Lenny's Old Old Blog: March 2004

for embarrassing posterity

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Thursday, March 25, 2004

Six Ways to Look Up

Thursday, March 25, 2004

I
She stands beside him
As the meteor cuts through the fog.
The grass is cold and wet and
They are tired and dreaming
But the sky is in flames.

II
He is fixated upon the bird,
Binoculars permanently to his eyes
And neck permanently tilted back.
He follows for several hours,
Then trips.

III
He looks up from his pile of books
Across the room.
She continues buried.

IV
The bird flies overhead.
The path it walks has not yet been broken.
Thorns stick to its foot.
It looks up and smiles to be among the worms.

V
He mixes his paints
and creates the sky he sees.
Night falls and he takes a new canvas
And he mixes his paints again
and creates the sky he had seen.

VI
He reads but does not understand.
The worst way to look up is to
Look down and not know it.

Re: Re: Godless Nation

Thursday, March 25, 2004

In a comment to a previous post Lippy wrote:

You know Lenny, this is surprisingly an issue I feel strongly about. I think that too few people have a concept of God and that if people were less secular and had more faith society as a whole would be better. I think that saying whatever you want to say is protected by amendment numero uno, and that a wrod, does not make people change. Just saying under god does not mean that you will soon be baptized by a priest. Just to say a word is harmless. I think these days too many people are backlashing against religion, just becuase they dont like their lives.

My response was too long for non-paying Haloscan users so here it is, for all to enjoy:

“Under God” is two words. Do not underestimate the power of two words. The two words “Hail Hitler” killed millions of people. Hitler’s rise to power was based on social appeal and propoganda. This brings to mind the scene from “The Sound of Music” right before the concert where the officer visits the Von Trapp family and says “Hail Hitler” strongly several times, and gets Captain Von Trapp to reluctantly say it as well.

Not that I consider religious references in the Pledge of Allegiance to be on par with Nazi propoganda, but those two words have a very important meaning. They say that this country is based upon Judeo-Christian morals. That was the purpose of my closing line:

What will they do next: ban morality in schools because it stemmed from religion?

It is true, though, that our society is based on these morals, so it is idiotic to deny that. It is much like Jews that call the era after Christ CE instead of AD because they don’t believe that he was the Messiah. It is still based upon him.

As long as no religion is forced upon anybody and nobody is persecuted because of their beliefs I see nothing wrong with an allusion to our foundations.

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Thursday, March 25, 2004

Godless Nation

Thursday, March 25, 2004

The new unpopularity of God in America makes liberals look like jackasses. Little Oceanside took part in this national controversy, when on the morning announcements the pledge of allegiance went from "one nation" straight to "indivisible" and was then repeated the correct way after a bit of a scolding of the announcer.

I am all for separation of church and state, especially since I lead a secular life, but changing the pledge is frivolous. What will they do next: ban morality in schools because it stemmed from religion?

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Sunday, March 21, 2004

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: best damn sci-fi chick flick ever

Friday, March 19, 2004

I returned from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I will spare you the spoiler, but this is indeed a very good movie. It is probably Jim Carey’s best work.

This is a science fiction chick flick of the highest caliber. As my cousin put it in terms of movies I have not seen: Being John Malkovich meets Memento.

This film has the classic independent film feel to it: utterly and intentionally confusing storyline at first, experimental filmography, and multi-colored hair, but pulls it off with an established cast of actors. It is a welcome change for Jim Carey, who, though always very talented, showed his ability to make a serious film.

On an unrelated note, the film took place in Rockville Centre, the town I was watching the movie in, which made me feel like a true celebrity, then like a true loser for thinking that. My mystake—I believe I just spoiled the movie.

I give thumbs.

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Wednesday, March 17, 2004

Circumventing Internet Explorer, Again

Tuesday, March 16, 2004

I never used this practically, but in case anybody is working on a website design and needs to block an entire stylesheet from Internet Explorer, try the following hack:

Add noie or any other arbitrary word that is a valid media name but would not confuse any clients to the media declaration. So <link rel="stylesheet" href="mystyle.css" type="text/css" media="screen print"> becomes <link rel="stylesheet" href="mystyle.css" type="text/css" media="screen print noie">. This works with <link>, <style>, and @import (for the latter two use commas instead of whitespace) but not with @media selectors.

Most browsers will see the "noie" media type, decide that it does not match them, and go on to the next one. Internet Explorer has a bug that causes it to completely ignore that stylesheet.

This was asked close to a year ago and as far as I know it has not been answered.

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Monday, March 15, 2004

Sociology of Black and White M&Ms

Monday, March 15, 2004

You may not know it yet, but black and white M&Ms are racist. This goes beyond the idiotic notion many people get whenever they hear a word associated with a minority, but just short of not being a joke.

First of all, the candies are segregated in the bag. The first five I took out were all white. I later got to groups of all blacks and rarely got a mixed group, taking usually two or three at a time.

Secondly, the very notion of a black and white candie seems to yearn for the old days where racism was more rampant: the days when Woodrow Wilson would show Birth of a Nation in the White House.

Third, the white M&Ms are slightly larger than the black M&Ms. This causes the black one to “fall through the cracks” of the microcosm of society.

Today’s candy producers sicken me. Well, I am all out of inane accusations for the day.

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Sunday, March 14, 2004

Back in Blog

Saturday, March 13, 2004

With my return to writing a weblog, I introducing a new design and a new name. Enjoy.

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