On the Beauties of Capitalism

People have sometimes asked me whether I am upset that I have not made a lot of money from the Web. In fact, I made some quite conscious decisions about which way to take my life. These I would not change - though I am making no comment on what I might do in the future. What does distress me, though, is how important a question it seems to be to some. This happens mostly in America, not Europe. What is maddening is the terrible notion that a person's value depends on how important and financially successful they are, and that that is measured in terms of money. That suggest disrespect for the researchers across the globe developing ideas for the next leaps in science and technology. Core in my upbringing was a value system that put monetary gain well in its place, behind things like doing what I really want to do. To use net worth as a criterion by which to judge people is to set our children's sights on cash rather than on things that will actually make them happy.

- from p. 107-108 of Weaving the Web by Tim Berners-Lee

This Day in Aaron's Life (Refining my Narcisism...)

So I have been getting the whole day vs night thing backwards again. In the last 24 hours I researched and published a website aiming to help people with depression. I also began promoting the idea in a viral way (only time will tell what will happen with it).

The early outcome is looking good since the first two places I placed ads offered me more advertising for free. (Yet another reason it is better to work for individuals vice companies). My ad spend, hosting and all that jazz costed me less than $300.

I also helped support the open software movement by making a donation.

I also promoted my site some more by doing more link building.

I also bought a ton of links promoting a customers site.

I also rewrote a part of my ebook.

I also bought an old school video game off eBay...can't wait to play it again.

I also posted a bunch in forums and mowed the yard.

I also sold a bunch of my ebooks and emailed back and forth with a few customers.

I also help feed a couple kids from Africa.

I am also going to advertise in another major publication with big distribution numbers. Everything on the net is just a drive to make it to a marginably profitable level. After you get there you really can destroy any and all competition by reinvesting to create faster feedback loops. I think I am at that reinvesting type point in time. :)

Also if you haven't checked it out in a bit, the Fatty Weight Loss Blog now has a cool new logo.

It is all about learning and having fun and I think I am doing at least a little bit of each of those. :)

Induce - New AntiSpyware Bill - Induce

I am a bit of a vigilante as far as spyware goes. I personally would love to render the arms and legs of the shitheads that feel comfortable stealing portions of my life.

The spyware is no big deal though, after all it is only stealing part of my life. What is really important is copyright protected work. And the fact that sharing it in any way makes you worse than satan himself.

There is a new piracy bill by the name of Induce which aims to make file sharing networks illegal. The Induce Act stands for "Inducement Devolves into Unlawful Child Exploitation Act."

Notice how those fucking ass clowns keep using safty of children as a guise for their bullshit laws.

In 1984 other ass clowns had their bogus law overturned at the Supreme Court level which made VCRs legal.

Please say no to government control of the internet.

TartWich

This really does not go well with my diet, but last week I tried my first Tartwich.

A Tartwich is when you place peanut butter between two Pop Tarts and make a sandwich...Tartwich.

Iraq Insurgents Damage Major Pipeline

"What you are seeing here is effectively a terrorist war against Iraq's critical infrastructure, including the oil infrastructure," coalition spokesman Dan Senor told CNN. "It is an effort to basically, economically, impoverish the Iraqi people." source

No, what we are seeing is that we are unwelcome and should get the fuck out.

Oil Wars

how ironic is it that we burn tons and tons of oil in a war about out and some of the people there fight back by burning the oil.

neat little message we want to send. that is our oil that WE WILL BURN HOWEVER WE WANT TO

When all the oil supply in the world is gone in a few decades what happens then?

the yellow sticky monster

The Yellow Sticky monster...

Well I was a sucker and opened up a pack of yellow stickies the other day. now my monitor is littered with them.

wonder where I got that from mom?

Cognitive Behavior Therapy

What sparked this post about cognititive behavior therapy?

In a recent forum post about search engines I stated

"... I thought it said it had an added effect on relevancy but now that I reread it, it states that it uses the data on partner sites to enhance the look of the results and does not really mention that it changes their algorithmic relevance "

and was replied with

"I like the subtlety with which you seem to agree, disagree and twist the words! A really creative and intelligent mind ... (and thats a compliment, not sarcasm). Tell me, do you know cognitive behaviour therapy? "

What is Cognitive Behavior Therapy used for?

depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, PTSD, stress, substance abuse, etc.

basically anything that big drug companies would like to prescribe you a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor for.

What is Cognitive Behavior Therapy?

Cognitive behavior therapy is the combination of cognitive therapy and behavior therapy.

What is Behavior Therapy?

Behavior Therapy works to lessen the connection of your typical adverse reactions to certain stimuli.

If you are afraid of something or something makes you sad every time it occurs or every time you avoid it you are reinforcing the connection that exists. Each time you remember something you are rewriting that memory. Over time with guidance you can help shift your typical response to any situation.

What is Cognitive Therapy?

Cognitive Therapy aims to show you how your thinking patters are warping your reality to feed the idea that you are sometimes depressed, stressed, or angry for no reason at all.

In complex situations where we need to analyze large data sets the limbic system (which controls emotional response) begins to direct thinking patters before the prefrontal cortex has enough time to fully analyze the data set.

By learning to take into account our current mental state we can more accurately analyze information for what it is vice what we think it is (we are not so quick to draw false conclusions).

Why Cognitive Behavior Therapy?

Often times drugs are band aids which mask problems until other larger problems occur and appear.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy is an interactive form of therapy where each person has their own specific schedule and can often feel much better in a time frame as short as a few weeks to a month.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy and this kid named Aaron

If I become really successful at internet marketing I would like to either learn how to structure large data sets of unstructured data or learn a ton more about the mind.

learn more about Cognitive Behavior Therapy

Refreshing: Reagan is Dead

When Regan died a nation mourned. That is bullshit. Most of us do not give a shit about the stupid financially irresposible overconservative fuck. In fact I am actually glad he is dead and wish for the day that all extremely greedy friends of blood sucking corporate scum^TM (which is the GOP's new tagline) are dead.

A few highlights from an article about Regan's death:

This man Reagan was 93 years old and out of it with Alzheimer's for many years and I don't see how anybody can summon grief. They proclaimed it a deep religious ceremony. Which it is not. His whole weeklong funeral is cheap, utterly distasteful American publicity.

The Cold War was won by a long memo written by George Kennan, who worked in the State Department and sent the memo by telegram about the need for a "Policy of Containment" on Russia. Kennan said the contradictions in their system would ruin them. Keep them where they are and they will tear themselves apart. We followed Kennan's policy for over 40 years. The Soviets made it worse on themselves by building a wall in East Berlin. When they had to tear it down and give up their system, Kennan was in Princeton and he sat down to dinner.

his most famous acting line was absolutely stolen

In 1938, a radio show, "Cavalcade of America," had a segment about coach Knute Rockne of Notre Dame and his star back, George Gipp, who was dying of pneumonia and supposedly said to Rockne, "Someday, when the team's up against it, the breaks are beating the boys, ask them to go in there with all they've got! Win one for the Gipper."

and he really did a good job with New York. Remember how Rudi Guliani really cleaned up NYC? Well a large part of that happening was that horrible conditions were there previously. Thanks in part to none other than the great Regan

He was a callous man with a smile who cut taxes in 1981 and left this city and state without funds for such things as help for dependent children. He proudly hurt the boroughs of this city more than anyone before or after him. If you live in Brooklyn, the record shows that Ronald Reagan hated children. The city and state had to raise taxes to make up for money lost because of Reagan's great conservative movement. Reagan then raised taxes six times. He walked off, leaving us an enormous deficit but with a smile on his face that even the Gipper's fakery couldn't help us with.

Convert People to YOUR FUCKED UP RELIGION!

I suppose that title will probably piss off a few people, but I really don't care. This post is aimed to the asshole who keeps referer log spamming me to his christian communication course.

You can have God On Your Side, but I am not interested.

that Dylan song is one of the best ever. also Girl from the North County = super duper good...

When Everybody is Fucked Up but Me

Generally a title like that would be attached to a narcissistic post, but this one is for our great president. How many people will resign?

CIA Head George Tenet - GONE
George Mitchell, vice chairman of the new independent commission investigating the September 11 terrorists attacks - GONE
Henry Kissinger, chairman of the September 11 Commission - GONE
Lawrence Lindsey, White House economic adviser - Gone
Paul O'Neil Secretary of the Department of Treasury - GONE
FEMA Director Joe Allbaugh - GONE

Members of the President Bush's Cabinet (and many other high government officials) are not normal people. Usually when everyone else is fucked up then the person who is fucked up is you. In this case that would be George W. Bush, and you should resign.

California Energy Crisis, Enron, Ken Lay & George Bush

yet another reason Bush is a scumbag.

Senior Citizens, Drugs & Mental Disorders

The new drug card which can save senior citizens as much as 18% off their prescriptions has been a flop thusfar.

The people at AARP are still surprised. After sending out 26,000 enrollment kits for the new Medicare prescription-drug discount card, only 400 people had signed up as of last Friday. That's right, 400. That's not a typo. ...Two new studies find that drug price inflation over the past year may have already eaten up the much-vaunted discounts. And critics are quick to point out that it will still be cheaper to get prescription drugs from Canada and certain Internet pharmacies. source: CSM

An interesting concept: meager savings, a confusing program, and a shift of burdon toward the old people (who may be mentally or physically ill) to be required to sift through your fucked up shit ass savings program. Good job government. way to suck ass!

Eslewhere... Mental disorders found:

Shanghai had the lowest prevalence of any mental disorder in the prior year (4.3 percent of the population), while the United States seemed to have the highest, with 26.4 percent. source: Forbes

Does it not speak strongly for how fucked up our leadership and culture are that one in four people believe they have a mental disorder? If anyone I know votes for Bush I can no longer claim them as a relative, friend, or fellow human being.