An Army of 1 in 10

I need some help. Since we got word of our upcoming deployment, I’ve reformatted my Linux laptop to run Windows Vista Ultimate and have been configuring it for military use so that I won’t run into any problems downrange. I don’t plan on taking my Mac laptop because that one costs more (this laptop was only $750.00) and I don’t want it ruined by the sand and dust. One thing I’m having trouble finding, is a decent webcomic viewer.

Here’s what I need:

• a stand-alone program capable of running on Vista
• easily configurable to add comics
• has the ability to download past comics
• maintains an archive of comics
• small, doesn’t suck up resources
• free

I’m taking suggestions and recommendations, so please post them here.

Okay, I’m sure that all you guys who grew up in the ’80s (like me!) are either a) aware of the new Transformers movie or b) are eagerly anticipating it.  Either way, there’s a new trailer which shows more of the movie than previous trailers… and it’s gosh-darned-tootingly awesome!

Bumblebee…
Optimus Prime (yay!)…
Starscream…
Soundwave (?)…
Megatron (?)
and a new one!

Check it out and  remember your childhood!  Remember the first Transformers movie?  How many of you cried when Megatron killed Optimus?  I know I sure did.  I was worried when I found out that Michael Bay was directing it, but the trailer looks great… and besides, it’s the TRANSFORMERS!

The movie opens July 4th.  I haven’t been this excited about a movie since Transformers:  The Movie was released back in 1986 and I can’t wait to see this one (sequels? pleeeeeease let there be sequels!) in a few weeks.  I just hope Optimus doesn’t die in this one.

Yep, it’s true:  atheists in Texas are constitutionally barred from holding public office.

Discuss.

Over a year ago, I posted an entry about an idiot by the name of Michael Crook. Since he seems to have allowed his domain to lapse, I’ll give a quick recap of his idiocy (to the best of my recollection).

Michael Crook is a former Soldier-wannabe. Several years ago, he attempted to enlist but was turned away because he was medically unfit for service (a heart condition). He returned to the MEPS sometime later, and due to an unusual sequence of events, was able to slip through the cracks that time without disclosing his condition. This failure on his part to own up and say, “Hey, I was medically disqualified last time because of my heart,” demonstrated a serious lack of integrity on his part. The condition was caught while he was in basic training, and he was moved to another unit while medical separation proceedings were underway.

After he was separated, he went on an online rampage against the military and began advocating all sorts of ridiculous things. Some of these things included statements that Service Members didn’t deserve a good salary, that BAH should be eliminated, that everything should be paid out of the base pay rather than additional allowances, and that no respect should be given to Service Members.  He did this from a domain called www.citizensagainstthetroops.org (not linked since the website is now defunct).

Now, he has been forced to accept a settlement agreement with 10 Zen Monkeys and the Electronic Freedom Foundation. I’ll let the two links speak for themselves, but it sure is nice to see karma coming back to bite him in the rear end.

I’ve just finished reading a fascinating article on a possible reason that humans believe in higher powers. The theory is that we believe because we’re hardwired to do so. The article is quite in-depth and mentions the two reasons that we may be hardwired for religion:

1. it’s an accidental byproduct of our evolution
2. God gave us the ability to believe

People on both sides of the debate of whether or not God(s) exist(s) will certainly latch onto this as proof for their belief, but it will by no means settle it. As for me, I believe that option #2 is true — one of the reasons was pointed out in the article: it’s harder to be an atheist than it is to be a believer (and I’ve been both, so I know first-hand).

What about you?

When I was in middle school, one of the classes I took was photography and I promptly fell in love with it. I took the class again in my senior year and once again fell in love with photography. Over the past n years, I haven’t kept up with that love very much because of the very fact that I just couldn’t afford a good camera. In recent days, I’ve been bitten by the photography bug again.

So now I’m looking for a good camera. I would prefer not to buy a film camera, so I can save on film costs, but the camera must be an SLR so that I can have more control over how my images turn out. I’m definitely not a professional, so I won’t be considering professional-grade cameras, but I would be willing to spend as much as $1,000 on a good camera (preferably significantly less). One that can take black/white pictures in addition to color would be a bonus (I prefer b/w photography).

Since I’ve been out of the photography scene for … a while, I’m woefully ignorant on camera prices and features. I don’t want to spend a bunch of money on a camera only to find another one with the same capabilities for much less. Any advice would be immensely appreciated.

There has been an explosion of discussion in the AKO Forums (make sure you’re logged in before following the link) in the “Bi?” thread.  A Future Soldier made this comment which set off a firestorm:

i personally wouldnt want any faggots in the military PERIOD.

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So I’m checking my daily comics this morning using my copy of Comictastic when I reach Mousewax in the list of comics. Comictastic mistakenly grabbed the wrong image from the site, but it really shocked me. It’s a scan of a letter from the editorial page of Brandon Lewis’ (the web comic artist) newspaper:

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This evening, I received a notification from classmates.com that someone had left her name on my profile there. This of course, led to my following the link provided to see who had done it. Her name was not one that I recognized, so I pulled out my Seniors Scrapbook (sadly, I have no yearbooks) to see if it held any clues to her identity. It didn’t, but it did bring about some embarrassment on my part on some of the things I had written so many years ago. Here, I shall share some of the tidbits.

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Earlier today, I read the following comment on a blog:

A bisexual person as in your case is just a confussed[sic] fag, afraid to be yourself…GAY

Now, I’m not going to say where this was posted, because I don’t want to call the person out, but it did get me to thinking. This is not the first time I’ve seen this attitude and it exhibits something that I’m going to call biphobia. I’m sure I’m not the first to coin this term (I haven’t googled it to check), so I’m certainly not going to lay claim to it. My view on the matter is that it’s no different from homophobia, and I’m going to explain why.

First, let’s examine the typical homophobe:

1. Is a heterosexual and has no experience at being homosexual
2. Was raised to believe that homosexuality is immoral
3. Considers homosexuality to be either:
   • a choice, or
   • a mental disorder
4. May (or may not) manifest his (or her) homophobia as outright dislike for homosexuals

The first indicator leads into the others — a heterosexual, by definition, does not understand the sexual attraction which comprises homosexuality. This is normal for a human since it’s difficult to understand something that you have no personal experience with. To a heterosexual, being sexually attracted to the opposite sex is the norm and it’s incomprehensible how anyone could possibly be attracted to someone of the same sex. This is also true of homosexuals, but in reverse.

What makes a homophobe though, is not this indicator alone. It requires that the person believes homosexuality to be immoral, which is manifested in usually one of two concepts: that it’s a choice or a mental disorder. Those who subscribe to the belief that it’s a choice either ignore or dismiss as irrelevant the fact that they never made a conscious choice to be heterosexual. The belief that it’s a mental disorder is usually an attempt at sympathy for “the plight of the homosexual.”

Homophobia can therefore be reduced to this:  an inability to recognize that human sexuality is diverse in the forms it takes.  I’m no psychologist, but this must be some form of mental disorder under the DSM.

Now, let’s examine the typical biphobe:

1. Is a homosexual and has no experience at being heterosexual
2. Firmly believes in the duality of human sexuality, i.e. that sexual orientation only manifests as either:
   1. heterosexuality, or
   2. homosexuality
3. Expresses his (or her) biphobia as hostility or outright dislike toward bisexuals

As I’ve already stated, #1 is perfectly normal for humans.  The twist with biphobia is that it’s generally found in homosexuals (heterosexuals who are biphobic are generally also homophobic).  It may also be associated with latent or blatant heterophobia.

Just like the homophobe who finds it difficult to believe that homosexuality can exist as a natural part of human sexuality, the biphobe is fervent in his (or her) belief that human sexuality is expressed as only homosexuality or heterosexuality, with no grey area in the middle.  The biphobe often believes that a bisexual is merely a homosexual suffering from internalized homophobia, or is someone claiming to be bi because it’s “cool.”

So therefore, biphobia can therefore be reduced to this:  an inability to recognize that human sexuality is diverse in the forms it takes.

Homophobia and biphobia — two sides of the same coin.  Think about it.