Flag burning & the First Amendment

Another day, another controversy involving something that the President-Elect has said...

That isn't going to happen, Donald.

As much as I hate it, Flag-burning (and all other protests that could be considered to be Anti-American), is legally protected as free speech under the 1st Amendment. The SCOTUS already ruled on that a long time ago.

I do understand the sentiment, Donald. To me, burning Ol'Glory is about as offensive as wiping your ass with the pages of a Bible. However, it shouldn't be stopped. The most beautiful thing about the Freedom of Speech clause in the First Amendment is that it works both ways. This kind of act lets you know exactly what kind of ASSHOLE you're dealing with and allows you to decide if you want anything to do with them. The Hippie assholes and (sometimes unwitting) Fifth Columnists of the world can burn the flag all they want. All they are really destroying is cloth. The noble ideals that flag stands for are all beyond their ability to touch.

All that being said, just because you can do something does NOT mean that you should.

As an unrelated example, Colin Kaepernick & his support of Black Lives Matter. He has lost a lot of respect and business deals because of his 'protesting' by taking a knee during the National Anthem. Other players followed that bad example and the NFL has lost a LOT of money and TV viewers as a result. If you think that Kaepernick won't suffer any repercussions for that act, you're wrong. Despite being from the most radically left-wing city in America, the San Francisco 49ers are still a business. Kaepernick's antics are costing them lots of lost revenue in reduced ticket/concessions/merchandise sales and TV viewership. Considering that the 49ers have also lost 10 straight games this season, I'd say the team has all the reason they need to cut him without it looking prejudicial against him. He didn't perform so, he loses his job. It's highly unlikely that any other team will want to take him in trade, either. After all this hullabaloo, he's made himself quite emotionally toxic. Supporting Fidel Castro in ANY way didn't really make matters any better for him. Dumbass...

And finally, I'd like to send out a very special thanks to the New Orleans Saints for pummeling the shit out of the 49ers' on November 6th in a glorious 41 to 23 victory at the 49ers own field. Not only did y'all dominate, you did it on their soil. So much for home field advantage. Bwahahahahaha!!!

I have spoken.

A half-dozen random thoughts for 28 Nov 2016

I haven't done one of these in a while so, here it goes...

1.) I wish there was a way to change the graphic that comes up on the Kill screen whenever something goes wrong with a few tabs in Chrome. As often as I see that kill screen, I'd love for it to actually make me laugh by replacing the standard pic with something like Michael Myers chasing a babysitter... Or Jason Voorhees killing a camp counselor... Or a Xenomorph killing a Human with it's tail/inner mandibles/whatever... Or maybe all of those and more, randomly popping up each time. That would be awesome.

Make it happen, Google!

2.) I was listening to an old episode of the Mission Log Podcast, which discusses every episode and film of Star Trek in broadcast order. The episode in question was for one of my favorites from TNG's first season, 11001001.

This episode is not only an old favorite of mine from the 1st season of TNG, it also has a small, VERY important detail that I sincerely doubt that anyone else noticed.

Toward the beginning, there's a scene between Commander Riker and Dr. Crusher about her meeting with a Dr. Epstein in this episode. She mentions that she came up with a 'radical' approach for regenerating tissue using cybernetics that she wanted to discuss with them. Think about that for a moment. Does that 'regenerating tissue using cybernetics' bit sound familiar? It should since that's something we see out of the Borg! :O

I'm sure most would think that was a pretty crazy co-incidence. I'm not so sure. By this time, the producers were already making plans for The Borg. Maybe this was a bit of foreshadowing like in the later 1st season episodes 'Conspiracy' and 'The Neutral Zone'? It's too bad that the original idea for them to be an insectoid race was too expensive for TV at the time. Good thing the Zombies we did get are still quite terrifying on a very primal level...

Also, about Starbase 74 just being a reuse of the Spacedock from Star Trek III... Well, did anyone just think that Starfleet started making the doors larger over time? That seems like a pretty practical and obvious solution to me.

3.) There sure has been a LOT of Butt-hurt from Radical Leftists since Trump won the election. And I am getting awfully sick of this tribalist, divisive non-sense poisoning the Republic from within. In fact, I made an almost 36 minute-long video about it and uploaded it to YouTube. You can view it here...





4.) Those INS claims from Hurricane Matthew in Florida are drying up and I will soon be looking for that next job. How depressing... Maybe I can get some seasonal work out of some store since we are about a month away from Christmas?

5.) The search for a permanent career also continues since it seems all too obvious that INS will NOT be providing a very steady revenue stream. It's also not really enjoyable.

6.) I started up with writing that sci-fi novel of mine again. The outline is done, as are the first 4 chapters. Chapter 5 is in progress right now and will be worked on some more tonight. There isn't much else to do on a Monday night, anyway...

- Lord Publius

For those wondering how Trump won...

I saw this in a Facebook comment and thought it as remarkably poignant. Also, keep in mind that I voted for Libertarians this time around since I was sick of the false dichotomy of having to pick from 2 equally unlikable groups of dumbasses.

-----

Dear Democrats and Liberals,

I'm noticing that a lot of you aren't graciously accepting the fact that your candidate lost. In fact you seem to be posting even more hateful things about those of us who voted for Trump. Some of you are apparently "triggered". Because you are posting how "sick" you feel about the results. How did this happen you ask.

You created "us" when you attacked our freedom of speech. 

You created "us" when you attacked our right to bear arms. 

You created "us" when you attacked our Christian beliefs. 

You created "us" when you constantly referred to us as racists. 

You created "us" when you constantly called us xenophobic. 

You created "us" when you told us to get on board or get out of the way. 

You created "us" when you forced us to buy health care and then financially penalized us for not participating. 

You created "us" when you allowed our jobs to continue to leave our country. 

You created "us" when you attacked our flag. 

You created "us" when you confused women's rights with feminism. 

You created "us" when you began to emasculate men. 

You created "us" when you decided to make our children soft. 

You created "us" when you decided to vote for progressive ideals. 

You created "us" when you attacked our way of life. 

You created "us" when you decided to let our government get out of control. 

"You" created "us" the silent majority. 

And we became fed up and we pushed back and spoke up. 

And we did it with ballots, not bullets.

Essentially, Democrats made themselves the enemy of EVERYTHING that was associated with being American. People got pissed and put the Dems back in their place. The universe hates an imbalance. If you push too far, the universe will push back. The Democrats accused everyone who disagreed with them of being racist/sexist/homophobic and any other stupid buzzword they could possibly create. It got to a point where the word 'racist' didn't have any meaning anymore. Before Obummer, I used to think of some Klansman like David Duke when I heard someone called a racist. Now, I think, 'it must be someone that disagreed with the Leftist agenda.' The Democratic party establishment tried to force John Q. Public to tolerate some insanely corrupt public officials... And a lot of narcissistic assholes (i.e. Hollywood celebrities) that constantly wagged a finger at them for daring to have different opinions. And since the universe hates an imbalance, the Republicans found someone who could be even more nasty and put the Libtards in their place.

Remember Democrats, YOU created this supposed Monster.

Also, I'm thinking a lot of you have very short memories. Remember how you laughed at people in 2008 and 2012 who were worried about Obummer being a shit excuse for a POTUS? I certainly do...

Funny how History always finds a way to repeat itself...

Accept the fact that you lost fair and square, Democrats. And it's your own fault. You made yourself the enemy of the American people with all of your non-sense these last few years. Picking a career criminal/potential Anti-Christ like Hillary Clinton for a candidate probably wasn't smart, either. Oh wait, nevermind. I forgot y'all didn't pick her. The DNC conspired to screw your actual choice Bernie Sanders out of the nomination. And all of you still went along with it... Americans do not knowingly tolerate corruption, kids. Especially when the crook who stole the nomination was also being investigated by the FBI for security breaches that compromised national security.

And for those of you who are hoping Bernie gets another chance in 2020, I'd advise you not to get your hopes up... He's not a young man anymore. He may not be around long enough to run again. And, being a Communist puke, he'd probably lose even more horribly than Walter Mondale in 1984 or George McGovern in 1972. And that is assuming he'd even want to bother with the DNC again after they fucked him over...

Lolz... Tell'em how you really feel, Bernie...

After all of this, you should actually be thankful that things worked out the way they did. In other countries, messing up this bad would result in civil war and the losing side being summarily EXTERMINATED via genocidal campaigns sponsored by the new regime. That is why I'm so thankful to live in a Constitutional Republic. Here, the rights of the minority are respected. In other parts of the world, you have no such luck.

 Also, I don't know why you're all so upset anyway. Trump was a New York Democrat for almost his entire life. No matter how much the Media might have told you otherwise, chances are good that he still is that New York Democrat in his heart.

So, do what I did in 2008 after Obummer won: give him a chance. He might turn out to be a great POTUS. His heart certainly seems to be in the right place, meaning that he actually loves America and wants to see it succeed. That is a refreshing change since Obummer never gave me that impression even once. Good luck, President-elect Trump. I sincerely hope you do good things for us. After the last 8-10 years, we could certainly use some genuine leadership from our elected officials again.

- Lord Publius

Where I stand on Election 2016

NOTE: This is being done as a public service. I am not telling you who to vote for or why you should vote for anything/anyone.

My choice for POTUS, Senator & U.S. Representative...

All of those offices are on the ballot here in my part of Louisiana. I chose Libertarians across the board.

Why would I choose Libertarians?

Simply put, they understand what Liberty actually is and the 2 major parties have forgotten. The Libertarian Party is not a 100% match for my ideals (and no one ever will be) but, they are soooooo much closer to the mark than Democrats or Republicans.

Furthermore, I am thoroughly disgusted with both major parties and refuse to support either of them. Don't bother giving me any of that tired old tripe/BULLSHIT about a 3rd party vote being a waste. Wasting a vote would mean supporting the career criminal with a (D) after her name or the raging asshole with the (R) after his name just to keep one of them from getting elected.

When these two Shitstains are your 'only' choices, you know that something has gone terribly wrong with our beloved Republic. My fellow Americans, we can do so much better than these two horrific misfits.

It must take an awful lot of brainwashing and Tribalism to believe that 'vote for Candidate A so Candidate B doesn't win' non-sense. No matter what anyone says, I refuse to even consider voting for either of them. I'd be ashamed of myself if I ever considered either of them for even the smallest fraction of a second: Planck time.

And there were more reasons than these for me to vote for the Libertarians...

Louisiana State Constitutional Amendments on the ballot this year...

There are also 6 new amendments being proposed for my state constitution in this election. My representative in the State Legislature sent out a mailer listing them and what each one would say. Here is what I decided with them...

Amendment #1 - Setting qualifications for Registrar of Voters

LEGISLATIVE LANGUAGE: Do you support an amendment to provide that the manner of appointment for the registrar of voters in each parish is as provided by law and to require the qualifications of the registrar to be provided by law?

MY VOTE: FOR. The fact that they (currently) can hire any joker that wonders in off the street for something this important really worries me. There should be a hiring standard of some kind.

Amendment #2 - Louisiana Authority of College Boards to Establish Tuition and Fees without Legislative Approval

LEGISLATIVE LANGUAGE: Do you support an amendment to authorize the postsecondary education management boards to establish the tuition and mandatory fee amounts charged by institutions under their supervision and management, without legislative approval?

MY VOTE: AGAINST. College costs too much already and the current economy is making college degrees more and more worthless. There is no way in Hell that I'm going to allow the people running this state's public universities to start charging whatever they want. Most of it would probably just go into their pockets anyway.

Amendment #3 - Louisiana Removal of Federal Income Tax Deduction from State Corporate Income Tax Calculation

LEGISLATIVE LANGUAGE: Do you support an amendment to eliminate the deductibility of federal income taxes paid in computing state corporate income taxes?

MY VOTE: AGAINST. Voting for this amendment would increase the tax burden for any company here in Louisiana. This state already has enough trouble attracting new businesses. We don't need to make the ones we already have pack up and leave.

Amendment #4 - Louisiana Property Tax Exemptions for Widowed Spouses of First Responders and Military Personnel

LEGISLATIVE LANGUAGE: Do you support an amendment to authorize an exemption from ad valorem property tax for the total assessed value of the homestead of an unmarried surviving spouse of a person who died while on active duty as a member of the armed forces of the United States or the Louisiana National Guard, or while performing their duties as a state police, law enforcement, or fire protection officer?

MY VOTE: FOR. The grieving widow or widower has already lost a spouse and that spouse's income. They don't need to worry about the tax burden making it that much more likely that they'll also lose their home.

Amendment #5 - Louisiana Transportation Fund and Revenue Allocation

LEGISLATIVE LANGUAGE: Do you support an amendment to establish the Revenue Stabilization Trust Fund for the deposit of recurring mineral and corporate tax revenues, to restrict the use of the fund to 10% of the balance when the balance reaches $5 billion, to restrict the use of the fund to construction projects and transportation infrastructure, and to allocate recurring mineral revenues to the payment of state employee retirement debt?

MY VOTE: FOR. This would take the oil and gas taxes collected by the state and put them towards much-needed public works projects and retirement funds for state government employees. We need funding for those things very badly right now. The roads in Orleans Parish are an absolute disgrace.

Amendment #6 - Louisiana Use of Restricted Funds to Eliminate Future Deficits upon Projected Revenue Reduction

LEGISLATIVE LANGUAGE: Do you support an amendment to authorize the use of up to five percent of current year appropriations or allocations from statutorily or certain constitutionally created funds or up to one percent of the current year’s balances in certain constitutionally created funds to eliminate a projected deficit in the next fiscal year if the official forecast for the next fiscal year is less than the official forecast for the current fiscal year or if the official forecast has been reduced by at least one percent from the most recently adopted estimate for the ensuing fiscal year, and to exempt certain funds and mandates from being used to eliminate a projected deficit?

MY VOTE: FOR. This increases the amounts of money from constitutional funds that can be used to close deficits in the state budget. Since we are currently having a budget problem here in Louisiana, this proposed amendment makes sense. It also prevents taxes from being raised and adds to the number of funds that cannot be touched for this purpose. The funds protected by this amendment include:

- Coastal Protection and Restoration Fund
- Conservation Fund
- Oilfield Site Restoration Fund
- Any healthcare provider fees or assessments in the Hospital Stabilization Fund
- Louisiana Medical Assistance Trust Fund
- Supplemental pay for full-time local police and fire-fighters.

===============

And that is how I voted, folks. Yes, I have voted already. There's early voting here in Louisiana and I took advantage of the opportunity on this past Thursday, October 27th. I thought I could avoid the Election Day crowds that way but, still had to wait an hour before getting to the booth. The fact that so many people showed up to vote early in the morning is very re-assuring to me. That shows that, despite having some really crappy POTUS candidates this time around, at least people still care. There may be hope for us yet...

- Lord Publius

Education for MY future

Ever feel like nothing ever quite goes your way? Lord knows I've felt like that a LOT since graduating college in 2008. My feelings on it all can best be described by some of the lyrics of the classic Judas Priest song Breaking the Law...

So much for the golden future I can't even start...I've had every promise broken, there's anger in my heart!!! You don't know what it's like, you don't have a clue... If you did, you'd find yourselves doing the same thing too!!!

There has been a lot of anger over how so many things have not turned out quite the way I hoped in my adult life. ITT, the Army, the Insurance Adjusting business... However, as I've hinted on my Facebook page for months now, that will change very soon. And it's gonna change by me finally using my VA education benefits to return to school. I am going back to college for a Bachelor's in Computer Science.

The specialty in that major hasn't been decided yet. That's something you do later on in the course of study. However, I think I'll be pursuing Cyber-security since there is ALWAYS a lot of work in that field. I was originally considering an Education degree so I could become a Teacher but, I changed my mind on that one. Just getting some damned information on how to pursue that course was so infuriating that I decided to go with my natural inclinations instead. Tech is where I belong.

I was also thinking about getting some kind of Master's but, my Bachelor's from ITT had a completely different accreditation service than my new school, the University of New Orleans. So, I have to start over as an Undergraduate again. I can't say I'm surprised. Life has already made me start over at zero several times in the last 10 years. This time though, Uncle Sam is picking up the tab so, I really don't care.

It's funny because it's true...

However, getting this far was certainly a bit of a misadventure. And I guess it all started the first time I went to college from 2004 through 2008...

ITT

I chose the title of this blog because 'Education for the future' was the advertising slogan that ITT used back when I first went there in 2004. That was also a time when it was still a legitimate institution. Now, I'm probably laughed at by any potential employer that sees that school listed on my Resume. Despite all that work that went into college for 4 years, I was immediately set back at Zero after graduating in 2008. Back then, it was because of the bad economic situation. Now, it's because the business people that ran ITT ran that school into the ground.

I worked so hard in college that first time around, trying to accomplish a dream of becoming a game designer. It didn't take long after graduation to realize that wasn't going to happen. That was the first time life made me start over at zero. Or, maybe I should say -52,000 since I had $52,000 worth of student loans that needed to be repaid ASAP. Thankfully, they are almost all gone now.

Now, 9 years later, I have all but $7,000 (maybe less) of the loans paid off. The rest will be gone sometime in the next 2 or 3 years, if everything goes according to plan. Maybe sooner if I can afford to put some money away to pay off large chunks at once but, that isn't likely...  (And I'm sure that I said something like that about 2 or 3 years ago as well...)

Anyway, I chose the private sector back then because public universities here in New Orleans were a joke at the time. I didn't think much of community colleges back then either. I didn't even really know what they were. I thought they were just the schools that losers attended. Now, I realize I probably should have went to one of them for something technical instead of those Sierra Bravos @ ITT. Oh well. Lesson learned... At great personal and financial expense...

At least I don't have to worry about people specifically telling me no in job interviews just because of that worthless ITT degree. It's also great that college is being paid for this time by a benefit that I earned instead of loans. I sure wouldn't want to be in the shoes of the kids that ITT messed over when they closed. The Feds had to set up a special program to help them. As if all the problems paying back student loans weren't bad enough for some people back in the 'Great Depression that we're just gonna call a Recession' of 2008.

No matter what the Feds did in 2008, it was still going to be very controversial and only marginally effective at best...

Concerns about Bleeding Heart Liberal professors and the kids that idolize them like false gods...

Bleeding Hearts who are also tenured professors are one of the reasons why I utterly refused to pursue anything in the Humanities, outside of Education degrees. That, and a degree in the Humanities (or any other form of Liberal Arts) just doesn't get you a job. Also, my grades shouldn't be at the mercy of biased ideologues who are pissed that I dared to reject some (or all) of their philosophy and/or worldview. That would be their own fault for actually giving a philosophy like Postmodernism the time of day. 'Feels over Reals' doesn't work in the real world, folks. You cannot simply reject objective reality and substitute your own. Those Commie professors are NOT Doctor Who.

All that being said, I got along quite well with all of my professors at ITT, especially the Bleeding Hearts. One of them even made me his unofficial teaching assistant by paying me to type up his lesson plans and correct his grammatical mistakes. Spelling wasn't one of his gifts.

I doubt strongly that I'm going to have to worry about any hippies among the student body, either. I took a good look around while I was there exploring the UNO campus. With only 1 or 2 exceptions, they all looked quite normal and well-adjusted to me. In fact, they looked downright happy. I think I'll be happy there too since being there puts a smile on my face. And being so focused on STEM these days, that school is essentially one giant Mad Science Laboratory. I think I may have just found my home away from home. :)

However, I know what to do when/if any of the kids try to give me any grief about anything, especially how I'm paying for school this time around...

Or in my case, almost 5 years...

Actually going down to UNO and getting registered, taking placement tests, et al.

I went down to the school for a campus tour and officially submitted my application in October. That process was fairly painless. The school also has the largest library I've ever visited in my life, with the possible exception of the Jefferson Parish Library's main branch in Metairie. They even still had Microfiche there. That on-campus library is also apparently a repository for a lot of government documents so, that's liable to be very useful in the future. Not yet sure how, though...

I walked around the campus on my own for hours, just to re-familiarize myself with the layout of the land. I knew this school fairly well because I went there for a few summer programs for genius kids over 20 years ago. Many things changed but, a lot of them didn't. The Education building is still almost exactly the same. That's where those summer programs took place. I'm sure a lot of the General Education prerequisites will also be taught there.

In addition to my ITT degree not being worth anything to them (which is annoying), I had to take a few placement tests from a serviced called Accuplacer. My old ACT scores from High School wouldn't work anymore since they are only considered good for 5 years. I graduated from High School over 16 years ago now.

There were 2 tests to take: Sentence Structure and Elementary Algebra. The Sentence Structure test was painfully easy. I finished it in 13 minutes and 30 seconds and got a final score of 107. I'm not sure how those tests are graded. However, that score was good enough to test out of the first semester's English class, if desired. The Algebra test though, was more difficult. I had to take that one twice. I needed a minimum score of 65 for that one and got a 68 on the second try. I'll be taking something akin to a remedial math course but, that's okay. I haven't looked at (let alone used) much Algebra for more than 12 years. I could use a refresher course. Thankfully, I can feel my brain starting to re-orient itself to the type of logical thinking required for crunching these fancy numbers. Neuroplasticity for the WIN!

Getting registered for classes was also a bit annoying since I was just directed to a website and told to do it myself without much real instruction. Sounds like I'm dealing with government employees again, huh? Oh well, I'll get used to this new paradigm in fairly short order. I'm actually looking forward to some of the classes I have for this first semester. I think they will be fun. :)

Laughing at my enemies, both real and imagined...

So many jackasses I used to know in the Army are going to be rather incensed when they hear about this latest misadventure of mine. Mostly because it's being funded by their tax dollars.

They'll also be pissed when they discover that the VA will be giving me a living stipend while I'm a full-time college student.

They'll be downright enraged to learn that the stipend and my VA disability check (which I started collecting in April) will cover my monthly living expenses.

The fact that their will also be a small profit after expenses may drive them through the proverbial roof. :P

And just so all of you fools know, I am laughing at you. Your fury and gnashing of teeth is truly Top Kek to me.

Yeah, we're gonna be rollin' around in some of that Donald Trump money really soon, my dudes...

I am laughing at SC, who thought I was about to lose my house and tried to blast my personal business over Facebook in November of 2016. Not only was he completely wrong in his assertions, he also never had any idea what I was really doing in life. Maybe he thought the jokes about being broke were a serious cry for help? I was working and living paycheck-to-paycheck, dumbass. Either way, I'm not selling my house and moving away from New Orleans again. Fuck that shit and fuck YOU too, asshole. You told me on a few occasions that you think you have Asperger's Syndrome. I still say you should go get tested but, for me at least, there is no doubt. That's probably the only way you could have been so clueless. Since when do you go blasting other people's business all over Facebook, numbnuts? Did your parentst not teach you any kind of manners or decorum as a child?

I am also laughing at those two snake in the grass bastards TAB and BKD. Both of whom deserve to rot in the Ninth Inner Circle along with Brutus, Cassius, Judas Iscariot and all other Sierra Bravos who betray their friends. You two apparently thought I was good for nothing, but I can assure you both it's actually the other way around. You two are lucky the Army was willing to employ you. Neither one of you would have much luck in the civilian world because of your tendencies to act like an ASSHOLE. Or, in BKD's case, a fucking degenerate BDSM faggot whose also probably an amoral sociopath. Lord knows the way you treat women is only marginally better than Patrick Bateman from American Psycho. You sick fuck. The way you use them for your own purposes is genuinely horrifying to anyone with a conscience.

I am also laughing at all the shitbag excuses for NCO's that I had to deal with too. They are also lucky that the Army hired them because no one else would. Well, maybe a few sleazy used car dealerships would but, that's not really an improvement... The less I have to say about any of them, the better. I've already beaten that dead horse more than enough.

That shitbag even looks like he might have been an NCO at one time...

Also, I am really having a good laugh at that shitbag BPC, who thought he was somehow going to shame me back into the Army after I left. And when that failed, he tried to cyberstalk me. Boy, did that fail. He might even slit his wrists over the fact that I got the VA to pay for college and provide me a lifelong disability check. Serves you right too, Cocksucker. I normally would consider suicide to be awful. However, in your case, I wouldn't lose even one minute of sleep.

Fuck YOU, BPC. And not in a way that your Homosexual ass might enjoy!

Random thoughts for 17 September 2016

0.) Happy Constitution Day!!!

1.) There has been a disturbance in The Force as of late...

For reasons I still don't fully understand, I have been a lot more attracted to blondes these past 2 weeks than usual. I suspect this has something to do with 2 hot blonde actresses that I like (i.e. Jennifer Lawrence and Melissa Benoist, the actress that plays the lead role in Supergirl) and that cute little 24 year-old nursing student that's my usual trainer at the gym.

2.) Make no mistake though, I am still just as obsessed with Redheads as ever. If Leanna Decker came to me and begged me to make her a happy wife and mother, I wouldn't say no. ;)

3.) I recently started a new job as a daily claims adjuster for an Independent Adjuster firm that I worked for in the past. So far, I'm just handling claims that people make against the local electric company. Most of them are easy denials but, I still give them full consideration. That way, when the claimant gets the denial, they can't say that I didn't even try to be fair to them.

I sure do hope this job goes well. I'm tired of being only sporadically employed and CONSTANTLY struggling to pay the bills...

Also, this job keeps me here at home. I don't just mean New Orleans I mean at home, handling the claims over the phone and internet with a laptop the company gave me. That ought to significantly cut down on my travel costs... :P

4.) Why is Firefox being such a crackhead? Am I going to have to get a new browser that DOESN'T suddenly take up all the system resources and freeze? Who cares if I have 20 tabs open (with most of them being YouTube videos) it should NOT be crashing in this modern age of superior open-source programming... *smh*

5.) No, I am not switching to Chrome. Google always wants me to sign into that shit and it is often just as much of a memory hog as Firefox. Sometimes much more depending on how many tabs you have open at once.*

* = Chrome has each tab run as its own process in Windows. This was meant to keep the whole browser from crashing if one freezes up for some reason. It doesn't always work well.

6.) I wonder if Opera would be worthwhile as a new main browser? Is it even still around? I know Nintendo uses Opera software for the web browsers in the Wii, Wii U and 3DS platforms. Would that be enough to keep them alive?

7.) Adobe Flash sucks. It should be replaced with HTML5 by ANYONE running an active website. I have spoken.

8.) I found an interesting article via Facebook tonight. It's about a Battalion commander getting removed for violating the Sexual Harassment and Equal Opportunity regulations.

"The investigation found Higgins committed multiple violations of the Army’s Sexual Harassment and Equal Opportunity regulations and policies, created a hostile work environment, and failed to treat subordinates with dignity and respect, according to the statement from the 1st Armored Division.

Officials from the 1st Armored Division later clarified that the Sexual Harassment policy violations cited in the investigation stemmed from inappropriate comments that created a hostile work environment, and there were no allegations of any inappropriate physical contact."

So, an old-school officer makes a few sex jokes and he gets fired... Okay...

I could swear that I've read about this dude somewhere before, years ago while I was still in the Army. The piece was essentially a biography of the guy in question, saying he was one of the most aggressive commanders we had in Afghanistan.

So, what really happened? Were the comments really that bad or is this a case of Political Correctness running amok? Either way, I think we are not being told the whole story.

9.) Found out that the new Star Trek show is being delayed until May.

I'm not upset by this delay at all. It will give them a chance to create a MUCH better product than what I've seen so far. Also, they didn't even have more than 3 or 4 scripts finished as of August. Getting a season's worth of episodes done in just 4 months would have been next to impossible.

10.) Haven't seen or heard anything out of that stalking shitbag in a while. I guess he got the message and took it to heart. Good for him.

11.) Speaking of Gingers that supposedly lack souls... I was thinking about the little red-haired girl from Korea again a few weeks ago. I have come to the conclusion that she was not in her right mind back in those days. Don't know if she got any better since I left her behind 5 years ago now but, I sure hope she did. Otherwise, her life is really going to suck in so many different ways.

12.) About talking point number 1... I recently watched all 20 episodes of the new Supergirl series on Netflix. I'm glad it's being renewed for a second season. I hope being moved from CBS to The CW doesn't kill its ratings like changes in time slot often kill a show's ratings.

13.) Bible Study started at church again this past Tuesday, this time studying the Acts of the Apostles. (Often referred to as 'the Book of Acts'). Straight away, it's proven insightful by explaining what 'Witnessing' actually meant.

It's definitely not the proselytizing, bible-thumping insanity from various religious fanatics that only drive people away from God. It's just answering questions about God, Jesus, the Bible, et al. whenever someone asks you about the subject. So, it's looks like I was witnessing many times over the years without ever being aware of the fact. Forget about mysterious ways, sometimes God works in some really low-key, seemingly sneaky ways. It's just a subliminal form of word-of-mouth advertising... How interesting...

14.) Why do the local Rock stations insist on cutting out about 15-30 seconds from the Ozzy Osbourne song No more tears? Even worse, why does it have to be from Zakk Wylde's guitar solo?! That is fucking BULLSHIT!!! Even the video on Ozzy's official YouTube page does it... Whisky Tango Foxtrot?!




15.) Ya know what else is awesome about working from home most of the time? I now have a LOT more free time. Unlike those damned call centers, I'm only expected to work 40 hours a week most of the time, as opposed to 60 hours. I can finally play video games on a regular basis again! Awesome!!! :)

That's all for now...

- Lord Publius

My life-long mission to get a Corvette FINALLY has some direction

One of my life goals is to have a Corvette. However, that isn't really cheap... under most circumstances.

I've done some research and found that C4 Corvettes (that's model years 1984-1996) usually go for between $5,000 and $15,000. That doesn't include special models like the 1990-1995 ZR-1, 1996 Grand Sports, Anniversary Editions and Pace Car replicas. For a classic sports car, 5-15k is quite a bargain!

Why are they so cheap? Because the later C5 (1997-2004) & C6 (2005-2013) generations were a lot faster and the earlier C1 (1953-1962) C2 (1963-1967) & C3 (1968-1982) generations are all prized just for their styling alone. Many of them are also still strong performers by today's standards too.

The C4 often gets a lot of grief from some (supposed) Corvette lovers because it wasn't always the fastest or most powerful. Considering how low the horsepower numbers (and performance) were for the C3 models from model years 1974-1982, I'd say that ALL C4's were a significant improvement. In addition to being the car that (eventually) restored the Corvette's performance abilities, it was also the first all-new Corvette design in 16 years. There's also quite a lot of affordable performance upgrades for the C4 (and any other Corvette that will ever be manufactured) so, I can improve the performance of any C4 that I acquire.

The only question is which C4 that I want to buy. The 1992-1996 models with the 300hp LT-1 small block V8 would be really nice. One of the earlier C4's from 1984-1989 could also be cool, just because I like the styling and digital instrument cluster. However, those cars had horsepower numbers between 205 and 250hp with the L83 engine used in 1984 (a carryover from the C3 generation) and the L98 used in cars from 1985-1991. The one year only 330hp LT4 V8 was most famous for powering the Grand Sports model from 1996 but, it was also available in any other Corvette from that year.

The digital display of the 1984-89 models, along with a wireframe for the early C4 model.
This pic is sooooooo 80's...

So, I've narrowed my choices down to the following:

- 1985-1989 Corvette coupe or convertible (Convertibles first appeared for the C4 in 1986)
- 1992-1996 Corvette coupe or convertible w/LT-1 V8
- 1996 Corvette coupe or convertible w/LT-4 V8

Based on what I've read on the C4's Wikipedia page, I think a 1996 model (with either LT-1 or LT-4) would be the best choice. Regardless of which one I get, it will have an automatic transmission and the soft-riding F45 suspension. I'm looking for my car to be a wicked cool boulevard cruiser, not a drag racer.

Of course, this isn't going to happen any time soon. I have much more pressing priorities right now. However, it will eventually happen. I just hope it happens while I'm still young enough to enjoy a sports car.

Finally, we have here the TV commercial for the 1984 model. It is STILL the best car commercial that I have ever seen. It makes me want to buy a C4 Corvette even more than I had before.





Not exactly a wonder why this car proved so popular back in the day, huh?

- Lord Publius