I just finished the Spider Robinson-finished Robert Heinlein book “Variable Star.” It was a pretty good book, I enjoyed reading it. Also, not a very hard read at all. There were parts of the book that the author seemed like he didn’t want to do any more research or thinking so he just kinda skipped over or failed to explain certain parts. Overall though, very interesting. It takes the reader for quite the mind-bending ride if you don’t think too hard about what you’re reading. The next book I plan on reading is Thomas Harris’s “Hannibal Rising.” It’s about the youth and creation of Hannibal Lectar. Who, by the way, is one of the best villains ever. Sir Anthony Hopkins did a smashing job playing the character too. I’ll let you know how that book turns out too.
Ok, something else I wish to mention. People who have an obsession with seeing Saddam Hussein’s death. If you needed to see him die, the only reason for that would be he directly affected your life by killing a family member. Which means anyone who did not physically see him kill someone right in front of their eyes, doesn’t need to see him killed. He didn’t do anything to me, so I don’t want to see the grainy cameraphone footage of his hanging. That footage is illegal anyway and YouTube should be cracking down on that shit. If they wanted to televise his hanging in the US, I’m sure there would be HD footage of it, not grainy, shitty cameraphone footage. No, I didn’t see it. I refuse to. I don’t need to because I’m not a sick bastard who gets his jollies off seeing someone die. If I want to see carnage, I’ll watch a movie or play a violent video game. People sicken me.
In other news, I have decided that I want to focus on CGI integration into live action film. You know, all that CGI in the Star Wars prequels and other such movies. I want to do that. I don’t want to create all animated movies, but I want to be a part of enhancing RL movies with computer graphics. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time and I finally think I have decided that it’s something that I would love to do for a long time. I’ll have to see if the Communications Department has any kind of emphasis for that kind of thing or if they have any ideas how I would go about it. Well, I’m gonna stop Silent Hill because Dawn obviously isn’t going to. ;)
As many of you may know Lexy and I were trying to get the new Nintendo Wii. Well, she went to Wal-Mart in Warrensburg to try to pick one up because unlike EB or GameStop, you didn’t have to be first in line to be guaranteed one. Wal-Mart handed out tickets to those who showed up to grab a Wii. They would run out of tickets when they ran out of Wiis. Lexy showed up at Wally World and it turns out that a group of about 20 friends had shown up to claim every single Wii ticket Warrensburg Wal-Mart had. Warrensburg’s Wal-Mart only got 20 Wiis by the way. Jeff City got 50-100. In fact, Warrensburg was out of Wiis ten minutes into the release date. Jeff City, apparently, had a couple of Wiis left yesterday. This pisses me off. Yeah, chances are the Jeff City Wal-Mart would sell more Wiis, but guess what, it didn’t. My brain tells me that the rate of sale for JC vs. Warrensburg is less than one or JC sold less in the same amount of time than Warrensburg. Nice Wal-Mart, nice.
Now, why would a single group of people be buying all the Wiis? To play them, yes. But I can almost guarantee you that many of those Wiis were sold on eBay. This pisses me off. I will never buy a game console from someone on eBay. I will only purchase something that expensive from an actual store such as Wal-Mart or EB/GameStop. Sony really exacerbated this situation by releasing a mere 150,000 - 200,000 PS3s for the entire US. So, if you are one of those who bought a console just to sell it on eBay… FUCK YOU! Anyone who does that shit is one hell of a son of a bitch and should be shot. Buy a console to play the console, not to make money… that’s Nintendo, Microsoft, or Sony’s job. If you sell your console for more than a used price, you are cheating whoever buys it from you. The idea of selling a console is you either can’t afford to keep it or you are bored with it, not so you can cheat other people. Now, granted those people who pay MORE than the retail price for a technically used console… they need to be shot alongside the person who sold it to them. You’re not going to go to the store and haggle the price for the console higher than retail. If you are in a situation to pay more than retail… WAIT!!! Just do without until you can get one from the store… you’ll end up with more money in your pocket.
To wrap things up, don’t sell your console until you are actually unhappy with it. If you don’t think you will be happy with it… don’t get one. If you are about to pay more than retail for a console… don’t get one. Just do without… you sicken me.
So, I was browsing the Secretary of State’s website, reading the ballot initiatives and I am totally all for the passage of Constitutional Amendment No. 3. Remember, I don’t vote because I don’t believe in propping up a failing system. It’s my own right and I choose to employ it. I view voting as a privilege as you can actually have your ability to vote taken away. If you can have something taken away from you, then the expression, “It’s a privilege, not a right” applies to voting as well. Anyway.
So, I read the actual ballot issue on the tobacco tax and I don’t understand why you wouldn’t vote for it. Read this excerpt from the amendment:
4. Beginning January 1, 2007, the state treasurer without legislative action shall credit to and place in the Healthy Future Trust Fund all moneys collected as a result of the tax imposed by this section as said moneys are received. All of the moneys from the tax imposed by this section shall be kept separate from the general revenue fund as well as any other funds or accounts in the state treasury and shall be credited to and placed only in the Healthy Future Trust Fund and the accounts created within the Healthy Future Trust Fund. Any moneys credited to and placed in the Healthy Future Trust Fund and any account created by this section shall be appropriated and used only for a purpose or an initiative which is authorized by this section and shall not be subject to the provisions of section 33.080, RSMo. The unexpended balances of such moneys shall remain in the Healthy Future Trust Fund and in the particular account in which the moneys are placed, and such balances shall not revert to the general revenue fund. All interest which accrues upon the moneys in any account within the Healthy Future Trust Fund shall be added to such account and shall not be credited to the general revenue fund. Except as otherwise provided in this section, generally applicable laws concerning use of public funds shall apply to the Healthy Future Trust Fund.
The money from this tax can NOT be used towards the general revenue fund. And for you out there that say the collecting the tax will cost more than the actual tax will bring in:
5. (1) The actual costs of collecting the tax imposed by this section shall be paid from the moneys in the Healthy Future Trust Fund as may be provided by law, not to exceed two percent of the total moneys collected.
So, I don’t really care how you vote, but I would really like to know your reasons for not voting for this tax. I’m really of the opinion that whether you vote or not, you should be educated about who or what is taking control of your state… or country.
Though, really Lexy’s the only one who reads this because all my other friends either don’t care or just glance over their LJ Friends page. Oh well, someone’s better than no one.
