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By Rick, on June 18th, 2010%
 One of my hard drives crashed last night. I have two: a two-year-old 6 kilogigger, and a 5-month-old terabyter. The older one died. Of course, it was the one with my Windows install, and it had all of my device drivers and whatnot. Fortunately, I’ve been migrating files onto the new HD, so all of my important data is safe (-ish. I’ve been a little slow to back it up elsewhere.)
I keep a binder with my Windows CD’s, and a bunch of others that I’ve had for a long, long time (since, like, 1996). Prolly should clean it out, since I’ve still got install discs CD’s that are 3 and 4 upgrades old.
Anyway, I’ve had to install Win XP from scratch, meaning that I had to go out and buy another network cable since I couldn’t get online through my wireless connection (housemates’ internet connection; I’m not pirating wireless), just to download the drivers for my wireless adapter. But, now that I’ve got a wired connection, I’m not gonna worry about the wireless until I move.
So, I’ve spent several hours downloading Windows updates from before SP1 (that’s a looong time ago, in case you’re not up on your Windows history), while simultaneously downloading and installing my anti-virus updates, while also searching for drivers for my video card and monitor, ’cause the default 60 Hz refresh is giving me a headache. I need to fix other video problems, too, but that is the worst.
Somewhere in the middle of all this, I got to thinking: if I didn’t have a computer, I wouldn’t have to be going through all of this (even if it wasn’t a Windoze box). That’s about eight hours I could have spent watching television. (Heh, not bloody likely. I probably would have spent much of the time meandering the paseos around my current house.)
Further along that line of thought was this: I spend a good third or more of my waking life worrying about, tending to, or otherwise enslaved to technology. Mostly computers, but I’m a technophile at heart. If I had any less self-control, I’d be like the supervisor I had who was so completely overtaken by the thought of merely owning an iPhone, that on the release day, she could think of nothing else, and I mean literally nothing else. She was under an Apple-scented spell, and the only way to break it was to drive her to an Apple store and let her get her iPhone. Total addiction.
Our tech is leaching away our peace of mind. If we don’t have it, we want it; if we do have it we’re worried about losing it. And if we do have it, and aren’t worried about losing it, then our world comes to a gut-wrenching, mind-numbing halt when when it goes away.
So what if there were no high-tech gadgets for me to worry about. What if flint and steel were the killer app? What if catching my day’s food occupied a third of my waking life? I think I’d be okay with that.
And, thanks to Windows update asking my to restart my computer every five bloody minutes while I’m typing this entry, I’m now pretty sure I’d be okay with it. If I could just kick the tech habit.
So, what about you? How much of your life do your tech items take over, and what would you be doing if you didn’t have to text, or tweet, or drive while talking on your cell phone?
By Rick, on June 16th, 2010%
 Yeah, I picked a pretty controversial topic to start commenting on with this particular YouTube user name. I probably should have done it as YouTube’s “The Varo Edition”, but that would have meant changing to that account, and I was too lazy/tired/ambivalent to go through the hassle.
So, I’ve defended Angie the Atheist on her right to abort an embryo at 4 weeks. However, I’m of two minds about the fact that she posted it on YouTube.
On the one hand, she posted it on YouTube: “I’m having an abortion. Right now.” Sensationalistic attention-seeker? Maybe. She could have taken her RU-486 and quietly let things happen, but she chose to broadcast the event. What’s a 5-letter word for controversy? A-n-g-i-e? Yep. CNN even picked up her story.
On the other hand, she did hold up her experience as an example to any woman who is considering abortion for health reasons, but who is scared and unsure of what to do. And she did it with full knowledge of the type and intensity of the fallout that would ensue.
Many women and girls do get pregnant, in spite of birth control, and don’t know what to do. While, I disagree with abortion for any reason except to save the mother’s life, the option is available if it’s needed. Angie held up a torch for these women to follow, and she showed them a viable option. Not necessarily the best option, but one that could work for them.
Hot Topic
Abortion will always be a hot topic for debate, with elements on each side calling for the deaths of everyone on the other side. It amuses me to no end that it’s usually the “no, don’t kill da baby” crew that are calling for the assassination of anyone involved in an abortion. If abortion is murder, how is murdering an abortionist not murder? (For purposed here, an abortionist is anyone who voluntarily participates in the termination of a pregnancy.)
Personally, I think abortion should be a last resort–a plan Z, of you will– after all other means to solve the problems brought on by the pregnancy have been exhausted. Angie aborted at week 4 due to health reasons. Blastocyst–>Embryo–>Fetus–>Baby. She terminated an blastocyst. It was nothing more than a mass of cells with the potential to become an embryo. She didn’t “Kill a baby,” so she’s not a murderer or baby-killer. There’s the science and the law.
As for the religion, exactly when does a human acquire a soul? I have looked for this in the King James version of the Christian Bible, but I can not find where it says that. Someone please point out where it is, because I’m not seeing it. I’m pretty sure that, since God knows whether or not a blastocyst will survive to embryohood, that the the whole soul-bonding thing would wait until at least after the embryo stage, yes?
Show Me Proof!
Unless I see proof that a human acquires a soul at conception or earlier, this is where I stand:
- Blastocyst to Embryo: a potentially parasitic growth within the host (the mother). At this stage, it is merely a growth. It has no brain, or heart or nervous system to even mark it as an animal.
- Fetus: potential baby, but still a parasite. Early on, it is more embryo than baby. Status judged on a case-by-case basis.
- Baby: Last trimester, on. Remains a parasite until the umbilical cord is severed, but still a baby. Once an embryo has reached baby status, it may as well be considered human. At this point, it can be murdered. Exactly where this point is reached it currently a legal matter, but I personally know a 6-month premie who survived.
So, there ya have it. A woman has a chemical abortion as soon as her body realized it was pregnant. She did it in a controversial way which garnered her her 15 minutes of CNN fame. She is a positive role model for women and girls in a similar situation, and a demon for all the haters.
BTW, Angie has yet to hear from the true Christians on the matter. None of those who judge her can accurately call themselves “Christian,” because Jesus Christ specifically commanded his followers not to judge others.
And, yes, this post really does belong on The Varo Edition.
Links
By Rick, on June 16th, 2010%
 It’s great to be back! Maybe no one remembers Crabby Night Owl from a few years ago, but that’s okay. If you do, didja miss me?
For the rest of you: Hi, I’m Rick Nagle, and this is my blog. This is a personal blog, devoid of any specificity, except for my personal thoughts, opinions, and life narratives.
Soon, I will have the unenviable task of blogging about my life without making anyone else look bad. In some cases, this will be very, very hard.
For now, dear reader, welcome. If you’ve come upon this website by accident, then I humbly direct you to my other site, The Varo Edition. It’s a site trending toward the metaphysical. I’m compelled to reconcile the dogmas of religion with those of science, and The Varo Edition is my arena for doing it. In a future post on that site, I’ll discus dogma and why it’s an impediment, and what intelligent beings should do about it.
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Hoots
February 6, 2011 | 3:40 pmThe airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow is roughly 36 feet per second, or 24 miles per hour. Now you know.
February 4, 2011 | 5:54 pmIn the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is stoned to death. ~Joan D. Vinge
- Tweaking the Mobile Updater
September 25, 2010 | 12:09 amI like the way the mobile image thing works, mostly. Still needs a bit o’ tweaking.
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 Archive for Hoots »
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