KalinBooks.com - Science Fiction, Anarchism and Atheism

My liquor cabinet. I already drank all my Irish Cream, frangelico and Kahlua

This is my favorite drink recipe that I concocted. I haven’t had one in a while because I’m trying to save money.

1 part Irish Cream

1 part Frangelico

1 part Kahlua

1 part Soy Milk (or regular milk for those anti-soy folks)

optional: 1 part hennessy (if you like it a bit stronger)

Combine over large ice cubes. I prefer soy milk over regular milk because it’s easier on the stomach and doesn’t distract from the other flavors, but most normal people will probably prefer regular milk or–if you’re hard core–cream.

The four ingredients can be mixed in any combination; they don’t need to be even or you can leave out either the Frangelico or Kahlua and it will still be delicious.

I tried this once with a little bit of Peach Schnapps. That turned out well, however, I also tried a bit of Aftershock in this drink and that did NOT turn out well.

About a week ago I overheard someone talking about a professor who had spent a whole class period lecturing about video game addiction. He seemed to think it was all a joke, like it’s not a real concern, which is an attitude I find interesting. I wanted to tell him about the episode of Intervention where a guy gave up his family and most of his friends for some video games, or the cases I’ve read about where people have died because they forgot to eat or drink while playing video games.

Certainly you can’t say video games are on the same level as something like crank, but if you compare them with marijuana, you’ll see video games kill more people (though admittedly the numbers are still quite low) and suck away more physical time away from individuals. I can’t help but wonder if many people feel that video game and television addiction is not a real problem because it’s not illegal. Cops aren’t willing to point guns at people and destroy their lives over video games, so therefore they can’t be a real problem.

The day after hearing the guy talking about his class, I saw that Hulu had the first five comlete seasons of Lost. I’d tried watching it once and found the first episode to be simple violence porn that somehow didn’t hit me as anything interesting. This time I gave it another chance and have found myself completely addicted to Lost. I’m not sure if I’m subconsciously trying to prove the guy wrong or what.

I’ve been addicted to other television shows in the past, when I’d get them from Netflix or download the torrents. I’ve been addicted to shows like Farscape, The Sopranos, Firefly, 24, Star Trek Enterprise, Arrested Development and probably a few others that I can’t think of, but Lost has just a little stronger pull. I’m already on the third season and it’s this endless string of underground lairs, secret experiments, mysterious fires, lies and deceit, capturing, torturing and mysteries that go on and on and on in an endless tease of questions. I watch one episode after another, and even now am trying to divide my attention between this entry and yet another episode. It’s sucking my life away and my only consolation is that it will end at the sixth season… but there will always be another amazingly entertaining show to get sucked into.

So I’ve been thinking about why television is a bad influence this last week and have read a few arguments on the web. Fortunately a few have pointed out the importance of avoiding over-simplification and claiming that all television or video games are bad, but what I didn’t hear much of was the issue of the sheer volume of time that these activities steal away from people.

So by embedding this in my post am I considered an enabler now? Damn you Hulu for sucking my life away!

I heard on the radio the other day about a group of 40 people who were suing the city, saying that they received unfair tickets given out by the automatic photograph system at red lights. It costs $100 for running a red light, and they felt that it should be closer to $20. The judge, however, felt $100 was not an unfair ticket price.

My first instinct was to side with the judge and if not for my anarchist ideals, I wouldn’t have thought twice about this. People really shouldn’t be running red lights, and $20, which for me represents barely more than half an hour’s work, or even $100 seems like an insignificant sum in exchange for putting people’s lives in danger for someone’s impatience.

My anarchist side, however, sees a couple problems. First is that half of these people, if not more, are not running red lights on purpose. Like most people, they had no intention of doing anything wrong, and would not choose to do it again, with or without the ticket. Accidents happen and people make mistakes. The judge knew this. We all know this. If this weren’t true, we could just raise the price of a ticket to a thousand dollars, maybe throw in a merciless beating from a police officer and we could put an end to people running red lights once and for all. Ultimately, tickets are not intended to promote public safety. They are intended to make a profit.

The other issue is the differences in wages and salaries. The judge is probably paid a good $140,000 a year to pass judgment over the lives of others and act like he knows the difference between right and wrong better than everyone else. $100 is completely fair to him. It’s less than a slap on the wrist. But he forgets—or refuses to admit—that many people do not make $140,000 a year. Just six years ago I would work a full shift, finding myself sticky with sweat, and have barely fifty bucks to show for it. Some people work for that kind of pay and have kids to feed. A $100 loss can cause very real problems for those people. The average judge simply can’t understand that, and sometimes I can’t understand it either, after just a few years of making good wages. Working for a living seems like a whole different world, so I can understand how judges and lawyers can so easily lose all compassion for the difficulties that normal people face. This is just one of many reasons I believe the core concepts of criminal justice and tickets are inherently unfair.

Just for fun I’ve decided to post some of the recipes I’ve invented over the years. I’ll start with my hot dog topping recipe.

This is a dry salsa that’s decent on tortilla chips or other mexican food, but works best as a hot dog or hamburger topping.

1 part finely diced onion

1 part finely diced green pepper

1 part finely chopped cilantro

finely diced jalapeno to taste

Chop everything up and store in the refrigerator for a couple hours–preferably 24 hours–before serving to allow flavors to blend. It’s important to note that an even part of cilantro is a TON of cilantro. The last time I did this I used one onion, one green pepper and almost an entire bundle of cilantro, though you want to remove most of the stems. Exact measurements are certainly not required.

Add a tiny squirt of ketchup and mustard and just a little cream-cheese and pile on this topping and you’ve turned those nasty hot dogs into something decent.

I just posted another one of my true stories that happened back around 1998 when I was drinking a lot of Robitussin to get high. A Wes Craven Romance, about seeing Scream 2 while ridiculously high on Robitussin and pot. Robitussin was one of my favorite drugs, though only when mixed with weed. I’d tried mushrooms numerous times and done acid a few times as well, but there was something magical and enlightening about a good, strong Robitussin high. For about a year I would drink a bottle almost once a week on my day off, or I would alternate, taking mushrooms one saturday and then Robitussin the next week. It helped me to see numerous revelations about life and love and peace and helped me to find myself as a person. The thoughts that ran through my mind, at the time, were some of the deepest and most complex I had ever experienced, though mixed with the occasional ludicrous delusion.

But every time I drank a bottle, it became more and more disgusting. I read somewhere that Robitussin, mushrooms and acid are all self-limiting, as in they are the opposite of addictive. The more you take them, the less you desire to do them again. I’m not sure about others, but that was certainly the case with me. Now I haven’t gotten a Robitussin high in almost ten years, and the same is true for acid. I still do mushrooms every couple years, but I have to talk myself into it every time, even though I almost always have a good trip and usually feel re-invigorated and motivated for days after.

I should give a disclaimer, however. I’m not trying to imply that Robitussin and other highs are all fun and games. I’ve seen people projectile vomit from Robitussin, temporarily lose their ability to communicate, and one friend who even convinced himself he was dead. It definately hinders your ability to operate machinery. If you do Robitussin to get high, be sure to do your research first. There are websites where people describe their trips and the dangers. Like most drugs, don’t go to the mall. Get out into nature instead, though be certain you are safe. No rock climbing for example  Make sure you have a non-buzz-kill sober guy for your first time and remember to listen to him. Also heed the warnings about mixing with maoi inhibitors, don’t buy the cough-medicine that has ingredients other than dextromethorphan-hydrobromide (dxm) and never forget that you’re high and not thinking clearly.

Now, for your viewing enjoyment, some random people tripping on Robo… ah this brings back happy memories.

Robitussin Road trip.

Me during a Robitussin high

These images are of me and another buddy, over ten years ago, chugging our 4 oz bottles of Robitussin to get high during a long road trip. Don’t worry; the driver is totally sober. I posted this on my old website and blurred out my friend’s face because I figured he wouldn’t want it on the internet, and he got kind of mad at me for thinking he would be ashamed of it.






“If you don’t believe drugs have done good things for us, do me a favor. Go home tonight; take all your albums, all your tapes and all your CDs and burn ‘em. Cuz you know what? The musicians who made all that great music that’s enhanced your lives throughout the years: Real fucking high on drugs.” – Bill Hicks

Some time ago I received an email sent to the development team in my office linking to a highly disturbing YouTube video created by Google. This is it below:

“Less than 8% of people who were interviewed today knew what a browser was.” This is in Times Square, and most of the people in the video seemed to be internet users.

This is equivalent to 92% of the people driving down the freeway not knowing what a car is.

Many of these people have kids on the internet, or are banking on the internet or are voting on technology related issues. Our computer systems are being designed around the 92% of the population who are wandering blindly. Imagine how efficiently things could run if users were expected to have the same basic education we expect from automobile drivers.

Imagine being a 16 year old going on your first drive with your dad and he sits down in the passenger seat and says “Okay, now put your windshield wiper in the gas tank and your foot on the motor oil,” and have him expect you to understand what he means.

If you know the difference between a web browser and search engine and the difference between a CPU, a hard drive and a computer, do me a favor. Next time someone asks you what kind of car you drive, tell them AM/PM or Chevron and make them explain the difference between a gas station and a car. Maybe then they will understand our pain.

For those who have no idea what I’m talking about here’s a basic explanation of the difference between a search engine and web browser.

Well, I actually went corporate years ago, but now I’m moving up again in the corporate world. I got hired on full-time at the agency where I’ve been working the last six months. Before this I was making more money than I felt I deserved, and now I’m making even more, plus a whole complex package of benefits.

I also get to do something I love, which is sitting in front of a computer coding fancy little user interfaces and dynamic animations for websites and banner ads.

I used to tell myself that I would never work for a major corporation, and it might seem odd that a devoted anarchist would have his own phone extension and company business card. As much as I complain about how society works I’ve found that making the best of it can build a pretty comfortable life.

I’ve realized in the last half-decade that anarchism isn’t about fighting back against the way the world works. Sometimes you need to deal with it and make the best of it. I don’t believe I’m going to change anyone’s minds by working in a kitchen the rest of my life or make any notable difference by going off the grid though I used to believe that I could.

The more corporate I become and the farther I climb up through the middle-class, the more confident I become that the whole system is skewed and unfair. I see people in the drive-through’s, working twice as hard as I do for a fraction of the pay, doing something that isn’t nearly as fun. I feel bad about that sometimes, like I’m just exploiting society and giving less back than someone who washes dishes… though I suppose you could argue that I am building things that people use and in my own tiny way, I’m pushing the bounds and expectations of technology, but the people making the Wordpress plugins that do so much for this site are doing the same thing to a greater degree, and they’re not paid anything.

Most people in the corporate world are not programmers who actually build something. Instead, their jobs involve pushing money around in one form or another. In an anarchist society, all that time and energy would either be going toward making the world a better place, or toward leisure activities like spending time with family.

I still love the corporate world for my own selfish reasons. Without it I wouldn’t be able to order sushi or fancy espresso whenever I wanted. I suppose that as an anarchist that does make me a hypocrite, but I’ve decided that it’s better to be a hypocrite than to not care. As an anarchist, I would like to see a world where everyone on the planet could order sushi and fancy espresso whenever they want.

The other day I heard someone talking about a time when he was on a jury. He said, “It was one of those cases where we all knew he was guilty but just couldn’t find the evidence.”

This frightened me because everyone else seemed to nod as though they know the situation… but I’m wondering how is that even possible? If you don’t have evidence, isn’t that just a modern witch hunt? During the real witch hunts, the persecutors felt every bit as strongly that they were right.

Do people just look at someone and see their cold-hearted expression and simply decide that they’re guilty?

I can think of a lot of situations growing up where a teacher or babysitter would think I did something and decide I was guilty based on my facial expressions or inability to defend myself verbally; and they were wrong every time.

The problem is that there are certain people that just look guilty, who have that guilty persona about them… quite frequently they are guilty of something, but not of what you think they are. I think I may have been one of those people growing up. I always felt as though I was doing something wrong, but I didn’t know what. I wanted to be a good person; I wanted to follow the rules, but every once in a while I would get in trouble for something I didn’t understand, or something I flat out didn’t do, and it made me bitter, angry and scared, which showed up in my face and body language, confirming for everyone that I was guilty.

The Nooksack river

Yesterday I posted a new true story called The River (my near death experience). Well… I actually wrote this back in 1996 or ‘97 for creative writing class, but for some reason had forgotten to include it on KalinBooks.com for the last eight years or so.

My experience near death, as I word it to test my SEO strategies was one of the most powerful seven seconds of my life, and there’s a few things I find interesting about it.

First is the fact that the thought of God never even occurred to me until ten years later when a Jehovah’s Witness told me that there’s no such thing as an atheist in a foxhole. I’d never heard that before so I couldn’t call him on it, but found out later that there are numerous cases of people coming face-to-face with death without God or prayer ever crossing their mind, such as the classic survival story Touching The Void. Perhaps what they mean is that atheists don’t like going to war.

This is certainly not to say that my experience near death wasn’t deeply spiritual.

Another thing I think about regarding this is the strangeness of fearing death. Before this I had always worried about death, I suppose the way normal people do. It sits in the back of your mind, reminding you it could happen at any time.

However, when I was actually there and accepting that I would never take another breath, I realized it wasn’t so awful. The world would go on. The trees would still be green, the water would still be fresh and clean, people would still live and love and have amazing adventures. I would still be a part of all that, somehow, even if just as a memory. Even in that moment I didn’t have a shred of regret about taking risks that day.

The third thing I find interesting is just how similar this experience was to a mushroom trip. Someone once told me that acid and mushrooms affect the same parts of the brain that fire when a person is in sudden, tremendous danger. I haven’t researched this, but it would make sense, explaining why in this experience and my mushroom trips, colors seem more vibrant and it feels like I can see and hear in far more detail and my thoughts seem to get far more focused on my physical surroundings. Also the uncontrollable laughter, deep spiritual connection with the universe and the sense of the moment are all similarities between shrooms and near death experiences.

I’m just going over my whole Wordpress setup for this site in case anyone is interested or wants to give advice. If you know anything about Wordpress and see me doing something stupid, please go ahead and write a “Hey dumbass” response to this post or my previous post about the wordpress plugins I use.

I use the Inanis Glass theme, basically because I couldn’t find anything better. Most of the free themes look like crap. I’m not a designer by any means, but I know enough to say that most of the wordpress themes I could find just don’t look good, especially for a science-fiction themed website. I did a search for “best SEO wordpress themes” and came up with this site: http://wphacks.com/best-search-engine-optimized-seo-wordpress-themes/ and this one: http://www.seohosting.com/blog/blogging-tips/5-free-seo-wordpress-themes/. Both sites list a bunch of wordpress themes that they claimed were well-optimized for search engine optimization (SEO), but only one or two of the ones listed actually existed when I searched for them in the theme listing in my dashboard.

However, based on their lists of criteria for a good SEO theme, Inanis Glass seemed decent. It’s got the content at the top and seems to come close to validating for properly formatted HTML, though I’m not sure why that’s relevant. I did make a couple changes though, like changing the <H1> tag at the top to show the name of the post instead of the blog title, since I’ve read that’s really important to SEO to have your keyword rich title at the top instead of the site title. I still need to figure out my tagline.

I also almost completely removed the footer where it had a little windows style start menu with search and login features and stuff, as well as some popup menus that didn’t look very good. The pages seem to load a little faster since getting rid of that.

If you have any suggestions for a better theme or other theme-alterations I could make (particularly SEO related), I would greatly appreciate it.