Possibly Deep Thoughts

I changed my mind about Richard Alpert a couple of weeks later, before Ben met the smoke monster.

Horace called him “your friend with the eye shadow”, and it clicked for me. The ancient Egyptians use kohl around their eyes. There have been hieroglyphics around since the hatch timer.

Richard Alpert’s initials are RA. To quote the old fortunes program:

Ra is the sun god!
He is a fun god!
Ra Ra Ra!

The revelations in the season finale seem to point in a different direction.

I’m working on some code where a previous has used capitalized variable names. This is extremely unsettling. I keep ask myself “why is he passing a class here?”. That distinction between class and variable names must be deeply ingrained.

There are also methods with capital letter. I keep confusing them with constructors. I can deal (barely) with irregular formatting and spacing. How hard is “space after keyword” to remember anyway?

These non-standard names are freaking me out!

Just yesterday I discovered cracked.com. It’s sort of a new version of Cracked Magazine, which I always liked better than Mad. The content is mainly funny Top XX lists and interesting interviews.

One of the lists was was the top 25 worst rapper names. This morning on the way to work I walked past a poster for local concert by number 10, Del The Funky Homosapien. He’s changed the spelling from funkee to funky, but it’s him.

Wierd. Doesn’t mean anything though.

A no-fly list is a complete waste of money, people and other resources.  The list is easily available to any terrorists.  If their name is on the list they’ll just make a fake ID.  Having the list will ensure that the alias won’t be on the list.  It’s actually helpful to terrorists.

It might catch stupid potential terrorists, like Richard Reed. If they somehow manage to get on the list first.

What the list is really good is causing havoc in the lives of people who have a similar  name to someone on the list, or even worse, the same name.  If you somehow end up on the list, you’re in a world of problems.   It’s nearly impossible to get off the list.  There is a "procedure" to get your name expunged, but in practice it doesn’t really exist.  It’s probably one very overloaded person, working part time.  In the basement, behind a "Beware of Leopard" sign.

The list is also good for politicians who want to appear to be "doing something" about the problem. They will also say that it’s easy for innocent people to get off the list.  In reality, that’s the lowest priority.  It’s just a buzzword, and helps the politician to "stay on message".  It’s like the argument that innocent non-criminals shouldn’t be against whatever legal rights that are taken away by the latest crime bill.

It gets worse when our no-fly list gets merged into other countries compiled lists.  The US list casts a notoriously wide net, and it’s even harder to get off their list.  If you end up on the list, you can forget about ever flying again.

The no-fly list is sham, for appearances only.  Why doesn’t the government stop wasting money on this, and put it to use where it might have a possible result.  The Conservatives are always pointing out ways that the Liberals wasted money when they were in charge, yet this idea is folly too.

He was 73.  The good die young.

Yes, that’s sarcasm. 

I seem to recall (from one of the Law and Order shows) that "gun control" in Virigina meant that you could buy no more than 5 handguns a day in Virginia.

I wonder if that’s still the case. 

The phrase "the reaping" immediately brings to my mind this bit from Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life

GRIM REAPER: I am the Grim Reaper.

GEOFFREY: Who?

GRIM REAPER: The Grim Reaper.

GEOFFREY: Yes, I see.

GRIM REAPER: I am death.

GEOFFREY: Yes, well, the thing is, we’ve got some people from America for dinner tonight, and—

ANGELA: Who is it, darling?

GEOFFREY: It’s a ‘Mr. Death’ or something. He’s come about the reaping? I don’t think we need any at the moment.