Fair and balanced Aug 2, 2005
If you've ever watched FOXNews, you might have noticed that the news network claims to be "Fair and Balanced".  They even registered the term as a trademark.  I've watched FOXNews before, and I need to claim this fact:  FOXNews is not fair and balanced.  They are over-the-top, hardcore, right-wing conservatives.  There's no question about it.  With people like Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly, you can't claim neutrality.  I've watched other news networks that conservatives label liberal.  I'm still not sure if I believe it, but I'll go with it (lemming).  So to make people happy, I think FOXNews should adopt a new motto:  "Balancing the Left by being overtly Right".  Or how about "Stickin' it to the Left, one loud-mouthed talkshow host at a time" or maybe "We actually support George W. Bush"?  To be honest, I hardly ever watch the news.  I can't stand it.  Every couple of weeks, there's a big story that everyone talks about all the time.  It's like there's no other news on the planet except the lady that's on life support in Florida or the girl who got kidnapped in Aruba.  Sure, these things are important, but I reach a saturation point pretty quickly.  So I'm not really in a position to judge news networks.  Whenever I watch CNN, I don't feel like they're completely un-American.  And when I watch FOXNews, I don't hear too much conservative news.  But maybe that's because I don't watch the dumb talkshow hosts.  I watch the news, like Headline News or some other quick little blurb that sums up every major event on our planet in 90 seconds or less.  That's about how long my attention span will last when listening to things that have absolutely nothing to do with me.  So in conclusion, FOXNews is neither fair nor balanced, CNN is a herd of America-haters, and go Eagles! #politics
Compatibility Aug 2, 2005
I think it's interesting that two people can be compatible friends even when their lives and ideologies are completely opposite.  When people form beliefs about something, these beliefs are often very strong.  They become part of the way the person makes decisions and the direction they choose to take their lives.  These decisions become obvious in things like politics, religion, ethics, interests in movies and music, etc.  But what's cool is that a conservative right-wing Christian engineer technogeek can maintain a friendship with a liberal Democrat teacher hippie girl's soccer coach.  None of that stuff really matters, as long as we both laugh at the same stuff.  Or maybe it's because we can both step back from our situation in life and realize that some stuff doesn't really matter that much.  Is this true enlightenment?  Who knows.  Conclusion:  laughter = compatibility. #psychology
UPS (2) Aug 1, 2005
I just went in my first UPS Store.  I was pretty excited.  It seems like a good idea.  So I go up to the desk and say, "Hi, I need to mail a few letters and buy a book of stamps."  The lady at the desk says, "I'm sorry, we don't do that here."  Ok.  So it turns out that UPS does nothing but mail packages.  Sure this makes sense when you step back and think about.  But don't you think they could expand their business a little bit and offer some relatively common services like mailing letters and selling stamps?  I'm not sure why, but mailing packages and mailing letters is in the same functional group in my mind.  And it just follows logic to sell stamps, the very thing that enables letters to be mailed.  Yes, I understand that the United Parcel Service is different from the United States Postal Service.  But I don't care.  Mailing stuff is mailing stuff.  Just mail my stupid letters and give me some stupid stamps, stupid. #business