SB 1070

Just to be entertaining and informative, I posted something to Twitter (and of course FB as well):

Glad Arpaio isn't Sheriff of my county... http://trunc.it/a08kx How long until they ask for YOUR citizenship status? #SB1070

Some one I know basically wrote back asking why I should worry about it, unless I was an illegal alien myself. Well, that's not really the point is it? This is just another step in the erosion of our freedoms. This was my response (via Facebook): 

 'lol, no. But seriously, why should you have to prove to anyone that you are actually here legally? Say I don't have a birth certificate? Can I still prove I belong here?

If a cop stopped *you* on the street (for whatever minimal reason) and asked for proof of citizenship, could you provide it?

Isn't it one of our basic freedoms to be able to walk down the street unmolested by our own government? How much freedom are you prepared to have stripped away? Do you think a Driver's License is enough? Will THEY eventually? Too many questions??????

"THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

THEN THEY CAME for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

THEN THEY CAME for me and by that time no one was left to speak up."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came... '

And that's basically how I feel about it. Along with most parts of the Patriot Act and other legislation, we are growing more and more like what we fought off during WWII and the Cold War.

-- End Transmission -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oops

Apologies for the duplicate kittens...

Please, For the Kittens...

--
Prayer has no place in the public schools, just like facts have no place in organized religion.
- Superintendent Chalmers (The Simpsons)

Creative Commons License Information

Because of a bunch of stuff I've been reading about the 'ambiguity' of "Non-Commercial," I've decided to change the Creative Commons License for my writing, and probably pictures in the future. I just think that it makes more sense to get things out there so they can be read/seen/experienced, etc. without people getting concerned about using the material in what some could define as 'commercial.'

Like always, please attribute the work to me, so I can get some credit for it! I may be putting all my work online for free current;y, but wouldn't it be awesome if someone followed the Attribution and decided to pay me to do some cool stuff like this? yeah, totally!

(I haven't changed the info to the right yet, since I'm in a place that actually blocks my logging into Blogger. meh. so I'll do it when I get home tonight.)

You have selected the Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You should include a
reference to this license on the web page that includes the work in question.

Empty Lighter by Gabriel David is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at emptylighter.blogspot.com

--
I have noticed that the people who are late are often so much jollier than the people who have to wait for them.
  - E. V. Lucas

The Boarding (Part I)

The cruiser came up behind the small craft, slowing to match speed. Hailing frequencies were already on, and data transmitted back and forth between the vessels, although no one from either ship had actually spoken to the other. Captain Kino walked down the gantry, towards the huge view screens.

Regional Commander Shuth stood staring into the screen showing only the void of space. Apparently he had ordered the screens set to a one-x-displacement. The small craft they were overtaking was a small blur towards the center of one screen. There was absolutely no detail, and only a simple red marker picked it out. Still, the commander stared at the tiny smudge, as if looking directly at the real thing. Kino’s experience told him to leave the commander alone, but he had to report.

“Commander, we are closing fast on the rebel ship. Sensors report that we are within small weapons range.”
Shuth’s low growl replied, “Good. Fire a warning shot, and begin boarding procedures as soon as possible, Captain.”

The command was relayed, energy weapons powered up, and then fired.

and Worse yet...

Started an account on Ficly the other day, and wrote something... fairly quickly. But then, 1kb goes faster than I thought it would. I was kinda bored this morning and threw what I wrote into the I Write Like blender. Um, yeah. Very surprised to find that those 2 paragraphs were similar in style to Stephanie Meyer... that of Twilight fame. Crap. I gotta watch my style, I suppose. Next thing you know is I'll have a fraking book deal for 6 volumes of teenage vampire lust. I don't think I could handle that.

Of course, it could just be some BS...

Maybe when I get home I'll run it through this one, and see if I can do better.


In the mean time, check out story #2.

[UPDATE: Apparently I Actually write like:

I actually write like
a moonstruck lunatic possibly actually wearing a straightjacket

I Actually Write Like Analyze your writing!

Which is a load off of my mind, let me tell you...]

3! 3! 3 authors in ONE!!

So, according to this website, I'm super-awesome like 3 different authors.

I dumped in parts of my rant post about SyFy into it to see what it would say. I started with a selection of 3 paragraphs from the first part, prior to the **Spoiler Alert**. This one was pretty awesome because I've always wanted to write a spy novel.

I write like
Ian Fleming

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Second I dropped in 2 paragraphs from the last part (after the spoilers).

I write like
Stephen King

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

THIS really surprised me because I've read many of King's books, and I really didn't think my writing style was anything like his. Although, I am flattered by this website's calculators. Makes me feel good that a formula thinks my style reflects the master of sci-fi fantasy!!

Then I decided to be really daring and threw it the actual spoiler section. I was confused for about .000129 seconds before I realized who this was:

I write like
Dan Brown

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

WTF? I mean, I like the stories he tells, and I did quite enjoy the writing in Angels and Demons. Not so much DaVinci Code. I felt the whole thing was just trying to up the anti on the earlier book. (NO movie only people. A&D came first, and DaVinci takes place a year later)

So, these may or may not be accurate, but its kinda cool to see who you write like, and weather you voluntarily or involuntarily mimic certain writers. Of these 3, I think that King was most influential on my intellect and my writing. I started reading him when I was 17, and have gobbled up quite a few of his works (Esp Dark Tower!). And since I haven't read 2 words of Flemming's work (Movies Only People, over here!), I can't say for certain, but if his writing is anything at all like Rex Stout or the first few Bond films....

Some day we'll see if my sci-fi stories come out sounding like Pratchett, Gibson, or Gaiman.


Posted through GMail.

Goddamn you SyFy

Seriously SyFy, do you hate me? Do you not like me watching your shows? Please tell me what I've done to deserve the following:

-First, a little background-

There are a few shows on SyFy (Formerly the channel known as 'SciFi', but for some reason wanted to re-brand and confuse a LOT of people) that I really, really like. Eureka, Stargate: Universe (SGU) and Warehouse 13 (also the frakin' most awesomest show EVER: Battlestar Galactiga). These are excellent shows. I've followed Eureka since it was unleashed upon us back in 2006. I finally got the rest of my family into it and we're GREATLY anticipating the 4th season, slated to start this Friday (barring any scheduling hiccups [are you LISTENING SYFY??}).

As much as I like Eureka, and some of the movies they put on, like Riverworld, I hadn't paid a lot of attention to the 'Sci-Fi' channel in a while. Maybe this is why they hate me. Last summer I was especially forgetful and totally missed the re-branding into SyFy. But, when I was in the hospital last fall and winter, my wife would change the station and let me watch some stuff on the seefee channel. I remember dreams about Warehouse 13, which must have been me actually watching the show but I thought I was just dreaming of being a secret agent along side Saul Rubinek. When I went back to check it out this spring, I was amazed. It was REALLY good. I finished the first season just a couple of weeks ago, and was looking forward to the new season. Everywhere I looked there was a review saying how bad-ass it was going to be, etc. man, oh man........ I checked my DVR 6 times over the weekend to make sure it was set to record, because I KNEW that I wouldn't be able to watch it during first broadcast. I checked and re-checked the time slot on both TVGuide.com and the Directv website, just to be sure. you know, normal stuff.

Yesterday I was going nuts. OOOOOHHHHH.... Warehouse 13!! I follow @SyFy [Craig Engler, the SVP & GM of SyFy Digital] on Twitter and he kept posting people saying how great it was and everything. Coulden't wait to fire it up after everyone in the house went to bed... damn. So, yeah. By air time I was eating dinner, and I checked the DVR just to be sure it really was recording. w00t! yes! totally recording that shit. Even checked to make sure it wasn't going to be a 2 hour episode... etc. However, by the time we got the kids in bed and all of that I was exhausted, so read for a bit and went to bed early, falling asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. Obviously I was not going to watch the premier last night.

~06:30 Today
Woke up a little groggy, but none the worse for wear (I love that phrase). Fed the baby, hit the bathroom, checked some email, made coffee and saw my wife off to work. And I still had about an hour and a half to kill before I'd have to leave.

~07:15 Today
Opened the correct menu on the DVR, scrolled down to WAREHOUSE 13 and hit play. Tail end of a commercial and... WTF??

WRESTLING. There was Wrestling on my DVR. Who? What? You can probably hear the small 'nghngh' sound that barely escaped my throat. PANIC.
Ok, calm down, there has to be a logical explanation. Hit Info button. Yadda Yadda, SyFy Channel, Yadda Yadda, tuesday 8PM, etc... It looks good. BUT WHY IS THERE FRAKING WRESTLING ON MY FRELLING DVR??

After checking the machine, etc to make sure it was ok, I fast forwarded thinking that tehre may have been a minute or two of a previous show, and then WAREHOUSE 13!!
... 8 minutes later... w00t! Warehouse 13!! ok, but seriously, 8 minutes? Fraking wrestling ate into my show by 8 minutes? Who in their right-fucking-mind would run 8 minutes of wrestling into my show?

SyFy

I rattled off a tweet.

"Anybody(@Syfy ) want to explain why the first 10 minutes of #Warehouse13 on my DVR is goddamn wrestling? Hello?"

As of this writing, no one has responded.

Even though my DVR told me that it had recorded for exactly 60 minutes, I figured: "Oh well, I'm sure it will be fine." Thinking, of course, that there had to be a good reason for this. So I sat back to enjoy my show.

**SPOILER ALERT**
**The following paragraph contains information pertaining to the last few scenes of the Warehouse 13 season 2 premier that aired last night at 8 pm Pacific. if you haven't seen it yet, please skip the following paragraph (just one, I promise), and continue with the next paragraph. thank you... Ever So Much.**

-----------------------------------**Begin Spoilers**------------------------------------------

So, I watched the show that I had recorded. the one I'd been looking forward to for some time and was anxious to see what had happened to Artie and Pete and Myka. I was positive (as we all were, I'm sure) that Leena wasn't really a double agent, and that Claudia's name would be cleared. I knew that If Artie had survived the explosions st the end of Season 1 (HE DID!) that he would be able to track down MacPhearson and all would be well. So there I am, on my couch, drinking my morning coffee with the not-quite-silent hiss of the baby monitor in the background... and we get to where HG runs into the Escher Vault wearing the vest that I can't remember the name of... and Myka tricks MacPhearson using the thimble while Pete cracks him over the head. And MacPhearson lays dying when Artie and Claudia come running up. Artie holds his old friend and explains what he saw when he kissed the Phoenix Medallion and MacPhearson is so understandably apologetic about having misinterpreted the whole thing and becoming evil for no reason. This hits me in the chest the same way as Darth Vader's redemption at the end of Jedi, bringing me to not-quite-tears. Then a slow fade to black, where we assume that there will be a short commercial break and then a prologue where we'll find out the answers to all the questions left unanswered...and...

-----------------------------------**End of Spoilers**-------------------------------------------

FRAK!!!!!
No. There is a fade to black, and the message from my DVR that explains to me that the show is over and do I want to keep or delete the file.

What.the.FUCK?

Thats right, the Season 2 premier of Warehouse 13 was offset by about 10 minutes. On Purpose.

I fire off another tweet:

'@Syfy I'm kinda pissed. You're stupid wrestling schedule made me miss the last 10 minutes of #Warehouse13! You happy now?'

[EDIT: after 24 hours since i tweeted that, no on has responded...]

There is only possible explanations for this.

The offset was there to expose as many people as possible to both the Wrestling crap, and Warehouse 13. See, the people who tuned in to watch wrestling are already invested by 8 minutes into the hour, so they might just stick around and see what this warehouse-thingy is all about. And by the same token, the warehouse people will tune in at the time the show is SUPPOSED to start, see wrestling and think," huh, this ain't too bad. I'm SOOOOOO sorry that I called Craig Engler the spineless toady of a failing network." ( These are not my words, but a culmination of how actual sci-fi fans view the decisions of SyFy, through the mirror darkley that is the internets)

Either way this is annoying. The offset its self wouldn't have been so bad if they had let anyone know about it. ie: my satelite/cable company's scheduler. There are ways to do this. You don't just release the air time as "8 o'clock." you say hey, this set of shows is going to be offset a bit, please adjust your schedules accordingly. NBC does this, why can't SyFy? The Tonight show always starts at 11:35 where i live. The scheduler shows this, and if i record it on my DVR it begins at the correct time. There is absolutely NO reason why one channels Tuesday night line up can't be scheduled correctly, or compensated properly by a scheduler.

Any way, i was going to end with some links to other sites that talk about this, but apparently I'm the only one that was affected... WTF? So, to sum up... SYFy hates me. .

updates to come....

** The bulk of the above text was written yesterday, Wednesday 7/7/10, the following was written this morning after considering what is above*****

Look, I understand that SyFy is a business and they are simply looking for better ratings on their shows. I've already indicated that I LOVE their shows and some of their movies. So I'm not against SyFy in any way (except the name.... god it's silly). I actually wish the channel the very best of luck in raising it's viewership and exposing more people to good science fiction.

That said, SyFy pissed me off to no end yesterday when they offset their showing of Warehouse 13. First, I don't like wrestling. I loathe it. It's the most pointless thing in the world to me. Especially American entertainment Wrestling. It doesn't make any sense to me. Maybe if it was Mexican wrestling with the awesome costumes etc...

but I digest.

It just pisses me off that SyFy can have such little respect for actual science fiction fans that they would put wrestling on their channel.

and then offset it so that it interrupts a great show that i was really looking forward to watching.

in the end, I went to Hulu for the last 10 minutes, and had to suffer through 3 minutes of Vodka commercials to do it.