My DSL check is finally coming back. Looks like they actually recieved both
of my fillings-out of the rebate form - I was impatient when after 2 weeks,
their status page showed no sign of having recieved it, so sent another. Their
form grumbles at me for having sent another.. sorry.. just protecting myself
against the not-too-nice rebate industry. It will be nice to have that $200
back..
I'm irritated at how cold this summer is. Brr. I'm not supposed to need to
close my windows during the day at this time of year.
I've been abstractly salivating over the fastest consumer-level CPUs around
nowadays.. in particular, the AMD64 Model FX53 2.4Ghz (probably the fastest
and most expensive CPU around right now). The thing is, it really is an
abstract desire -- apart from recently needing to break some encryption, which
is likely a one-time event, I really don't need much in the way of CPU power.
Still, $1651 for such a barebones system (with 2G RAM) is
awfully tempting. Mhh. I really have more than enough toys and raw power at
my disposal, from stuff I own and stuff I just have access to.
I recently had a brief conversation with a friend of mine, of descent from
India. Was basically on the topic of Western Imperialism, which we both see
as a bad thing. He spake of how people in India doubt the standing of
Europeans to comment on civil rights given how the West messed up much of
the world with imperialism in years past. Let's just cut'n'paste.
CENSORED: do you think it's better in europe because they have a stronger
sense of where they're coming from, their history and culture?
Me: Yes, and also partly because of geography
Me: If you're in Europe, the other cultures are right next door, in your face
CENSORED: yeah thats true
CENSORED: remember though that these same enlightened european cultures had
brutal empires not too long ago, where they supressed and enslaved
palak-paneer-eaters and such :)
Me: This is true
Me: Foreign policy, of the Americans and the Europeans have been atrocious
Me: Except for the Swiss, I guess
CENSORED: yeah ... a lot of hardcore indians mistrust european talk of human
rights because they still remember the freedom struggle
Me: One's gotta live somewhere
CENSORED: The swiss were financially intimate with the nazis uptil WW2 ...
I guess every place has its goods and bads
Me: So long as one is aware of the atrocities, and avoids covering them up,
one's doing as well as one can
CENSORED: yeah i agree
Me: Atrocities are everywhere -- Koreans and Japanese are no friends thanks
to a long history of Japanese atrocities towards the former
CENSORED: i do feel europe is more humble and open to admitting mistakes than
the US currently is
CENSORED: yeah
Me: It is disturbing how Americans know very little about the blood on their
nation's hands
CENSORED: yeah ... and the media, especially television media, just kinda
plays along with the governments simplified view of the world and of
"good and evil" ... they could really educate people if they wanted to
Me: Sadly, the people don't want to be educated
CENSORED: do you think that's because of major news networks being controlled
by Big Business, who love this government?
Me: And they media just want to give the people what nets the media $$
Me: I dunno, partly
Me: Partly because the news networks feel no sense of civic duty
CENSORED: yeah, its all commercialized ... disturbing images of the truth are
unpopular and lead to lower ratings
Me: So I don't think it's so much a conspiracy (although there may be some
of that) so much as too much capitalism and not enough idealism
CENSORED: i agree ... what looks like a conspiracy is often just emergent
behavior in a system where the basics are out of whack
