Saturday, July 12, 2008

Collingwood/Conspiracy

I'm listening right now to a guy who has a vague idea of what's going on. He's a conspiracy theorist in the classical sense of the word: large theories, quasi-factual evidence. Sure, he's got strong opinions, and that beats getting all your info from the media, but I'm finding his prattling on somewhat difficult to take. For one thing, I didn't step into my fave Collingwood cafe to eavesdrop on conversation. It's just hard not to overhear when the speaker is addressing the crowd in a voice loud enough to be heard in the White House. Heh, what should I say? I don't even know him, and he might an interesting fellow.

I was doing my best to ignore him, but then he launched into a new subject apart from the normative Bush/Bin Laden, US Treasury/national debt, Iran/Israel repertoire --the dreaded electronic voting system. He maintained that now votes can be lost forever with no way to verify what has happened. Somewhat true, but not much different than a paper record going missing. For one thing, any PROPERLY set up electronic system should be keeping logs with reams of info backed up several times over. (Yes, I know. People are more prone to making catastrophic errors when electronics are involved.) That's not what provoked this blast, though. I was still trying to ignore him when he started talking about bugs in software.

Buggy software, speaking of normative. Aside from -perhaps- a very small intensely focused program, there is no such thing as bug free software. I'm not a programmer, but I am writing this while running a Debian GNU/Linux OS, and I've spent hours upon hours reading man pages and other sources of info on this, that, and the other within *BSD and Linux-derived operating systems. I am not a programmer, but I am familiar with software.

So when my man, Conspiracy Theorist #86335191480087, began pontificating upon software bugs, my ears perked up. Apparently, bugs are ethereal strange phenomena which cause mysterious things to happen. That's actually sometimes the truth, but in his context, these bugs put George Bush "I'll finish my dad's war," into power. Since I haven't spoken with CT#*** myself, I'm not sure whether or not they may also one day rise against their human masters.

To be fair, I'm not being entirely fair. I am not against discussing these matters, and I freely discuss them myself. But, there is a difference. Rather than basing my discussion on shadowy facts from "so-and-so in such-and-such a government position apparently said..." I look for patterns on my own. Then, based on information which is verifiable, I'm in a healthier position to make evaluations. Is there a difference? Perhaps not. That's why I would rather hear CT#*** rambling, than listen to someone tell me that the media haven't become a giant propaganda machine.

Oh, an interesting development. CT#*** was at the end of some line of reasoning when, with no apparent goodbye, he suddenly got up and walked away from his audience. I wonder.

"Hmm, that young feller with the laptop sure is doing a lot of typing. I'll bet he's one of THEM. Dammit! I knew they'd find me. I'll lose him on the street from within the safety of the teeming masses of media fed, blind corporate fodder. Quick, adopt stupefied expression; discuss American Idol. 'Hey, how 'bout that Paris Hilton?'"

Hmmm...his friends have also left. Was there a secret signal?

> innocuous hand signal: stoolie at 3 o'clock.

I wonder if they're huddling in a basement with a shortwave radio and a 12 year supply of food and water. I'm sorry. Really, I shouldn't. I get so carried away, and besides, I don't want to give away my own secret stash.

Wait. He's back. Oh, he's very subdued. He's picking up the paper and PRETENDING to read it. Yeah, yeah, that's it. He's scoping ME out. Dammit, I knew they'd find me....

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