Disqus - Latest Comments for Adam Pieniazek

Re: Battlestar Galactica: He That Believeth In Me

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:05:43 -0000

John McCain's, err I mean Colonel Tigh's acting was insanely good this episode. I just want to know how he could have been a Cylon for so long, it means their ability to look human goes further back than we thought.

Overall a great episode that didn't waste any time getting right back into it. I was glad to see the fire fight off the bat too so I could then focus on the story line after getting my action fix.

Re: GTD Cheatsheet: The Collection

Adam Pieniazek — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:12:18 -0000

This is kinda funny...I've been doing something like the GTD process pretty much my whole life. I usually don't organize anything until I absolutely need to and then I take all the various stuff I've got scattered around, organize it and then a few months later everything is scattered about again!

Re: We Know McCain=Bush, So What’s the Problem?

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:15:58 -0000

As this event took place on city property, it's quite wrong for them to kick her out. If it was on private property, then go right ahead but she had every right to be there if it's on public property.

@Sarah, our world is real bad right now. Neither McCain nor Obama have the American public anywhere close to the top of their priorities. They are rich elitist politicians who are working for the benefit of their major donors, not the public. Vote for a 3rd party if you're trying to vote for someone who is closer to and cares more about the average American.

Re: 2008/07/24/time-for-facebook-to-sell/

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 12:46:20 -0000

Well facebook has a huge advantage over myspace in that half of myspace traffic is spam (70% of my stats are made up) so it doesn't really matter that myspace gets more visitors than facebook because myspace visitors are less valuable than facebook visitors.

What's up with comparing facebook to livejournal though? LJ was never even close to as big as facebook is now. Tons of people understand the word facebook and it's truly become a brand and a necessity for young adults.

Still, I agree with this post, facebook should sell soon. Ad revenue will go down eventually as more and more users start to ignore the ads.

Re: OnlinePrimary: a Showcase of Naivete

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 22:42:58 -0000

I agree Zoli, the biggest problem is identification. However, once identification is solved, then voting twice is easier to get a handle on (make sure ID doesn't vote twice) and there'll always be fraud attempts. At least with a web-based voting platform we could potentially release the vote tallies to the public in real-time to show there was no fraud.

Re: OnlinePrimary: a Showcase of Naivete

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 22:42:58 -0000

Re: Size Does Matter — Bigger Monitors Save 2.5 Hours a Day

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 22:49:51 -0000

Picking up a 24" Soyo from Office Max was the best $300 I've ever spent. My productivity went up, not just from the monitor size but also because it forced me to move my TV out of my room (space limitations). Now, my big monitor helps me get things done quicker and better and I watch way less TV (and even when I get the urge for video I just watch on my big nice monitor).

Win-win right there.

Re: WordPress Plugin Favorites

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 06:17:48 -0000

Welcome to Wordpress!

How about Subscribe to Comments (by e-mail) for thos readers who "don't get" feeds.

Re: How To Get By With No Health Insurance

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 15 May 2008 22:34:24 -0000

Great post. I recently joined the ranks of the uninsured as even with Cobra health insurance would be way too expensive considering my successfully unemployed status! Thanks for the list.

Re: How Do I Get a Job at a Startup?

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:42:42 -0000

The other great way to get a job at a startup, start a startup! I've always wanted to be my own boss but rather than trying to work my way up a ladder I figured I'd start my own company and see where it takes me. This way, I've already achieved the being my own boss goal. Now to work on being my own boss AND being successful!

Re: Why I Unfollowed 45,000 People On Twitter

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:34:31 -0000

Good call Seth. When I really started getting into Twitter I'd take a few hours every now and then to go through the people I was following and clear out the clutter. Haven't done it in a while and have really noticed the negative impact on the quality of my stream. Thanks for posting this and showing us that just dropping everyone isn't going to the be the end of your social world. If they're quality people you'll probably reconnect with them.

Re: How McCain or Obama Can Permanently Eliminate the Gas Tax, Cut Pork and Help the Environment

Adam Pieniazek — Sun, 25 May 2008 23:16:50 -0000

I like the concept, let's take it a bit further and have the federal government get out of the governing business too. Have the federal government deed over all of its property to the states where the property is located and allow those states to deal with costs however they want. We could even keep military bases in a few states rather than in each and pay fees to those states for holding our military. Each state could run itself however it chooses, though we'd maintain a bare minimum of federal institutions (congress, judicial) to enable all 50 states to interact with each other and if need be act as one, a united states of america if you will.

If we completely privatized roads, what would happen to bicyclists when the oil corporations buy up all the roads and ban un-motorized vehicles? The problem is not public vs. private, the problem is big vs. small. Small, local units (decentralized power) are way more efficient than big, unwieldy behemoths looking to centralize power in their own hands.

Down with big government and big business, up with us.

Re: How McCain or Obama Can Permanently Eliminate the Gas Tax, Cut Pork and Help the Environment

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 27 May 2008 18:45:24 -0000

If oil companies did own the roads they would act as a corporation naturally does, which means they'd attempt to squeeze as much profit out of these roads as possible. I'd imagine they would quickly ban non-motorized traffic or attempt to force us to pay tolls (it's in their best interests to minimize non-motorized traffic in order to maximize their customer base). No way they would just let bicyclists, pedestrians, roller-bladers, skateboarders and others use their valuable assets for free.

You're right that larger scales allow for greater efficiency, however processes on a larger scale also create a wider window for corruption to seep through. As the process becomes more efficient, there are more opportunities for someone to throw a wrench in the line and ask for some grease to fix it. I've seen tons and tons of instances of it here in Massachusetts from the Big Dig with its countless issues to the Mass Pike, which was supposed to shut down years ago, to the MBTA which has the highest paid public official and one of the worst track records.

In essence, that is the problem with large scale processes, they require large amounts of capital and the most likely way that large amounts of capital accumulates in one place is through some corrupt mean. The essence of economics is that one party takes advantage of an inefficient transaction or an ignorant party and as a result profits. If the world was fair, we wouldn't have markets nor money and everyone would simply trade with one another for what they need.

A free market is a great solution for we are far away from having a free market. However, the big issue with a free market is everything has to be reset; otherwise, the rich will attempt to bypass the free market in order to maintain their current wealth. The free market was restricted to protect the public from rich tyrants but now restrictions are constantly put in place to protect the rich tyrants from the public!

Right now, if we set up a free market for roads your long-term concern would become very, very valid. The rich (whether real people or fake people, e.g. corporations) would seize up the roads and would immediately go about hiring lobbyists, lawyers, contractors, security, analysts and anyone else who could help them keep their roads and sell them to us as they wish.

Re: Urban[ism] Legend: Density is Bad for the Environment

Adam Pieniazek — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 18:22:53 -0000

Yeah, if we took the City of Boston and moved everyone into one massive building we could use the rest of the land for farming and public parks so I definitely see how density is a good thing, when done right.

Re: U.S. GAAP vs. International GAAP vs. Unified GAAP

Adam Pieniazek — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 11:02:02 -0000

Sure tuuyen, it was linked above but I made some changes and must have forgot to link back to it.

Here it is for now and I'll work on fixing that link. Glad you enjoyed the essay!

Updated: The bibliography is now listed above in the post.

Re: U.S. GAAP vs. International GAAP vs. Unified GAAP

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:22:07 -0000

Thanks Brian. I finally saw the links when I switched to a googlebot user. Now begins the process of cleaning up my database and files and ensuring my adsense is not hijacked.

Re: U.S. GAAP vs. International GAAP vs. Unified GAAP

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:28:20 -0000

Thanks Sandra!

No problem EW, glad to help!

Re: U.S. GAAP vs. International GAAP vs. Unified GAAP

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:08:44 -0000

Glad to help Diana!

Feel free to send me an e-mail if you need any additional insight or advice.

Re: U.S. GAAP vs. International GAAP vs. Unified GAAP

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:42:04 -0000

Glad to help Martha!

Apparently I should become an economics/business/accounting professor...hehe!

Re: Tax Credits for College Tuition, Senior Tax Administrator Style

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 02:05:15 -0000

You're right...if I went with option 3 I'd get a larger refund, but there were two main reasons I didn't do so:

A) I'd get hammered in taxes for 2007 because I'd have to post a $1200 reimbursement for the Umass class in addition to the $1636 reimbursement for the Northeastern classes while the expense for both of these would have already been claimed. In other words, I'd have to subtract $2863 from tuition expenses before I even began claiming tuition expenses.

B) I believe my method is the most accurate and most in line with generally accepted accounting principles. It's logical, I received the reimbursement in 2007 and paid the tuition cost in 2007. It's true that the reimbursement is for an expense paid in 2006 and the tuition was paid for with money I earned in 2006 but it's still backdating; I'd rather keep my costs and reimbursements in the actual year they happened.

Hope that makes sense?

Re: Tax Credits for College Tuition, Senior Tax Administrator Style

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 20:04:18 -0000

Short answer, I wanted to get some kind of substantial refund this year.

Long answer, I'm expecting to incur losses in '07 from a business I'm starting with three of my friends (see my first post ever) and if I had claimed the reimbursement in '06, I risked having un-used tax credits/deductions in '07. Keeping the reimbursement in '07 increases my tax liability which will probably be offset by the business losses.

Oh, and I'm not expecting to lose money because our business is not profitable but rather I foresee some significant up front costs to the business (hopefully not too much!).

Re: Why I Spent $1800 on a Macbook Pro

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 22:43:30 -0000

Thanks for the link Alex, I was aware I could get Ubuntu on the Macbook and have been meaning to install it but just can't find the time to dedicate to it. Before I install Ubuntu I'd want to back up everything on my hard drive (just in case) and that would take a considerable amount of time at this point. I suppose once I pick up another external hard drive I'll be installing Ubuntu.

Re: Why I Spent $1800 on a Macbook Pro

Adam Pieniazek — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 14:02:05 -0000

Thanks for the info Devin...I'll have to look into Gentoo, I've heard of it before but didn't quite know the difference between that and Ubunutu and all the other Linux distributions (there are a ton). I may write up a post comparing all three and what I learned by using all three...although it has been done a lot already...

Solveig, see I grew up using Windows and even in high school was opposed to Macs just because they seemed slower, now I know they just run differently and the Macbook Pro is by no means slow! I've not quite the typical Mac user they target but I do enjoy how easy it is to do things like make a movie for the few times I do such things...I'm also wicked impressed with the stability, I've had a few freeze ups/crashes but only a very slight few and less and less as time goes on...

Re: Facebook Network Stats

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 00:43:01 -0000

Thanks for the visit Ted. You are right that we'd see a greater variety with a larger list.

Re: Facebook Network Stats

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 13:35:46 -0000

William, be careful not to give too much credit to facebook either. After all, it did derive from a college audience so there's plenty of immaturity to be found too.

Shanti, that sounds like a great idea, sort of like google/digg trends. I imagine the facebook people already have a very similar trending application in-house that they utilize to generate and present audience statistics to potential advertisers and investors.

Re: Finite Population Correction Factor

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 10 May 2007 23:32:32 -0000

Thanks Brad, I too found this theorem a bit tough to understand upon first glance but using simple language helped emphasize exactly why the FPCF is used.

You have to be careful lowering the sample size while still assuming the same level of accuracy, especially if the lower sample size dips below 5% of the total population. The z value in the FPCF situation is more accurate simply because it encapsulates enough of the total population to be statistically more representative of the total population.

Glad my words were helpful.

Re: Finite Population Correction Factor

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 21:30:11 -0000

What in particular would you want me to expand on Owusu? Feel free to send me an e-mail or instant message if you wish (there's links to both in the about section).

Re: Finite Population Correction Factor

Adam Pieniazek — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 17:47:48 -0000

Aran,

First, sorry it took me so long to respond. Your question got me a bit off guard and I had to dust off some cobwebs in regards to FPCF before answering it.

You use the FPCF because a) you're sampling more than 5% of the population (in your case, 50% of the population is sampled) and b) you're not replacing respondents after they are chosen.

What confidence interval are you using? Using a 95%, so a z of 1.96, the upper bound would be 103.92. It looks like you used a confidence interval of 92.65% with a z of 1.45 to get 102.9?

Re: Finite Population Correction Factor

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 13:52:27 -0000

Hi Yudi,

I deleted your comment listing your email address for your protection (spammers like to go around the internet find email addresses, you should avoid listing it publicly if possible).

On to your question, we utilize the FPCF to basically boost probability. When the sample is equal or great than 5%, we have a far greater chance that the sample's data will apply to the population as a whole. In other words, we're more confident that our data is correct and to show this extra confidence statistically we add the FPCF.

That's the very general explanation. For a more detailed explanation, please re-read the last paragraph in my post above.

Hope that helps!

Re: Finite Population Correction Factor

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:52:10 -0000

Hi Fiona,

I'm unfamiliar with the Finite Sample Correction, is it simply another term for the Finite Population Correction? I'll assume it is as a google search seems to indicate so.

As 1000 is a lot less than 5% of 304 million, we will not need to use the Finite Population Correction Factor.

Accuracy is a reflection of the proportion of the sample size to the population. For instance, for a population of 1000, a sample size of 100 would theoretically be more accurate than a sample size of 10.

Back to your homework question, to retain the same level of accuracy, the proportion of the population captured in the sample would have to remain the same.

First, we find the proportion of sample size to total population in the initial survey:

1,000 / 304,000,000 = .0000032895.

Then, we multiply the new total population by this proportion to determine the new sample size required:

.0000032895 * 1,300,000,000 = 4276.32.

So the new sample size should be either 4276 or 4277 (depending if you round up or down) in order to maintain (roughly) the same accuracy.

Re: One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 19:39:12 -0000

Nice to see a fellow Boston Blogs writer...Boston Blogs is awesome!

Biostats sounds interesting...not my cup of tea but interesting nevertheless.

ANOVA is a handy tool but it's value is limited in the real world since it doesn't tell you the difference between means...it does still have some value for when you just don't need to know the difference between means, but for many purposes you do want to know the differences...

Re: One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 00:40:51 -0000

Thanks for the visit Emily, glad you enjoyed ANOVA.

Re: Planning at the Lend Lease Corporation

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 23 May 2008 16:23:47 -0000

no problem purpleballoons...

If it really helped feel free to donate some change....change...spare some change?

Re: Centralization vs. Decentralization

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 17:58:37 -0000

emmanuel,

First off, minus 10,000 life points from me for taking so long to reply to your comment. I won't make excuses but instead will transfer these 10,000 life points to you immediately.

It's my belief there is first a centralizing tendency in organizations. As organizations grow larger and larger, people emerge who want power and make their way to the top of the organization and concentrate power there. In some organizations, this power grab is fought, but in many it is a quiet coup de tat.

Then, eventually, the realization that all that power should not be concentrated in the hands of the few, and the realization that it affects performance negatively contribute to a desire to decentralize.

So in my eyes, there is a cycle of centralizing, decentralizing, centralizing and so on. The way to judge whether an organization is trending towards centralizing or decentralizing is to see where the organization is in its growth. If it is a small organization, power will be decentralized. As the organization grows, power will centralize and then decentralize.

Over the past few decades, we've had an explosion in executive scandals and corruption. Thus, we're now entering a period where organizations are looking to decentralize to prevent the mistakes of our recent past.

I hope that answers your question, if not feel free to follow up via this post or e-mail ( hit the contact button in the top menu bar). Again, my sincere apologies for letting your comment fly under my radar for such a long time.

In fact, make it -100,000 life points from me and +100,000 life points to you good sir.

Re: Centralization vs. Decentralization

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 01:31:11 -0000

Great question Enrico. Communication is the cruz of this issue. When the company is small, orders come from the top and are quickly and accurately disseminated throughout the company. As the company starts to grow, the management at the top of the company continues to issues orders but as they filter down through the company the message becomes garbled and sometimes does not even make it all the way down the company. This degradation of communication is the biggest warning sign that decentralization needs to occur.

I once worked for a certain Fortune 300 company where the CEO would constantly promote flex time as a great way to save the company money and keep employees happy. At nearly every quarterly town hall he had with employees he'd tout the benefits of flex time and remind managers to fit flex time into the workspace if employees wanted it. This company had over 20,000 employees and simply put the CEO's message was not received by every manager in the company. Towards the end of my time there the CEO kept receiving questions about flex time and at a town hall announced that he was done taking questions about flex time and that the employees should figure it out because he already gave flex time his blessing numerous times.

The trouble this CEO encountered was that the company was very hierarchal. My boss did not receive word from her boss to institute flex time so as far as our department was concerned no one was to get flex time. My point here is that the CEO simply did not see the company the same way the employees did. There was a lack of true communication and action between the two groups because the company was simply too big for one person to manage everyone.

Other warning signs are a lack of employee engagement in the company, disregard of formal rules (due to a disconnect between the top of the company and everyone else), and a lack of guidance for employees. There are certainly more warning signs but they all have a commonality that communication between the top and the rest of the company is not functioning smoothly.

Your second question is a bit tricky Enrico, as top management could be very resistant to decentralization. In a centralized structure, the top management holds a lot of power and feels they are a big reason behind the company's success (hence exorbitant executive salaries). As such top management could see decentralization as disastrous to the company and their leadership positions. Good leaders will be able to delegate and will institute decentralized structures on their own in order to keep the company functioning. The best time to alert top management about decentralization would be before they ever become managers!

Unfortunately that is not always realistic so the best time would be as soon as you start seeing problems from a centralized structure placing limits on a company's growth and success. If this is in relation to a real personal situation, be careful how you word this suggestion so as to not upset the top executives. Phrase it as empowering employees to have more control over their task as those employees know the tasks better than anyone else, not as a lack of good communication or leadership.

If you'd like any advice on such a situation, feel free to send me an e-mail.

Re: Centralization vs. Decentralization

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:48:35 -0000

Hi Anne,

In your company's situation, it would seem most of these departments are best suited to decentralization. The company is large enough (especially if considered as part of its parent corporation), where individual employees should be empowered to make decisions at their workstations. Doing so will increase each employees' efficiency and satisfaction, including middle and upper level managers as they will have less mundane tasks to approve and disprove and can focus on the bigger picture.

Your company's implementation of either structure will ultimately be a greater indicator of success than the structure. If decentralized employees are given total free reign, chaos may ensure whereas completely centralized employees will lose their creative & analytical human traits as they are forced to seek managerial approval for everything.

Certain functions do lend themselves to centralization though. For instance, purchasing would be a good choice for centralization to ensure the company as a whole receives the best bulk rates and doesn't waste material. However, a completely centralized purchasing department would delay supply orders and thus reduce manufacturing effectiveness. In other words, it's really a unique decision and can change company to company.

Honestly, I'd need to know some more information about your company before giving you a complete answer. Feel free to send me an e-mail if you wish to chat in private.

Re: Centralization vs. Decentralization

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:44:58 -0000

Sure Vivian. To give a better explanation I'd need a bit more details on the actual situation (feel free to send me an e-mail if you wish to discuss the situation a bit more) but basically technology advances allow for a very easy way to centralize separate physical locations.

Actually decentralizing the system may make for some efficiency gains. For instance, allowing patrons to return books to any branch. In general though, I'd imagine that each branch will need librarians on hand but that one main web-site could be set up to show the inventory at each branch. You can also consolidate donations and purchasing departments and have on managing department that oversees all four branches. I'd need more information on the current situation and the goals of a centralizing effort but in general using the internet to connect all four branches and consolidating decision making in one branch should make for a relatively easy centralizing effort.

By the same token though, decentralizing the branches even further and giving individual librarians control over what books to buy and other policies could eliminate the need for a large managerial department and thus cut costs. It all depends on the specifics really. Anything is possible though!

Re: Ronald Jenkees: A YouTube Musical Phenom

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 23:43:57 -0000

I'll agree with you, David, that Ronald Jenkees is "that good" but,

watermelons > Ronald Jenkees

it's not really a contest...sorry buddy but watermelons are damn tasty and renewable, there's only one Ronald Jenkees.

Re: Click...Click...Click: How a Virtual (K)Ubuntu Penguin Saved My 50GB Music Collection

Adam Pieniazek — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 17:26:02 -0000

Thanks harlem...I'm just glad Ubuntu helped me save everything.

Re: Click...Click...Click: How a Virtual (K)Ubuntu Penguin Saved My 50GB Music Collection

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 08:39:37 -0000

Hope it works Brett...I know how frustrating it can be to have your files dangling on the edge of oblivion.

I picked up a Fantom Titanium II from newegg...they're only $100 now for a 500 GB drive, but it's not quite as portable as the WD Passport (since it's not powered by USB). It's worked perfectly so far...

Let me know how your recovery process works...hope you get everything back.

Re: Boston Latin School: Wolfpack Pride

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 19:33:16 -0000

That is quite amazing Kevin. Good luck in college, buddy.

Re: Poles Welcome Bush to Hell

Adam Pieniazek — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 20:04:33 -0000

Blazj,

I can speak Polish near fluently and can read Polish very well, but am not very proficient at writing it. I wish I could write in Polish well and maybe someday I will take a few classes in Polish; I would like to live in Poland for a few years at some point down the line so I better! PieniÄ…Å¼ek does look better ;)

I'd have to disagree with you that Poles are not anti-American at all. While we are more supportive and definitely more trusting of America than the rest of Europe, I wouldn't say that we're completely pro-American. I think a lot of positive Polish sentiment towards America still goes back to World War II and the fact that America, obviously, helped out Poland a lot then. Polish people are a very proud people and I think the majority of positive Polish sentiment comes from Poles feeling like we owe America one.

Also, I personally don't think Poland should trust America as much as they do. America has lost a lot of its credibility during the past few years, and as you point out has already neglected to fulfill promises made to Poland with the F16 and troop support.

One of the reasons protest numbers were smaller is because Poles care about Poland first and foremost. As long as Poland remains safe and in good standing, I don't think Poles care much one way or the other about what America does. And that's a good thing, you should care about your own country first and foremost, something America has failed at over the past few years.

Poland may be supportive of America as a whole but from my personal experience (of course I'm not in Poland so I can't speak 100% accurately), Poles are becoming more and more skeptical of the U.S. and especially of the current administration. Also, America is a country which tries to get as much benefit as possible for the absolute lowest cost possible (good ol' capitalism), so I do not think the U.S. will install a missile shield in Poland unless it is better for the U.S. than Poland. Certainly with the current immigration debate/debacle in the U.S., I do not see America agreeing to eliminate visas for Polish citizens as there would be an outrage among U.S. citizens.

Although there's been huge conflicts between Russia and Poland before, I feel the "bigger fight" is between Russia and the U.S. and I really do not want to see Poland "stuck in the middle". It is a tough scenario because I do not think the rest of Europe would support Poland as much as the U.S. if a conflict broke out between Russia and Poland. However, by siding with the U.S. I feel there will be many negative feelings towards Poland and as you state with Russia, and with terrorist cells, Poland will become a target for attacks. Having said all of that, it is a very complex issue with benefits and disadvantages on both sides of the argument.

One more note, it may seem I am very anti-American from my tone and stance, but that is not true. I am proud to be an American and love this country but feel it is getting worse and worse every day. It is still a great place to live and is a much better place to live than many other countries (Iraq, Mexico, China, almost all of Africa etc.). It is my love of this country that makes me want to see it improve not get worse.

Re: Poles Welcome Bush to Hell

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 01:26:11 -0000

I too read your posts with great interest, I think polite and intelligent debate is one of the best ways to learn, not just about other people but also about yourself. I was very happy to see your response :)

It's not just the Poles who are becoming more skeptical, Americans (I should stop using that term, since there is a North and South America, not just the USA, habits are tough to break though) are very wary of their government now, which is why Ron Paul is a very popular candidate on the internet right now (a Google search for Ron Paul shows more results than any other presidential candidate), because he opposes big government and wants to make American government small and focused on the USA, which is a very scary line of thought for the ruling elite in the USA.

My mom is very similar to your dad, she came over here about 25 years ago because A...the USA was a land of opportunity and had many benefits over Poland. Now, she criticizes the current situation here and is very pleasantly amazed that Poland is a better place to live, politically and not yet economically but getting better every day. I think the USA could be a much better place, with similar ideals to the Europeans, if we were a true and free democracy, but we are not. The government here is now run by big corporations and cherished American liberties, such as freedom of speech and habeas corpus come under attack every day by these corporations and the government which supports them.

One of the ironies about the USA right now is it is very difficult to find true Americans! The YouTube link you provided shows the typical American who is not aware of the greater world they live in. This was not always true, and if go to the right places you will be able to find many people like myself who understand that the USA is only a small part of a very big world. The sad truth is Americans are increasingly "brainwashed" to such an extent that Whitney Houston / Paris Hilton / oral sex dominate our news and debates more than important matters like government corruption and excess. History has shown us that when the citizens are either unable or unwilling to criticize their government and hold it to a high standard, bad things happen.

My grandmother and grandfather on my mom's side were saved from concentration camps (we are not Jewish, something popular history seems not to focus on is the Germans attacked and tortured and killed all Polish citizens, not just Polish-Jewish citizens) by American troops, so personally I am very biased on how the USA helped Europe at this time. Looking back on it, yes the USA could have done A LOT more and A LOT sooner, but the personal bias of history weighs heavily here. If it wasn't for those American troops showing up when they did, I very well may not be here...

The wikipedia article you linked to however focuses on how France and the U.K. did not fulfill their promises to Poland. I did not see much mention of the USA in regards to promises made but not fulfilled. At the time, the USA was a very non-interventionist country and I feel they were waiting to see if Europe could handle the German attack on their own. Once it became apparent they could not (e.g. when much of Western Europe had already fallen) and once the war made it to American soil, the USA did finally step in and once they did were an immense force to reckon with. What the USA did once they entered the war is what I reference when I state that positive sentiment goes back to WWII. It is true that the USA did not directly rush to the aid of Poland, but as a result of their actions Poland was indirectly helped. Of course, after the war Poland was almost a second though to these other countries. I find it slightly ironic that now Poland is (finally) receiving such a focus on the global stage.

Something I found interesting from wikipedia,"In November 1933, there were rumours in Paris that a "preventive war" option against Germany was being considered by the French, Belgian and Polish governments. The British historian Lewis Bernstein Namier claimed later that the Poles had proposed a preventive war to the French at this time, but the French declined the offer."

Imagine if that happened though, history may be a lot different. If Poland and the west were the first to attack, Germany may have had more sympathizers because France, Belgium and Poland were attacking Germany first, even though realistically it was only in response to menacing actions by the Germans.

Another interesting point from wikipedia an something I simply did not know, "In May 2005 US President George W. Bush admitted that the Soviet domination of central and eastern Europe after World War II was "one of the greatest wrongs of history" and acknowledged that the United States played a significant role in the division of the continent and that the Yalta conference "followed in the unjust tradition of Munich and the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. (...) Once again, when powerful governments negotiated, the freedom of small nations was somehow expendable."

Of course, it's easy to look back on the past and admit mistakes but it is still admirable that Bush did publicly admit "one of the greatest wrongs of history". It does not make up for his poor leadership and anti-American policies, but it goes to show he did do something right. It also doesn't make up for the 60 years of Communist rule in Poland. In either case, thank you for pointing me to the wikipedia article as it was enlightening in some ways. I remember learning about the Western Betrayal in one of my Chapel Hill history courses but not in that much detail.

While I will agree with you that there is a lot that can be changed about Poland, I must disagree that I cannot do the same here in the US. Poland is in a way lucky to be a young democracy, and hopefully has less corruption than some of the more established ones like the UK and US, but change can happen anywhere at anytime. I hope Poland can avoid some of the stupidity that America has experienced that has led to some simply bizarre laws, there is a very good list at:

http://crazytopics.blogspot.com/2007/01/crazies....

What I meant by the "bigger fight" between the USA and Russia is in essence a reference back to the cold war, and that if anything did escalate between the two we could experience a nuclear war before we knew it. It's a very unlikely scenario today, I hope, but that was my reference. If we look at if from a historical perspective, then the bigger fight would be between Poland and Russia (they did actually fight after all).

Hmmm, those classes are very intriguing...it seems that a room AND food is included in the price, which makes it VERY cheap! That is actually quite an unbelievable deal...plus the city is quite nice.

Re: Poles Welcome Bush to Hell

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 01:25:57 -0000

Hi bÅ‚aÅ¼ej...good to see you back. I'm sure there's quite a few different interpretations of some of the content I posted just between individuals, yet alone countries. One of the great aspects of philosophical material is that it's so open to interpretation, and in fact almost requires each individual to analyze the idea personally.

I'd love to see some of your thoughts on my comment but no hurry, I can very much empathize with exam times! My classes now are more focused on writing than tests, which personally I think is a better way to learn and develop (and less stressful in some ways). Good luck with your test, although I'm sure you'll do/did well. Let me know how it turned out...

I've taken five years of Latin (a requirement of the Boston Latin School) and would have to agree that picking up French would be "easy".

Grammatically your post title is fine (although would say mom rather than mum, but either one is correct depending on if it's British or American English). I wouldn't worry too much about grammar if I was you as many Americans (myself included) don't use correct grammar. I'm quite known amongst my friends for making up words and phrases that simply don't exist!

Re: Start iTunes & Last.fm Simultaneously

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 22:35:23 -0000

You mean all my hard work was for naught!

I can understand why some people wouldn't want all their songs scrobbled, but I never understood why last.fm wouldn't make a plugin or at least an option for people like me who want every song and podcast captured...hopefully they'll implement an option to appease everyone in their next release.

Re: Not Too Much Fun: A Review of the Ronald Jenkees Debut Album

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 08:22:52 -0000

Wow David...I wouldn't go that far("greatest thing that ever lived"), but yes he is an amazing music producer!

In terms of music, your comment "Everything he does is magic, as they say" is wicked true, he's yet to put out a bad song; quite amazing considering he's put out over 40 songs (via his album and his youtubes). In my humble opinion, having other artists on his next CD to rapping and singing over his beats would be insanely awesome. As it stands, Ronald is certainly worthy of a Grammy for the beats on this album.

"Who wants to play Balderdash?" - Ronald Jenkees

Thanks for stopping by David.

Re: Not Too Much Fun: A Review of the Ronald Jenkees Debut Album

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 20:27:39 -0000

Thanks Michael.

Great review, I see your a big fan of Almost Undamaged too, what an amazing track...though, all of them are great. Totally agree with you that there is some serious soul flowing through this album. Great interview too.

Re: Not Too Much Fun: A Review of the Ronald Jenkees Debut Album

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 00:33:18 -0000

I agree wholeheartedly, Phu. With Ronald's talent, there really is no limit. It's quite easy to imagine him producing scores for movies and beats for hip-hop artists.

Anyone who hasn't yet should definitely check out Michael's interview with RJ...he's a very down to earth guy.

Re: Not Too Much Fun: A Review of the Ronald Jenkees Debut Album

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:12:37 -0000

For sure Phil. If Ronald's beats were combined with an established rapper he'd be all over the airwaves. I'm actually surprised no artist out there approached Ronald about collaborating.

Re: 3 From Every Tree: My Favorite Blog Project Entries

Adam Pieniazek — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 23:06:14 -0000

Thanks to all three of you (and everyone else) for such entertaining posts!

Re: 3 From Every Tree: My Favorite Blog Project Entries

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 18:54:33 -0000

Ditto what I said earlier (thanks to everyone).

Mario, that's what I meant by being careful (using common sense)!

Re: Kevin Garnett a Celtic: We're Baaaack!

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 19:24:14 -0000

The KG Bounce is a sick looking shoe...but they need to put them out in Celtic Green now.

Re: Kevin Garnett a Celtic: We're Baaaack!

Adam Pieniazek — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 15:34:53 -0000

I hope you guys are getting some bulk discounts on those...when I get out to the courts (rarely nowadays) I rock a pair of no name Reeboks (they were cheap).

Re: R.I.P. Joan "Superman" Duran

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 17:51:24 -0000

No problem Natalia. Though I wasn't as close with him as you were, I'll still miss the kid, I remember whenever I saw him he was almost always smiling. People like that come around rarely.

Re: R.I.P. Joan "Superman" Duran

Adam Pieniazek — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 12:35:43 -0000

Thanks for the nice comment Andrea. He was a great guy and I'm positive he had a great impact on lots of people! I hope you are doing well.

Re: R.I.P. Joan "Superman" Duran

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 19:16:27 -0000

Having gone through similar events in my past, the pain won't ever go away Remy, but it does ease its grip as time goes on. As long as his impact is still felt through his friends and family then he's not really gone.

Re: R.I.P. Joan "Superman" Duran

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 14:06:38 -0000

Maria,

It's great that you're writing an article about Joan; your research is spot on, he was a great person and it should make for a very good article. I'm looking forward to reading it.

Since I got these pictures from Joan's public myspace profile (which has since been deleted by myspace) I don't see any issues with using them in the article. I'll email you the full resolution versions when I get home.

Re: A Contest: Free Ronald Jenkees CD

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 19:29:01 -0000

@Ted - The whole CD is sick buddy, remind you to let you have a listen if you don't win.

@Nicole - HAHA...I think you just wrote the title for Ronald's next CD!

@MY - Wicked sick...dude needs to put out a CD with all his beats and 8-10 MCs rapping over his beats.

Re: A Contest: Free Ronald Jenkees CD

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 19:14:30 -0000

Haha...good stuff Jide...nothing wrong with some white man dancing (I'm guilty of the same sometimes)!

OK...unless we get any new entrants to the contest in the last few hours here, Nicole will be the winner of Ronald's debut album (by default, since she's the only one who left an e-mail address)!

If anyone else wants a chance at the CD, just leave a comment here, and fill out your e-mail address!

Re: Red Sox Clinch Home-Field Advantage

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 22:35:59 -0000

It's looking more and more like it every day Richard! Here's hoping this great streak of Boston sports keeps up (though the Celtics stumbled tonight against the Bobcats...).

Re: Battlestar Politica

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 17:55:32 -0000

Thanks for the heads up Farris. I just wanted to clarify that I did not create the image above but did credit the site that did. I'll still let nerdmom know to credit the right site for the image.

Thanks again. It's really shocking how similar McCain and Colonel Tigh look.

Re: Battlestar Politica

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 13:27:35 -0000

Thanks for stopping by Nate. Now, the questions is, who'd make a better president, John McCain or Colonel Tigh?

McCain has the advantage of being from the U.S. and having fought for this country, while Tigh trumps McCain's war experience and has the benefit of possibly being a super advanced robot that would surely surpass our own intelligence.

I wouldn't vote for either of them but if it came down to these two...frack it, let's risk it with Tigh.

Re: Battlestar Politica

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 13:37:41 -0000

Welcome farkers (people from fark.com)! Thanks for making this an even better day than it already was (with my Celtics winning last night).

Haha Thoog.

I agree rend, Tigh would for sure be better, at least he learned from Adama.

Re: Battlestar Politica

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:39:24 -0000

<img src="http://www.adampieniazek.com/waahmbulance-747602.jpg" alt="WAAAAAAAHambulance" width="600">

[Found at Police on my back]</img>

Re: Battlestar Politica

Adam Pieniazek — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 15:39:13 -0000

Yeah they do Sid. All I know is, for the sake of everyone, I hope Col. Tigh / John McCain is not the next U.S. president.

Re: Battlestar Politica

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 15:14:37 -0000

Yes, BSG was already way too accurate and realistic in depicting and analyzing the problems we face and now it's predicting presidential candidates. It's getting a bit out of hand.

Re: Battlestar Politica

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:46:08 -0000

HAHAHA...lol that is great stuff right there! I wonder if the scorched earth in the finale will have been caused by Bushco/McSame-Failin trio...

Re: To The Ron Paul Spam Brigade

Adam Pieniazek — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 17:17:23 -0000

Good point blogcruiser. I won't edit the post but going forward I'll use virtual/non-virtual instead of real world. I guess virtual just has the connotation of describing a Tron like virtual reality world.

Considering I've used poor grammar and will surely use it again in the future, I see where you're both coming from blogcruiser and mark. My perspective is that if you're gonna go through the effort of spamming a bunch of blogs with support of a political candidate, you'd also go through the effort of making sure the text is as persuasive as possible, and to me that means using correct grammar. To each his own though.

Also, it'd be one thing if the comment came on a post I wrote about Ron Paul, however, the comment showed up on my "About" section (which is quite piss poor quality, I'll admit). If it came on one of the politics related posts on here I would have been more understanding.

Oh, and mark good point on content and passion being more important than spelling...the passion in Ron Paul 4 President's comment is why I published it in the above post.

Re: To The Ron Paul Spam Brigade

Adam Pieniazek — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 17:52:08 -0000

Well said blogcruiser. I'm sure the original commenter wanted to spur a lot of emotions and raise attention to his cause, just like I knew a post titled "To the Ron Paul Spam Brigade" would do the same!

I read blogs, books and anything else for much the same reasons you do, to digest the good information and use it, so I very much appreciate you stopping by.

Take care buddy!

Re: RedZee, A Wicked Unique Search Engine

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 17:56:46 -0000

Thanks for stopping by here Ryan.

The scrolling ability is a great function and a good way to look through data, but I wonder if it really is better than just a plain old list. For one, as you say, the load times are quite noticeable and contrast sharply to the search engines we use everyday. Another drawback is I can't copy and paste the search results and send them to someone or save them; those search results are locked into that scroll wheel.

The giraffe is real cool.

Re: Six Things You Searched For

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 23:57:40 -0000

Ronald is quite cool Franny.

Re: Bought My Celtics Playoff Tickets

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 14:50:53 -0000

Davey, considering I am currently unemployed I'd love to sell you some of my Celtics playoff tickets at a fair markup to bring in some cash for myself, BUT, as such actions are illegal in our fine state I'll be holding onto the tickets.

Sorry buddy!

Re: Resignation from the State Street Corporation

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 16:31:05 -0000

Nice post. From what I'm learning it's a lot better to have a job that you enjoy since you'll most likely be spending 40+ hours working at it than to have a job that you hate but makes you tons of money. It's an almost obvious piece of advice but we tend to forget it as we're running through life and our careers.

Re: Gmail Thinks Google Alerts is Spam?!?

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 22:08:06 -0000

It's quite strange. I'm just glad I have proof of it Marcus!

Re: Gmail Thinks Google Alerts is Spam?!?

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 23:05:16 -0000

Hmm...good idea virtual. Sorry it didn't work for you, hotmail seems to be smarter than I remember it!

Re: Gmail Thinks Google Alerts is Spam?!?

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:34:26 -0000

Haha blargumentor. It does feel good to know that even Google has its' flaws.

I'm using Safari for a couple of reasons, but mostly because it's quicker to load and use and crashes much less frequently. Also, when it does crash (which is inevitable since I load up too many tabs no matter what browser I use) there is a very, very handy "Reopen all windows from last session" option under the History menu that does what it says.

I found that even with tab mix plus and Firefox's built-in window recovery many times Firefox would reload after a crash without all my previous windows, which for my browsing tendencies is a big loss.

I haven't given Firefox 3 beta a try yet, but hear it is improved in terms of performance but does it have improved window recovery features? The first thing I did when I got my Macbook Pro a year ago was to install Firefox but I'm finding I like Safari. Still, I could be swayed back to the fox IF it's recovery process at least matches Safari's excellent feature.

Re: Gmail Thinks Google Alerts is Spam?!?

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:24:19 -0000

Assa, you should add "googlealerts-noreply@google.com" to your contacts list. Gmail is supposed to let senders in your contact list through to your inbox.

Also keep checking the spam folder in your Gmail and mark the alerts as not spam. Adding Google alerts to your contacts should prevent this false positive from reoccurring but just to be safe I'd recommend to continue to watch your spam folder.

Re: I Hate the Federal Reserve

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 23:24:05 -0000

Thanks Reena. I actually just started using entrecard today and am already noticing it's positive effect, not just on my traffic but also in finding good blogs.

Re: Casting Call for New Bruce Willis Film, The Surrogates

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 02:51:11 -0000

Don, Chris, Amanda, and Rebecca

Technically, I'm not affiliated with the industry but have friends who work for the studios. I can't directly help you out but if you email me your head-shots / portfolio I could forward it along to my friends who are involved with this and other movies.

You can send me an e-mail via this form and we can go from there.

Good luck!

Re: The Environmentally Damaging City of Boston Recycling Program

Adam Pieniazek — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 14:25:07 -0000

Thanks for stopping by Todd.

In the grand scheme, you're right that Canada isn't that far away. Still, if those bins were made in Massachusetts we could have prevented a significant amount of petroleum being burned to transport all these bins to Boston.

Plus, we don't know where in Canada these bins were made. It is a big country after all and the distance from coast to coast would alter how much energy was used up during transport significantly.

Re: The Environmentally Damaging City of Boston Recycling Program

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 27 May 2008 14:20:15 -0000

Your though is on point economically, though we don't know if the bins were even cheaper. For all we know someone in power knew someone with a factory in Canada and was helping them out with a big order (would not surprise me the least bit...).

In the end, we can't say for sure which location would have best served as a manufacturing place for this bins. Making them here in Massachusetts would also release pollutants into the air, thus being worse for the environment in the state.

I'll have to send off a letter to the City of Boston agency responsible for the bins and try and get a concrete reasoning behind this whole situation.

It's strange how a place like Cambridge is labeled liberal but is almost militaristically liberal (be our kind of liberal or else sort of mentality). My neighborhood of Dorchester seems much more liberal in the literal sense than Cambridge, we have tons and tons of diversity and respect all kinds of viewpoints whereas it seems Cambridge shuns all but a certain brand of liberalism. Of course I'm biased, having lived in Dorchester the majority of my life, it's my favorite part of Boston.

Re: The Environmentally Damaging City of Boston Recycling Program

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:51:01 -0000

I'll work on that anon, I'll let you know how it goes. One day I hope to become awesome like you and post anonymous comments telling people to get a life. They say I'm a dreamer but dammit anon, hope is all we have!

Re: My New Banner / Logo

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 21:06:06 -0000

Thanks for stopping by Flimjo.

Jay's site rocks, plain and simple.

I checked out your logo in the gallery...very nice.

Re: eDropper: The Automated Entrecard Dropper

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:52:39 -0000

Thanks for being a good sport Justin.

With the BBC filming flying penguins, Google preparing trips to Mars, and IGN revealing the Legend of Zelda trailer it was about time the Entrecard community got the tool every dropper has been wanting, even if only for a temporary moment.

Re: eDropper: The Automated Entrecard Dropper

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:53:57 -0000

Hehe....

Re: Why I Quit Smoking

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:00:15 -0000

It really was easy to quit. It's been 3 months and outside of a few cravings it's been easy going. Once I realized it wasn't making me happy and I didn't need to do anything to quit (e.g. I could lay on my couch all day and night, but if I didn't smoke I was doing damn well) it was pretty much a done deal. Big, big thanks to my friends too who didn't give me a smoke the one time I had too much to drink and decided I needed one.

I quit my job for about the same reason, 40 hours was too big of a time commitment to something that wasn't making me happy. It wasn't necessarily making me sad either, but it wasn't making me happy. The forty extra hours I get a week now is awesome. It's liberating. I have a significant savings account though to fall back on so it helps ease any worries and concerns.

Thing is I like working, just don't think a cubicle farm is the place for me (or any humans really). Highly, highly recommend it!

Re: Ten Reasons Battlestar Galactica is the Best Show EVER

Adam Pieniazek — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 22:57:04 -0000

Fracking right it is GeekMom!

That episode last Friday was great, worth the year long wait even. Here's hoping they get even better as this final season moves along.

So say we all!

Re: My Celtics Playoff Tickets

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 16:28:33 -0000

We'll see Justin. It'll have to be a heck of a contest for me to give any of those away.

Re: The Final Two: An Update to My Final Four Picks

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 23:22:26 -0000

I didn't even watch the game but followed it on ESPN.com towards the end. Heard it was a really good game though.

Re: Quick Note to My Feed Readers

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 19:41:55 -0000

Thanks Justin. I'd reciprocate but I'm already subscribed to your blog!
BSG is a great show, start with the mini-series and you'll be hooked. It's a great sci-fi show but is also so much more. Some of the show's latest episodes are on hulu.com but you should really get your hands on the mini-series and go from there.

Re: Quick Apple Safari Tips

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 14:48:20 -0000

Thanks Vince. I knew about the right click search function but the Cmd key is a nice touch that I'll use often (I used to open a new tab and then copy text into the search box on that new tab).

Re: My New Old Wheels

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:38:15 -0000

One of the benefits of being unemployed is not having get to work! I believe you about the sweaty conditions of Florida. My freshman year at college our lacrosse team went to Tampa, Orlanda, Gainesville, and Tallahasse to play a few games and it was hot then, yet alone July/August, especially with that humidity.

Still, I'd recommend a road bike for the cooler months and for short trips, they are a ton of fun and you can get going at a nice cruising speed and not expend too much energy.

Re: Web Quotes and Counterpoints V

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:55:53 -0000

Thanks for stopping by and the great list Marc and Angel!

Just used the "Donâ€™t meddle in other peopleâ€™s affairs or attempt to solve their problems unless itâ€™s within the scope of your mission."...I was meddling because it was within the scope of my mission (to get a new couch to an apartment before the Celtics game) but got out once the problem escalated way beyond the couch issue and let the two roommates deal.

Re: Web Quotes and Counterpoints V

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 07 May 2008 16:29:40 -0000

Shorts breaks are good but every now and then a medium break is good too to really rest and reset. We have to listen to our what own minds and bodies tell us about our personal energy reserves.

Great week so far, Jarkko, thanks!

Re: Web Quotes and Counterpoints V

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:11:31 -0000

Perhaps we should have blog status widgets, sort of like here/away status on chat clients, though I suppose twitter/aim sort of fill in that gap.

You're right Jay, a short post is certainly better than letting the blog look abandoned or forgotten, especially with all the blogs that do get left behind on a daily basis.

Re: You Can Change the World, But Do You Know How to?

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:04:40 -0000

@Susan - Thank you and do come back, or better yet subscribe to the RSS feed and you'll never miss a post!

@Ahmad - Thanks, it is a bit long but I found a lot of good material about Bill so it naturally became a lengthy article.

@J. - Thanks for stopping by!

Re: You Can Change the World, But Do You Know How to?

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:43:02 -0000

Great quote Stu! Indeed it is tough to motivate a mass movement so much of the action observed in history is due to a small, tight-knit group with focused goals. Even if their efforts evolve into a mass movement it started with a small group or an individual.

Re: War on Terror Ends!

Adam Pieniazek — Sun, 11 May 2008 14:45:23 -0000

Hi Ahmad,

Thanks for the great and thoughtful comment!

I agree with your first point. Being terrified is OK when it's a temporary feeling, for instance if you're crossing the street and all of a sudden a big bus or truck comes barreling down the street. When terror is a feeling, it's OK but when it becomes a state of being as the mass media (in particular Fox News) in the U.S. attempt to portray it then it becomes a significant issue. There are more than a few people who constantly worry (or at least pretend to worry) about another terrorist attack, yet do not recognize that the probability of dying in such an attack is miniscule.

I'll go one step further on point number two, Ahmad; terrorism is a made up word. We're fighting something that can't rationally exist. When I step outside today, I see a nice bright blue sky, not the apocalyptic world that is cited as a reason for the war on terror. Since 9/11 who has created more terror in the world, the federal government of the U.S. or Al Qaeda?

I would argue the U.S. federal government has clearly become terrorists. On 9/11 a few thousand American citizens died, but since 9/11 more U.S. citizens have died as a result of the wars we've waged and hundreds of thousand of innocent civilians have died in the countries we've attacked. Meanwhile Al Qaeda and other terrorists struggle to match the death counts of the "great" U.S. "war" machine.

Also Ahmad, it is not just Islam that practices peace but rather most religions encourage peace. Yet somehow, though the words are clear, wars are still waged for the sake of religion.

Going beyond religious and racial lines, I believe the majority of people in the world are peaceful. There are a relative few who seek and gain power and then use that power to manipulate the masses towards violence. Whether it is by a perversion of Islam or a retardation of American patriotism, violent people can, have, and will use violent means to accomplish their goals. It's our job to stand up and let them know that we see past their veil and will not let them terrify us.

Re: War on Terror Ends!

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 12 May 2008 12:26:39 -0000

Yes Matt, ignorant and complacent people are easy to manipulate but I feel there is a paradigm shift occurring where more Americans are waking up and wondering what the hell happened to their country. These people will not get their news from the TV or newspapers but rather from the internet.

This country is clearly in desperate need of a revolution. The average American is starting to wake up and shut off their big screen TV, the Ron Paul movement for instance is a small first step. It's not going to be easy or quick but our society will change, it has to.

The Pentagon propaganda does not scare me either, it just means we must work harder to get the truth out into the mainstream. I saw your post about being the bitter angry guy, well when the economy heads south people start listening to the bitter angry person. Still, the road ahead is not paved and SUV's, big screens, and fast food will prove to be huge impediments to the truth but the corrupt elitists currently running the show will not continue to operate behind a curtain. When the average American finds out the truth behind the elitist agenda, they'll throw their shackles off as we've done in the past.

Re: War on Terror Ends!

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 12 May 2008 13:24:56 -0000

How and who are interrelated. People like you and I must go offline and speak the truth to people walking the streets. When I worked in a cubicle for a Fortune 500 corporation, I would regularly talk to my coworkers about Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich, Ralph Nader and why the mainstream candidates are bad choices and even worse anti-American. Many people will tell you that talking politics at work is not proper, but since when do Americans do the "proper" thing? Also, since many people agree that politics at work is not proper, I'm convinced it is in fact quite proper.

Sure, there were many times when I would be mocked as another loony, but at the same time my coworkers knew I was speaking some truth. Their excuses would range from this is how it's always been to what can we do about it, which is when I would give them a brief U.S. history lesson, specifically focusing on revolution and the constitutional properties that allow us to disassemble the federal government.

Many people are unaware that the constitution itself allows us, the people, to declare our federal government null and void and return power to the states. I'm an advocate of peaceful revolution and believe informing the majority by talking to them individually will allow us to disassemble the current (and massively corrupt) federal government and start fresh.

So the how is via individual communication and the who is us. The corrupt elite own the mass mainstream communication so we must use one one one communication to subvert their message.

It'll be tough because many Americans are stubborn and do not want to admit they were wrong or duped. I know because I voted for John Kerry in '04 (my first presidential election) and now see that I basically threw my vote away. I was duped into choosing the lesser of two evils but have learned and will not vote for the Republocrats/Demopublicans again.

Also, rather than going around telling people they're wrong and under the MSM's spell, inciting them to do their own research is our best course of action. Each individual will have their own tipping point but if we can communicate to them that their tipping point has been breached, perhaps they will do the research and join us in forming a new federal government free from the corruption of the elite and corporate powers.

Re: War on Terror Ends!

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 12 May 2008 15:38:55 -0000

Seems our main difference Matt is I'm a bit too optimistic and you're a bit too realistic...

We do need a TV station run by the public to broadcast the truth in an informative but shiny format, sort of like the Daily Show but independent of large corporate interests and independent of MSM story-lines. Of course, then debates would emerge about what the truth is, but that's a whole different issue, or is it?

Re: War on Terror Ends!

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 13 May 2008 14:50:10 -0000

Matt, perhaps our real problem is Americans simply are not tough anymore? We've become soft and refuse to revolt against injustice. In France, people riot against their government when they do not approve of new laws. As a result, the government in France is scared of the people, rather than the other way around. Perhaps if we switched off the boob tube and went into the streets and put the fear of the public into the federal-corporate-media-military complex they'd act in the best interests of the public.

Ahmad, the hidden problems, and the damage America's government has and is causing to the rest of the world are the main issues true Americans currently have with their government. The military and the government do not listen to the people anymore (Vice-President Dick Cheney recently said it does not matter what the American public thinks about the Iraq war) and act in their own best interests. In a true democracy, the government should act in the best interests of the people, which does not happen here. I don't want my tax money to go towards military bases across the world. I like peace.

At the same time, because we are spending so much money outside of the U.S., we cannot invest in our infrastructure nor health or education. The government and media are in very close collusion here, where the people with broadcasting rights very rarely speak out against the government. Though technically and legally, we can speak out against the government, as I'm doing here, the people (or rather businesses) with the big voices (radio, TV, newspapers) very rarely speak out against the travesties and lies the government is perpetrating. The end result is a situation similar to yours, where the president's office, his party and government control everything and no one says no loud enough.

Sure, it seems easier to improve the American situation rather than the Egyptian situation, but the basic issues in both cases seem to emanate from a power hungry elite controlling the country's resources and refusing to let the public have its say.

One more note, Ahmad, about what the American government does to its people. It is getting rid of our rights slowly but surely. Whereas in Egypt the newspapers and are beginning to write more freely, here they are writing less freely. My biggest fear from this post and these comments is having the men in black suits from the government knocking on my door for my questionable views. What the government is basically doing is trying to kill off true American patriotism. They want us to become robotic entities that are subservient to the government, which is the exact opposite of every American ideal.

"Now here we just need a leader to move all those people. To organize them onto one voice and one man."

I would argue we need the opposite, depending on one leader is risky for that one leader can and most likely will be assassinated. Further, I believe the current global issues mostly start from issues with domestic governments. If we took a poll around the world of all people, how many would approve of their government?

I bet you not as many as would disapprove. Why? Governments are after all run by people, for the benefit of the people. The answer is that power corrupts and government is the ultimate collector of power.

We do need to spread knowledge but we also must increase our surveillance of governments around the world. It is becoming increasingly clear that the current elite are performing poorly and must be replaced with a new government.

I acknowledge that my next idea will be seen as a radical one, but the best ideas usually are.

What we need is one global government, a new world order and we need to start and implement one before "they" [the current power-elite] beat us to it.

I propose that the current domestic governments of the world remain in place, however a new group is formed as an advisory committee to the world where every individual is represented. In this non-profit organization, all votes will be tabulated online and will be public information. Your identity could still be hidden but your vote must be released to the public domain so that accuracy can be ensured. Under this global governance group, each country will be represented and will have its own completely democratic voting system. For instance, the U.S. would have its own separate section where American citizens could vote on American issues.

Though this group would have no formal power, if all 6.6 billion people around the world had access to this group it would quickly grow in informal power and domestic governments around the world would be forced to recognize their people's voices.

Re: War on Terror Ends!

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 14 May 2008 07:36:52 -0000

Thanks for the welcome Hellbound.

Terrified people are much easier to manage too, as they either stay home or look to Big Daddy Government for help (at which point Daddy smacks them around a bit and scoops up any loose change that falls out the citizens pockets).

Corporations also want us to be terrified so we're distracted from the horrible acts many of them do for the pursuit of profit. The whole green movement is a great example of corporations scaring the shit out of us so we buy their eco-friendly stuff to save the planet (even though half the time their products are not so eco-friendly).

It's funny (in a dark comedy way) how the media portrays Americans as the big, bad, tough cowboy persona but the same media at the same time feeds us terrorism and other scary propaganda. So we're the big and tough American who is so out of shape they're forced to drive and so soft we accept everything the media tells us.

Politics and increasingly many other facets of American life are being overrun by lying in public, or has it always been this way?

Re: War on Terror Ends!

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:14:30 -0000

That's true Matt, but at least protesters aren't being shot at as they have in this nation's past. There will have to be sacrifices made to have an effective change. The neo-conservatives have made their own sacrifices and have planned and fought too hard and for too long to give up easily. What we're learning is that true freedom is not easy. I'm obviously against peaceful protesters getting arrested but it's to be expected, after all the protesters are there because the government is corrupt and if we don't protest and stand strong it will only get worse.

Re: War on Terror Ends!

Adam Pieniazek — Sun, 18 May 2008 12:09:01 -0000

Thanks Lars. That's a great point, even good things that help or protect us are talked about from a fearful perspective. Health care and education are too expensive (true) and even if we have health insurance cancer will kill us and even if we go to college the job market is almost always too weak for us to find proper jobs. No wonder there are no more big box office horror movie hits, as we've become way too adjusted to fear in our every day lives and just aren't scared so easily by an unrealistic movie anymore.

What's the solution? I'd be in favor of a national public news organization, preferably a non-profit that would be able to serve us unbiased factual news. The joke is, if one of the big news station started reported real news in an unbiased manner there ratings might just skyrocket. Americans are growing sick of the current fear-mongers and thus capitalism and competition should fuel a new news station but alas the old guard that owns all the media is quite satisfied with the status quo.

Re: War on Terror Ends!

Adam Pieniazek — Sun, 18 May 2008 13:58:55 -0000

There are people trying to destroy the US. The Demopublicans and Republocrats in the white house and congress are stomping on American liberties and rights! In fact, they're not just trying, they're doing a damn good job of destroying America from the inside-out.

Re: War on Terror Ends!

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 21 May 2008 15:43:11 -0000

Sorry for taking a few days to respond everyone.

@Douglas, I have no confidence in the integrity of our voting system. I saw a graphic online a while back that said: "This presidency brought to you by Diebold. You don't count because we don't count" and that about sums up my view of our voting system. In my opinion, we need an internet based voting system.

If I was president, I would institute a computer-broadband program ensuring every American has access to a broadband internet connection and a computer, whether they be in public places or a computer per household. Then, we would vote online and our votes would be posted on a public web-site (with our identities hidden behind randomly generated ID numbers). This way, the votes would be public information and easily verifiable. You could look up your ID # and make sure that your vote was counted correctly and media and watch groups could actually go through the data and count the votes and make sure everything was correct and honest.

@Ahmad, first up I edited your comment written on May 18th, 2008 at 4:13 pm so that it references the links in your other post, which were the same links. Hope you don't mind, I can put them back in but felt it was a bit redundant and this way it draws attention to your words more than the links.

I completely agree with you Ahmad that terrorists, unfortunately, exist. By terrorists I reference anyone who uses extreme violence to make a statement or for a purpose other than defending oneself. If it was up to me, wars would be like a sport, where each side gets 100 armed people and they fight to the death in a huge natural arena (or until one side surrenders). Diplomacy is great but is not effective enough yet.

There is a lot that the mainstream media in the U.S. chooses not to air Ahmad and pieces critical of Israel or the U.S. rarely, if ever, get shown on U.S. TV. Nearly every country in the world has people who murder other people. There are few, if any, countries who can stand up before the world and say they are completely peaceful and without violence. Hence why I feel the war on terror is stupid because your are basically fighting violence with violence. More people have died around the world as a result of wars whose stated purpose is to reduce violence than from terrorist attacks. Right now, there are some countries who get a free pass to act violently because they are powerful countries with a lot of international political power. Israel and the U.S. are two such countries. The media here almost never mentions the civilian death tolls as a result of the war on terror, which is appalling considering how high that death toll is and that it's the media's job to report truth and facts (hey Douglas, how about that I admit there are some facts!), not to pick what is convenient for them to report.

Also Ahmad, it is an important point to make that people who defend themselves from attackers are not terrorists but are merely trying to defend themselves.

Obama seems to be a good candidate, but that scares me. He seems too polished and speaks a lot of positive rhetoric. Honestly, I simply do not believe that he will follow through on a lot of what he says. I feel he is too ingrained in the corporate-media-industrial-political complex that controls America right now. His biggest flaw in my opinion is that he is part of the Democratic party. I simply do not trust the Republicans or Democrats (with a few exceptions) anymore, as they primarily look out for the elite and just do not care about the majority of Americans except when they are courting our votes. I also do not wish for out two party system to continue as it causes power to become centralized in the hands of the few

Though I'm not promoting them, I feel Ralph Nader and Ron Paul are honest men who wish to restore integrity to this nation and to help its citizens and help the world by setting a good example. They have proven that they cannot be bought and that they will fight for what they believe, even if it makes them unpopular or endangers their lives.

Also, Ralph Nader's parents are from the Middle East. Though I avoid using race/national original to make judgments of people, it is tough to argue that an Arabic speaking man raised by Lebanese and Egyptian immigrants seems to be a great fit to improve America's foreign policy. If I could, I'd love to have Ron Paul focus on domestic issues in America and Ralph Nader on foreign issues (including corporations, which are in essence now global citizens).

@Matt, Yes Matt education is a key to making not just the U.S. but the world as a whole a better place to live. Even more important than education is awareness and the ability to see past propaganda and think for oneself. Surely America's educational system cannot be looked to solely as a solution for the educational system here is broken too. College is too expensive and way, way, way too strict. I dropped out of college a few years ago because I simply was not learning anything. It was mostly memorizing facts and equations rather than truly expanding my mind.

I believe I've read that chain letter Matt but I've sent you an e-mail still. Looking forward to your reply.

Re: War on Terror Ends!

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 21 May 2008 18:05:00 -0000

For sure Matt, if America got its act together and educated the masses well, we'd be able to continue leading the world's economy. We must look past the surface of education though and see the corrupt system underneath. John Taylor Gatto, a former New York State Teacher of the Year, has written a book, titled "The Underground History of American Education, that takes a close look at the progression of education in this country and how we're moving away from education and towards propaganda and indoctrination. It's an incredibly fascinating read and really makes you think about how the stated purpose of education differs vastly from the end results of public education. Your professor seems to be a victim of the system, he simply does not care about students anymore (an assumption on my part?).

As Bush and company have standardized our education it's limited the creativity and innovation abilities of our youth. It started before Bush but really has gotten much, much worse now. I'm ashamed that the No Child Left Behind act was signed at the Boston Latin School, my high school.

Yes, many teachers don't care about their students. But what do we expect when we don't reward the good teachers (in fact often punishing them) and don't pay enough to attract the best and brightest to teach students. Nowadays, if you don't have the drive to educate yourself, you'll have a very, very tough time learning.

Teaching the masses (not just the youth, for many, many adults are just as if not more ignorant) about the Roman empire, and all empires is vital to making sure we survive as a prosperous country. There is no need for America to be leaps and bounds above everyone else, this need that our media and government portray that we must make sure American ideals are accepted the world over is rubbish. We must leave other countries alone, unless they need our help (actual help, not the "help" Bush and company like to pretend they dole out) and focus on improving ourselves. For we are far, far from perfect no matter how much the media and the public ignore this simple truth. We're extending ourselves too far and ignoring domestic issues until they become massive failures in the form of bridge and tunnel collapses, wide-open defenses (9/11), illiteracy rate, obesity etc. We've fallen off the pedestal hard, and as you say we have to teach people that we can't just sit by and watch this destructive pattern.

There are too many similarities between Rome and the modern U.S. and we've got to shock our educational system into realizing the dangerous path we're on. It's why I'm a rational anarchist. It's the most patriotic political designation I can think of for our current time.

Re: War on Terror Ends!

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 21 May 2008 22:32:19 -0000

Ahmad, I just found this cartoon via reddit.com. It sums up how the American cherry picks which forms of violence to condemn and which to ignore.

Re: War on Terror Ends!

Adam Pieniazek — Sun, 25 May 2008 18:53:04 -0000

@Douglas, There will be hackers in paper and electronic voting just the same. With an open, completely published election system the hackers could be discovered by the public, media, watch groups, or government. In a closed election system, like the one employed in the United States of America no-one can truly verify the results.

Prove to me that my vote in 04 or 06 was counted correctly...you can't. If the elections were done online and public, I could look up my number and see that the correct vote was captured. Verifiability is the first step to tumbling the current corrupt and belied system.

Just the same, a massive issue with the societal climate currently in this country is the lack of investigative or analytical though in the mainstream. I don't believe the average American's true voice is heard or shouted loud enough and as a result our mainstream is artificial, an attempt by the elite to talk down to us.

@barryb, you don't. The people in charge are trying to create Orwell's perpetual war and are using every threat, real or imagined, to push surveillance and dictatorship for the common good.

Thanks for the great comments Douglas, barryb and everyone.

Re: War on Terror Ends!

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 27 May 2008 14:06:20 -0000

True Douglas, neither of us can prove our elections are fair or fraudulent, but the sloppiness of past elections only serves to further deter some people from voting. My perspective is that a true democracy has all (or as close as possible to all) voters participating and when the elections are not completely transparent, voters will not trust the system and will simply not participate. Our sloppiest election in recent history occurs in a state where the eventual President's brother governs, but it's just a super-rare coincidence?

You're right that the lesser of two evils voting strategy has directly caused many of the issues we face today. I used that strategy in '04 and vowed to never again let such an argument hijack my vote. In this year's primaries I voted for Ron Paul to show for the record that I oppose the viewpoints of the other major candidates and support Ron's small government (to an extent). Though I was realistic and felt Ron wouldn't win my state's primary I still voted for him, because that is the only way to truly make your vote count. I really hate the argument that voting for someone not in the mainstream Demopublican/Republocrat party is throwing your vote away. Voting for someone you don't really believe in is throwing your vote away.

I'll have to argue though that there are conspiracies and that they are not even hidden that well. I use the word conspiracy in the literal sense, people in power plot against the majority of people to ensure they keep that power. A lot of the people in Congress conspire against the public everyday by sneaking pork into bills and trading away our liberties for security. Looking for conspiracies is a duty we the public must perform to safeguard the republic from tyrants. The media calls conspiracy theorists lunatics so that anyone questioning the mainstream view is disregarded, thus allowing the mainstream view to be hijacked by the elite and corrupted.

Terrorism exists because America sent its troops across the entire world and American capitalism put a McDonald's on every street corner. Even though huge groups of people in certain regions simply wanted to be left alone, we continued to insist that American corporations be allowed to infiltrate every part of the world. These huge groups of people were opposed to this American occupation of the world and fought back using dirty guerrilla warfare tactics. Once a few thousand Americans died on American soil, we over reacted and killed hundreds of thousands of other people because we couldn't root out the few who conspired to successfully attack us. In essence, if you don't believe conspiracies then the terrorists lured us into a trap and are now showing the whole world how brutal we truly are, hence why the world is skirting away from America and its corporate-military super-behemoth.

You can't fight people who use a tactic for they can easily change their tactic or hide it. The terrorist knew they could not win a war on American soil, so they drew us towards them, where our modern machinery would be neutralized by desert guerilla warfare. They've succeeded, as we're still trying to find and capture or kill these terrorists even though we've already killed way, way, way, way more people than the terrorists ever did.

If this is not a false war, then our executive, congress, and military clearly did not realize that our problem was not offensive but defensive. Before 9/11, during 9/11 and post 9/11 we could and can bomb the heck out of many countries, but we're pretty much no safer against terrorists hijacking airplanes and flying them into buildings. If we really wanted to "win" this "war on terror(ists?)", we'd bring home every U.S. soldier and put every military resource we have into securing our borders and airspace, not bombing deserts halfway across the world.

The warrant-less domestic surveillance program is not a constitutional right. If it's a constitutional right for the president to spy on us, then I say it's also our right to spy on our president. Let's see who has more skeletons in the closet, though Mr. Bush has a hell of a lot more closets than the average American. King George has already instituted his dictatorship. The best form of tyranny (for the tyrant) is the one hidden from view. Bush learned from his grandpa that you can't openly overthrow the government, so he's done so behind the scenes. Who has benefited from the last seven years of warfare? Oil companies and corporate militaries. Who worked for the oil companies and corporate military (Haliburton) before seizing the white house? King George and Prince Dick of course. The Democratic Congress was elected to end the war in Iraq and Afghanistan but they've all bowed down before the Republocrat-Demopublican tyrants for fear of disappearing.

Re: War on Terror Ends!

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 16:58:22 -0000

Thanks for the note Desires. It's not so much about living without or outside of fear as much as not living a life built around trying to insulate myself from fear. Of course, the best way to do so is to simply accept that a fear emotion exists and remain fearless by understanding it is simply our brain and nerve system interpreting our surroundings and not being able to confidently assess the safety of a situation. That's a long way of saying fear is a state of mind and a naturally occurring emotion. The natural type of fear (wow that's a big angry bear, this situation is uncertain, I must act quickly and creatively to survive) is OK as it is temporary and natural but staying terrified is something no one should accept.

Re: War on Terror Ends!

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 07:05:28 -0000

Douglas, I just realized I never responded back to your comment.

I like the compromise, as long as there is a way to verify election results, which we both seem to believe could be much improved.

I also agree with you about pork being one of the biggest, if not biggest, issues with our Federal government. When you look at the sum of money that our government spends it's amazing that we don't have more to show for it. I think a law requiring simple laws might be the answer here (yes, that is a bit of an oxymoron). Pork is so abundant in our government because each new bill is literally hundreds and hundreds of pages long, too long for the average citizen to be able to review. If laws were short and to the point, politicians would have less places to hide their projects.

I think we're both fiscally conservative Douglas and thus I can agree with you that the federal government should be much, much smaller. However, I'm socially liberal and think parts of our government could be expanded (healthcare, environmental protection, corporate watch groups) while overall the federal government still would shrink (if we're going to have a huge government, I'd rather it spend money domestically on social programs instead of abroad on military and aid to rich countries -- Israel and Egypt received the most aid from the U.S.). In either case, returning more power to the states would be preferable to the behemoth we have now in D.C.

Many of my rants don't make sense! ;)

The point I wanted to make with the dictator and oil parts is that Bush and Cheney benefit from an increase in the price of oil as they hold shares in oil companies and Halliburton. Before I go on another rant, let me just sum it up by saying that there is a clear conflict of interest for Bush & Cheney to be running this show and using private contractors to get oil and dole out Iraq oil contracts to big oil companies.

Re: Boston Bike News

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 14 May 2008 09:26:45 -0000

Yeah, I was a bit tough on you Casey! I know the T sucks from years of riding it and I certainly know that two miles can be quite the long walk/bike ride so I can emphasize with driving especially in the rain.

Bike lanes seem to work more to alert the driver than to give the biker more room so it works (from my personal driver and biker experiences). Usually when I'm biking I'll take up as much of the lane as I need but wider berths help in cause of potholes etc. Studies done on bike lanes show it can go either way but it seems they help.

Re: Boston Bike News

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 15 May 2008 17:40:34 -0000

Emphasis on the ideal conditions Casey! Seems those ideal condition days are few and far between around here!

Re: Boston Bike News

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 16 May 2008 11:50:10 -0000

Though I agree with you Heidi, and for sure feel that bike lanes serve to caution the driver, wouldn't you still fear hitting a biker even if there were bike lanes? It's not like bike lanes add more area to the roads, in fact they make the roads smaller for cars so there's a smaller margin for error. Personally, I feel the bike lanes are best for aggressive drivers who don't fear hitting a bicyclist. Those drivers then see the bike lanes and it hits a trigger for them to slow down unless they want their insurance rates to skyrocket. In other words, I don't think you're the kind of driver who honks at me to move over when I'm already practically grinding the curb. The bike lanes serve to show those drivers that there's plenty of road for all of us to share. Just my personal take on the matter. I also think some drivers might avoid roads with bike lanes, which would make those roads safer for everyone involved if true.

Re: Boston Bike News

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:10:59 -0000

It's not the only reason Casey, but for a certain segment of the driver population, yes, their insurance rates are the number one reason for driving cautiously. Of course, we could assume that no one wants to seriously injure or kill someone, but I bet there are some (immature?) drivers who could care less about other people.

I've been a passenger in vehicles where the driver seems to almost want to hit someone thinking it wouldn't be there fault. Almost a "that'll teach them a lesson to bike on the road" mentality. It's a minority, I hope, but the mentality does exist.

It's a helpful reminder and it does make the roads at least seem friendlier for bikers.

Re: Happy Birthday Mom!

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 23 May 2008 16:17:31 -0000

Gots to give the mom some love.

:)

Re: RSS Resync

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 23 May 2008 17:07:18 -0000

Great question. As far as I can tell there'd be virtually no difference on your end.

The feedburner advantage is on my side in terms of allowing people to subscribe to my feed via e-mail via feedburner, taking traffic off my servers and for tracking readership.

I'm subscribed to both versions of the feed, the feed direct from this site and the feedburner one, and the direct feed always properly connected to relative links and will continue to properly link to the absolute urls. My newsreader, NetNewsWire, actually seemed to interpret both correctly but internal links at feedburner.com would result in errors.

FYI, if anyone is wondering what the difference is, in the html code a relative url would like this:

/tag/bike/

and an absolute url:

http://www.adampieniazek.com/tag/bike/

The problem with the relative urls and feedburner (or any other site that syndicated my feed, facebook for instance) is that feedburner (or any other site) would interpret the relative url as coming from feedburner, hence you'd get an error page that

http://www.feedburner.com/tag/bike/

doesnt exist.

So now that I'm using the full address for internal links every source that pulls my RSS feed will link back here correctly.

Re: 900+ Free Entrecard Credits!

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:35:34 -0000

Oh, I didn't have a bad experience with Entrecard, up until recently when I was listed on fark.com, Entrecard was responsible for my highest traffic day so I certainly received a good benefit from the community. I may return to the community down the line but for now it's just time for a reorganization of this blog and the EC widget is simply the first to go.

Good luck to both of you in the contest and the EC community!

Re: 900+ Free Entrecard Credits!

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:41:31 -0000

It's not so much the bandwidth as the time Zoroaster7. Dropping cards and approving advertisements were distractions from focusing on making this site better and so instead of putting forth a half-effort towards the Entrecard community I'd rather suspend my Entrecarding while I rethink whether it is worth it or not.

Traveller, it's 930 EC credits because that's how many I have at the moment. When all is said and done it may move up to 1000 credits, especially since I'm accepting advertisements up until the end of this contest.

I'll second Khyle, good luck to all of you!

Re: 900+ Free Entrecard Credits!

Adam Pieniazek — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 02:30:51 -0000

Hmm...well I'm certainly intrigued Graham! I'll update you and everyone else about my Entrecard status after the big announcement. In either case the contest will continue on and is up to 960 credits now.

Re: 900+ Free Entrecard Credits!

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:59:53 -0000

The grand prize is now officially 1,000 Entrecard credits!

Re: Super Cyclist Troopers

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:09:06 -0000

Conflict lovah, yeah, that's a good one and I thought about for a few seconds but then my cocky side figured I could beat this guy in a race the best comeback would be getting smoked by a bicycle and never seeing him again so I just took off. Plus, I got jumped for my bike when I was a little kid by three dudes and saw that this dude was literally at his tipping point and the last thing I wanted was for him to blow his car into my cycle and damage it!

Thanks dot rat for the link. If anyone doesn't get the Super Troopers reference check out that video. Super funny.

Re: Super Cyclist Troopers

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:29:07 -0000

Thanks for the great comment Cars Suck. Your name leads me to think you'll very much enjoy a few of the articles that'll be coming up on this site over the next week or two. Allow me to suggest subscribing to my RSS feed so you don't miss them!

It's really sad that the drivers in stories like yours and mine act tough while they have several tons of steel protecting them. Perhaps everyone should be forced to ride a bicycle before being allowed to drive a car in this state?

I understand that bicyclists' actions can annoy some drivers but in the grand scheme I don't understand how drivers can react the way the PT cruiser guy did. There is just no excuse for acting that way.

Honestly, I've experienced more issues with drivers in the North End area, but when and where these types of incidents happen is a random distribution anyway. Aside from this one incident all my biking experiences in Dorchester have been positive.

It's my belief that licenses are simply too easy to obtain here in Massachusetts and as a result people believe they are entitled to drive a certain way and see bicyclists and pedestrians as mere obstacles in their race to get to their destination.

Though there was a racist remark in my incident, I don't think this is a racist issue as much as a driver competence issue. Getting a license and keeping it should be much, much tougher. It would reduce the amount of drivers on the road and help ensure that the drivers who are on the road are capable of maneuvering their vehicles.

Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you again. Props to you too for "urban" cycling. Aside from these rare but frustrating incidents it's been a blast so far and a heck of a lot more fun than sitting in a box on four wheels!

Re: Super Cyclist Troopers

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:34:56 -0000

Thanks! I'm in a contest ($3,000 worth of prizes) to see who can increase their subscriber count the most so I very much appreciate it! Hopefully you'll enjoy the upcoming articles.

One of the reasons I love Dorchester is the diversity of it, which means more than just different races but also different age groups, income levels, occupations, political outlooks and so on. Part of this is due to the huge geographic area Dot takes up but I also think it's ingrained in its identity.

You are right that your safety is #1. I tell my friends who are new to cycling that they have to protect themselves because if they don't then why should the drivers (aside from not wanting to kill or hurt someone)?

I read a blog post many months ago about a biker who was with a group of cyclists and one of the cyclists inadvertently pissed off a driver. The biker caught up to the motorist and apologized for his group and explained to the driver that no one was trying to make the driver angry. I thought it was a great idea and I try to mimic him as much as possible and stay as calm as possible.

We're all human and this city is known for flaring tempers but remaining calm is the best strategy. The breeding comment is funny, have you ever seen the movie Idiocracy? It's basically a "comedy" set in the future where all the smart people have died off and those less endowed in mental capacity have populated the whole world. It was a sad future so perhaps there should be some prerequisite for breeding.

I'm seeing A LOT more bicyclists on the road so your hope might be fulfilled. Rising gas prices, however, are only a temporary deterrent to driving. Deval Patrick introduced a energy bill promoting green energies today so we might just yet develop a clean and cheap car. Still, I think a bicycle is a better form of transportation and if it was promoted better we'd see less drivers wasting money sitting in traffic.

Re: Super Cyclist Troopers

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:09:03 -0000

Honestly Jessica, looking back perhaps I should have reported him to hopefully teach him to drive safer but after seeing that I'd have to disclose my name and address on the complaint form that he'd see I figured it wasn't worth the potentially disastrous situation of him seeking revenge on me, my home or worse yet my family. Though, I'm sure if I called the police they would have accepted an anonymous complaint but I really wonder how much action would have been taken...

Re: Super Cyclist Troopers

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:25:46 -0000

Well, if it does happen I hope someone around has a video-camera because that would certainly be an instant viral hit!

Seriously, anon, I hope you get on a nice road bicycle someday soon and realize how much fun you're missing out on!

Re: We Have an Entrecard Winner!

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:09:07 -0000

My entrecard will remain active for at least a few more days. This will allow me to build up some credits to give to the runner ups and will allow me to wait and see the big announcement Graham from Entrecard hinted at the other day.

If I still leave the community I'll simply remove the card and work on other ways to bring in traffic. We shall see!

Re: Declaration of Independence 2.0

Adam Pieniazek — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 21:10:41 -0000

Thanks lestro, you get the added benefit that the men in black suits will now avoid you and come after me! ;)

The great thing about this declaration Chris is that it doesn't dissolve my participation from the USA, it simply states that I do not approve of the executive branch and declare myself independent from their actions and decisions. In other words, we can still try to change the situation and make it better. First, the war on terror ended, and now this declaration marks a progression to a United States 2.0.

Nothing will repair the pain people feel from losing someone loved due to this war, trust me I know, however if we work to make our country and our earth better and work to prevent these wars from happening then it was not all in vain.

Re: Help Me Win $3,000 - Blogging Idol Contest

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 09:28:10 -0000

Thanks hamy!

Re: Help Me Win $3,000 - Blogging Idol Contest

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 01:24:48 -0000

Thanks David. You've got some good tips on your blog and I'll for sure be using a few of them over the coming days.

Re: 3rd Party Debate: Bob Barr vs. Ralph Nader vs. Ron Paul vs. Dennis Kucinich vs. Green Party's Candidate

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:50:01 -0000

Ron Paul is great though he too has some flaws, no one candidate is perfect. The great part about Mr. Paul is if he truly allows a return to state's rights would allow the local community to grow and America would become more unique and diverse.

I'd love to see a Paul-Kucinich ticket emerge to help build up good social programs (free public health care and free good education). I'm still not sure who I'll vote for, just that I won't vote for McCain or Obama.

Re: 3rd Party Debate: Bob Barr vs. Ralph Nader vs. Ron Paul vs. Dennis Kucinich vs. Green Party's Candidate

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 21:03:03 -0000

Good point Pat. I actually did consider adding Keyes and the other candidates wikipedia listed but a debate can quickly turn into a free for all that has too many debaters and not enough time spend focusing on issues.

Perhaps a tournament debate system can be created to pick out the 4-6 best 3rd party and independent candidates and then have a final debate among those 4-6 candidates?

Re: 3rd Party Debate: Bob Barr vs. Ralph Nader vs. Ron Paul vs. Dennis Kucinich vs. Green Party's Candidate

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 21:58:44 -0000

Yeah, I suppose you're right Jay. When you really look at it, all the candidates are somewhat of a joke. First off, one person simply will not have that much of an effect on the nation. Anyone even slightly versed in leadership theory knows that it takes a group to affect real change. Second, who do these people think they are being all high and mighty thinking they're better than us? Third, the congressional elections are way, way more important, the presidential elections are just glorified popularity contests nowadays.

Re: 3rd Party Debate: Bob Barr vs. Ralph Nader vs. Ron Paul vs. Dennis Kucinich vs. Green Party's Candidate

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:18:30 -0000

I agree Frye, the Nader-Baldwin debates were great and discussed issues not petty points. At this point though I'm fairly convinced the mainstream debates are the way they are to emulate two fighters taking jabs at each other without either one delivering the knockout punch. It helps both parties to ensure that both parties are above any third party.

Matt, I don't have a video of it but did live blog the debate over at Proletariat Power. Also, if you do a search at cspan.com for Nader the debate video is listed, but it's in real player format...

Re: Hulu Streaming Game 1 & Game 6 of the 2008 NBA Finals - Boston Celtics vs. LA Lakers

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:32:31 -0000

Yeah, even looking at it from an un-biased perspective that was some entertaining basketball! Always interesting when the Lakers and Celtics are playing for it all.

Good luck to your Jazz next year (though not too much luck)!

I'll let you know how the upgrade goes, I seem to always encounter some trouble so here's hoping it goes smoothly for once!

Re: Elect a Democrat? Five Reasons This Video Confirms Why I won't Vote Democrat (nor Republican)

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:15:31 -0000

I understand your logic colleen but must urge you, gently, to not vote for an evil! I voted for Kerry in '04 (my first presidential election as a voter) under the lesser of two evils argument and came away thoroughly disappointed in the process but especially my reasoning. This year, I'll be voting for who I think would best lead this country, not for who is less evil. It's idealistic, yes, but at least I won't be voting for an evil!

I now see voting for McCain or Obama as disregarding your individual say in our system and just letting the tyranny of the mainstream continue. The way to get rid of the evils in our system is not to vote for McCain or Obama but to vote for 3rd parties. If every McCain supporter voted for Bob Barr or Ron Paul and every Obama supporter voted for Ralph Nader we'd have debates surrounding the issues instead of politics and would send a true message that we won't continue to support corrupt politicians.

In good conscience I can't continue to support the mainstream politicians who repeatedly lead us on a roller-coaster ride to nowhere.

Re: 20 Mac Applications I Just Deleted

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:22:44 -0000

Hey to each his own Brad! I used Windows (including XP) for many years until finally breaking down and installing Ubuntu on my old main computer because Windows barely ran on it. I enjoyed the non-windows experience so much that when looking for laptops the Macbook Pro shot to the top of my list even though my previous Mac experiences were sluggish.

I was actually worried moving from Windows XP to Mac OS X that I wouldn't be able to find quality applications but the opposite is true, there's a ton of great programs out there for Mac OS X.

In either case, getting rid of applications every now and then is a good idea, especially if you have duplicates. Even though I got rid of 20, I still have 113 applications installed! Clearly I've got a few more apps to toss out.

Re: 20 Mac Applications I Just Deleted

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:24:54 -0000

I'm a big fan of Ubuntu too. If I went with a non-Apple laptop, it'd be running Ubuntu right now.

We've actually got all three major OS's in my household. My mom runs Ubuntu, I run Mac OS X and my step-brother loves video-games so he runs Windows XP (many a time I've thought of secretly installing Linux on his PC). Yup, there's two mid-20's geeky guys in the household yet my mom runs the most geek-elite operating system in the house! That's how easy and intuitive Ubuntu has become and it's easily the best value out of the three operating systems.

Re: 20 Mac Applications I Just Deleted

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:07:24 -0000

Haha colleen. Those mac applications just keep exponentially sprouting up!

Re: Entrecard turns on the faucet to pour comments into your blog

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:12:30 -0000

I was just about ready to leave too so the timing is really good for Entrecard, we shall see though. I'm not a fan of the CSS popups and I'm looking to find a way to disable them, if there is now way and comments don't really jump up then Sezwho and Entrecard will be gone, but we shall see!

Re: Entrecard turns on the faucet to pour comments into your blog

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:51:59 -0000

Truth Kat. This new system of earning credits by commenting well just helps good bloggers instead of encouraging people to scheme the drop system to rack up credits. I'm hoping that entrecard continues this shift and allocates more credits towards the comments side rather than the drops side but we'll see how this works out.

I'm not completely sold but it sounds good. I'll post an analysis at the end of this week.

Re: Entrecard turns on the faucet to pour comments into your blog

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 02:05:44 -0000

No, I was not impressed! In fact SezWho brought down my blog for nearly half a day and at that point it was time for the plugin to go (they had server issues, which prevented the plugin from working, which prevented my blog from showing up -- not good!). Plus, I don't think it adds much to the discussion here to have a rating system.

Re: Come and Get Your Commentluv!

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:42:13 -0000

Testing to make sure it doesn't pull my posts!

Re: Come and Get Your Commentluv!

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 01:20:31 -0000

We shall see Susan! At least out of all the widgets and gadgets that could be added this one plugin for sure helps out people who comment here and in my eyes that makes it completely worth it.

P.S. Nice wordpress theme site, I've been looking for a new theme to change things up around here and saw quite a few nice ones in your directory.

Re: Come and Get Your Commentluv!

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:08:17 -0000

Well at least this plugin is hosted entirely on my site so if someone else's server goes down this blog is not affected!

Also, I personally like seeing commentluv on the blogs I visit so hopefully visitors to this blog feel the same way.

And yeah, this plugin does seem to be a lot better for visitors than simply having their comments rated.

Re: Come and Get Your Commentluv!

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 02:04:01 -0000

Hmm, it is still activated Jonas, so I'm not sure why it didn't work. Perhaps it is an issue with your site being in German. In either case I just updated t the latest version of commentluv so maybe that will fix it?

Re: Come and Get Your Commentluv!

Adam Pieniazek — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:16:12 -0000

Thanks Mr Article!

James, it is one of the best plugins out there, IMHO. It's relatively simple but has a huge huge payoff for bloggers and their communities.

Re: How I Quit Smoking In Less Than One Minute And You Can Too! Part 1

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:17:02 -0000

Should have the second post up tomorrow so good timing. I've got a real simple but logical way to stop smoking so hopefully it does help.

The first few hours/days are the toughest so if she's past the first 2-3 days just keep telling her each day it's only going to get easier, and easier.

If she's just quitting, cold turkey is the way to go. Otherwise she's just transferring her addiction to something else instead of dealing with the issue.

Re: How I Quit Smoking In Less Than One Minute And You Can Too! Part 1

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:06:23 -0000

Yeah, it's always a good time to quit. Here's a quick tip, don't look at it as quitting but rather starting a new chapter in your life. Our society has a mentality that quitting is bad, that it's giving up. So don't quit smoking, start tomorrow as the first day of the rest of your non-smoking life!

Btw, Part 2 of my series is almost ready Duane and Justin and should be published within 1-2 hours. I had to take my bicycle into the shop today so I'm a little behind schedule!

Re: How I Quit Smoking In Less Than One Minute And You Can Too! Part 1

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 20:57:44 -0000

Your mom did you a huge, huge favor Mr. Article as it's really just a silly habit that drains your wallet and health with little to no benefit.

Your right Get Rid Of Man Boobs (haha, great name!). I never thought I'd be a smoker, even after I had my first cigarettes I thought it would only be a once in a while thing...and just like you said one day I woke up and realized I'd just dropped thousands of dolllars and years of my life for a very stupid habit.

Cold turkey actually seems a lot easier than trying to ween your way off by relying on other drugs, but to each his own! Also, not smoking is a great way to get rid of those man boobs as you begin to be more active and eat better too, which of course helps one's physique tremendously!

Re: 3 Cool Signs

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:55:16 -0000

Will do colleen, I'm planning on writing a review within the next 10 days or so after I have a full week of experience with flickr Pro. So far so good, it simply expands on the free version (unlimited photos, unlimited sets, etc). which is excellent. I'll let you know when the review is up.

Thanks for the blogroll add!

Re: 3 Cool Signs

Adam Pieniazek — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 11:33:14 -0000

Nice to see a fellow Wolfpack alum from Dot stop by here Emily! Love the Dot Rat tattoo you got!

The sign is near the Stop & Shop in the South Bay Center. If you turn onto Allstate Road from Mass Ave, there's a small, short, one-way street on the right side called Willow Court. Here's a google maps link to the street. The sign is on the right side of Willow Court just past the first 2-3 houses on that street.

Re: 3 Cool Signs

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 01:39:23 -0000

Oh no Cherie! Say it ain't so...that really sucks, I hope the thief wasn't inspired by this post...

Though now that I think about it I remember making an excursion to go photograph the sign before and found it missing only to reappear again, so hopefully the owners just take it down every now and then for cleaning or whatever.

Also, sounds like we live in the same neighborhood (since I take that same route to the market), so thanks for stopping by here neighbor!

Re: Cute Pussy Loves Rabbit

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:53:29 -0000

Truth Justin, truth. I almost went with a political rant but remembered it's Friday and no one wants to hear all that jibber-jabber while counting down the minutes till 5!

Re: Cute Pussy Loves Rabbit

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:28:40 -0000

It seems this bit of code in the css file would do the trick:

#primary .entry-content h3 {
font-size: 1.8em;
font-weight: normal;
margin-top: 25px;
}

Just add the color CSS inside there and it should work. Let me know how that works out...

Re: Cute Pussy Loves Rabbit

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:35:16 -0000

Hmm, well if it's any consolation I think the black to blue contrast makes the headlines within the post stick out (in a good way) so perhaps it was meant to be? Though, I'm sure there must be a way to change the color, I'll do some digging and let you know what I come up with.

Re: Bye Bye Sezwho

Adam Pieniazek — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 08:15:17 -0000

Good call Justin.

@Susan, True, I could insert the Sezwho code into my theme manually so that it loads last but, I just don't think it's worth it.

@Ethan, Glad I could be a guinea pig and help you out!

Re: Bye Bye Sezwho

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:10:37 -0000

True Sherri, the best way to implement such functionality is to write the code yourself, but not everyone can program or has the time to learn. Hence these plugins become popular even though some of them were basically thrown together by a rookie. Not that I'm saying this is the case with Sezwho or that rookies can't code, but rather the best method is to learn the programming language used on your site and then you're able to truly know what's going on with each new plugin.

I'm taking my own advice and slowly but surely learning.

Re: Bye Bye Sezwho

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 18:01:23 -0000

No worries about the server issue. Personally, no matter how the popup would look I'd prefer the Sezwho system without any popups at all. The popups and Who Am I links are what really caused me to remove SezWho from this blog, but I'm not 100% ruling out using it on other sites in the future.

Re: Spider Squirrel, Spider Squirrel, Does Whatever a Spider Squirrel Does

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:28:55 -0000

Thanks for browsing over and the nice compliments Darren! Honestly, I got a bit lucky with that second photo, that squirrel was shimmying quite quickly along that ledge.

Just checked out your post, nice photos and very catchy remix!

Re: New York Times Rejects McCain Op-Ed

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:15:58 -0000

Well, the media has been biased and unethical for a long time now, Cory. Expecting our mainstream media to remain ethical is, in my humble opinion, asking way too much. I'd just like to see them report on actual news and limit the commercialism but alas, it is what it is.

The real question, is where is the 3rd party coverage? That's the real bias here, these newspapers spoon feed us McCain - Obama drama but banish the other candidates and political parties from their pages. Then we they say, well the other candidates are not viable so we won't cover them. Well, if they received as much media attention as the mainstreamers they'd be just as viable!

Re: New York Times Rejects McCain Op-Ed

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:39:52 -0000

Yeah, do I want more of the same or more of the same but disguised as change? Hmmm, tough choice; good thing Diebold just picks the winner for us!

Re: New York Times Rejects McCain Op-Ed

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:03:44 -0000

A bit too extreme but your opening statement does have some truth to it Howad. The media hasn't been fair and unbiased for a while now. Fox News slants clearly to McCain and there's tons of Obama love on many news broadcasts. The point is neither side should use news channels as propaganda machines. News should be about news. All we're seeing now is the puppets of the rich battling so as to distract the proletariats from all the cash seeping out of our country behind the scenes.

Free, non-profit, open-source news is the wave of the future.

Re: Super Bush: A Real American Hero (Made in China)

Adam Pieniazek — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 18:20:23 -0000

Haha, never seen it before but now that you mention it, there is a bit of a resemblance Stefanie.

At least you think of cartoons when you see Bush, I image that eases some of the pain from this administration. When I see Bush all I think of is how much better off we'd be with an Inanimate Carbon Rod in the Oval Office.

Re: Super Bush: A Real American Hero (Made in China)

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 01:34:42 -0000

Yup, big fan especially those first 10-15 seasons. Homer Simpson is responsible for some of the best knowledge I've picked up in this world! I'm enough of a dork that I quoted him in my high school yearbook and don't regret it.

Re: Super Bush: A Real American Hero (Made in China)

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:35:36 -0000

Hehe...I'm cool with being a cool dork. In fact, my step-bro once told me I'm the dorkiest person he knows and I took it as one of the best compliments I've ever heard!

Hey, check this out, it's a random Homer Simpson quote generator. I'm gonna lose some productivity to that site!

"I'm hittin' the road. Maybe I'll drop you a line some day from wherever I wind up in this crazy old world."

Re: Super Bush: A Real American Hero (Made in China)

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 03:53:18 -0000

Purple is for sure a fruit.

Homer's internal dialogues are great too.

Homer: Aw, twenty dollars! I wanted a peanut!
Homer's Brain: Twenty dollars can buy many peanuts!
Homer: Explain how!
Homer's Brain: Money can be exchanged for goods and services!
Homer: Woo-hoo!

Re: Fire on Trull Street in Dorchester

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 18:42:48 -0000

Haven't seen anything about this fire on the news so I'll take that as a sign that everyone is OK.

When I was younger and still drove I used to do something similar though neither my '91 Mercury Cougar nor my '96 Nissan Maxima were "sports" cars.

Yeah biking at night is a unique experience all its own. It's very relaxing not having to deal with traffic and being able to just go at whatever pace you feel like. Just make sure you have lights on the front and back of your bike, here in Massachusetts the law requires a back light but both are good ideas.

Also, be careful peddling by bars towards closing time. Several drunk people have tried to steal my bike once they realized cabs weren't going to pick them up. They didn't succeed but do not underestimate what a drunk person with no way home will do!

Re: The Dark Knight

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 03:51:32 -0000

Easily the best Batman movie. I'll be seeing it again but in IMAX.

Re: No, I Am Banksy!

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:38:38 -0000

Hehe, here's hoping the Banksys end up better off than the Spartacuses...

Re: My iPhone Died

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:57:22 -0000

Hehe...don't worry about it "anon"...

Justin, the only trouble is I'm already out of the warranty. My hope is that they'll do me a solid and just fix or replace it with the same old model. If not, I'm ditching my AT&T; plan and going cellphone-less for a little while. Since I don't have a steady stream of income I probably shouldn't be giving AT&T; $70 a month anyway.

Re: My iPhone Died

Adam Pieniazek — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 16:50:41 -0000

Well, Apple gave me a brand new 8 GB iPhone. I actually was under warranty so it all worked out very smoothly. My old iPhone actually turned on but the Apple rep, Darrin, went ahead and switched me to a new iPhone to make sure I didn't keep having issues with it. I love getting shiny new Apple stuff so it was a great surprise!

Re: My iPhone Died

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:21:46 -0000

Well Casey, luckily economics gives us a good model to see if it was a waste of money. If your iPhone breaks during the extended warranty period, then clearly it was worth the money!

Personally, I tend to avoid extended warranties but would like the peace of mind they provide. My Macbook Pro was under just the standard Apple warranty and is still working fine but then my iPhone has been causing issues. It all really depends on the luck of the assembly line draw.

Re: This Blog Now...

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 03:48:52 -0000

Nice, let me know how it goes for you Jamaipanese! Japan is for sure on my list of places to visit.

Re: This Blog Now...

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 23:26:04 -0000

I hadn't seen it until you pointed it out to me so thanks Casey! That is quite a cool video. I've been thinking about mounting a cheap digital video camera to my handlebars and after seeing that video have extra motivation to do so. Craigslist here I come!

Re: Get Well Morgan Freeman

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 13:11:38 -0000

Stefanie, the email subscription should work now. Looks like I was missing a quote in the code, sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for pointing it out to me!

I usually don't feel too much emotion towards celebrities, but Morgan Freeman is the man (who else could play God that well?), seems he'll be OK but makes you wonder if there's a Batman curse...

Justin, Shawshank is the greatest movie ever.

Re: Friday Video: A Bicycle Commute in Photos

Adam Pieniazek — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 12:56:41 -0000

That actually sounds like a really good idea Justin. I'm sure that if you did it over a week's time you'd certainly capture some odd characters on the bus.

Re: Bicycle Lanes in Boston*

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 23:25:27 -0000

To be fair to that truck, he/she very well might have been turning right at those lights, thus making it OK to be in the bike lane. Still, if the truck was going straight it doesn't surprise me either that they'd end up in the bike lane.

I've seen the jogger who thinks she's a car before Stefanie! To be fair, she was going at a good clip but I still thought it was crazy to see her jogging in the street. Actually the first thought I had when I saw her was "awww, that's so cute she thinks she's vehicles" which then turned to fear that this 60+ year old women could probably outrun me which then led to sheer admiration of the woman's lunacy for running in the street.

Re: Ronald Jenkees Throwing Fire

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:51:54 -0000

Quite good in fact! It had me dancing around the house earlier today...hehe.

Re: Flight of the Charles River Ducks

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:45:28 -0000

Haha...guess so Stefanie. I wasn't cruel but I wasn't overtly good or nice either. ;)

To the little boy's credit, he didn't hit or hurt any of the ducks, at least not physically. Do ducks dream? If so, hopefully none of them wake up in the middle of the night fearing a little yellow plastic boat attacking them.

Re: Boston Bicycle Film Festival Tomorrow

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 12:48:31 -0000

Well, it does look like it was a great and fun event. Unfortunately I had something come at the last minute that prevented me from going but there's always next year.

Re: Boston Bicycle Film Festival Tomorrow

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:38:36 -0000

Thanks for the heads up Cat. I've already put the real Boston Bike Film Festival on my calendar for next year!

Speaking of Bikes not Bombs, I just reviewed them the other day at OTIBR. They're pretty much the ideal model of how a bike shop should be run.

Re: Pictures of My Clean Wheels & Twitter Crash Update

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:17:55 -0000

Thanks Matt. I feel biking around all the time has improved my balance a lot, because my former klutzy self would've fallen flat on my face for sure.

The bike is all steel, cro-mo 300 steel to be exact. Good question on the weight. It is relatively light but I wasn't sure exactly how much it weighed so I just went and balanced it on a scale and it read 22 pounds, though I'm sure that's not the best way to weigh it!

If any of my neighbors saw that, I'm not crazy!

Re: Bill Clinton Drinks Coors Light?

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:00:14 -0000

You're right Peter, it's very, very tough to say one way or the other. Though as you said, the brand doesn't really matter (nor does the type of beverage).

Re: Music for your Friday: Trilok Gurtu & Living Legends

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 15:07:43 -0000

No problem Jane, glad you enjoyed it!

Re: The Labor Day Firefighters

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 14:23:13 -0000

Haha...when I was waiting in line I thought about buying a donut, had a strange craving for one but ended up walking out of there with just a plain bagel and medium regular coffee.

Yeah, I bet your brother sees a lot of crazy stuff at his job, I don't think I could handle seeing all of that so props to your bro.

Re: The 42nd Estate is Live!

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 13:22:54 -0000

Thanks Justin, and good luck with any project you pursue!

Re: Wicked Cool Stop-motion Trip Through Boston

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 03:04:54 -0000

Yeah, that's a thousand photos a day. I bet his trigger finger was sore afterwards.

Re: Wicked Cool Stop-motion Trip Through Boston

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 10:34:34 -0000

Yup, that Robbie has got some skills!

Re: The New England Patriots will win Super Bowl XLIII

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 20:54:07 -0000

Honestly, I'll be rooting for the Patriots but if they don't make the playoffs it'll be OK (I think teams that win championships should get byes from their fans for a few years).

I actually didn't get a chance to see any of the week 1 games but I'll try to tune in for the Jet-Pats game, should be interesting either way. Plus I really enjoy rooting against Brett Favre (still hold a grudge from the Packers-Pats Super Bowl).

Hey, you can always root for the Cardinals too!

...haha....

Re: The New England Patriots will win Super Bowl XLIII

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:14:32 -0000

Justin, the Cardinals are leading the NFC West right now!

Matt, I can't be giving away trade secrets!

Also, I should note that I've been picking the Pats to win the Super Bowl every year since about 1990...

;)

I do really think they're going to do better than everyone expects, especially no that no one believes in them again, they love being the underdogs. Having said that, I should note I haven't watched a minute of NFL football so far so take my prediction for what it's worth.

Re: The New England Patriots will win Super Bowl XLIII

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:08:46 -0000

You mean that world where we won three Super Bowls...you mean that didn't happen in your world? Hmm...oddd...

;)

I'm not expecting Matt Cassel to set records or carry the Pats, rather I expect him to make mistakes, learn, and eventually end up managing the game well and making a few plays here and there. He won't be an MVP but he is a starter right now so seems our expectations were correct, eh?

Re: SHOCKER: Patriots Win without Tom Brady!

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:06:12 -0000

Right on track buddy! I did predict they would lose games this year, after all.

Again, I did not watch the game, though I checked the score every now and then on ESPN.com.

The Pats needed to get served some humble pie and the Dolphins were very willing to do so.

Expect them to come back and beat up on the 49ers after the bye week.

Re: Web Quotes and Counterpoints IX - The 42nd Estate Edition

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:06:33 -0000

No worries, it's easy to make a typo there...I've done it a few times myself, interestingly enough there's a few actual sites similar to the OTIBR acronym.

Yeah, the site really does look tight. We've gotten a lot of compliments on the look already. I get more and more pumped about OTIBR every day!

Re: Five Steps to Socialized Healthcare

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:30:43 -0000

Ben, take out corporations and insert banks. I have a tendency to rail against big corporations when not all of them are super evil, though I do follow the philosophy that corporate personhood is bad and when they're looked at as persons, corporations are psychopaths (for more see the documentary The Corporation). In either case, investing $700 billion to renewable energy instead of just handing it over to big banks is a much much better investment and one we have a greater chance of seeing a return on.

Thanks Joseph! I'm only 24 so I can't run but thanks anyway (vote Nader!). I am thinking about running for mayor of Boston however...

Alex...funny, it's not like that's what got us into this mess! Got to love McCain's superhuman ability to debate himself. Only in the U.S. of America.

Re: Five Steps to Socialized Healthcare

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:39:22 -0000

Sam, I agree healthcare should be free at the point of need AND having it be free would help everyone as scientists and doctors would have access to the entire population and perhaps find cures buried in someone's DNA or find immunities or learn sooner of outbreaks.

@Intelitary Milligence, We do own the government, every taxpayer on the planet owns their government. It is very important that we recognize that government is here because we allow it to be here, not the other way around.

@Rastlin, Health care is a right. Life, liberty and the pursuits of happiness are rights we all have by birth. Inherent within the life part is health care as that is what sustains life.

I am not a Democrat, I'm an independent born and lived. Political parties are imaginary groups devised to further separate us rather than unite us as people, nay even greater as animals living in one organic natural habitat.

Also Rastlin, I am a small business owner and as this is my first year in operation have not yet turned a profit and cannot really afford insurance on my own. Most full time jobs actually do not offer health care but offer insurance, which are two vastly different things.

Universal health care would save lives and taxes by working towards disease prevention rather than insurance's constant search for treatments not cures.

Re: Five Steps to Socialized Healthcare

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:16:30 -0000

@Anon, Touche, throwing money at the banks is not a good idea and will only lead to more bailouts down the road. Failure is not necessarily a bad thing, especially in a supposedly free market.

@Ben, My point is a bit semantic, but inherent within the right to life is the right to health care. Health care is after all the support of a healthy life. If someone gets shot, in order to get that right to life they need health care too! Without a right to health care we can't truly say we have a right to life.

Also, I don't like big corrupt corporations, which most of them tend to become. When a corporation approaches gigantic size it's tough to keep it efficient and focused on not doing evil.

We're living in a socialized-capitalist society right now and yet people have the incentive to invent and create! Not everyone is driven by money and a socialized health care system does not mean that the private sector has to vanish. We already have socialized institutions (medicare, social security bank bailouts), why not extend it to health care.

Yes Mike there is no perfect solution and socialized medicine does carry its own risks. Plus you're right, many hospitals will now treat you and worry about money later but such a system only encourages people to only go to a hospital when they absolutely need it. A family living on the brink of poverty will avoid regular appointments with their doctor for preventive care and will thus be worse off and create a bigger problem for society in general by allowing sicknesses to fester.

And Mike, in any system if you realize it's a system you can find ways around impediments. It's a very important skill and I'm glad to see you're not afraid to use it!

Commonsense, surely you can think of a quicker way to overthrow America! Plus, we could argue all day about whether we're already in China since they own such a large percentage of our federal debt.

In fact, I have my paranoid theories that our government is purposely performing poorly to incite us into a revolution so that the formal federal government is overthrown or collapses. After all, if there is no government then there is no debt to China!

Crazy, sure, but it makes sense, eh comrade?

;)

Re: Five Steps to Socialized Healthcare

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:03:49 -0000

Ben, I would never wish to eliminate private hospitals, only as you said have government run facilities (that are free and open to anyone). Right now there is no place of last resort for people who truly cannot afford to pay a dime. I don't believe that is right and in my interpretation of the right to life, the ability to sustain it should be included.

I agree with you that government tends to not be the most efficient agent of any particular industry, but they can be effective in helping those who cannot afford health care on their own. By no means am I saying transfer over the entire industry to the government, I simply want to see the option for free care for those who cannot afford it.

You were not disjointed by the way.

The no government = no debt to China seems reasonable because it is reasonable. Once you think about it the piss poor performance of our government makes a lot more sense.

Matt, you're right that the Federal Reserve is by no means Federal. It's a private run corporation looking out for the best interests of the banks. It's time we either take government control of the Federal Reserve or dismantle it.

Re: Five Steps to Socialized Healthcare

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:46:08 -0000

Agreed Matt. I'm all for laws and regulations to prevent shenanigans and corruption BUT our current laws and regulations act as enablers for financial firms to take great risks without having to deal with the consequences. Is the best strategy to simply start anew?

@Shawn, There are few people who do agree with the bailout. I say let them fail, if they are too big to fail they are too big to exist.

It does not state that health care is a right. My interpretation of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" is that the care of health is a basic part of life. If we are not healthy, we die. Thus, to have life, we must have health too. Plus, how can we pursue happiness if we are sick and too poor to get medical help?

Rights do not have to be in the constitution to be rights, I'm thinking beyond country borders and laws, as a human being health is a right. Most of us are born healthy and should have the right to live healthy, if we so desire.

Also, I must emphatically and vigorously oppose your statement that the Canadian and Great Britain systems are horrible. Let's take a look at the facts provide by the World Health Organization.

Canada

Life expectancy at birth m/f (years): 78/83
Healthy life expectancy at birth m/f (years, 2003): 70/74
Probability of dying under five (per 1 000 live births): 6
Probability of dying between 15 and 60 years m/f (per 1 000 population): 89/55
Total expenditure on health per capita (Intl $, 2005): 3,419
U.S.A.

Life expectancy at birth m/f (years): 75/80
Healthy life expectancy at birth m/f (years, 2003): 67/71
Probability of dying under five (per 1 000 live births): 8
Probability of dying between 15 and 60 years m/f (per 1 000 population): 137/80
Total expenditure on health per capita (Intl $, 2005): 6,350

In particular, note the costs! We pay twice as much for less of a chance of healthy life!

Sure, if you're Bill Gates the best doctors in the world are right here in the U.S.A., but for the rest of us the costs simply do not match up with the benefits.

Re: Five Steps to Socialized Healthcare

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 00:20:14 -0000

Kaose, let me be clear, this post is satire and it is not an actual plan or recommendation. Do not break the law, the banks and government hate competition.

Ben, the article you linked to only further supports my argument. First, one of the top countries for cancer treatment, France, has a health care system that "...is almost entirely free for people affected by chronic diseases (Affections de longues durées) such as cancers, AIDS or Cystic Fibrosis."

When we add cost into the equation, I'd rather get cancer as a French citizen than as a U.S. citizen! Of course, I'd prefer to simply not get cancer at all which leads me to my second point (more of an assumption).

I bet the U.S.A. has one of the highest amounts of cancer per capita for developed countries. Of course we'll get good at treating it if we have so much experience treating it!

Also, "In Japan, healthcare services are provided by national and local governments. Payment for personal medical services is offered through a universal health care insurance system that provides relative equality of access, with fees set by a government committee."

So two of the top three countries for cancer treatment have socialized health care!

Further, Ben, the article you linked to itself admits that "experts said many of the nations did not collect data as comprehensively as the UK, making comparisons misleading." and "They also said that since the time the figures were collected – from patients diagnosed in 1990-94 and followed up to 1999 – treatments had vastly improved and more recent data would reveal more favourable results for the UK."

Sorry, but you'll have to work on your google-fu buddy.

Plus, to top it all of the Iraqi people have socialized health care paid for by guess who...no go on guess...we'll all love this one, the United States of America! No joke, we introduced and paid for socialized health care abroad but refuse to do so here while we bailout out big banks!

@justatheory, I have no problem with private industry continuing to exist and providing the best of the best treatment for those who can afford it. Personally, I just want a guarantee that if tragedy strikes and I need intense and long lasting medical treatment that I'll get it and I won't be broke for life because of it. Also, note, my plan is satire.

@anon, I aim to please! ;)

Re: Five Steps to Socialized Healthcare

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:00:46 -0000

Yes, it is a great debate. Thanks to everyone for contributing!

True Shawn, statistics can be picked and analyzed to support a number of viewpoints, but my greater point is that the quality of health care in the USA is not so much better to make it worth the much, much higher cost. Also, I'm not saying we should outlaw private health like Canada did. There is room for a single payer plan to allow everyone access and a private system for those who can afford it.

The TED link does not work by the way.

As for the other site, and Ben you linked to the same site. Yes, as you said Shawn you can find stats and evidence to support either side, as we can in any argument.

Ben, doctors do not work for free in other socialized medical cares systems. In fact, they make pretty good money. Check out Physicians for a National Health Program, which is a non-profit group of "15,000 physicians, medical students and health professionals who support single-payer national health insurance."

A national system could also include government paying for medical school, thus increasing the amount of people who can become doctors and lowering the financial burden of choosing to become a doctor too.

Ben, a national health system will not destroy liberty, in fact it will help promote liberty be advancing us to a point where we all have access to medical care. Poor and middle class families would no longer have to worry constantly about whether they should or shouldn't go to the hospital when their sick, it would free them from that burden.

Plus, if you believe the purpose of our government is to protect liberty you must not have read the Patriot Act or the FISA bill. Those two bills have destroyed more liberty than a national health plan ever could.

Also Ben, the government already subsidizes our food and provides free food via food stamps. Honestly, it's not a question of whether socialism is good or bad because we already live in a semi-socialist state. The real question is why do the rich and poor get socialism while the middle class gets capitalism?

Rastlin, why should I pay for your gas, your food, your education, your sports stadiums, on and on and on? We all do realize that our government already spends money in nearly every facet of our lives? We bat a blind eye when trillions of dollars are spent on everything but health care, but the minute health care is brought into the equation is when we want to put a stop to it?

Re: Five Steps to Socialized Healthcare

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:08:14 -0000

Ben, thanks for making my argument for me, in a roundabout way. The U.S. system treats us after we're sick (because it's more profitable that way), while most other systems attempt to ensure people don't get sick in the first place (because it's more cost effective). It's a big reason, along with a host of other factors, why Americans are fatter and lazier than most other nations. People here need to realize they must take responsibility for their health and that they cannot simply throw money at doctors to fix a lifetime of abuse and neglect.

I don't see the government banning private care. The rich elite part of the population would simply never allow it to happen, and for good reason. I for one do not need nor want the absolute best, I just don't think I'm that important nor can I afford the best. However, if someone wants to spend tons of money to get the best, by all means let them. I just want a fair system where costs are reigned in while care is sufficient.

Sam, way to state everything I'm thinking and believing in a much more eloquent and succinct way than I ever could. The only thing I would add is that the U.S.A. pays roughly the same total tax as other developed nations, yet we get a lot less for it. If we took the bailout and war money we could have paid for a universal health care system for years to come.

It was such a good closing argument, Sam, that I'd like to end my comment with it:

"If I saw a person lying on the floor covered in blood I would not ask him/her how much he/she was going to pay me. I’d be mopping away the blood and trying to help as, I think, most people would. I believe that health care should be the same."

Re: Five Steps to Socialized Healthcare

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 15:50:54 -0000

Well Ben the big problem with my original post versus these comments is that the post was a satire of the bank bailouts. By no means was it intended to be taken seriously. Honestly, in terms of my ideal health system I'm not 100% sure what the ideal is. This debate is great for bringing out ideas and concerns on both sides and I'm thankful for it.

My health system would have a single payer system, where anyone can go to a hospital and get emergency treatment for free, at the point of delivery. If someone was shot or had a stroke or is suffering from any other life threatening or just serious issue, they should not have to worry about where the closest clinic is or how much it will cost. Similar to our current law, except we officially remove cost from the equation.

As for non-emergency treatments, anyone could go to any hospital and get regular treatment without paying a bill, again at the point of delivery. The hospitals would either bill the government or would be directly owned by the government. Private specialists could practice inside the hospitals but would have to also work part-time for the government program (and get paid the government wage for it). Note, the government wage would have to be high to encourage doctors to practice at the hospitals. It would most likely be lower than doctors receive today, but not necessarily by much.

Alternatively, specialists and physicians could create private clinics, however emergency treatment would need to be provided to the best of their ability to anyone needing it. At private clinics, regular treatment (say for colds, physical checkups, or prescription refills / re-evaultions, etc.) could be rejected. My hope is that there would be enough public hospitals scattered around the country that people in need of emergency treatment would immediately go there and avoid the clinics.

The line separating emergency and regular treatment is a bit blurry, I'll admit and is an area I would have to expand on before making this a law. Part of the reason for this is I'm simply not a medical professional and would want to discuss this topic with several professionals before making a final statement. For instance, what about drug users overdosing? Is the first time an emergency but the tenth time regular treatment? Do we take the person's desire to stay healthy into the equation, for instance smokers, drug users, and overweight people go to the back of the line? Or do we admit that in any system some people will try to abuse the system and strain the system more than others?

OK, back to the plan.

Immediately, on day one of entering the new plan we'd begin building government run hospitals AND government run schools in the major cities and population centers. Students could go to the government run school for free, granted they'd have to sign a contract to practice at a government run hospital for 2-3 years, and earn the government wage. Again, the government wage would not be minimum wage nor anything close to it. If you practice as a doctor at a government hospital you will still be well off. Honestly, I think many doctors would be OK with this wage, though of course nearly everyone would rather make tons of money.

I'll be the first to admit, my plan is not perfect. The big thing I want to see is cost removed at the point of delivery so that people are not discouraged from seeing a doctor. If we have physicals twice a year and everyone goes because they're free (and hopefully we build enough hospitals, and educate and hire enough doctors to keep waits short) we'll have a much better chance of catching serious diseases and of keeping people healthy (e.g. not smoking, eating right, exercising). More healthy people would reduce costs and improve our national security (by having more people able to defend this land if need be).

I think the big reason you are for a private run system, Ben, is a desire to see innovation and the best doctors be rewarded. And on that issue I'm in complete agreement with you. Even if we move to a single payer system we should install safeguards to ensure companies are encouraged to innovate and doctors strive to be the best. In my scenario, if a doctor thinks he/she is the best they can start their own clinics or practice inside a hospital and charge whatever rate they wish. Honestly, I think the scenario where a doctor practices inside a hospital but remains semi-private is really good, as it forces the doctor to see more than just a certain segment of the population and thus exposes him/her to more human samples while still allowing the doctor to make bank.

The other safeguard would need to be patents for prescription medicines and for new medical techniques. If a private lab finds the cure for cancer or AIDS, by all means they are allowed to sell the cure for a few years at whatever rate they wish. After a short time period (say 3-5 years) of the drug/technique being on the marketplace, however, it would become public domain and anyone could create it and sell it. Though at that point the drug would, if warranted, be available for free via the government run hospitals (and labs).

I'll admit, the absolute details of my plan need to be expanded upon, however my main overall point is that anyone who needs health care should have a way to acquire it at little to no cost. Having 46 million people without health insurance, who are too wealthy for medicare/medicaid but not wealthy enough to pay their own way is honestly sad for a nation that claims it is #1 in everything. It is a staggering amount of people and is a clear sign, to me, that our current system simply does not work. Though, as we've noted in this debate, what works is not an absolute term. Do we judge our health care system on how many cures it finds or on how many people it cures?

At the end of the day, all I know for sure is I simply do not feel right paying so much in taxes to fund wars, bail out banks, yet deny 46 million people adequate health care. It's just not right and we have to work to find a way to make sure everyone can be healthy. This debate is a great start, and brings the focus of health care to forefront rather than our countless other dilemmas.

Re: Five Steps to Socialized Healthcare

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:55:16 -0000

Normally I'm with you Ben that the smaller federal government the better BUT if we're going to be socialist, let's be socialist to the people who need it most. I'd love to see a tiny, tiny federal government with the states and local cities and towns being the most powerful government entities but right now that's a tough, tough scenario to institute.

A bit off topic but here in Massachusetts we'll be voting on 3 ballot questions pushed forward by citizens. They are 1) making dog racing illegal, 2) decriminalizing marijuana and 3) (you'll love this one), eliminating the state income tax.

Personally, I'm in favor of all three, with the pot and income tax questions making government much, much smaller by basically forcing them to be smaller. The dog racing thing is not super important but the other two are. We will not miss the tax revenue and it will force the government to be more efficient and we'll save enough money by not chasing after and jailing pot users to make up the difference anyway. So, I'm for less government too but in the case of health care, I trust an entity that is not out to make profit more than the insurance companies.

I went off topic there but yes, my plan is to mostly replace insurance companies with government. I like how you pinpointed that thread because even I did not see it. It's a nice summary. I'm a bit of an economics geek so I'm a big advocate of the free market, to an extent. In some areas, the free market is just not appropriate and personally, health insurance is such an area. If I could buy a health care plan sold by a non-profit organization, I would do so. As is today, I have no desire for health insurance. It's a big, big distinction and unfortunately our current system is absolutely dominated by insurance companies.

You spoke very well Ben, but yes the written word is a bit tough to manipulate sometimes, especially when it comes to topics we're passionate about but are so big that we cannot possibly be 100% absolutely correct always. There are problems with both systems, that much we agree on, but which one has less problems is simply something we cannot know without trying both. I'd love it if states were the absolute authority on this as then we'd be able to have both systems and see which works better.

Re: Five Steps to Socialized Healthcare

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:27:53 -0000

Thanks Chris, that's quite the compliment!

:-D

Re: Five Steps to Socialized Healthcare

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:24:41 -0000

So advanced that 40% of our population gets locked out of the system?

We do not have the free enterprise system in the USA Kim. Where is it? The bailout? Banning trade with countries we do not like? Our inflationary fiat currency? Social Security? Income taxes? All these items are anti-symptomatic of a free enterprise system. We're as communist as China is capitalist, it's all the same essential system just with a different flavor of icing on top.

Re: Ten Reasons I Am Voting for Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:15:30 -0000

Well, Paunchiness I live in Massachusetts where Obama will likely win by 20+ points, so fear not the so called "lesser evil" will still win my state. Also, there is no more solid way to vote against McSame than to vote 3rd party. If a 3rd party registers 10-15-20% of our nation's votes it will send a message, heck if a 3rd party was allowed to debate, a 3rd party might just win it, ala Jessie Ventura.

Besides, I've very very opposed to the vote against a candidate strategy. Al Gore and John Kerry lost their elections, not Ralph Nader. To say otherwise is like me saying that the Packers are the reason the Patriots lost the Super Bowl to the Giants! If the Packers had beaten the Giants, surely the Pats would have won!

We cannot blame the little guys for the big guys not being able to seal the deal. It is simply not fair and unjust, let's place the blame where it matters, squarely upon the shoulder of the Democratic party for allowing Bush to steal both elections.

If Obama wanted to win my independent vote, he would debate Ralph Nader and Bob Barr (like he said he would). In addition, he'd stop promoting nuclear power and promise a full withdrawal of troops from Iraq AND Afghanistan (he and McCain both support increasing troop levels in Afghanistan). Those would be good first steps, as is Barack Obama has lost my vote completely and utterly due to no one's fault but his own (and his campaign) and is so far off my ideals it's doubtful he could gain my vote in the next month.

Having said that, Obama will make a much better President than McCain could even dream of. Obama speaks well, and that's a vast, vast improvement over Bush and McSame. In fact, I'll even give you that Obama is a better politician, while Nader would be a much, much better government worker. Heck, Ralph Nader has passed more legislation as a private citizen than many career legislators!

Re: Ten Reasons I Am Voting for Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 08:31:08 -0000

If the last few days have shown us anything, it's that the Democrats might be even worse than the Republicans! Amazing because Bush and his pals really set the bar quite low the past couple of years but both Obama and McCain sprinted to the aid of Bush's bailout bill.

Here's to voting for a campaign rather than against one!

Re: Ten Reasons I Am Voting for Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 04:29:02 -0000

TauCan, those smaller corporations should benefit from less taxes under the Nader plan. In essence, we'd close loop holes and start taxing negative externalities, such as pollution, which smaller corporations produce less of. In general, Nader wants to avoid taxing income and instead tax negative actions. The smaller corporation would also benefit from abolishing corporate person hood which would level the playing field by reducing the non-economic powers held by large multi-national conglomerates.

Also, there's nothing stopping a corporation from exporting labor period. Tax breaks can only help so much when the difference in wage is so vast.

I like Barr, but I identify a lot more with Nader, especially on energy and health care. I will admit Nader is not as strong as a Ron Paul on the economy, though I believe Barr, Paul, Nader and McKinney are all for the abolition of corporate person hood.

Heck yeah Alli! It still amazes me that those four areas are the main issues for the majority of Americans, yet they continue to follow in the charade of the Republocrat Demopublican "race".

My ideal ticket would be Matt Gonzalez with Ron Paul as vice-president. I know everyone states that the two [Nader/Gonzalez & Paul] are on opposite ends of the political spectrum but that is why they'd make a great combo. We need opposing views in Washington, not the voice of one singular party.

Honestly, it seems the years are catching up to Ralph and I think it's time he steps out of the spotlight and pursues more of an advisor role. I love his ideas but lately his videos just seem like he's being weighed down heavily by the politics of the campaign and repeated mistakes of our current government.

Matt on the other hand is charismatic, energetic and wicked smart. Plus too many people blame Nader for a certain party losing for him make a realistic run. I'm voting for him and spread the word to my friends and family and even strangers to vote Nader or any other third party but realistically, the chances are slim, though I hold out hope.

I think if Nader dropped out and let Gonzalez take over it'd generate a lot of good buzz for the ticket and third parties in general. Plus, it'd expose more people to Matt Gonzalez and perhaps get a big boost amongst voters, who would once again see Nader putting himself aside for the good of the country.

Though, I'm not sure of the legal technicalities of such a move...

Re: Ten Reasons I Am Voting for Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:31:59 -0000

Right on Brett! At least Barack Obama is charismatic and can speak well, which is admittedly a huge, huge improvement but simply put it's not enough, compared to Bush he's amazing, but realistically he's an average politician who speaks well. McSame is well McSame.

Hopefully Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez can get together with the other 3rd party candidates and organize a debate before the election. I think it'd really help all the 3rd party candidates to participate in a debate and whoever organizes will exhibit the kind of uniting leadership we need.

Re: Ten Reasons I Am Voting for Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:56:19 -0000

Well, as a young citizen too Will, I can say I've seen a drop in our economic prowess over the last eight years or so.

Heck, when I was in high school I had a summer job where I earned $12 / hr which would work out to about $18 today...now I'm sure I could find a job somewhere today paying me $18 / hr but it'd be a lot tougher than it was eight years ago.

I think you make a great point that Ralph has given himself to the good of this country for nearly his whole life. Just look at the long, long list of laws that he's helped pass, imagine what he'd do if he was actually working for the government! Say what you want about Mr. Nader but he would surely deliver the most bang for our presidential buck and that argument is not up for debate.

"Democracy was once envisioned as a government for, by, and of the people."

Another great point, however I truly believe our system of governance must change in order to deliver this democracy. We need a system where citizens can challenge laws and politicians at anytime. Also, the electoral college needs to be abolished. Having a winner takes all system makes the minority opinion null and void, whereas any true democracy includes all opinions, not just the most popular one.

Re: Ten Reasons I Am Voting for Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:50:37 -0000

Well Will, in 2004 I lived in North Carolina and voted for Kerry and encouraged my friends and classmates to do the same based purely on not wanting to give Bush another four years. It was my first time voting in a presidential election and it honestly left me with a very sour taste. I thought Kerry was clearly better than Bush but knew he wasn't a great politician either (firsthand from having lived in Massachusetts for nearly my whole life).

If I live in North Carolina right now would I vote for Obama? It's tough to say for sure, but I don't think I would. I've moved past the mainstream parties and Obama has voted with Bush / the Republicans often enough that it's tough to say he's truly that much better. He's an average politician with great charisma, whereas Nader is an amazing citizen with little charisma. Honestly, the drastic and idealistic changes Ralph Nader and Ron Paul and other third party people want to make scare me almost as much as the government-corporate consolidation of the Demopublicans and Republocrats. I believe in a lot of Nader's platform stands but at the same time hope that if he were elected he'd have the common sense to ease into his positions instead of drastically changing our country overnight.

I've honestly had a very tough time this year picking a presidential candidate to vote for and Nader is by no means perfect. He has plenty of character flaws and I still wish there was an even better option. Having said all that, Nader's stances are most in line with mine and that is why I'm voting for him, because of his thoughts and stands on the issues. I don't think that living in a swing state would change that at this point, as I want to vote for my ideals, not empty tactics.

That's great Allison! I have no doubt that third parties would poll a lot higher if they were allowed to debate the mainstream candidates and no doubt that is one of the reasons they are not allowed in the debates.

Re: Saturday Shout-outs: WQAC X

Adam Pieniazek — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 21:16:25 -0000

You earned it Brad with that slick design!

Glad to see the cyclists in the paunchiness crew James!

Re: Use CommentLuv? Show Andy Ur Luv!

Adam Pieniazek — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:13:14 -0000

Sure is Susan!

Yeah Wystery, love the new AJAX slickness for CommentLuv...Andy just keeps making this plugin better and better!

Re: Weekend Web Quotes

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 22:10:35 -0000

Thanks, MLNMM will likely only have 1-2 posts per week but they'll be worth it!

Yes that picture is exactly why I love flickr, especially creative commons flickr pics. The look on the orange animal's face is fracking classic.

Re: Weekend Web Quotes

Adam Pieniazek — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 10:50:48 -0000

Peter, the auto companies already snuck through a $25 billion bailout for the big three. I'm with you in thinking the bailouts will continue. AIG has already blown through $61 billion of its bailout without selling a single distressed asset!

The blogosphere needs a bailout! We're too big to fail!

Re: Justin Wright Joins The 42nd Estate!

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:10:33 -0000

We are you are us!

Re: $2,200 in Contest Prizes at Bradblogging!!!

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:48:27 -0000

Hmm...I suppose it is a tad sketchy, though since that portion of the contest is based upon reviews it makes sense. Perhaps it should be open to a poll, though polls can just as easily be corrupted.

Still, I trust Brad to make a good decision. Plus,the rest of the contest winners are chosen via lottery.

Re: $2,200 in Contest Prizes at Bradblogging!!!

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 07:50:33 -0000

@Brad, Perhaps if there was a committee it would seem fairer? The more I think about it, the less I like the dictatorial process in play here!

Thanks indo!

Re: Nice Guys Don't Finish Last, We Make Sure Everyone Else Finished Safely!

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:21:20 -0000

Thanks Dereck..good to know!

This entire blog is somewhat self-promotion so in that sense none of it can really be shameless!

;)

Re: Posts from the Past

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:13:41 -0000

I'm with Ron Paul on what should have been done. He and I both agree that absolutely nothing should have been done and the banks allowed to fail. Sure the market would have dropped, people would have lost their jobs and so on but all of that happened anyway and now we've inflated the dollar to boot. If congress simply did nothing we'd be a lot better off now, perhaps the market might have still fallen but we'd still have our trillions of dollars instead of all that money being tied up in banks that will still likely fail.

We should do absolutely nothing and let the market fix itself. As is, I can see the Dow dropping below 5000 as the rate cuts, bailouts and federal reserve's continued practice of printing more and more money continues to bring us closer and closer to hyper inflation.

Bailouts beget bailouts.

Re: Posts from the Past

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 15:57:51 -0000

It's also a nice reminder to yourself what you wrote John. It's surprising how much our opinions can change over the months and years. It is nice to go back and have look see every now and then.

Hehe...don't stress yourself out too much over it Matthew! It seems like you're having a blast writing those conversations so if it becomes too onerous to have one with me by all means feel free to drop it...though if it helps perhaps you could have one with my alter-ego, Mr. Money? Or both...a bit of a schizophrenic talk.

Re: To Boston & the Red Sox, It's OK

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:25:15 -0000

Hehe...I don't blame you Justin. Usually I tune out baseball once the Sox are eliminated but this year I tuned it out before the season even began. Once that crazy fanaticism is gone it really is just a mostly boring sport to watch. There's still nothing quite like a Yankees-Red Sox game at Fenway Park but otherwise it's all just noise now.

I told you those Cardinals would do well this year! My Pats looked pretty good last night...perhaps we can get the Packers-Patriots rematch in the Super Bowl we should have had last year...

Re: To Boston & the Red Sox, It's OK

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:20:43 -0000

It's quite understandable John, football is simply much, much more interesting to watch than baseball. Plus baseball is immensely time consuming, does anyone really have time for 162 games + playoffs? I know we don't!

Re: Got a Business Card? Help Set a World Record!

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:05:19 -0000

Well Dereck, the cards don't need to necessarily be yours so if you get some from someone else they're just as good!

HAHA @ the stamp licking Suzanne, btw,they make self-adhesive stamps now. Thanks for helping out Sophia, she will be pumped! Thanks!

Re: Got a Business Card? Help Set a World Record!

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 18:53:57 -0000

I believe there is no world record currently Raj, though Sophie might already hold it with over 2,000 cards!

I'll have to ask here what her most impressive card is...she did mention that mine was one of the coolest she'd seen but I'm sure she says that to all the card senders!

;)

Sweet carla! Thanks!

Re: Got a Business Card? Help Set a World Record!

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:14:41 -0000

That is super-lame of Guinness to no longer look at collection records. Perhaps we'll have to get a petition going to send off to Guinness Sophie? I'd imagine that with so many cards you should be able to change their mind. In either case keep doing what you enjoy Sophie!

Hmm...good point Clem, that's certainly one great way of making yourself stick out from the crowd.

Re: Chuck Baldwin vs. Ralph Nader - Presidential Debate Tonight!

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:06:01 -0000

Well, not sure how your computer monitor is, but there's always the web stream via CSPAN.org.

It's how I'll be watching it on my 24 inch SoYo monitor...

Re: Chuck Baldwin vs. Ralph Nader - Presidential Debate Tonight!

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 19:28:32 -0000

Thanks for the info Travis.

We'll also be live blogging the event at the freshly launched Proletariat Power.

Re: Chuck Baldwin vs. Ralph Nader - Presidential Debate Tonight!

Adam Pieniazek — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 17:58:09 -0000

That's all we can really ask favorites. As long as someone puts some thought into their vote then their vote is valid. Those who vote based on race, gender, or some other shallow reason mock and harm our democracy.

Re: My 2008-09 Celtics Season tickets

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 18:54:51 -0000

Yes...yes it is April!

Though, what will I do when I'm 70?

Run for president?

Re: Opening Night for the World Champion Boston Celtics

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 15:40:41 -0000

Patience young April...post is coming soon, but might not be up until tomorrow...lots of headaches today dealing with the 42nd estate sites being down and up and down again all day due to my web host having severe issues...argh (also did not wake up until noon so I'm on a bit of a delay).

;)

Anyhoo, I did upload my photos from last night, so you can always check those out while you wait!

Re: The C's Raise Up Banner #17

Adam Pieniazek — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 01:39:04 -0000

Waiting makes the championship that much sweeter! The Celtics won back in '86 but I wasn't even three yet so I don't quite remember it, having waited this long to see the local teams do well it really makes you appreciate the good times, so don't despair every team is due (eventually).

Re: I Endorse Barack Obama (but I'm voting for Nader-Gonzalez)

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 06:40:27 -0000

"Then perhaps he should enter the next Miss Universe contest."

V I agree with you wholeheartedly, however, for all intensive purposes Obama is already running in what amounts to a beauty pageant. Most Americans do not want to look at the cold hard truth and take the time to research a candidate's platform and find the truth. Instead they choose to vote based on a hope, a fear, or who they'd rather have a beer with.

Personally, I spent a lot of time researching issues, solutions and attempting to find a truth beyond the marketing of any campaign. That truth led me to believe that the Nader-Gonzalez platform is clearly the best platform for this country. Unfortunately, many of our fellow citizens do not put the same thought into their vote and do view it as a simple popularity contest.

P.S. There was a fair amount of sarcasm in my post, but if I lived in Oklahoma I'd vote for Obama and start working to change the ballot access laws in that state. Obama at his core is an average politician who speaks well but after eight years of dumbass governance, many see mere competence as a virtue.

P.P.S. Just posted .

Re: I Endorse Barack Obama (but I'm voting for Nader-Gonzalez)

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 08:06:49 -0000

Nader is anything but a sham, he's compiled a huge record of helping to enact positive legislation and socially progressive non-profit organizations. He's done more for this country as a private citizen than most career politicians.

Many polls have actually shown that many Nader supporters are Republicans who have become disenchanted with McCain and Bush. Also, Nader actually has a pretty good chance of gaining 5% of the vote this time around, polls put him at 3-4% and with a big enough push he could surpass the 5% mark, but that only gives him access to federal funding. Access to the debates requires polling at 15% and is an arbitrary figure set by a private corporation owned by the Republicans and Democrats. If Nader were to poll at 15%, they'd likely up the requirement to 20%.

I am not an Obama supporter. We're far apart on too many issues, my post is a simple statement that if only looking at the two mainstream candidates, then Obama is slightly better because he won't be catastrophically bad for the country.

If you're truly worried about the state of American politics, and especially our economy, voting third party is the best way to begin fixing our problems. The Democrats and Republicans propose band-aids when casts and possibly surgery is needed.

Re: I Endorse Barack Obama (but I'm voting for Nader-Gonzalez)

Adam Pieniazek — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:53:39 -0000

April...Al Gore lost the election for Ralph Nader! If all Al Gore voters simply voted for Nader we'd be sitting pretty right now.

;)

In other words, you can't blame Bush on Nader. It's just not a solid argument. The Democrats have had eight years to fight back and impeach Bush but instead they support him. The Democrats and Al Gore are directly responsible and actively supportive of George W. Bush.

To blame Nader for Gore's loss is like blaming the Green Bay Packers for the Pats losing the Super Bowl to the Giants! It passes the buck from the true loser to someone who wasn't even there!

Re: I Endorse Barack Obama (but I'm voting for Nader-Gonzalez)

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 12:44:26 -0000

April, over 200,000 registered Democrats in Florida voted for Bush. Meanwhile Nader got less than 100,000 votes in Florida. If you want to blame anyone for the Bush presidency clearly, you should start with the Democrats (hence if you're not voting for Nader because he caused Bush, you should not vote for Obama either because his party is even more responsible for Bush).

Also, multiple other third parties received more than 600 votes in Florida (the margin of victory for Bush over Gore) so why not blame them? Gore himself blames himself and rightfully so. He ran a shitty campaign and thus lost, Gore is a loser, stop blaming one of the greatest American citizens of our time because one corporate candidate did not beat out another.

The poor planning of third parties (which I agree with you on 100% -- actually thinking about applying to be a campaign manager for a certain third party --) is the reason the third parties lose, not the reason the major parties lose.

You can't blame someone for someone else losing. It's not fair to anyone. Nader lost, Gore lost, Bush stole an election. Those are the simple facts. Blaming Nader is easy but wrong.

Re: I Endorse Barack Obama (but I'm voting for Nader-Gonzalez)

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:16:37 -0000

So, you blame Democrats but you're voting for a Democrat?

Blame me too when I run for Mayor of Boston please!

;)

I truly believe Nader is one of the greatest citizens we've ever seen. Key emphasis here is on citizen, he's enacted more positive legislation than many career politicians.

<abbr>Adam Pieniazeks last blog post..Bob Barr: An Old-School Republican in Libertarian Clothing</abbr>

Re: I Endorse Barack Obama (but I'm voting for Nader-Gonzalez)

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:18:32 -0000

But yes April, I agree with you that this third party movement starts local and Nader and the other third party candidates do have local movements going, and starting tomorrow they're switching their focus back to the local movements. You must admit running for president is a good way to also bring focus on the local movements and expose the whole country to the issues so that they'll be more willing to vote for a third party on the local level.

<abbr>Adam Pieniazeks last blog post..Ralph Nader: Uber Citizen, OK President</abbr>

Re: I Endorse Barack Obama (but I'm voting for Nader-Gonzalez)

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:35:50 -0000

Well, Obama won, now let's see how he does. To me there was little difference in the political stances of Obama and McCain (they both veered more to the middle than left or right) but in terms of personality, charisma, and what the two would project as a leader there is a huge, huge difference and it's apparent that the world approves of our choice and that he's energized many people who never cared about politics before. On pure leadership potential, we clearly made the correct choice.

As for Mayor, not sure April, maybe this election cycle...if I run I'm running on a platform of taking power away from the Mayor. I'd appoint (after meeting with each community) mini-mayors for each section of the city and basically delegate to them and allow for more citizen and community power. If Kerry takes a place in Obama's cabinet and Lynch takes over as senator I might just run for Lynch's spot though.

In either case, I'd pay myself a minimum wage salary and only work 3-4 days out of the week as an example that we can all work less but work better.

:-)

But, I've got about a million things I want to do so it's not likely that I'll run. Would be a great experience though.

Re: My Instant Runoff Voting Ballot

Adam Pieniazek — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 12:54:21 -0000

As would a majority of citizens (I believe), hence why it would be immensely difficult to get passed. The Democrats and Republicans would for sure be opposed, even though IRV still leads to a two party system but with strong third parties.

P.S. If you do want to see this idea, vote Nader-Gonzalez. Obama has already won Massachusetts so no worries on helping McBush and Nader-Gonzalez are actively pushing IRV ballots and already helped implement them in San Francisco.

Re: My Instant Runoff Voting Ballot

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 05:17:03 -0000

Susan, certainly it's a more democratic way of electing government officials as we can show our preferences instead of being forced into a "lesser of two evils" dilemma.

Obama is certainly an upgrade over Bush and McCain, but whether he'll be a good president is a whole different issue. Hopefully he proves to be a true progressive and accomplishes a lot of positive change (we sure do need it).

Re: Congratulations President-Elect Barack Obama

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:56:45 -0000

Right on Justin. Today is a good day for America and much more importantly, the world.

No matter your politics, the fact is we would not have people celebrating in Kenya, in Indonesia, in France, in Poland, in Japan, in Russia, all across the world people are happy that we chose a man who speaks well and at least on the surface wants to do good.

The one thing I'm cautious about here is that we might be seeing a shift to a global government under Obama. He certainly has the international credibility to unite the planet under one government, and Ron Paul is predicting the financial crisis will be used to create a global currency (which for all intensive purposes would be a global government, money is powerful). For one I think some sort of attempt at global government is almost inevitable, the bigger question is will it be good or bad.

For now I'm happy, optimistic but also cautious and vigilant. In either case, I'm in huge agreement with Obama on one point, the course of the future is up to each and everyone of us!

Re: Congratulations President-Elect Barack Obama

Adam Pieniazek — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 15:11:15 -0000

I hear ya John!

It's nice to get a president elected without any controversy for once!

Truthfully, I realize that any leader is not an answer but merely a guide. Leadership theory teaches us that most successful leaders simply get too much credit (hence why many times successful coaches, bosses, and other leaders will deflect credit to their supporters and followers).

It's why it was quite ironic for the McCain-Palin team to criticize Obama for being a community organizer because in reality any successful leader is really just an organizer, setting everything up so that the rest of the team/company/country can succeed.

Re: Obama Zombies Stumble Around Searching for Change

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:58:44 -0000

The simplest things are usually the most brilliant!

Re: Top Five Schools I've Attended

Adam Pieniazek — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:01:26 -0000

They did Andrew. Wikipedia says it too so it must be true!

To any non-BLS people reading this comment, Harvard was founded one year after BLS, so the school takes pride in claiming that Harvard was built so Latin graduates had a place to keep learning at.

;)

My big peeve about places like Harvard is that many people gain entrance there based on their wealth or celebrity status, or based on legacy. Even if I attended Harvard I'd rank BLS #1, mostly based on the student population at Latin being more representative of the total population.

I'd like to see a true Latin college, free for City of Boston residents, taught part-time by Latin teachers (perhaps one year at Latin School, one year at Latin College), 1-2 years of mandatory Latin courses (with exemption for anyone who already took Latin) and of course, the purple and white color scheme.

<abbr>Adam Pieniazeks last blog post..Barack Obama: Marketing Hope to the Masses</abbr>