A colleague of mine found this striking commentary on Microsoft’s latest operating system. All you Mac and Linux devotees might dig it! :) 

"And Now For Something Completely Different"

Ok, well apparently I've deviated from my initial plan of discussing bass gear today. But there's plenty of time for that later. Instead, I figured I'd take a break from the heavy political commentary and cleanse the cerebral palate, as it were, with a little frivolity. Click the blue letters for a more light-hearted view on the presidential debates and the time main candidates.

-R.k.S.

Uh oh . . . Gestapo, Part Duex

Today the husband of an old friend of mine made me aware of some shenanigans that are afoot in Ohio. Apparently, Ohio's Secretary of State, Republican J. Kenneth Blackwell has some interesting ideas regarding voter registration. Check the 411:

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/election/election-local.php?story=dispatch/2004/09/25/20040925-A1-02.html

http://static.act04.org/act/paperstock.htm

Also, here's an interesting piece on the voting situation in Florida by former president Jimmy Carter, thanks to Mr. Michael Moore's excellent site:

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/index.php?id=175

-R.k.S.

R.k.'s Edge 5-string Bass made by Dean Guitars, circa 2000. 

Uh oh . . . Gestapo

A scant few weeks ago, I discovered and shared information regarding President Bush's now defunct New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. At that time, it was my hypothesis that certain initiatives and programs that were to be conducted under this act were an invasion of personal freedoms, and to that end, could be tantamount to fascist tactics for social engineering and social control.

Earlier today a friend of mine provided me with some additional information regarding the corruption under which President Bush assumed office in the first place. And in doing some further research and reading, I began to see a pattern regarding campaign and voter "control" tactics being used to manage this year's election efforts by the Republican Party, and similar tactics used by fascist and totalitarian regimes. For example, in Today's New York Times, under Top Stories, there is an interesting article titled Supporters Get Incentive Plans at Bush Rallies, by David M. Halbfinger. As I read this article, it became even more imminently clear to me that social control is certainly an agenda of both the Bush campaign, and of the Bush administration. The campaign rally tactics, information tracking regarding party affiliations and party loyalty, and strong-arm, evangelist techniques to get rally observers to campaign directly, really reminded me quite a bit of certain other campaign techniques used by another “great” leader during the late 30’s and early 40’s. But ya'll decide.

I dunno . . . these things, when brought to my attention, tend to move me to exercise my rapidly fading First Amendment Rights and say something. Tomorrow, I plan to write on an even more important subject that definitely affects the state of the Nation . . . what bass gear I've got v. what bass gear I want! As Hendrix once put it, "I know what I want but I just don't know how to go about getting it." Right on.

Meanwhile, if you care about the future of your nation, your fellow citizens, and your freedoms (and I know you do), check out these good resources:

MoveOn.org

People for the American Way

NotBush.com

Rock the Vote, Voter Registration Online

In case you missed the link in the title of this post, this link contains a media presentation about Bush and corruption at the polls.

-R.k.S.

R.k.S. "Bassopelli" graphic/tattoo. Designed by KAJ, 2004.  

Hello World

Greetings everyone. After some considerable thought and guidance from some of my occupational colleagues (non-musical, that is), I've finally decided to publish a site that can serve as an outlet for my incessantly loquacious tendencies to speak my mind on whatever topic moves me at that particular moment. Hey, it sure beats the habitual and relentless spamming of various articles on politics, society, and art that I have been torturing my friends and acquaintances with for the past, oh, 5 or 6 years. So here it is. And yes, it’s going to get pretty strange at times, so to quote the great Samuel Leroy Jackson in the 1993 Stephen Spielberg film Jurassic Park, “Hold on to yer butts!”

I've decided to title this first post "Hello World", not so much as an unimaginative attempt to be trite and corny, but almost as a pun to a pun. My first, and foremost professional and artistic passion is for music. I am a bassist and have worked in a number of bands and recording endeavors throughout the years since around 1980/81. And one day when I grow up, I hope to become a full-time performer and producer (I was actually accused of wanting to be a “rock start” once . . . can you imagine? Hannibal Lechter, keep your damn faba beans to yourself! I’m gonna be a rock star! AAAAUUGGHH!!) Anyhoo, I digress (there’ll be quite a bit of that). In my normal, boring, non-musical 9-to-5 "gotta pay the bills and be a responsible adult citizen)" life, I am a mid-range computer systems administrator. I have worked in this capacity for one corporation or conglomerate or other (i.e. "the man") for over 10 years now. And although I am a musician first and professional geek second, I have learned a spattering about programming here and there. As far as the geek stuff goes, I don't program, with the exception of the occasional shell script or Perl hack here and there. . . I just deal mostly with the heavy-metal hardware and operating systems.

One thing that I've noticed is that many programmers tend to test output from their programs in a variety of languages by using the phrase "Hello World". I guess that sort of gives the program a sort of "life" of its own and insinuates that it has been "born" or somehoe self-actualized. Corny Sci-Fi crap, if you ask me (not that there’s anything wrong with that). So I figured I'd title my first post as such.

From this point, I think those of you who may not know me well (which may be most of you) have already figured out that I'm one wordy bastard. I apologize. . . but yet not. I've started thinking that rather than myself being guilty of communicating and thinking too much, the average (and I do mean average) citizen in the Untied states (I can't speak for other countries) doesn't communicate or think nearly enough. . . .Which might explain a few things (escpecially now-a-days). But I'm sure we'll delve into and explore that whole realm quite shortly. For now, the following thought occurs to me:

If I ever do take any formal computer programming courses (and I don’t' think I will, for I'd much rather learn to speak Japanese), then I think the test-text for my work, rather than stating "Hello World", will more than likely say something like " I like big butts and I can not lie". Hey, don't judge me. . . you of the female persuasion might form the opinion from reading some of my future posts that I may be a pig at times. To take that old, played out metaphor and run with it a bit, if I am a pig occasionally, then I am a respectful, loving pig in a finely tailored suit who hates mud and doesn't leave the toilet seat up. :)

Enjoy.

-R.k.S.