At trivia yesterday our team Mud Grass Horse did poorly for some reason. We only did mildly better than Frenemy Engineers (just Rachel and me) did the week before. I think it was because there weren't a lot of sports or history questions for Peter and more people just means more second-guessing, with nothing much gained. I managed to convince Rachel that a photo of an Eckart (sp?) was actually a stork. I'm surprised she knew it was an eckart, I still don't know what that is.

There was a question about what was the musical in which "everything's coming up roses." I could remember that Bettte Midler singing the song and that the movie was named after her daughter's stripper character, but it wasn't until 5 minutes after handing in that round that I remembered it called Gypsy. They don't give you nearly enough time. The questions are super long, so it takes like 15 seconds for him to read, then he waits 2 seconds and repeats the question. Then he waits 5 seconds and moves on to the next question. Even the person writing down the questions has to scramble to write them fast enough. You really only get time to think for the photo and matching rounds that are handed out before the trivia starts. It's like shotgun trivia.

Alan tried to tell me that voting is a civic duty. But it's not. Jury duty and paying taxes are civic duties, and they're both a pain in the ass. The benefits of voting are derrived entirely from the results, which are often impossible to accurately predict when casting a vote. Really, it's a crap shoot. Some people think you'll have a better america if you vote one way, and other people think it'll be better the other way, and everyone's definition of "better" and "america" is different. Everyone voting with their whims just adds to the chaos.

Besides which, I often think the public in general is not qualified to be making decisions about a lot of things. Since the invention of tv we've got the public voting largely according to which candidate looks more appealing. People are also too easily swayed by name recognition, 15 second commercials, and catchy slogans. Rachel likes to call me conservative, but I'm not. I think that the conservative arguments are generally quicker to try to appeal to the emotional and mildly-intelligent. "You can't spend your way out of a recession!" It sounds reasonable at first, but really, that's the only thing you can try to do. You certainly can't save your way out of a recession.

So lets be clear: I always vote the correct way. Voting such that you agree with me is your real civic duty. If I happen to not vote, then you're free to do whatever you want in the voting booth. Going into the booth and casting a vote against mine should be a crime!

One of my former friends posted on facebook "If you didn't vote then we aren't friends, seriously." I honestly don't miss his raving facebook posts. And I don't have any civic requirements like his. In fact, you could shirk your taxes and I wouldn't mind at all. (I still have to file my dc taxes from last year. They're way late now.)

(from a Citigroup messageboard)
Tercel: Take a look at KBLB...they are going to mass manufacture synthetic spider silk. It'll be ultra-lightweight and 5 times the strength of steel.
cptnwillard: spam
Tercel: Not at all.
Tercel: Bumped for topic
cptnwillard: How is your post related to Citigroup?
cptnwillard: This is spam.
cptnwillard: Go away.
Tercel: Because KBLB is a penny stock also, except it has some value right now. Lol.