I tried to get a picture of this asswipe, but it was too dark out.

I think I was just about killed today on my way in to work. Everything was going swimmingly when I pulled up to the stoplight at SW 4th and Caruthers. I was the third car in line. When the light turned green I started moving through the intersection, and when I was just about through it, this asshole in a silver Volkswagen cuts right in front of me, not only changing lanes in an intersection without signaling, but trying to fit a full car in a half car’s length. I slammed on the brakes and the horn, swerving to avoid getting my front passenger fender taken clean off and the guy (I assume it was a guy, but I couldn’t see) continued without even noticing. He (she/it/whatever) came close to running me head-on into a concrete dividing wall.

Like I said, after recovering from this feat of ridiculousness, I caught up with the car but wasn’t able to get a picture because it was too dark. His/her license plate was ZPR 448, though. Normally I wouldn’t post something like that, but when you’re as reckless as that, you deserve it.

Sometimes I wish I was an undercover cop so I could pull these assholes over. I mean, seriously, folks, if you can’t think ahead enough to know you need to be in a particular lane, at least wait until someone lets you in. Accept the consequences of your stupidity if no one does and get on somewhere else. Next time, maybe you’ll remember to get in line like everyone else.

Many people know about my abundant, vehement hatred for the Comic Sans font. People using it generally choose the most inappropriate places to use it - in the body of corporate emails, for example. The interesting thing is that I’ve only really found one or two other people in my travels who share my sentiment.

Turns out I’m not as alone as I thought.

I will admit I’m a fan of the game Dance Dance Revolution, but I’ll also admit I suck at it. Why? I’ve only ever really played on a reasonably cheap soft dance pad. (Well, that and I’m totally not coordinated. But we’ll blame the pad for my shortcomings and move on.)

To that end, I think I need to get a metal dance pad. Arcade feel, no slipping around (which is the biggest problem I have with the soft pad)… might be a good thing. Costs $139 plus shipping, but I’d wager if you’re going to actually PLAY the game, this is probably the way to go.

Plus, I can see that the health benefits may be in my favor. I hate exercise, but I love Dance Dance. May be something to think about, seeing as how the PS3 and XBox Next (as they’re being called, respectively) won’t be out for another year or two, and those will be my next console-related investments of significance, methinks.

Not that I’ve decided or anything, but it’s interesting to note that dasBlog stores its data in separate XML files, sort of similar to the way GreyMatter stored its stuff. That would make the export from pMachine much easier, but what about the search? Doesn’t efficiency go out the window? Makes you wonder.

This is probably something that most people aren’t bothered by but that bothers me quite a bit.

I have this friend who subscribes to an Internet service provider who uses parental control features to “blacklist” certain web sites. On paper, one would think this sounds like a keen idea - parents can let their kids surf the web “unsupervised” without the kids seeing anything “bad.” The blacklist gets automatically updated so the latest badness is hidden from their youthful eyes.

Things like this sound great, don’t they? Yeah, except for the fact that they blacklisted my site. That’s what makes me think. Am I purveying porn here? Aside from some minor language issues, am I even doing anything that offends anyone? Okay, well, maybe I might offend people, but I’m not sure it’s on a level that requires blacklisting by parental control software.

So I’ve been going back and forth with my friend over why he submits to this sort of treatment by his ISP. Apparently he does have some sort of override control, but just doesn’t choose to exercise it. That both interests and annoys me. I mean, what happens if I’m researching, say, breast cancer or AIDS? Somehow I think I’d start “protecting myself from myself,” don’t you? Stop myself from getting the information I’m looking for?

I think that the idea of parental control is interesting until you start really examining it. I think I’d prefer to trust my kids and teach them what they should and shouldn’t look at rather than rely on automated enforcement of ethics that I may or may not agree with. The same problems we have with spam filters exist with parental control software: How do you know if you’re filtering out enough bad stuff? And how do you know you didn’t just include content you want to get to?

Maybe I just feel like parental control software is overprotection at its finest. I feel like it’s an illustration of an over-politically-correct society trying to protect itself from itself, because God forbid anyone get offended by anything. Sort of like the whole V-Chip television thing. Is there a need for it? Maybe. But the fact there’s a need for it, I think, signals something larger is wrong. Wrong with the content? Wrong with society? Wrong with the way we teach morals? Who knows?

I think it’s important to note that this has nothing to do directly with my friend or the way he teaches his kids. My friend has some of the smartest, coolest kids on earth and if I ever have kids of my own (which is not currently on my agenda), I’d hope they turn out half as great as his. I’m just having issues with the implementation of automated censorship - it’s never been something I agree with, and I’m not about to agree with it any time soon.