Like you Really Care is taking the rest of the year off. Well, not really. I have a Web site to author, a set to design, and some digital projections to assemble. So barring a terrorist attack, I'll leave this year as it was -- tense and noncommunicative.

King George's regime won't talk about why they really want to go to war with Iraq. Is bin Laden alive or not, and (when) will they attack us again? When are the corrupt CEOs going down? Why are the Democrats being such pussies? When do I have to get my "Natural Born White American" bar code tattoo? We don't know.

The biggest event of the year, in my opinion, was not the arms inspectors or the snipers or Trent Lott wishing everyone a White Christmas. The most significant event was the Bali terrorist attack. This attack was very significant to the people of Australia, New Zealand, and their neighboring islands. The group behind the attack probably has ties to al-Qaeda. The Twin Towers had been bombed before and it was a center of finances and a symbol of American arrogance. Of course it was a target. The idyllic vacation spot of Bali, on the other hand, was a vacation spot, and its safety, and the safety of human beings, was shaken by it. But because it happened somewhere else, Americans hardly noticed.

This year saw the world become very vocal about its hatred for America. As corporations fell and Bush's grimy, greedy, imperialist hands reached out over the oil fields of the world, the country once seen as the pinnacle of the free world is now seen as the country that wears a false badge of freedom only to enslave the economies of soverign nations.

At the end of 2001, I was proud to be an American and to stand up with my country and say, "Git off my lawn!" That battle cry has become an excuse for the government to wipe its ass with the Bill of Rights and not "keep off the grass" of other nations, however. I end 2002 ashamed of the country I call home.

Well, not entirely ashamed. Good things happened this year. We saw that some people will still stand up for what's right. We learned that there really are some good cops. Priests are finally owning up to their past (though they deserve to go to jail). America learned that some people have really dangerous jobs and should be protected by their community and praised.

As for me personally, I returned to school, which is the best decision I've made since I graduated from my last school. I learned to pay closer attention to politics. I read more books. I love my job. I saw my father turn 50 and my brother get married. I'm in love with a wonderful woman. I learned that I don't like strip clubs. I finally got a DVD player. I'm ashamed of America, but it's still the greatest country in the world for the opportunity it offers (though Canada is looking pretty sweet). I had great opportunities this year, and, most importantly, I used those opportunities to grow as a human being. 2002, the last palindrome year until 2112, was a great year for Arlo.

I'm just as surprised as you that I left my year-end blog entry on an up-note. Happy New Year. Don't drink and drive.

My choice for album of the year.

God bless IDG.net for this parody:

They're Beginning to Lock Out All Your Freedoms (To the tune of It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas)

They're beginning to lock out all your freedoms
No matter how you moan;
You'll have to pay five and ten, for listening once again
To songs you already own;
It's beginning to look a lot like Russia
Or 1984
What a frightening sight to see, a recording company
Can knock down your front door.
Some encryption that bloops and software that snoops
Is the wish of Disney's top men;
Dolls that never talk and you never use chalk,
Every word is copywritten!
And Mom and Dad can hardly wait for the revolution to begin.

It's beginning to look a lot like prison
Ev'rywhere you go;
There's a camera on the Hotel, one in the park as well,
There's nothing they don't know.
They're beginning to lock out all your freedoms
Soon the bills will start,
And the thing that will make you pay, is the coming and fateful day
When they copyright your heart.

I guess anything is collectible.

UPDATE: The link to the Al Gore clip below is actually to a QuickTime movie of the ENTIRE episode. So I don't need a video tape. Oh, and interestingly enough, the clip seems to have the commercials edited out, leaving only 45 minutes. That means that nearly HALF of the airtime consumed by SNL is commercials.

How's this for living up to the title of this site: Now that I've tried both Pepsi Blue and Dr. Pepper Red Fusion, I can definitively say that the former tastes like Kool Aid without sugar (yuck!) and the latter tastes like Dr. Pepper with a subtle hint of articial berry favoring (yum!). Oh, and Vanilla Coke tastes better when only a few degrees cooler than room temperature -- when it's ice cold, the vanilla is not as prominent.

I'm thinking more and more about this whole Trent Lott thing. A few blog entries ago, I said that I accepted Trent Lott's apology. After all, what else can you say to a 100-year-old man who is no doubt saying to himself "Please let me die" over and over again but excessively aggrandizing statements about his life?

But the evidence is mounting that Trent Lott has been saying this sort of crap for decades. Even King George is denouncing Lott (no doubt for marketing reasons, but he's doing it nonetheless), and fellow bigot Don Nickles is calling for Lott's ouster from the majority leader seat.

This week's This Modern World is brilliant. Tom Tomorrow is a genius. Anyway, the Democrats have had so many good chances to stick it to the Republican regime, including this Lott situation, and they haven't. While they're kicking Trent Lott out, they should kick out Tom Daschle, too.

The only prominent Democrat openly criticizing King George and his court without pulling punches is Al Gore, and he's not even running for president again. Good, because Al Gore can be more persuasive and effective not as a candidate -- less scrutiny about his personality and more attention to his words.

By the way, if anyone taped SNL on Saturday when Al Gore hosted, let me know. I definitely want to see the whole episode. This clip is priceless.

The first truly upstanding thing Kissinger has ever done.

Perhaps the BBC's timing for airing a documentary that questions Mary Mother of Christ's virginity is a bit suspect, it being Christmas and all. But hey -- anything for ratings, right?

Myths all come from somewhere. The Bible, just like the deific soap opera of Mount Olympus, is a collection of stories that. Many of the people in the Bible are real -- I'm sure there really was a Job and that he had a miserable couple of months. There are some great Web sites devoted to urban myths. Harry Potter* is a mythology, too.

So was Mary a virgin in the modern sense of the word? Doubtful. Though it makes for a stronger symbol, a more effective mythology, for the Christian ideology if she is a virgin...

...or does it? Here's a "what if" for you: Imagine that the bible characterizes Jesus as he was (theoretically) really born: an illegitimate child. Triumphing over the stigma, or perhaps shielded from the truth his whole life, Jesus still gathers a group of disciples that preach loving thy neighbor and resistance to the Roman Empire. Maybe Christianity wouldn't have lasted as long as it has, but that story, triumph over adversity to stand up against an oppressive government, is one that I'll be happy to meditate on.

Therefore, in honor of Jesus, the bastard who stood up to the oppressive Roman Empire and the stifling Jewish law, I say Merry Christmas.

*I finished the fourth Harry Potter novel last night. Two entire chapters devoted to the villians explaining everything. Don't get me wrong -- I enjoyed the book and it left me pining for the fifth. But c'mon, J.K., does every book have to end like a Bond film?

Is the situation with North Korea, a member of King George's "Axis of Evil", another example of good work by Clinton botched by the Bush regime?

North Korea keeps playing their trump card with the US in order to make our government live up to its promises and to help its people. The nuclear power plants that were promised to them are behind schedule. However, instead of expediting their construction to appease the North Korean government (not to mention live up to our end of the treaty), the US regime would rather the world continue to view them as a threat.

Why? As long as North Korea has nuclear weapons capabilities, the United States has all the more evidence to promote their foreign policies, most notably a missile defense system to protect Japan and the rest of the world from a nuclear attack from China.

The way to a safer planet isn't to force American ideology on everyone. Take, for instance, Bush's assertion that terrorists "are people who hate freedom." Everyone wants freedom, everone loves freedom. Those that Bush accuses of hating freedom are those that are not free. Look at the Palestinians. Our current administration seems more concerned with proliferating US might in the name of peace instead of helping areas of unrest find peace on their own. It's a 1984 definition of freedom.

Nations deserve a chance to know what freedom is by their own definition. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness -- does that ring a bell, your majesty? Give North Korea their power plants like we promised them in the first place so they can have some damn electricity and they won't need to threaten everyone with mushroom clouds.

I was watching the Fox News Channel the other night. After all, as Sun Tzu wrote in The Art of War, "Know thy enemy and know thy self and you will win a hundred battles.”

They were debating this whole Trent Lott situation in a round-about let's-actually-criticize-Jesse-Jackson way. And they were talking about the double-standard that the Democrats hold to Republicans. Their examples?

Bill Clinton has been on record in the last year praising Jay William Fullbright, a known segregationist from Arkansas, former senator. Al Gore's father voted against the Civil Rights Act of '64. There's a senator, there's a Democrat, former Klansman, K.K.K. Byrd, in -- on the Democratic side.

So by the same token, who the Hell did Henry Hyde think he was for pushing impeachment on a Bill Clinton for getting a blow job? Bill Clinton lied about it, sure, but so did Henry Hyde.

It just goes to prove the current American notion that everyone is guilty until proven innocent, and in that event, they're still guilty. Criminals can't be reformed. Segregationalists can't see the error of their ways. All politicians are evil. (I mostly agree with that third one, but you get my point.)

Is Trent Lott a racist? Probably. So are most white people whether they like it or not. However, I do think the Trent Lott statement about Strom Thurmond was simply an over-aggrandizing way to lift the spirits of a 100-year-old man. I don't think Senator Lott meant to say that we'd be better off with segregation. I may be white, but I despise Republicans just as much as anybody can. Which is why I'm so surprised that I accept Senator Lott's apology.

WorldCom is in debt $41 billion. Their accounting discrepancies are $9 billion. They need a leader who can get them on track and give CPR to a dying company. And they want to pay him $5 million. As a member of the lower-middle class, I can only say WTF?

Their former CEO got $1 million in salary plus a $10 million dollar bonus in 2000. But he owes the company $400 million.

Here's the most alarming part: WorldCom's feelings about the proposed salary:

[The compensation would be] comfortably within the range of compensation paid for executives of companies comparable in size and complexity to WorldCom.

Well somebody punch me in the face. How can the possible solution for serious mismanagement of funds be to throw more fucking money at the problem? And to throw that money at someone who is probably just as greedy and evil as the previous person?

I just don't know what the solution is. On the one hand, unfettered capitalism is destroying our country and the global economy. On the other hand, government controlled commodities can become lackluster. And human beings are out for themselves, there's no way around that. Perhaps there is no solution.

Would someone please tell me why ANYONE needs $5 million dollars per year? What office job can possibly be that hard? A coal miner, working in the most dangerous of situations, deserves $5 million, not a white guy in a suit sitting in an office telling other people what to do.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court has to approve the salary. Yeah, let's see if this government will stand in the way.

Little did you know that one of the Six Steps to Spiritual Revival is taking it in the butt.

Read this. Then come back.

Now that you're back, here's what I think.

I work for a textbook publisher. Whether or not I have a job is commensurate with the sale of books. It's not within my best interest for a school to purchase a textbook and then photocopy it for all of the students. In fact, it is illegal for them to do so because it would entail distributing copyrighted material without the consent of the copyright holder.

Does that mean that book publishers should work to ban photocopiers? Of course not. It is legal, for example, for the teacher to make a photocopy of the book to keep for themselves as a backup.*

The publishing industry has it easy right now. It's a scientific fact that people read 25% slower on computer screens than they do on paper (read Designing Web Usability by Jakob Nielsen). EBooks are not catching on for that very reason. When everyone has 300dpi LCD screens on their PDAs, then perhaps publishers will be in the same boat as Hollywood and the recording industry.

Which brings me to Hollywood and the recording industry. I agree with the protection of copyright. I also believe in fair use. If Hollywood and the recording industry want to make DRM a reality, then go for it. The market will respond. When a device can't play a CD that you spent your money on, when you can't fast forward through commercials anymore, when you can't use your favorite sound editing software because it employs codecs that are also used to play rights-managed files so it assumes that the LEGAL work you are doing is ILLEGAL -- I guess you're just going to have to get a different product.

I like CDs and seeing the design of the liner notes and reading the lyrics. It provides the music with context, a visual connection to the music. I'd guess that most people have the same feeling. Let's face it -- downloading an album may be convenient and free, but it's also cold and empty. Not like removing the cellophane and looking at the liner notes. Why do you think box sets are so popular. It's all about adding value. What the entertainment industry has to do is add value to their products so they are worth buying.

Look at DVDs. You can't copy them and retain the same picture quality (well, not yet). You can't copy all of the special features. That's added value. Plus, DVD's are relatively affordable these days, compared to CDs, especially, for what you get for your money.

Which is the other thing the entertainment CEOs need to do: they have to lower their prices. $10 for a movie ticket plus $5 for popcorn and $3 for a pop -- per person. That's ridiculous, especially if it's a movie like THE HOT CHICK. I'll pony up for HARRY POTTER because I want to see that larger than life -- that's added value. THE HOT CHICK -- I don't want to see it, and if I did, I think my TV would suffice.

And $18 for CDs? Even when DVDs are typically only $25, and then you're getting visual stimuli and bonus features? Lower CDs to the price they are worth ($10, tops), and maybe more will sell.

In the United States, we're supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. Increasingly, we're assumed guilty. What year is this, 1984?

*For the record, it's legal to redistribute up to 10% of a copyrighted work for educational purposes only without the copyright owner's consent.

New addition to BORED?: FARK. It's the Slashdot of wierd news stories that aren't quite as disturbing or alarming than the ones on Daily Rotten. The best part of FARK, however, is the Photoshop contests, where a photo from a news story is posted and FARK users Photoshop it into occasionally funny funny stuff. Nearly every Photoshop contest will feature Admiral Ackbar declaring "It's a trap!" Enjoy.

I don't read /. everyday because I'm dying to get the latest Linux build or because I want to know how to eek another .5 frames per second out of my Radeon 9700. I read it because (a) I hate Microsoft, (b) I'm fascinated by the interaction between technology and culture, and (c) sciency/new technology stories like this -- a refrigerator that cools using sound waves. Often times superior technology gets shafted by business interests. Cheap steam powered cars would be the death of the oil industry, for example, so they make sure even electric cars require gas. However, this research is funded by Ben & Jerry's, which obviously sees this as a cost-saving measure in the long run -- no freon, fewer moving parts, less maintenance. If a much beloved company like B&J can put this sort of technology to good use, the corporate equivalent of "Aw, shucks, ain't they cute?" would be to get behind this new technology.

A very interesting point: King George isn't stupid or moronic. According to this article, our President is a sociopath. Interesting to note that this article is published in Canada and not the United States.

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone. My sweet potato pie tasted great. All of the leftovers were eaten before I could get any, and I only had five bites-worth of turkey on Thursday. I spent the weekend bowling, reading, coding, sketching, labeling, and folding. And the long weekend was over too quickly. But I got plenty of sitting-on-my-ass time, so I can't complain.

I just finished reading Youth in Revolt: The Journals of Nick Twisp and loved it. It get off to a rocky start for me. I wasn't interested in reading 400+ pages about a 14-year-old boy who constantly masturbates and would do anything to get laid. After all, I lived that. However, the "do anything to get laid" is taken to the extreme in this book, and the stakes reach unfathomable heights. It becomes impossible to put down and leaves the reader wanting more. I just discovered there is a well-regarded sequel, which would make a great Christmas gift for yours truly.