder how much of what's going on is learned helplessness or self-fulfilling prophecy. Immigrants behave as we expect them to. I dunno. Not all immigrants behave the same, though, so is it an issue of culture of origin? I mean, do we have a lot of illegal Canadian immigrants?
Anyway, I'm not a fan of the melting pot image. It assumes that people ought to let go of their culture and heritage and be like everyone else. Blech. Can't we be a salad instead?
John, I would never move to France. But if I went to Italy, I would learn Italian. UNLESS I found a neighborhood of English-speaking people. Then, I'd only bother learning the bare basics, like, "Where's the nearest Starbucks?" My point is: I have a hard time believing that immigrants come to the US planning to not learn English. I think it just happens. Again, I wonder if immigrants get the idea that the US assumes the worst of them . . . which is somewhat permission-granting.
I agree that entitlement is a problem, but it's not a problem unique to immigrants. I don't agree that we make it easy to get on government programs. Have you ever applied for public assistance? Have you seen the eligibility guidelines? I was a caseworker, and believe me, it's so not "easy." And once you're approved, it's not like you've hit the big time. (I will concede that there are some lazy caseworkers who aren't as thorough as they ought to be, so some people do skate through . . . but not just immigrants.)
Maybe I'm just not thinking clearly enough about the illegal part. Why do people enter the US illegally, anyway. Is it that difficult to do it the legal way?
I'm sure I missed a few points somewhere, and someone's bound to blast my left-wing logic (or lack thereof, as my hubbie would say).
John, John, John.
All this time I thought I knew you. Only now you reveal your Asian heritage. Was Young changed from Myung? Or Yun?
I was speaking of European immigrants. Yes, there have always been some type of restictions set in place for travel. But many simply came to this country and never left.
Apparently I made too many blanket statements. Yes, there are requirements that must be met to apply for government aid. But after a long stint in NOLA, I saw how many would work the system. Some would quit jobs because they were beginning to make too much!
I worked for a pizza place for a couple of months when I first moved there. Two guys there were on welfare. They delivered pizzas because people would tip in cash. One day, one came up in his "other" car. It was brand new. After talking about it, I found that even though he claimed his parents' house as his residence, he had a nice house AND a boat! He used cash to buy them, too.
My point was that if you saw that Italy had all this great stuff you wanted, you could work as hard as you do in your own country, but you would make 10 times more, plus better healthcare, better schools, better stores and so forth, wouldn't you get to Italy as fast as you can? If in Italy, you see that the government will GIVE you money or things because you don't have a job, or you have six kids, or, or, or, then aren't you going?
The problem with the salad image is that it is too easy to remove items that one does not like. "Tomatoes? We don't need no stinkin' tomatoes!"
I always saw the melting pot as a metalsmithing analogy. Strong elements combining to become an even stronger alloy.
(Somewhere in LA, a girl's head must be exploding...)
I agree that there's a lot of "us" versus "them" when speaking of immigrants. Thing is, some (on both sides) seem to go out of their way to maintain that boundary, but groups like La Raza don't exist to encourage Mexicans to live the "American Dream."
A melting pot doesn't require one to let go of their heritage, the proof being the immigrant enclaves in cities like New York, Boston, Chicago, Detroit and San Francisco. "Little Italy" and "Chinatown" wouldn't exist if assimilation meant foregoing one's native culture. However, assimilation requires that an immigrant take a stand as to who they are. Are they Italian, or Italian-American? Chinese, or Chinese-American? Or just plain American? Taking a stand means being clear on your allegiances. The European and Asian immigrants who came to this country in the late 19th and early 20th centuries didn't do so on a trial basis. They came to America committed to making new lives for themselves here, in America. There was no going back, and when it came time to call on them to serve thiscountry, they went (or their children went). They recognized their duty to this country, their country, to make it a better place and defend it, if need be. Not so with many illegal immigrants from Mexico, who still ostensibly align themselves with Mexico, or at least enough so to run up the Mexican flag at a Texas public school.
The reason we see an illegal immigration problem from Mexico and not Canada is because the Mexican government encourages its unemployed to emmigrate to the US; unemployment is arguably the number one export of Mexico. The Mexican government is ill-equipped to deal with its unemployment problem, not because it's a poor country (it's not), but because it chooses not to deal with it. You see, Mexico is actually the wealthiest Latin America country, with abundant natural resources. It has the highest GDP in Latin America and ranks only behind Argentina in GDP per capita. In fact, 11 out of 22 Latin American billionaires are from Mexico. So, it's not about Mexico being an impoverished country. It's about how Mexico's oligarchy chooses to leech off its northern neighbor. By leech, I mean it's parasitically siphoning about $30 billion a year in remittance money sent home by expatriates.
I like to think of the issue by analogizing it to a casino. When we lived in Shreveport, riverboat gaming came to Louisiana. The argument for gaming was that it would create jobs and infuse cash into a depressed economy. However, in order to do that, the casinos have to draw in business from out of town. Las Vegas doesn't thrive because the locals spend all their time dumping their casino paychecks back into the slots and whatnot--all know the house holds the odds. If casino clientele is mostly local, it sucks cash out of the local economy until it can no longer sustain casino profitability, in which case the casino closes shop and moves elsewhere. This happened in states like Delaware when gaming first spread from Vegas and Atlantic City.
The simple fact is that the Mexican wealthy refuse to be taxed. In the US, the top 5% generate 50% of the tax revenue, and the top 50% generate 96% of our tax revenue, all this based on taxing gross profit at 25-28%. In Mexico, they tax at about 14%; great if you're rich in Mexico, not so much if you're not. Now, I'm not a big government kinda guy, but unless Mexico's movers and shakers try to raise all boats while floating their own, there needs to be a stop-gap. Given the wholly corrupt state of Mexican government, I'm guessing Mexico's ruling elite aren't interested in helping anyone but themselves.
You both make good points. And, wow, I'm so not smart enough for this conversation. I'm also too bleeding heart, I guess.
In my humble (likely illogical) opinion, people quitting jobs because of reduced public assistance is a symptom of a much larger problem I like to call "the myth of equal opportunity."
What it all comes down to is this: I'd rather err on the side of being taken advantage of. If I start worrying about the guys you described, Scott, then I'm afraid I'll just quit caring about any of them.
Kelley you are definitely smart enough. I (and sometimes John) just keep firing until all others have been pounded into submission. Unlike John, however, I am willing to fabricate whatever "facts" I need to win. :0
Truly, I do not have a problem with people wanting a better life. I just wish my tax dollars didn't have to be used on them.
Yup-that's the point at which Jack uses the s-word on me. See, I don't really care that my tax dollars are being used to help other people have a better life. I told Jack once that I wish we could give our property tax dollars to the inner city schools instead of ours. He asked, "Soooooo, you'd give up having new computers in our own kids' schools so that the kids in East St. Louis could have them?" No hesitation: "Yes. In a heartbeat."
He thinks I'm TOTALLY FREAKING CRAZY.
And just in case you're thinking it: I do NOT think throwing money at social problems is the best solution. But it can be part of a solution.
Wait. You mean making up facts is legal in these conversations? Sweeeeet!
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