Year of viruses II

Right now I have another viral infection. It might be because my brother David has been coughing constantly. It's not covid-19 because I had that a few weeks ago.

This is the ninth virus in one year. The seventh was covid.

Thankful for co-workers

I've forgotten to post more about Thanksgiving on this blog, so I will just keep it going until I have 7 entries.

I'm grateful for almost all my co-workers over the years. They have made my low paying jobs worth it.

Thankful for job

I'm grateful I have a good paying job. In fact I have kept going backwards and taking jobs that pay less than the previous job. With this job I actually took a big step forward. They keep talking about the next pay raise and everyone complains that we're never going to get one, but we are getting more than I ever got before.

The hashtag #givethanks

President Nelson made a video about Thanksgiving and suggested we all post on social media what we're thankful for. He said to do this every day for a week and include the hashtag #givethanks with each post.

I'm grateful for the parents I've been blessed with. They really were the best parents I could have been given. I also have the best brothers and sisters I could have. I'm glad we are all so close and still communicating when so many of the kids I grew up with are all alone now. They and their families are broken apart and don't communicate anymore.

I hope I remember to give thanks and post something each day. #givethanks

The year of viruses

This has been a had year in many ways. Since the beginning of winter 2019 I have had six different viral infections. I have finally gotten a virus a week ago that tests positive for covid-19. I have to stay home for 2 weeks. As soon as I get over it I can start my side job coughing on people for $50 each cough. These antibodies are going to be a gold mine.

Adding more than just your voice to the conversation

A lot of times people get riled up about various issues or candidates and think they ought to add their voice to the chorus. If you have something new to add to the conversation then I would say go ahead and say it. But if all you are doing is repeating what has already been said by someone else, then don't bother. All you will do is lose some percentage of your audience.

My liberal tendencies

I ought to put out a short list of the things I side with liberals on, and expand on each topic. I should say that I don't necessarily side with new or authoritarian liberals, but more with classical liberals.

Pro Union

Environmentalism

Freedom of speech

I will probably update this list in the future.

Black lives matter, continued

There has been a lot of criticism of the black lives matter movement, specifically that they have a lot of socialist elements in them, and that they advocate violence. I want to address the first of these.

Socialism doesn't liberate, it only oppresses. It doesn't even oppress equally. If equality is your goal, socialism won't get you there. The people who talk about the need for socialism are aware of this, but they either think they are safe, or that maybe they can fix what's wrong.

If they think they are safe, they are wrong. Only the person at the very top is safe. Literally all others have to toe the line. If they think they can fix what's wrong, they need to stop doing what all other proponents of socialism have done: that of targeting a group of people. Just like Nazis and Communists (people like to forget they all refered to themselves as socialist ideologies) targeted groups of their own citizens for oppression and expulsion, modern socialists in the west are targeting billionaires, the rich and white people, specifically white males.

Black lives matter

I used to think it was ok to say "all lives matter" but I've come to realize it sounds really snarky. The 'Black Lives Matter' movement has organized to protest injustice and inequality, and if people outside the movement say, "but all lives matter" it kind of negates all their work while horning in on their successes.

The organization sees that there's inequality and they want it rectified. It's their movement. I'm in favor of equality and as long as they are not doing anything illegal let them have their successes. I hope they are not behind the riots.

Demonstrations and Riots

A lot of people are demonstrating today, have been for a few days, and I thought I'd write down a few thoughts.

First, I agree with the idea behind the demonstrations. It's always bothered me that black people are more likely to be stopped by police than anyone else. I wish I had the power to just wish that away, but I don't.

Second, people have a right to peacefully demonstrate and should be capable of doing so without rioting. That's a constitutional right.

Third, people don't have the right to riot and loot. Some of these protesters are staying out past curfew just so they can start looting after dark. They are going to hell.

I gave a ride to a coworker who asked what I thought of the demonstrators and I said I was against them. I should clarify that I was thinking about rioting, rather than demonstrating.

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Battle Tech and Virtual World

This post will be about video games I started to get into in the early 90's. Let me preface this by saying that I was really into pinball when I was young. By the time video games came out I had moved on to more adult pursuits, so I never got why they seemed so addictive.

When I started working in a warehouse in Concord, California in the early 90's I was working with a couple of guys about 10 years younger than me. They told me about an arcade in Walnut Creek called Virtual World. I went with them and was surprised by the way they had decorated the place. It had dark wingback chairs, tables and lamps with ornate decorations and Persian style carpets. This lobby was enormous. In back were booths you actually played the game in.

Back in the back were racks of computers, Mac Quadras, the most advanced graphics computers of the time. They were linked together on networks and I'm guessing there was one for each booth on the network. There were eight booths on each network.

The booths were what really blew me away. You had a large display in front of you with your view out the cabin. Below it was a small single color display with an overhead view of your machine. This was your radar. Above the main display was a row of toggle switches that programmed your booth. To your right was a joystick with two thumb buttons and a trigger. To your left was a throttle that increased your speed when you pushed it forward. A button on the side put you into reverse. Your foot pedals steered the thing.

You were asked for your screen name, or "handle." I worked in an electrical warehouse at the time and we had switchboxes the mount in the wall nailed to the studs. These were usually side-nailers, but sometimes we used back-nailers or front-nailers (face-nailers). My handle became "Facenailer."

I bought the manual and learned to program the thing, usually just setting the buttons for different missiles and the trigger for machine gun. I believe there was a way of programming the foot pedals and joystick, but I don't remember. We played Battletech, but at least one other game they had was Red Planet.

It was too expensive for me to go regularly, eight dollars for ten minutes, and I don't know how some people could afford it. I only went three or four times, even though I bought the manual. They went out of business after about a year, I think. Since then I've read that some people bought entire setups, so they have the eight booths in their garage with the computers hooked up. Instead of an arcade with four or so sets of eight, they just have one. I wonder if there are YouTube channels about gameplay or websites about this. I got all my information from Wikipedia.