05/06/2010

Alex and I are considering joining a local Tae Kwon Do class, so we went to the dojo tonight to see what it was like. It turns out we were told the wrong time, so when we arrived it was time for a kickboxing class. We shrugged and decided to participate anyway.

We worked on a few punches and kicks, then did some core strength exercises, then reviewed some self-defense moves, and then did more core strength stuff. And after that, some core strength stuff. All I can say is I apparently don’t have a lot of core strength. I’m flexible– I had no problem doing all the bends and stretches– but when it came to the bicycle moves and leg lifts, I was straining.

After an hour (we thought the class was only half an hour) we were pretty tired, but both decided it was a good time. We’re going to see if we can actually show up for tae kwon do in the next few days, and figure out if we want to get in the program.

05/03/2010

Last week Comcast was awarded the Golden Poo Award for being the “worst company in America”.

They’re certainly earning that award today. I’m trying to update the credit card information on my account so I can actually pay them for their service, and after 30 minutes and about six transfers between agents, I’m still working on it.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

05/02/2010

So some whack-job tries (and fails) to blow up a car bomb in the middle of Times Square. It was kind of a surprise, but I must say the response of the government is– sadly– completely unsurprising.

Of course they’ve labeled this a “terrorist incident” because these days, anything remotely dangerous must be the work of the boogeymen terrorists. There are no longer unbalanced individuals with a vendetta against the world, or just having a bad day. Every bad thing that happens, or almost happens, or is even just bouncing around the head of someone who’s particularly grumpy, is now a terrorist incident.

That notwithstanding, this scare gives the government the perfect excuse to expand the surveillance society they’re so keen to build. From a New York Times article:

The police department has been planning a high-tech security network for Midtown Manhattan involving surveillance cameras, license plate readers and chemical sensors… the network would use public and private security cameras and license plate readers and would be able to record and track every vehicle moving between 34th and 59th Streets, river to river.

Every vehicle. In the heart of New York City. It staggers the mind to consider how much information would be collected to facilitate this. Thousands (tens of thousands?) of security cameras will be needed, not to mention vast computation and data storage capabilities. Everyone in Manhattan can kiss their privacy goodbye.

But the real kicker for me is this move– like so many measures enacted by the government in the past decade– will most likely be completely useless. From the same article:

It was not clear whether it could have prevented the attempted car bombing in Times Square on Saturday night. Because neither the SUV used in the attempt nor the license plate on it had been reported stolen, it would not have raised any immediate red flags.

So we’ll spend tens of millions of taxpayer dollars, employ a huge staff, monitor millions of people, and get absolutely nowhere.

Stop the madness. Please.