(repost for Steemit) “寧為太平犬，莫做亂離人” (nìng wéi tàipíng quǎn, mò zuò luàn lí rén), or “Better to be a dog in a peaceful time, than to be a human in a chaotic (warring) period.” The above line is also known as the “Chinese Curse”, and is often translated as “May you live in interesting times.” Why do I bring this up? Because we are in a chaotic period. According to StyxHexenhammer666, it’s a moral panic, or shows signs of being a moral panic and it will pass.

Sargon of Akkad mentioned that we needed a manifesto. Here’s a first rough stab at that. I don’t care about your race, sexuality or gender. All people should have equal opportunity, but equality must never be forced. Let the people that are the best at it do the work. Free speech must be free, no matter how egregious it is to anyone. Violent speech should only be prosecuted if actual violence came of it.

I’ve just ended a project where I was working in an Agile/Scrum based environment, with sprints, stories, and deadlines. I kinda liked it, because you collaborate closely with your colleagues, and you pick your own tasks. Things can move potentially very fast, but there are some very glaring downsides. I’ll list them below: The burndown. The holy and sacred burndown. People care way too much about getting a Sprint completely burned down.

The lovely people at Bax Shop(great store if you’re in the Netherlands), where besides ThomannI buy most of my gear, finally sent me my Bugera back. Even though the Blackstar is no slouch (as witnessed by my latest release): The Bugera just rips it’s head (haha, pun) clean off in raw power. It’s supposed to, it has 20 watts more and it’s a tube amp, while the Blackstar is a solid state one (and a very nice one at that).

It’s a Blackstar ID:100 TVP. Yes it’s solid state, and no I don’t care. It hits like a Mack truck. Very versatile box that makes interesting noises.

(Repost for Steemit) First, let’s get this out of the way: I’m an atheist at my core. There’s stuff stacked on top of my atheism to facilitate esoteric reasoning, but there is always reasoning, according to some sort of logic. Having never been indoctrinated with any religion when I grew up, I have no learned concepts for fear of gods or an afterlife. The concepts are alien to me. I understand that people believe things.

I have opinions that might rub people the wrong way (big list here). If you examine that list, you might pick up that I’m in favor of complete freedom of speech. This includes things I have disdain for or things I vehemently disagree with. Everyone should have a platform, no matter how disgusting the idea. You might think: “where do you draw the line?”. It’s really simple. Physical violence or extreme psychological terror (which does not include offense).

It’s been a while since I penned something, but I was pondering something that I would like to run by you. Disclaimer, I am basically left winged. You might not think it judging from my posts, but I actually am. I’m a classic liberalist and egalitarian when it comes to democracy, free speech and how the state should take care of the people. I’m of the school of thought of de Toqueville and his contemporaries.

An American understands the situation a lot better than most Europeans do. Think about it.

Go to twitter. Search for #brexitdayor #article50. Watch all the crybabies flail about and lashing out. Pay special attention to the rhetoric from the hordes of now disgruntled remain-supporters that didn’t actually vote (and who think their voice actually counts when they don’t). Somehow the word ‘majority rules’ only holds sway when it’s in their favor. Suck it up, Buttercup. Britain is getting out and no amount of cry-bullying and virtue signalling is going to revert or block it.