Play

Episode 014

Under Fire and On Fire –

iTunes link: Banal Leakage

  • – This the season for Easter candy; nothing like a giant bag of Peanut M&Ms to munch on; not healthy at all, but tasty and an easy snack to eat.
  • – Been working on scanning some older photos lately of my mom and my family; would love to sit down and just scan for hours, but I get easily distracted and have other projects that I want to complete.
  • News – Story 1: Mozilla CEO resigns after 10 days
  • – Brendan Eich stepped down after it became evident he donated $1,000 to the 2008 Prop 8 fund; also donated to other controversial candidates; as a company policy maker, it would have been possible for him to make decisions that undermined Mozilla employees; yes, he never made any decisions that would jeopardize his job, but Mozilla saw the pending PR nightmare; anyone can have whatever personal views they want, but his donations to causes that took away rights was one of the biggest issues; also, he never denounced his donations and views, which those like President Obama who around the 2008 time were against gay marriage, have evolved in their positions and views; some call this a witch hunt and wrong to get rid of someone just for holding personal views that go against company policy; I say Mozilla made the right decision in the end.
    – Link to article: Gay marriage, Mozilla’s Brendan Eich, and the role of a CEO

  • News – Story 2: Remembering Kurt Cobain 20 years later
  • – Saturday marked 20 years since the death of the leader of the Seattle grunge band; committed suicide in his home; was found days later; his music, insight and icon status will live on; he was influenced by The Pixies; many other bands like 30 Seconds to Mars, The Used and Local H have been influenced by Nirvana and the songs that Cobain wrote and performed; joined the 27 Club, like Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix; after his death, Dave Grohl went on to form the Foo Fighters; Nirvana getting inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame this week; Kurt probably would have hated that and boycotted the ceremony; may the music Cobain created live on.

    – Link to article: Kurt Cobain ‘s Death 20 Years Later

    supreme court bldg
    Original photo found at Washington Post

  • News – Story 3: Supreme Court lifts campaign donation limits
  • – in a 5-4 decision, which the 5 conservative leaning judges made the call to allow corporations and other entities to donate more than the current limits, which are a total of $123,200 for individuals to donate to various candidates and PAC per election cycle; this includes a limit of $48, 600 what individuals can give to candidates; that limit has now been raised to a total of $3.6 million per election cycle; Pretty much a gutting of the voting and democratic process; the reason there were limits placed on campaign donations were due to the Watergate scandal back during the Nixon years; so much corruption that went on; the limits helped for a while, but donors found ways around the limits; so I’m guessing the conservative members of the Supreme Court ended up just giving in; sad to see this happen; this along with 2010’s Citizens United and the political process of the USA is mostly just businesses that get to do what they want.
    – Link to article: The real danger behind the ‘McCutcheon’ ruling

  • RANT: I hate the dentist
  • – my loathing for the dentist goes back to when I was 5 years old; never liked going; hated having my mouth open while someone poked tools inside it and pinched my gums; around 7 years old, my mom would take me back to have my baby teeth pulled so that my permanent teeth would have room to come in; while I appreciate this later in life for having nice teeth without having to get braces, it left me with a life-long distrust and dislike for the dentist; I had my second crown this week (last one was several almost 6 years ago) and needing another one soon; old fillings from over 30 years ago are starting to show their age; I know they need replaced, but taking my time doing it; goes to show you that no matter how old you are, you never get over some fears.

  • SHAMELESS PLUG: 8 years today that my mom passed away
  • Link to post: Eight Years Gone

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