The Meaninglessness of Life

  Life, in and of itself, is inherently meaningless. It doesn't serve some divine purpose anymore than we as a species serve a divine purpose. Claiming that life or humanity has meaning or purpose is simply a form of self aggrandizement. We do it to make ourselves feel special and important. Religion, for all its talk about being humble, engages in this sort of aggrandizement. It tells us that we were made in God's image. It tells us that we were given dominion over the Earth and its creatures by said God. It tells its believers that they're better than the nonbelievers. Instead of humility, it gives its followers hubris.

  Like it or not, we're nothing more than animals. Highly evolved animals, but animals nonetheless. And like our less evolved brethren, we can be vicious. Unlike our less evolved brethren however, we possess the intellect and skill to do some incredibly large scale damage. We have the potential to wipe out ourselves and the majority of life on the planet. And the hubris of religion can be one of the factors leading to us wiping ourselves off the face of the planet.

#ChristianPrivilege

  The strongly right wing Tea Party fucktard segment of Christianity is getting their bowels in an uproar again. First it was the antics of Bible bigot, Kim Davis, who decided to force her religious beliefs off on everyone else by refusing to do her job and grant marriage licenses to same sex couples. Now we have the much ado about nothing uproar over Starbucks plain red holiday cup that's been initiated by con man and syphilitic brain tumor, Joshua Feuerstein. This living abortion is stirring up controversy for the sole purpose of getting the stupid, ignorant and brain dead right wing Christian religious zealots to send him money. The worst part is he'll probably get it. As the linked article states, Capt. Fuckwad here begged his followers for $20,000 in order to buy a new camera that he absolutely needed. He never bought said camera but, as you can see by the photos, he bought a lot of nice things for himself. Naturally, the fascist fucks at Fox News jumped on this story as proof that the War on Christmas is real and all those nasty secularists, humanists, atheists, Democrats and other elements of the Great Left Wing Conspiracy are trying to ruin it for them.
  The right wing Christian fucktard movement wants their privileges back. They want to be able to ram their religious views down everyone else's throats. They want the right to discriminate against anyone the Bible says they should hate. They want to plaster their religious symbols all over government buildings and land while denying other religions that same privilege. They pretty much want to do away with the Establishment Clause of the Constitution and turn the United States into a Christian theocracy.
  Update: Joshua Feuerstein uploaded a video, which has since been removed, urging his followers to use violence against Planned Parenthood doctors and staff. This fucker needs to be in prison.

It's better to have loved and lost...

...than never to have loved at all. Whoever thought of this is a fucking idiot. A person who has never loved at all has no real idea what they're missing. It's the classic "ignorance is bliss" scenario. On the other hand, when you've loved and lost, you have to deal with that loss the rest of your life. I've only had one serious relationship in my life. Angela and I met online some years back due to a personal ad I placed. She was sweet and cute. She enjoyed role playing games and bondage. We communicated online for a while. I drove to Columbus, Indiana to bring her to Gen Con since it was still in Milwaukee at that time. Long story short, I loved her. Still do. But, for reasons I'm still unclear about, the relationship ended shortly after Gen Con. I have the distinctly unpleasant feeling something I did brought it to said end. There's been no one since her. Having had a taste of what it's like to love someone, I now realize what I'm missing. I can't go back to my blissfully ignorant state. I'm always going to know what it was like to be in love. I also know that I'm unlikely to ever return to that state again.

Some Updates

  At 4:42pm on Nov. 8th, I officially turned 54 years old. It's was also day one of my week long vacation. I have no major plans. My parents and I went out to eat at Dynasty. I plan on seeing Spectre sometime this week. I'm going to get the One Ring rpg book, The Darkening of Mirkwood, I need in order to have everything currently available for the game. I also want to eat at Red Lobster sometime this week.
  My smartphone downloaded and installed a patch that corrected the Stagefright bug on the morning of Nov. 6th. I'm very happy that my phone is now patched. I try to keep my smartphones, tablets and computers as updated as possible when it comes to security. That means firewalls, antivirus software and Android, iOS and Windows patches and security updates. I've installed a Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection on my smartphone, tablet and computer as well in order to provide protection when connecting to public Wifi networks. Given the computer viruses, trojans, malware etc. that's running around, you can't be too careful. Credit and debit cards are being switched over to smart card technology in order to lower the incidence of hackers stealing the information on the card and creating fake ones. What I don't understand is why the U.S. took so long to implement this technology. Other countries have been using this technology for some time now.

Android Security Fuck Ups

  According to a recent article, about 90% of Android devices are susceptible to malware. The main reason for this is that most Android devices never get regular security updates. This is primarily due to the fact that most manufacturers and carriers don't bother to update older model smartphones and tablets. They want you constantly upgrading to the latest high end device. I became aware of this problem when my AVG antivirus app alerted me to the Stagefright exploit. According to this article, some 950 million Android phones, mine included, are vulnerable. You'd think, given the extent of the threat, that the manufacturers and carriers would be concerned but that's not exactly the case. They only give a shit if you have the latest devices and only if it's a high end model. If you own an older device or a low to mid range device, you're shit out of luck. One possible fix would be to install a custom Android ROM on your device. CyanogenMod and the XDA-Developers Forum provide these ROMs for a variety of Android devices. My problem is I have virtually no idea how to install a custom ROM on my phone. Zimperium has made Stagefright patches available but I'm not sure how to install them.

Keeping up Appearances

  I pride myself on being a cynical fucking human being. I enjoy it. I revel in it. It's been my main defense mechanism for dealing with my loneliness and insecurities since high school. It's been the mask I've worn to keep people from knowing too much about me. Lately though, cracks have been appearing in the facade. Scenes in movies have actually brought tears to my eyes. Why the fuck is this happening to me!?! I can't be caught letting my guard down like this. It's bad enough most people regard me as a nothing and a nobody. I'm not about to add emotional little dipshit to that list. Appearances need to be maintained.

Gen Con: Days 3 and 4

  Gen Con Saturday only had one event. It was a D&D session played out on an electronic table with a touch screen map layed out on it. The DM's laptop was linked to the table and he used a computer program to manipulate the map. I played a bard that was recruited along with the other player characters to compete in a tournament some wizard was running. We did quite well. The rest of the day spent taking pictures of people in costumes. Those pictures can be found on my Google+ page along with photos from last year's Bristol Renaissance faire and the Mayhem Festival featuring King Diamond and Slayer.

  Sunday was a bit of a bust. The d20 Modern event scheduled for early that morning was cancelled. I ended up just grabbing something to eat before heading back home.