Awards, Hype, Corporations, and Interstellar Zoos

Because it was suggested, I'm going to try to squeeze out a short blog this morning.

So our supreme leader has been given the Nobel Peace Prize? This is another farce in this train-wreck of a presidency -- but considering some of the past winners (and the state of society in general), I probably shouldn't be surprised at all. From my understanding the nominations were due by February 1st....show he managed to perform such wondrous works of peace-making prior to that date.

I really don't think there are many people in this world today deserving of a Peace award. Certainly not any political leaders. In fact, I think politicians should be excluded from the award completely. Maybe if there are still some Mother Theresas out there -- give it to them.

I'm ready for the aliens to come and "wipe this place clean" (to quote Trent Reznor's Nine Inch Nails song "The Warning"), just as long as they accept my volunteering to be in the human exhibit of the Interstellar Zoo. And I humbly request either Kate Beckinsale or Adriana Lima to share my cage with.

Hey - did anybody else catch that stuff about school-kids being made to sing pro-obama songs recently? Obviously, you wouldn't have heard about it on in the mainstream media. It was pretty sickening stuff.

Lots of new music came out last month: Muse's "The Resistance" (amazing album -- and lyrically works as a soundtrack for those of us opposed to socialism and the movement to a one-world government), Pearl Jam's "Backspacer" (in case you missed it I was quite upset that they made an exclusive deal with Target and thus it was not available in a physical form here in our area where there are no Targets....in fact, let's get off track a little...Pearl Jam, being the liberals that they are, have always been very anti-corporation and about wanting the fans to hear their music without having to pay a lot of money. They always have done a good job of keeping concert ticket prices reasonable. But in this case, they completely and epically failed. Apparently all corporations are evil....except Target. But in so limiting the distribution of their album, people like me did not have access to it. True, it was available on ITunes, but some of us prefer having a tangible CD in our hands -- plus the CD has a higher sound quality. So, the band ended up limiting access to the music. Plus we all had to pay MORE than normal to get it. Best Buy is typically the cheapest place to get new CDs. Target is always more expensive. And if you do not have a Target within driving distance, you would have to either order from one online (thus incurring shipping costs) or from Pearl Jam's own website (at a higher price and again with shipping costs...it would cost about $20 actually). I would hope that after all this they would realize that not all corporations are evil and that most actually provide a service to people. By being gigantic distributors of products, these corporations make goods available to the masses at affordable prices. Does the corporate world itself suck? Yes, of course. Do I long to see mission statements, stuffy boardroom meetings, policies, procedures, HR departments, resumes, phoney handshakes, and the other rigid formalities of that world fall not just by the wayside but completely off the map and into the abyss? DEFINITELY YES PLEASE LORD MAKE IT SO!!!! But despite the detestability of the corporate world, I'm glad to have Wal-Marts and Best Buys around so I can buy the things I want/need and not have to spend more than I think I should have to.

Well, that was fun. Back to engineering stuff for me....