*This post was written a long time ago when I was much younger.  Any views represented in this post may not necessarily be shared my present day me.  They are being included for historical posterity and amusement of past thoughts on the subjects of the time.*

This rant was inspired by the whole controversy over Eminem’s new album and the lyrics that he has in the songs. Just listen to one of his songs and you’ll hear what everyone is talking about. People are angry cause his lyrics talk badly about women, gays & lesbians, and violence. Eminem claims his 1st amendment rights.

What do I think. I have to agree with Eminem. He is an artist who writes songs and what he says in those lyrics aren’t inciting anyone to violence, although he may talk about it, he also talks about how he doesn’t want people to take the lyrics seriously and apply them to real life (go listen to the song by him named “Stan”). He isn’t being irresponsible by saying these things. And no one should force him to stop. If parents don’t want their kids to listen to his songs and lyrics, then they (the parents) are responsible for not allowing their kids to listen to it and make sure they don’t get them. Eminem still has the right to sell his record to those willing and able to buy them. People who take these lyrics too serious, and then go do something wrong, it’s not his fault. There will always be people who take things wrong or aren’t emotionally stable enough to be able to interpret right and wrong, and fantasy from reality. But these people can’t stop the rest of the world from being able to listen to it and not go do something wrong. The 1st amendment has been fought over a lot, but it still stands for free speech (among other things) and that gives us the right to say what we feel (as long as it doesn’t incite violence, endanger someone, etc). Eminem, and everyone has the right to say and think what he wants.  I have the right to say things, and everything else on this site, including other rants. If what I say doesn’t sit right with everyone, and if it’s controversial, and if it doesn’t preach the current trend of “tolerance” for all people, I still have the right to say it and express it.  You have the right to disagree with me, you have the right to publicly say that you don’t agree with me, that you think what I’m saying is wrong, and that you don’t like me. You have that right, and what you would be doing is exactly what I’m doing. Everyone has that 1st amendment right. Just as Eminem does as well.

So lay off Eminem, take your “tolerance” and preach it to someone who cares.  But don’t try and censor people who disagree, don’t stop others from being able to hear what they want. I don’t know or care if you like Eminem or not, or if you agree with his lyrics. Just don’t try and get rid of him, and as for me, I’m going to go listen to Eminem’s song “The Way That I Am”. Maybe you oughta listen to his songs and the words, and decide for yourself if he really is trying to preach hate, and decide if the 1st amendment is something you’d like to keep around.

*This post was written a long time ago when I was much younger.  Any views represented in this post may not necessarily be shared my present day me.  They are being included for historical posterity and amusement of past thoughts on the subjects of the time.*

I’m sure that you’ve seen those new “Mrs. Jones” Nike commercials where she points out things she sees wrong like Olympic athletes only being appreciated during the Olympics (every 4 years).  That’s all fine and dandy, but a new commercial by her starts going off on how women athletes are paid less than men, yet they work just as hard.  I’ll be the first to admit that that is true, but it doesn’t mean that they must be paid the same as the male athletes.  The reason the males are paid more is because they draw a bigger audience and more profits, which means that there is more money to be paid.  This isn’t a sexist thing, it’s a business thing.  Who brings in more money, Kobe Bryant or Lisa Leslie?  And who gets paid more?  The answer to both is Kobe.

Now, let me show another example.  Same two questions, but only this time compare Shaq to Rick Fox (both LA Lakers players).  Shaq brings in more money and is therefore paid more, it’s the same reasoning.  You can do this with anyone both male and female athletes.  You bring in more money and attract more attention, then you get paid more.  It’s a simple thing, no sexist reasoning involved.  I personally think that this is a decent system, you earn your pay.  I don’t think there is necessarily any difference in the amount of effort put forth by the female and male athletes.  Unfortunately women athletes don’t yet get the amount of attention and adoration I’m sure they deserve.  But that doesn’t mean they can get paid more than they are able to bring in.

*This post was written a long time ago when I was much younger.  Any views represented in this post may not necessarily be shared my present day me.  They are being included for historical posterity and amusement of past thoughts on the subjects of the time.*

I was watching television recently (as I’m accustomed to doing occasionally), and I saw a commercial for a diaper company.  In it they showed the baby’s rear end in full view of the camera.  Now for many, this doesn’t even cross their minds.  But for me, I’m sick and tired of seeing a baby’s behind on television.  I don’t find it cute, or appealing.  I do not feel that my television viewing should be subjected to being shown the butts of babies.  Now I do not say that viewing of your own child’s behind (e.g. during diaper changes) is something that is wrong and shouldn’t be done (eck, that sounded wrong, but wasn’t meant that way, but I can’t word it any better).  There is no need to show baby butts when selling a diaper, much like the same way feminine hygiene products don’t show the area of usage.  I know that for some (coughfemalescough) they feel as if this is cute, and don’t mind seeing them, but I don’t.  I do not feel that they are cute, and don’t want my television invaded with their images.  I implore you advertising companies, please do not show the naked buttocks of infants or otherwise.  If you continue to do so, I will be forced to drive by your company picnics with my friends and moon you all in protest of your commercials.

*This post was written a long time ago when I was much younger.  Any views represented in this post may not necessarily be shared my present day me.  They are being included for historical posterity and amusement of past thoughts on the subjects of the time.*

Okay, I own an old 1978 Ford F-250 truck.  It’s a gas guzzling power house that rumbles along setting off car alarms.  I like it.  In fact I am currently fixing it up, and plan in the future to plop a 460 engine in there (400 now).  Here’s my problems.  Gas, Government, and Environmentalists.  Gas is way too expensive.  In California there is a 18 cent state sales tax, and an 18 cent federal tax on each gallon of gas.  OPEC over in the middle east basically controls the price the sell the gas at, and no one can do anything about it.  This all results in mucho gas prices and me spending tons of money on 92 octane gas (the highest available here, and most expensive).  My truck gets about 10 miles per gallon (street, 12-15 highway).  It has a 26 gallon main tank, and a 19 gallon alternate tank.  That’s 45 gallons of gas I need to put in, which is used up in about 4-5 days (because of my trip to school and back).  That’s over $100 bucks a week on gas!  This is a rip off!  The Government is too greedy, demanding heavy taxes.  OPEC is too greedy, they charge too much money per drum of gas.  And the Gas Companies here are too greedy, making huge profits per gallon.  The gas prices need to go way down.  As for the environmentalists, they, in cooperation with the Government, cause problems for the likes of me.  What I’m referring to is smog laws.  They demand that my truck, and that all cars, conform to a certain level of cleanliness when it comes to air pollution.  They have no right to do this, and it’s wrong.  Who gave the government the right to control the air we breathe?  They may take claim to the land, but since when did they own the air?  They tell people that we can’t pollute the air, and that we have to have clean running cars.  What’s next, them taxing the air if we breathe it?  Okay, that’s a bit extreme, but I think you get what I’m aiming at.  I can understand the want for clean air, but not mandatory.  The Government forces all car owners to do smog tests and make their car run clean.  That’s not fair or right.  That means that older cars which weren’t made with the environment in mind, but power.  Older cars have big, powerful, polluting engines.  There are many people who love these old cars and their engines.  The smog tests require that you have ALL original parts and stock/standard engine components.  They don’t allow modifications or improvements to the engine.  Then, they charge exorbitant amounts to either fix or replace your engine parts to conform to the required smog level.  Who is the Government to say that I can’t modify my truck or supe it up just because it wasn’t stock the year it was made.  That’s just wrong.  Government needs to just back up outta my business.  Leave car owners alone.  Lower the taxes on gas.  And make life easier for people who own cars, especially older cars.  I thought this America, land of the free.  Not America, land of the people controlled in all aspects of their life by government and paying for it.  Hey, you may not feel the same way, but if you do or don’t, write me and let me know what you think.   Peace out.

*This post was written a long time ago when I was much younger.  Any views represented in this post may not necessarily be shared my present day me.  They are being included for historical posterity and amusement of past thoughts on the subjects of the time.*

Update – August 19th, 2001: Xoom.com was completely taken over by NBC and became NBCi’s free sites. NBCi has subsequently had problems with managing their finances. This resulted in the cancellation of the free websites, and ultimately, the death of Xoom. Justice has been served.

The search for a good free website host is a hard and difficult one. You want to have a decently fast access to your site, preferably no ads or pop-ups or banners, and a good uptime (not too much a lot of space for your stuff and leniency of strictness on rules. Well, for starters, DO NOT, under any circumstances, use XOOM.com to host your site. There are others that should be mentioned in length, (Geocities/Yahoo, Spree, Homestead) but I’m gonna concentrate on Xoom. Now what brought my attention to their site was the “unlimited space” they USED to offer. They have recently cut that down to 500 mb. But soon after signing up I found out their evil plans. They disallow any mp3 files to be uploaded, no 11 mb+ file size allowed, and of course ultra strict (and even beyond) keeping to their Terms Of Service. So first this cancelled any plans to put some of my (2000+) mp3s on the site (trying to put them in zip or renaming them didn’t work). That’s sucked because I really wanted to have that available, but since finding out I couldn’t add those to my site, I discovered Napster, and if you want mp3s, go there. Next, the max file size excluded any hopes I had of putting larger sized movies on the site (some really good fun ones). This, so far was enough to put me off, but not enough to anger me or to use another (not quite as decent) site. This changed when they cancelled my site. I had just finished uploading all my stuff, had the site completed (about 6 months or so ago), and they cancelled my site. They said that I had violated the TOS by uploading a couple mp3s. This was my fault, I should have adhered to their rules. So after resigning up (they wouldn’t let me use my same user name, I had to get a new one), I tried it all again. Once again, soon after I had uploaded my stuff, cancellation for TOS violations. This time, I had done nothing. I began searching for other alternatives, but came up with only more lame sites. So once again I decided to re-sign up for Xoom. Since then, they have cancelled my site twice more, each time giving my the TOS excuse for reasons they don’t care to elaborate on. I have done nothing to violate their TOS and have been severely abused by this site. I’m very upset with Xoom, and only with I had more power to argue and influence them and cause them problems. But taking on the near 10 million user enlisted Xoom, which was recently bough by NBC, I don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting through to them. You may notice a counter/guestbook and chat option that I still use from them, and this is only because I haven’t found a suitable free alternative. But for anyone else who even considers creating a website, I urge you to strictly avoid Xoom.com. You will have nothing but hardships with them (I forgot to mention the constant frame ad bar they put across all pages of your site), and they are slower than just about any other site on the net. I’m using my college’s server to currently host my site and am very happy with it. Thanks for your time, email me if you got a problem or rant you’d like to see published/covered. Peace out folks.