Troy's Thoughts

reply about whining

22:40 - Sorry for not responding to your post sooner, Bryan. I can handle criticism and I appreciate your comments, but I might not have responded very constructively because I initially felt that your criticism was misappropriated and confrontational. I'll try to keep things more interesting, but it's very easy to upset someone when posting more than once a week. Oh, and just to let you know, when offering criticism it's usually in the criticizers best interest to phrase their criticism in a tactful and non-confrontational manner, so that the criticizee won't react defensively.

re: rephrasing the Russia post

22:36 - That's a bit of a stretch there, I think. US soldiers may not be perfect, but they don't systematically execute people and I've never heard of widespread extortion or "disappearances" at the hands of our soldiers or our country.

re: scholarships

22:32 - I don't think that these scholarships should be banned and that the purveyors of these exclusive and discriminating scholarships should be locked up, I simply think that these scholarships are unfair and unwise.

Scholarships for homosexuals

18:54 - Here's an article about scholarships exclusively for homosexuals. First of all, how do they prove this? I mean, who wouldn't pretend to be gay to get $1000? This is absurd, as are all forms of affirmative action. Proponents of affirmative action said that it was used to make up for years of discrimination and yes, gays have faced discrimination too, but unlike blacks, homosexuality isn't hereditary. It's not like your father makes minimum wage at the steel mill because he's gay, and so you grew up without the opportunities that your straight classmates had. So, presumably, these scholarships are offered to promote diversity, a laudable cause, but impractical to execute. It's important for people to go to college, I'm in favor of scholarships, but scholarships shouldn't be restricted to only certain segments of the population whose characteristics they cannot control. What next? Scholarships for students with webbed feet? For students whose second toe is larger than their big toe? For students who don't like cheese? This excessive segmentation of society in order to promote diversity is ridiculous, where will it end?

Russian disappearances

18:52 - http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/01/29/russia7248.htm:

Russian forces round up thousands of men in raids, loot homes, physically abuse villagers, and frequently commit extrajudicial executions. Those detained face beatings and other forms of torture, aimed at coercing confessions or information about Chechen forces. Federal forces routinely extort money from detainees' relatives as a condition for release. "Disappearances" remain a hallmark of the conflict, and their frequency rose sharply in early 2003. According to statements by pro-Moscow Chechen officials, in the first half of 2003 an average of two people went missing every day, many of them after being detained by Russian forces. The Russian human rights group Memorial documented 294 "disappearances" between January and November 2003, including forty-seven people whose corpses were later discovered in unmarked graves or dumped by the roadside. The group estimates that the real number of "disappearances" was three or four times higher.

Precariously powerful Putin

18:49 - After the terrorist attacks in Russia, now Putin wants a lot more power. This guy has something to say about it. I never really liked Putin, but now I like him even less, Russia is becoming more dangerous under his rule.

Darfur emergency

18:45 - There was a rally yesterday for Darfur and a WHO survey shows that death rates indicate an emergency.

New poll: updated

22:56 - Hm, I must not have uploaded it, sorry, try again.

Whoa

22:41 - Well...where do I begin? To those of you who don't know, Katie posted results from the Census that showed that women earn much less than men with an equal level of education. This was my response:

These statistics don't truly reflect unfair wage distribution, however, since there are other issues to consider. That's not to say that there isn't unfair wage distribution, but the gap probably isn't nearly as wide as the statistics would indicate.

For example, women don't make as much as men because sometimes women stop working to take care of their children and because men are historically more ambitious than women.

Troy

Apparently my remarks were rather incendiary.

First, let me try to clarify and explain what I was trying to say, it was quite possible that I was misinterpreted. The thesis of my post was that the statistics were misleading since they only show earnings based on education level, divided into different sexes. Jumping to the conclusion that women are being vastly underpaid for equal work would be like seeing a survey that shows that 50 year olds make more money than 80 year olds and blaming it on age discrimination. I'm not trying to argue that women aren't underpaid for equal work, I'm simply trying to argue that the statistics don't show the whole story.

My second paragraph was an attempt to offer legitimate explanations that might account for some of women's wage deficiencies. First, I suggested that some women make less because they have children to take care of. Women with children 1) take time off of work to have babies, and they might not get paid for their time off, 2) often stay out of work to raise their children, so they're not getting paid at all, or 3) work part-time, so they're getting paid much less than when they were working full time. Considering that it is usually women, and not men, who take time off to care for their children, and many women don't work full-time while raising children, it would be quite reasonable to suggest that women make less overall because more women than men are taking time off to care for their children.

Finally, in what probably invited the most criticism, I ill-advisedly suggested that "men are historically more ambitious than women." Perhaps I should limit my statement by saying that women historically act on their career ambitions less than men, since it would be trivial and difficult to argue that women actually have fewer ambitions. A feminist might essentially agree with me by saying, "women have historically had their ambitions quashed by our conservative, male-driven society." The point I'm trying to make here, essentially, is that in our culture, women tend not to fulfill as high-paying and lofty career ambitions as do men, who more commonly have positions in politics or at the top of a company. Though much less so nowadays, women are taught to, and naturally tend to, care for their families inside the home and be "housewives"; It's not that uncommon for women to go to college largely in order to get their "Mrs." degree. Obviously there are some women who are just as ambitious as most men, but in general women emphasize family more than career, whereas many men feel that it is their job to provide for their family through their career and therefore perhaps strive harder to make more money at work. The argument that women display less ambition is less effective regarding women with higher levels of education where it is easily offset by Katie's argument:

If men are historically more ambitious than women, then how come an average woman who has a doctorate earns less money than the average man with a bachelor's degree?

It seems to me that continuing with one's education to the point of a doctorate is far more ambitious (at least academcially) than stopping with a bachelor's degree, yet the wages do not seem to show this.

That's a good point and I don't want to argue this particular issue any further, but I want to make clear that my comment wasn't an attempt to irrelevently belittle women, but merely a suggestion that might attribute some wage disparities to cultural standards.

Oh, and DAC, I received your text message as well.

New poll

22:40 - There's a new poll that will be effective for the next couple days. I'm trying to decide my blog name and after receiving quite a few suggestions, I've narrowed it down, and so I thought I might give you all a chance to decide, not that I'll necessarily base my decision on results of the poll, but it might help me to make up my mind. "Yort" is my first choice, but "TheTroy" is tempting as well.

re: WOW!

20:35 - Hey, the "how should I come home from work?" was in no way a whine, and I wasn't whining about buying music, either, the issue of concern isn't the money. Maybe you should stop finding reasons to whine about me whining. It would seem that the problem you have isn't with me whining but rather with me analyzing and asking questions in an effort to make decisions regarding minor details of my life.

Crime is at a 30-year low

20:26 - Crime is at a 30-year low, is that because the prison population is at an all-time high?

what is the best way home?

20:07 - There isn't a well-defined best way for me to take home from work, so rather than abide by simply what seems faster, I'm timing and measuring various routes home to determine which way is the best way to take.

this week's color scheme

19:20 - I made this weeks color scheme on Lesley's computer, whose monitor doesn't make things look the same way as on the other computers I use. This week's color scheme is based on the cover for the Steve Miller Band's Greatest Hits from 1974-1978, but on my computer it looks more like the Miami Dolphins colors.

blog names

18:14 - From the suggestions I have received thus far, I have limited my options down to these six, in decreasing order of my preference. You have the rest of today and maybe some time tomorrow to offer any last minute suggestions or throw your support behind one of these options. Right now, though, Yort looks most promising.

• yort
• the troy
• trobert
• troybort
• cyberyort
• trobyort

I received my rebate check

17:58 - You may remember that the rebate folks initially denied my rebate for the Kingston memory I purchased for my computer, that I made it my mission to get my money, and that after e-mailing them twice, they said they'd send my rebate. Today my rebate check arrived. To all of you whose initial rebate requests are declined: don't give up.

I disapprove of school athletics

16:49 - Why are athletics an integral part of public education? What would a high school be without a football team? I can't quite understand this, it seems to me that this is none of the school's business to fund. But, does football bring in money to the school system from ticket sales? I find that prospect unlikely. Schools should save the money and dump athletics. The problem with dumping athletics, though, would be that then kids wouldn't get to play sports because the schools wouldn't be providing them. However, if schools are having to pay for sports, then the money saved by not having sports should be passed on to the taxpayers, who could then have money to go towards an external sports league. Of course that means that poor parents will probably want to keep their money to go towards their bills rather than letting their children pay sports, but shouldn't these people be given the opportunity to decide where they want their money to go, since their bills might be more important than letting their kid play football? Currently, kids who fail their classes are not eligible to play sports, but that system is flawed since many players receive favorable treatment. Things wouldn't necessarily be worse in an external sports league since the league could still require passing grades and the same coaches in the league might not still have a job at the school.

Whew, at least we're still okay here in Texas

16:21 - Yet another reason why I'm glad I don't live in California

Fort Worth is cool but too big

16:06 - I tend not to think much about how D/FW is like one of the top 10 largest metropolises in the nation. Most people credit Dallas with contributing all but a small portion of that population, but Fort Worth is damn big too. Fort Worth has over 500,000 people. Orlando has like 200,000, Miami, 376,000, Tampa, 317,000. There is no city in South Carolina over 200,000 people. I didn't think Fort Worth was so big. A town of less than 250,000 is small to many Fort Worthians but to people in other states, that's a big city. I hadn't realized how populous Fort Worth is compared to other cities that I would consider large. Fort Worth is surprisingly large, too large.

This site is excellent, it shows the populations of cities, the largest cities in a state, and even puts these cities on a map. It shows cities worldwide too.

Most of my experience with Fort Worth has just been around the SW part of the city, I know next to nothing about the east side and north side; most of Fort Worth is foreign to me. I'd like a city that I know a little better.

Fort Worth is really cool, sometimes I underrate Fort Worth, as most people tend to. Just recently I was walking along the Trinity River near downtown where the Clear Fork and the West Fork of the river combine, and I thought that it was a pretty neat place and that nobody knows about it. Also, Fort Worth has quite a few cool buildings downtown, old buildings with character. Fort Worth has a lot of cool stuff. The Cultural District is cool, Camp Bowie is cool, a bunch of other places are cool, too.

Several things have discontented me with Fort Worth, though. Fort Worth has gotten too busy, yeah, that means more things to do on Hulen and Bryant Irvin, but that also means a ridiculous amount of traffic, more traffic lights, and arrrrgh, more speed humps on every freaking street, as well as more smog. Those aren't huge issues, but I don't like really busy areas. When people go to Dallas they think, "gosh, what a big and busy place," but Fort Worth isn't that much less busy, it'll only be a few more decades before Fort Worth is as bad as Dallas is now.

Right now I kind of think that I might like to live somewhere else in the country, a city with less than 300,000 people, with reasonably good weather (no hurricanes) and with a reasonable amount of things to do (e.g. parks, museums).

Christian missionary work

15:27 - As Christians we're supposed to invite people to learn more about Christ, but that's hard to do. If you talk about religion at every possible opportunity, as seems to be a common practice for many Christians, many people will close their minds to you and dismiss your ideas. Since most people are aware of Christianity, simply telling people about it will probably not bring them into Christianity. I think that the best strategy for missionary work would be to set an example by being as much like Jesus Christ as possible and let people know that Christ has influenced you by being open but not imposing with your religion.

The government's screwing up in protecting us

14:00 - Read here:

If we ask how far we have come since 9/11 in terms of safety planning the evidence is not encouraging.

Homeland security funds are flowing, but not to the right places. Since 9/11, Congress has distributed $13 billion to state governments with a formula only Washington could concoct: 40 percent was split evenly, regardless of a state's population, targets or vulnerability to terrorist attack. The result: Safe places got safer. Rural states with fewer potential targets and low populations, such as Alaska and Wyoming, received more than $55 per resident. Target-rich and densely populated states like New York and California received $25 and $14 per person respectively. Osama bin Laden, beware: Wyoming is well fortified.

Just further example of the government's general ability to screw things up. So, maybe Bush doesn't have the decided advantage in the war on terrorism, nobody does, we're doomed regardless of who is elected.

Music-purchasing philosophy

12:09 - My current music-purchasing philosophy is to only buy the best CDs. But, I've been thinking, there's a significant amount of pretty good music out there today. I've been content with my current philosophy because even though I don't have any "new music" I have mostly good music. However, most of my friends do purchase what they consider to be good new music, and I'm not sure if I should too. My overall quality of music might decrease, but then I'd become more acquainted with the current music offerings, and should I find an artist that I like enough, I might have the ability to go see them in concert before they are past their prime, unlike a couple other performers I've seen - the Eagles and Jethro Tull.

Also, why doesn't anyone own Led Zeppelin's new live album - How the West Was Won?

Vietnam era issues are non-issues

09:58 - People are again and still making a big deal of Bush's National Guard Service, but endless questions about whether he served, how he was able to serve, whether he received special treatment are quite unimportant and distract from real issues that this country is facing. To choose a president based on things he did or didn't do during the Vietnam war is absurd. Pay attention to the freaking issues and forget about all this nonsense.

contest: finally, some activity

22:15 - Well, it's good to see that some people are interested in this contest. You all have all day Monday to submit more ideas. Right now I have an idea or two in my head that I'm pretty fond of but I am open to persuasion.

Cowboys vs. Vikings

22:10 - I expected the Cowboys to lose this game, and they did, 35-17, but I think the Cowboys showed some signs that they can do well this season. The Cowboys actually accrued more yards than did the Vikings and the game would have been much closer if it weren't for a few miscues by the Cowboys. The Cowboys offense was able to move the ball rather well and with rookie Julius Jones entering the lineup soon, the offense should be much improved over the last several years. Despite giving up five passing touchdowns, I think the Cowboys defense will still be pretty good (they were #1 in the league last year).

The people have spoken

20:02 - The people have put only 25% of their support behind Troby and therefore Troby's weekly feature will be discontinued. Troby was an important part of our lives for a while, and I know there will always be a special place in our hearts for him, but this was just his time to go. Troby's previous letters will still be available, should you ever want to reminisce on the good ol' days of Troby. I know some people will be quite upset about this, but we can get through this trying time. If you would like to share your fondest memories of our beloved Troby, please feel free to submit them. Don't be too upset, Troby won't be gone forever, I'm sure he will stop by on occasion.

re: Iran

15:54 - Taking action doesn't necessarily mean military action, but something needs to be done about Iran.

Bush Can't Afford Inaction on Iran

00:40 - Iran needs regime change, someone needs to do something about it.

login name: pigheaded, password: porkpie

My voting options

00:35 - I don't think I can vote for President Bush after his huge increases in spending and the failures in the war on terror. I also don't think I can vote for the Libertarian Party because their views are too extreme for my taste. Can I vote for Kerry? I dunno. Maybe I'll vote for the Green Party or for Ralph Nader. Or...since my vote in Texas is worthless, maybe I'll just write in John McCain. That is the most appealing option right now.

Bush says

00:30 - Go here and you can arrange sentences from clips of President Bush's speeches to hear what you want him to say.

contest

00:19 - Nobody has entered the contest yet, c'mon, it's not hard. I'll give you until the end of Monday to enter, just because I want to make the right decision.

SMU vs. TCU

00:18 - I have nothing to say about SMU's 44-0 drubbing at the hands of TCU.

yet another reply to DAC

00:16 - Some public schools are worse than others and some aren't good enough to qualify as a "good public education," so rather than being stuck in low-performing schools, with vouchers, some of those students can get a better education. I don't see anything wrong with private schools taking a more prominent role in education.

There aren't that many categories to identify: colleges and training programs. There's already a significant bureaucracy associated with welfare administration, so to replace that bureaucracy with one that administers benefits to people training for a better job wouldn't require too much more resources. Plus, fewer people would probably try to get training than currently get welfare.

another reply to DAC

10:30 - The government is responsible for providing a good education for all of its citizens. Without vouchers, some of its citizens can not be guaranteed a good education, but with vouchers, those citizens will have the opportunity to get a good education, albeit private. Which is more important, that people get good educations or that the government only provides public educations?

I expect that the government would do an acceptable job in identifying the education and job training services for which the poor would be eligible to receive government funds. This isn't a demise of "small government", this would make the government smaller because the government would ultimately spend less money on helping people move up than it does on no-strings-attached entitlement programs.

Prediction: Cowboys vs. Vikings

10:17 - Despite an improved running game, deficiencies in the defense will give Minnesota a victory by the score of 28-14.

brief reply to DAC

00:45 - Smaller class sizes are better for students, but not as important for older students, many colleges have very large classes and do a good job of educating. Vouchers let people go to private schools rather than having to attend their own underperforming school.

I think we've reached an end, I disagree with you, I don't support no-strings-attached money for the poor.

reply to DAC

00:45 -

your comment about what works and what doesn't work in schools is the reverse of what practical experience shows. vouchers hurt public education, but higher-paid and better trained teachers, updated and good-condition textbooks, and smaller class sizes help tremendously.

I'll agree that smaller class sizes are important (less so for older students), but shiny new textbooks aren't going to directly affect the learning process. Also, I agree that teachers should be paid more, but just paying them more won't necessarily fix things either. A large part of this is cultural, about which the government can do very little, and it's a bit outside of our main topic of discussion here, but some people don't emphasize learning very much. For example, Asian cultures tend to emphasize education moreso than other cultures, which explains performance gaps. The best school in the world cannot educate a student who does not want to learn and whose parents do not care if he learns. I'd say that these cultural differences account for a large discrepancy between performance of some groups. Currently, these people are discouraged from staying in school by teachers who assign too much work and uninteresting required classes. That's why I say the school system needs reform, because new textbooks, smaller classes, and better teachers aren't going to make kids want to learn, yes they'll help, but more is needed. I don't really want to debate the merits of vouchers because that's not that important to this debate here, but I'm pretty convinced that they're a good idea because they let kids going to bad schools go to much better schools.

"I'd assume that very few of the poor go back to school" - you see why this doesn't matter, right? what matters is giving them the opportunity to do so. if very few of them do it, guess what? the government will have to spend that much less money! it's a win-win situation whether you're a cynical fiscal conservative or an optimistic fiscal liberal.

They currently have the opportunity to do so, this is America. I don't follow you, though...if they don't go to school, the government has to spend less why? I'd say instead of welfare, the government should provide some sort of vouchers that can be used for job training, higher education, or whatever. That way, instead of squandering welfare money, the government can better ensure that people use it on self-improvement.

There were actually some people from the Upward Bound program at SMU this summer, now I know what that means.

I think part of the issue here for me isn't simply welfare, but rather how the government allocates it. I'm opposed to just throwing money at the poor, but I am in favor of using money on the poor to help them achieve. So, for example, I'd say that government money for food stamps - which just encourage them to stay where they are - should be cut in favor of money to go to programs that would help people move up in life.

#2

00:36 - First, read the post immediately below. In order to get blog space on blogger.com, I need to choose a user name that will identify my blog. To get to my new "Thoughts Page", you will have to enter this new user name: http://[username].blogspot.com

Your contest here is to come up with my user name. I'd like to be able to select a winner before this coming Monday (though I'd wait a little longer by request) but please don't delay too long in submitting your ideas. I cannot choose a name that already exists on Blogspot, for example, I thought of "Tfunk" but it's already taken as you can tell by going to http://tfunk.blogspot.com. Please submit any ideas you have for my user name and I will choose the one I like best, multiple entries are encouraged.

To increase your chances of winning, I'd suggest that you provide some reasoning as to why you think that the user name you have suggested deserves to be selected. Here are some tips: I want something that's relatively easy to remember, so mcc4p is unacceptable because unless you know what it stands for (McCain for President) then you won't remember it. I don't want many numbers, if any, which means T Funk 62401 is unacceptable. "Yort" or "Troby" might be good names, feel free to claim them for your own and explain why you think they'd be good names if you'd like to get credit.

This is a contest that requires you to engineer a product, i.e. come up with a name, and then market that product to me.

Good luck, let me know if you have any questions about the contest.

Points awarded to person who submits my choice for my new user name: 25

Blog server

00:23 - I'm going to be updating this page in a much more automated way in the future, I plan. Currently I have to manually add all the posts and update all the code on this page, which is rather time consuming, especially when there are multiple posts (not that there's anything wrong with that). I think that soon I will move my "Thoughts Page" to blogger.com in order to make things a lot easier for me. I like how my page is currently fully customizable, but I'm willing to sacrifice customizability for convenience.

My only concern right now is that I think that this means that user submissions will have to be posted beneath the topic they correspond to - like on DeadJournals - so when you post something it won't appear here with what I'm saying like currently, it will be behind a link. If you have any questions or concerns, I would like to address them.

Why the Libertarian Party isn't great

20:18 - This guy, Jeff Wilson, shares my dissatisfaction with the Libertarian Party:

Libertarian candidates generally provide the best match for my political goals, but I will not be voting Libertarian this year. Between the party's head-in-the-sand foreign policy (or absence of policy), and the readiness of the words "Legalize pot!" to spring from the lips of any Libertarian who finds himself in front of a camera--as if it were an attractive way to get people to listen to more of what he wants to say--I am afraid the party has gone up in smoke.

The Libertarian Party shares many of my views too, but they are just too extreme to get any credit from the average voter. Yes, smaller government is good, but abolishing public education and all government entitlement programs is too extreme a stance to take right now to gain much popularity. I wish fiscal libertarians in the Republican Party, like John McCain, had more of a voice in the current borrow-and-spend Republican Party.

The Election: Would Kerry be okay?

20:11 - I like President Bush, but as time goes on, it is more clear that things in Iraq aren't going well. These presidential candidates need to focus on Iraq and give us real solutions as to what they're going to do about it. What is Bush going to do to fix it? What would Kerry do to fix it?

I think I'd be comfortable with Kerry as president, even though I like him less than Bush, he might be better for the country. At the Democratic convention, Kerry tried to portray himself as tough on terrorism, and even though I think he's not, I think a large enough part of the country is dedicated to the war and that as president, Kerry would feel pressured by that faction to pursue terrorism more than his party would have him do.

When are the first presidential debates?

re: sigh

20:09 - Let me explain my post "the difference between the wealthy and the poor." Though the poor may know how to make a little money go a long way, if they got $50,000, even though they might spend it slowly (which might not be the case, since they've probably never had that much money before and might splurge), but they also might not go get a job. A wealthy person would use the money in some sort of investment and use his business, investment, and financial skills to turn that money into more money. That was essentially the point.

I don't oppose all government programs and I don't think that unemployment and welfare should be completely eliminated. I do believe, though, that both the poor and the wealthy are responsible for their situations. Both wealthy and poor are sometimes born into their position, or achieve it by luck, but in this country the wealthy can get poorer and the poor can get wealthier.

"somehow they're supposed to do this independently of government funds that could make it easier for them to go back to school, provide them with healthcare so that their children can visit doctors while they're doing all of this self-improving, make food stamps and welfare programs available to them so that their children can eat (since according to you they should be taking their minimum wage and putting it into the stock market or financing a small personal business), not to mention the funds that could be used to help them from being trapped in their situation in the first place such as higher funding to schools at every level (including head start programs), family planning organizations and related healthcare education, and anti-crime and anti-poverty measures"

I believe that schools should offer somewhat of an equal education in poor areas and rich areas. It is the government's job to try to provide an equal education for everyone so that poor students aren't academically disadvantaged. However, simply adding more funding isn't going to fix things. Smaller class sizes, newer textbooks, and wealthier teachers might be nice, but those things won't fix education problems. "Progressive" ideas, like school vouchers, have made some progress in education reform.

I am in favor of socialized medicine, so their medical bills shouldn't be a problem while they're looking for work.

In response to the main issue of welfare, I don't think welfare is very effective. You say that government funds would make it easier for them to go back to school, which is quite true, but I'd assume that very few of the poor go back to school. The government gives money to the poor, but I doubt that they invest it (invest it in their education, in job training, in the stock market, whatever). The problem here isn't the government's problem, it's the problem of the culture of the poor. If you went to the housing projects and gave $5000 to someone, what do you think they would do with it? Would they go take some classes at a community college and get some job training? Or, would they maybe buy new clothes, buy a new TV, and get something nice for their car? This is just cynical speculation, but I'd expect the latter.

It comes down to this, if you try to stop being poor, you can, with or without the government's help. If you don't try to stop being poor, the government isn't going to be able to make you stop being poor.

However, all of this talk from you and me is relatively groundless without support. In some European countries, government subsidies are very high, and perhaps we could get better insight into this issue by understanding the effects that their governments have on their economies and their cultures.

yes, yes

19:22 - I was intending to respond to your post but I didn't make time last night. I thought about telling you not to despair and that I would respond later, but I figured that it would be unnecessary for me to tell you that, but I was obviously wrong.

re: way too generic

23:27 - It was quite generic, but I will not strike it from the record.

Yesterday was a nice day

23:24 - Yesterday was a nice day. As I was driving home, I had my windows rolled down while listening to Chicago. The weather was nice, life was good. I also drove to Everman for no reason, I don't know if I'd ever been there before, it was unimpressive.

Daughter of former secretary at Southwest

23:23 - What happened to the daughter of the former secretary at Southwest HS? She needed a very expensive surgery and so students gave a lot of money and I was just wondering if anybody knew anything about her situation.

Contest #1: Answer

23:20 - I asked what song my previous color scheme was based on. The colors were blue, red, black, and gray. The song lyric is from "Mr. Jones" by Counting Crows: "I wanna paint my picture / Paint myself in blue and red and black and gray / All of the beautiful colors are very very meaningful." Nobody won, which is fine, because the question was harder than I would have liked. Next time, hopefully someone will win.

Troby

23:07 - Back despite popular demand is Troby, with another weekly installment of Dear Troby.

the difference between the wealthy and the poor

22:10 - If you take a poor person and a self-made wealthy person to an unfamiliar location with no money, and then give them each $50,000, one year later the poor person will have much less money and the wealthy person will have much more money.

I sold my computer

18:50 - I sold my old computer on eBay and I received $35.19 after paying for shipping.

This is a little scary

18:45 -

tax and spend: a response to DAC

18:43 -

"fortunately the US realized long ago that to run a government effectively that strives to improve the living standards of all its citizens, they needed to impose a tax on their citizens"

That's the difference between you and me, you think the government should help us and I think the government should let us help ourselves.

Also, I think that more people believe in lower taxes and less spending than you seem to acknowledge. I think the libertarian party would be a lot more popular if they would stop emphasizing their more radical viewpoints, such as their "non-interventionist" (i.e. isolationist) foreign policy and their desire to decriminalize drugs.

Summary of this weekend

18:37 - I had a good weekend, I think I'll summarize it so that some day I can read this and say, "Oh, so that's what life was like when I wasn't serving 10 to 20 in federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison."

On Thursday, even though it wasn't yet the weekend, Lesley and I went to Cousin's with Adam, Andy, and Bryan, but I didn't eat anything because I had already eaten. Then, we went to the TCU game, which began at 8:30. It was a pretty good game, but we left at halftime, since we didn't want to be stuck there until after midnight with work looming the next morning. Then, we went to Steak 'N Shake.

Work on Friday was fine, most people were gone by the afternoon. After work, Lesley and I went to Cousin's for food, it was good. Then, we went to Overton Park and walked for a while. We might have gone to QT later, I dunno, I dont remember.

On Saturday I went jogging with Lesley, which sucked. If I were a kid, I would ask myself, "Why do you run if you don't like it?" But I'm not anymore, so I can answer my inner-child by saying, "Because with the evolution of civilization, humans have placed great emphasis on eliminating manual labor for the relatively wealthy, so humans have had the luxury of being lazy, however that creates problems with the human body's inherent need for physical activity in order to stay healthy. Therefore, rather than killing buffalo with my bare hands or harvesting maple syrup, I get my exercise by jogging." But, a kid wouldn't understand that, so I just have to tell my inner child, "You have to, deal with it." That afternoon Lesley made me watch Cousin's with her. My parents bought Cousin's for dinner, and Lesley and I joined them, despite having Cousin's yesterday, because you can't turn down good food like that. That evening Andy invited Lesley and me to the Bedford Blues Fest in Bedford to see Los Lonely Boys, but we declined because, well, it didn't appeal that much, and it wouldn't have been over until late, and it turns out that it would've taken all evening, so, since Adam was in Dallas, Lesley and I were left to our own devices again, and we went to the northwest part of downtown, near the courthouse, so that we could walk around and take some pictures. We walked a little bit on the Main St bridge, and we also went to Heritage Park, which would be a really cool place if it weren't drained of its water and inhabited by hobos. It seems like it must have been somewhat expensive to construct, and it offers a good view of the Trinity River to the NW, so I don't know why Fort Worth has neglected it. So, anyway, after that we left and went to Quik Trip and we went swimming.

On the Sabbath, ate lunch with parents, then that evening we had Papa Johns pizza, which was good, but too far away from my house and too expensive, at least compared to Perrotti's. Lesley, Andy, Adam, and I went swimming and Bryan came over to watch. Then, we went to TGI Friday's and that was all.

Monday, the bonus day of the weekend, included nice weather. Lesley and I went to Benbrook Dam and walked around. For some reason the gates were closed so the parking lots were empty, and in an area replete with benches, there was nobody there for Labor Day. It seemed strange how an area that seemed to be designed for holiday picnics would be barricaded from traffic and empty on such a day. Why isn't the city inviting its citizens to enjoy its park benches? Lesley and I walked around there a little bit and we saw what used to be a road that had been blocked off by an aluminum guardrail. Lesley and I walked along what was left of the road, and I was amazed by how much the plants had overtaken the road. I don't know how long the road had been closed, but nature had reclaimed most of it. We were getting a little tired, so we stopped at Quik Trip for a freezoni, which would be more aptly named a seventyfivecentzoni. Then, we headed to the Botanic Gardens. On our way there, I decided to travel over a bridge on Vickery near Bryant Irvin that I had noticed before. The bridge said "Union Pacific" on the side, and I wanted to drive on it to see where it went, since it didn't look like a regular street and it was a bridge over the railroad tracks that had no clear reason for existing. It just got weirder when we got on the bridge, there were a bunch of signs, and after crossing the bridge I was going to continue driving, but among the myriad signs we noticed one that said, "no trespassing," so we turned around and went to the Botanic Gardens. We explored a completely different part of it than we had visited last time. The Botanic Gardens is great, and apparently lots of other people thought so too because it was busier than I remember seeing it. We walked around some and we noticed "The Conservatory", which was connected to the lounge through a secret passage and was right next to the ball room and the billiard room. Unlike Clue, though, this conservatory had a bunch of plants, and since the entrance fee was a quite inexpensive $1, we decided to check it out. We walked around, twice, noticed the neat waterfall, the big trees, the rays of sun filtered by the mist, some big plants, and some fuzzy pink plants. It was a good way to spend the last $2 in my wallet. We continued walking around the Botanic Gardens a little bit, but decided it was getting kind of warm so we left.

That about sums up the weekend, it was a nice, long weekend.

My Official Cowboys Prediction

12:16 - I have offered unofficial predictions of how I felt the Cowboys would do this year, but now after thinking about it, and with the first game of the season less than a week away, I feel that I am ready to offer my official prediction - the Cowboys will finish the regular season 10-6. To some this might seem quite high, considering that other teams in the division have improved, but I there are multiple reasons why I don't think the Cowboys will do worse than they did last year. First, Bill Parcells has been here for another year and now his players know him better and he knows his players better. His teams always do better the second season that he coaches them. Second, the division won't be that much tougher, Terrell Owens isn't going to make the Eagles that much better, considering the Eagles losses in the running game and the Eagles' concerns on defense. There is no reason why the Giants will be a playoff team. The Redskins have Joe Gibbs and quite a few star players, but they aren't that great. Third, the Cowboys have the easiest schedule in the league, at least when considering their opponents' 2003 records. And, despite concerns in the defensive backfield, the Cowboys are not a worse team than they were last year, with great improvements at running back, and improvements at key positions such as wide receiver, offensive line, and defensive line.

re: tax and spend (amendment)

12:15 - Let me clarify, I don't think that there should be no taxes, I just think that there should be less taxes.

re: tax and spend

01:05 - To me, there is something wrong with "tax and spend" fiscal policy. How about, don't tax us and let us spend our own damn money. There are many fiscal conservatives out there that feel the same way. You know, a long time ago the U.S. didn't even have an income tax.

Democrats tax and spend much more than Republicans. President Bush's tax cuts are a clear example that the Republicans do not want to tax (though Bush has indicated that they still want to spend). As for your distinction of Republicans and Democrats, I think you're being a little silly - the Republicans want to tax the middle class most? Republicans want to tax the upper class less, but that's because they want to tax everyone less. Even though President Bush's tax cuts significantly benefitted the rich, the rich now pay a greater percentage of the taxes that the government collects (see graph that illustrates this point here).

I'd say, if you want the government to take more and spend more money on education, healthcare, and welfare, vote Democrat. If you want the government to take less of your money and spend a lot of it on the military and interest on the national debt, vote Republican. If you want the government to take less of your money and spend less of your money, vote Libertarian.

Bush's demographic key to the election

00:36 - While people say that Bush needs to get a lot of the Hispanic vote to win the election, it's pretty clear to me that the Filipino hermaphrodites hold the key to the election.

Don't mess with Texas stickers

00:21 - I have some "Don't mess with Texas" stickers. I'm usually reluctant to put stickers on my car, but should I put one of these stickers on my car? I support the sticker's message of, "Hey, Mr. Chain Smoker, rather than throwing your cigarette butt out the window and starting a grass fire, why don't you cram it up your filthy ass?" I have four stickers, so if you'd like one, you may have one.

contest and colors

23:05 - I will not accept any more answers for the first contest question after this lunes (Monday).

This week's colors are based on In the Court of the Crimson King by King Crimson.

New poll

22:57 - Please vote for the future of Troby. Below are the results of the previous poll.

Troy's Poll

How will the Cowboys finish this year? Finish below .500 (1) 14% Finish at or above .500 but miss the playoffs (2) 28% Lose in wild card round of playoffs (1) 14% Lose in divisional round of playoffs (2) 28% Lose the NFC championship (1) 14% Lose Super Bowl (0) 0% Win Super Bowl (0) 0% Number of votes: 7.

Should I vote for President Bush?

13:35 - I still don't know who would be best as president. I think Bush has done a pretty good job, but there are plenty of reasons not to vote for him. He's been spending a lot of our money, rather than trying to reduce the deficits. Also, even though I think that the war on terror is crucial to our safety, his administration has had some significant problems, including the abuses at Abu Gharib and the "Iraq undoubtedly has weapons of mass destruction" platform. Also, many people would contend that the religious right has had too much influence on him, though I can't really say that there have been any tangible signs of this influence, even considering his worthless endorsement of the federal marriage amendment - worthless because it will never pass. He signed a farm bill a couple years ago, which was a pork-laden, wasteful, and expensive example of government's ability to waste our money. Oh, and his record with the environment hasn't been that good. And, that whole "I'm a uniter, not a divider" thing didn't pan out.

However, there are some reasons why his presidency went well. He responded to the terrorist attacks pretty well, at least initially. He did what he had to do and he was a good leader in a tumultuous time. However, the invasion of Iraq was a bad idea, ultimately, I think. I'm very pleased that Saddam Hussein is gone and now that he is gone, there is hope for the people of Iraq to enjoy freedom, and I think we're a little safer from terrorism because of the invasion, it sent a message to terrorist-sponsoring nations, but the cost was too high. Bush had the world's support after our country was attacked, but he lost a lot of it by invading Iraq. If he had not lost that extra support, he could have fought the war more effectively by other means. Still, I am in agreement with him that we mustn't waver in our fight against terrorism, though we could benefit from modifying our tactics.

Domestically, the partial-birth abortion ban was significant, as were the tax cuts. I'm not a fan of the Democratic platform of, "tax and spend" economics, so at least Bush tried to ease taxes. I like how Bush tried to help this country's education system with some reform rather than just more money. What else did he do? There's certainly a lot more… Well, he pledged money to fight AIDS in Africa, which was a surprising move by a Republican. There had to be more, if you can think of anything else, let me know.

The state of the economy is rather insignificant in this election, things aren't much better or worse than they were four years ago, but the president didn't have much to do with it anyway. Cutting taxes and spending money surely helped the economy, but that doesn't mean that it's a good policy. Presidents are blamed or credited for the country's economic situation far too much, when a president's control over the economy is quite limited.

One thing that is very important in this election, but that hasn't received much attention, is the future, specifically regarding the war on terror. What would each candidate do about Iran, North Korea, etc.?

Have I omitted any issues? What else should I consider? I have been satisfied with President Bush, I guess, but he hasn't been great. Would Kerry be better? Well, on a few things, yes, and with a Congress that might still be Republican dominated, we might approach a more moderate government. So, I'm somewhat neutral about President Bush, and even though there are quite a few things not to like about Kerry, the Republican congress might neutralize Kerry's liberalism enough to where a Kerry administration wouldn't be too bad. So, while I still don't know who I would rather be president, I understand now that neither person would be very good or very bad, and will probably just vote for Michael Badnarik.

By the way, DAC, you know how Kerry said he supports the FMA? Well, I just thought, he's known for being two-faced, so perhaps he just said that he supported it because of his audience, I dunno, just a thought.

Best Fast Food

12:24 - Inspired by DAC, I am going to list my ranking of the best fast food places. Unlike DAC's list, however, I'm going to judge these establishments not only on quality, but also on price, service, and whatever else makes up my overall opinion. I'm also adding a few more fast food places than were on DAC's list.

1. Quizno's - 10/10
Though its high prices might invite debate as to whether this place is really "fast food," being located in malls is reason enough for me to believe that it qualifies. Despite its prices, which can be a little high compared to other places, Quizno's is great, nothing else in the fast food realm even comes close to its quality.
2. Perrotti's - 8/10
I went here for lunch in high school so I call it fast food. Their mini pizzas are sort of a ripoff, the management is questionable, and the restaurant is sort of a dump, but this place makes the best pizzas, and unlike other pizza places, you can eat inside, unless you buy a pick-up special.
3. Schlotzsky's - 8/10
You might also be able to debate whether this is fast food, but I went here for lunch sometimes in high school and therefore consider it to be fast food. Good food and reasonable variety, they specialize in sandwiches and pizzas.
4. Wendy's - 7/10
Good burgers and chicken nuggets. I've never been impressed by their fries, but their 99 cent value menu makes Wendy's a great value.
5. Sonic - 7/10
Good burgers, but that's usually all I ever get, along with a side, of which there are more available than only french fries. Sonic is a reasonable place to eat, but what makes it so good is that it has quite a variety of desserts and it is open late and offers a convenient dining area (i.e. your car).
6. Chick-fil-A - 6/10
Has good sandwiches, nuggets, and fries, and is not too unreasonably priced, but for some reason I've never been a huge fan of this place, I don't know why.
7. Taco Bueno - 6/10
Pretty good food at a cheap price.
8. Arby's - 6/10
Arby's has roast beef sandwiches, which is a nice variation from all the places that only sell burgers or chicken. Good sandwiches and fries, but unless you have a coupon or they have a special they're pricey.
9. Braum's - 6/10
For an ice cream place, they have some damned fine burgers and fries.
10. Chicken Express - 5/10
I used to really like this place because they have very good chicken tenders. However, recently, their biscuits have been hard and old, their okra has been unimpressive, and their service is usually pretty slow.
11. Subway - 5/10
Pretty good sandwiches and not too expensive.
12. Long John Silver's - 5/10
The only fast food place that sells seafood, it's a reasonable place to go every once in a while.
13. Steak 'n Shake - 5/10
I've never been impressed by Steak 'N Shake. Their food is okay, their deserts are okay, their prices are rather high for what you get. What they have going for them is that they're open 24 hours and that their food isn't bad and it's not unreasonably priced, so while I wouldn't normally choose to go there, when other places are closed, Steak 'N Shake is a reasonable place to go to get some reasonably good food.
14. Kentucky Fried Chicken - 4/10
I never go here so I'm not entirely qualified to judge, but they're kind of pricey.
15. Cici's - 4/10
I used to like this place a lot before they raised their price by $1 and took away my favorite dessert. They're still okay, but not as good of a value as before. The circus atmosphere provided by the numerous children that always precede me in line and whose hands grease the pizza servers make this place a little unappetizing sometimes. The pizza isn't unreasonable and it's nice to have the opportunity to participate in the all-American tradition of buffet-induced gluttony.
16. Jack-in-the-Box - 4/10
I haven't been here in a while, but last time I did, my burger wasn't very good. Maybe I'd like it if I went again and had something else. I did have something with turkey one time from here that was pretty good, but then I had something else with turkey and it wasn't very good.
17. Whataburger - 4/10
I never go here, but when I have, they've been unacceptably slow for a hamburger-oriented fast food establishment. Oh, and their onion rings aren't that good.
18. Dairy Queen - 3/10
I've never had food here, but their Blizzards are good. However, all Dairy Queens are total dumps inside.
19. Taco Bell - 3/10
The McDonald's of tacos. Food is inferior to Taco Bueno.
20. Burger King - 2/10
I don't go here enough to offer a qualified rating, but I think of this place as just slightly better than McDonald's.
21. McDonald's - 1/10
You'd think that I'd like this place since it's so cheap, but I rarely go here because the food sucks. Comparable in price to Wendy's, the nuggets here suck, the burgers suck, and the fries might be good, but I see no reason to go here and wait in line for 10 minutes for crappy food. I give it 1/10 rather than 0/10 because I have to give credit to a mega-corporation that has been able to somehow brainwash its patrons enough to have them believe that their crappy food is worth eating.

Monitor orientation

00:33 - I wish that our monitors were rotated 90º to be oriented like portraits rather than landscapes. Computers are used largely for reading text, and it would make more sense to have our monitors be shaped more like a sheet of paper. Most monitors are more than a foot wide, and it's hard to read a line of text so long. Also, this landscape orientation has promoted the very cluttered look of many web pages. For example, espn.com is one of the worst, it has a bar on the left with some links, the main content in the middle, another bar to the right of that with some more links, and then to the right of that another bar with links. If our monitors were narrowed, espn.com and other websites would be less inclined to clutter the screen with so many vertical bars with links. Gamers might object to this, and that's understandable, but it would be easy to design a monitor that could be rotated by the user so that you could choose which orientation that you would prefer. What do you think?

What to do with Troby

00:32 - That makes two people whose interest for Troby has been neutralized by the burden of having to click on a link. I think there might be more than one fan of Troby, but now that you have revealed that you don't even read him anymore, I feel less of an obligation to keep him churning out letters every week. He could cut back to once a month, maybe, which might be better than completely eliminating him, that way he can still express himself and he will have more letters to which to potentially respond. I'm not sure what to do right now, maybe that will be the subject of my next poll.

Steak 'N Shake

00:28 - I've never been impressed by Steak 'N Shake. Their food is okay, their deserts are okay, their prices are a little on the high side, I think. What they have going for them is that they're open 24 hours and that their food isn't bad and it's not unreasonably priced, so while I wouldn't normally choose to go there, when other places are closed, Steak 'N Shake is a reasonable place to go to get some reasonably good food.

Math is overrated

11:28 - Math is overrated in secondary schools. For the people who are going to pursue math-based fields, such as engineering, math is important, but for everyone else, much beyond basic math is of little practical use. I mean, sure there's going to be a time when people might use algebra somewhere, but calling math a vital part of one's secondary school education is an exaggeration. Rather than requiring students to devote so much time to a field that they will probably benefit very little from, schools should make sure that students know things that normal people in America should know. Students should be taught more about history; history is important, things happen so that we can learn from them. Also, schools should teach more practical subjects, such as how to support yourself and your new baby while only making $6.25 working at Subway. There are many things that students should know before they graduate that they don't know because they're spending too much time in math classes.

re: Contest

23:45 - You're getting close, I think, but one color is wrong, white is not one of the colors, but red (for links) is.

According to the presason, the Cowboys will be great

23:44 - The Cowboys won last night and finished the preseason 3-1. This winning preseason record is infallible proof that the Cowboys will do very well this season, since the preseason is an extremely significant indicator of regular season success. In fact, why even watch the regular season games since we already know the Cowboys will win most of them? I'm glad we have the preseason so we can know how well our team will do without having to watch the whole season.

Darfur and Kerry

23:41 - Some General is bashing the world's reaction to the crisis in Sudan and likening it to their ineffective treatment of the genocide in Rwanda.

If you're going to be in the New York area and are interested in raising awareness of the genocide in Sudan, here is information on a rally to be held.

From Instapundit.com by Glenn Reynolds:

Just noticed that John Kerry is calling for strong action on Darfur. That's good. Unfortunately, what Kerry seems to think of as strong action seems a bit weak:

He called on Mr. Bush to "stop equivocating" and declare the attacks a genocide, and to release the findings of a State Department investigation of the crisis. Two dozen experts hired by the department spent a month interviewing refugees and confirming widespread atrocities, and their report, which includes 1,200 interviews, is on the desk of Secretary of State Colin L. Powell.

Mr. Kerry also said the president should press the United Nations to create a commission to investigate possible war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

He urged Mr. Bush to press the Security Council to impose sanctions on the Sudanese government in Khartoum. . . . On the question of military intervention, Mr. Kerry said the administration should push the United Nations to deploy an international force and to authorize it to use all means necessary to disarm militias, protect civilians and allow aid to get through.

As the article notes, that's not likely to happen given that Security Council members like France and China -- which have oil interests in the region through the current government -- would veto or sabotage any effort.

I guess Kerry's not willing to call for unilateral action (that is, action not approved by France), here, but that's what we need. Some special forces trainers and some weapons to organize the victims in Darfur (and across the border in Chad) would go a long way toward ending this genocide. But if you think that Security Council approval is essential for legitimate military action, then there's not much that can be done here.

I feel like posting

00:16 - Right now I feel like posting more and doing things, unlike during the day when posting doesn't really appeal. I wonder if this means that I'm a night person, because one other night I felt like posting but I pushed myself into bed, just as I must tonight, since I have to get up in six hours. I have things to say though, but I guess I'll have to say them later.

Contest Hint

00:15 - The color scheme is based on a lyric of a song, and when you hear the lyric, you might be able to figure it out. The title of the song that influenced these colors does not mention these colors, but the lyrics mention them all, consecutively. As a starting point, perhaps you should name the four chief colors of this scheme.

We almost forgot...

23:05 - New Dear Troby

News of the Weird

22:45 - Lately I've been interested in reading News of the Weird, even though I guess it's not really high-brow reading material.

Weird Al (Yankovic and Cooper)

22:43 - At the concert Al said that he'd do a song by request and so everyone in the audience shouted out song titles and Al said that he couldn't hear so he said he'd let one person pick a song. He scanned the audience and then picked his guitarist on stage beside him, who said that he wanted to hear Alice Cooper. Al sulked while the guitarist started to play "Schools Out", but then when it was time for the lyrics to the song, Al sang them (no parody) very well and I thought it was really cool that they would play that and reproduce it so well. Then Al decapitated the guitarist and threw a chicken into the audience.

#1

22:38 - I think I'm going to start a little contest that will last for a little while. I think I'll ask questions and provide exercises that will give you an opportunity to earn points. The person with the most points by the end of the contest will receive something that I will figure out later. Not all of the questions will be like this one.

What music artist inspired this color scheme?
First person with correct answer earns: 5 points.

What song inspired this color scheme?
First person with correct answer earns: 1 point.

Hint: Your visual interpretation of the color scheme is not what's important.