Scott's Case Files

400th Post

Things are looking up as my last day before vacation is winding to a halt.

This post is my 400th on Scott's Case Files.  Woohoo!!!  I started this blog in September of 2003 and it's still going.  So, what, that's an average of something like one post every three days or so since then?

Not bad!

Wil - Damn Funny

Check out THIS post by my guru (unbeknownst to him) Wil Wheaton.  Blogger extraordinaire!

This is just the funniest thing that I've read all week and then some.  If you're feeling the winter blues, I guarantee if you're even part geek that this will cheer you up and get a good belly laugh out of you.

Kassi's Blog!

You'll notice a new link in the margin here to a new blog on the block - Kassi's Pink Dot.  Now, I don't know about you, but when I first glanced at that title I thought it sounded more than slightly pornographic...but that's me.

Lots of fun and interesting posts to check out to get an idea what's inside the unique and twisted mind which is my friend Kassi. :)

Globalization: The Kassi Slant

My friend Kassi has her own blog now - the community grows!  Muahahahahaha!  (Like Catbert, if I say something that doesn't sound evil enough, the "Muahahaha!" is generally enough to make it sound evil).  Anyway, she posted on an intriguing topic: Globalization.  From her point of view:

"Globalization [to me] means the potential for a coming together of nations...in ways that connect us as human beings...and when there is connection...and the ability to identify...there is room for empathy."

For anyone who isn't familiar with the term, in this context it means to run the world as it were one place instead of a world full of countries.  Same laws, same currency, etc.  There are pros and cons to this of course, but overall I'm for globalization for reasons similar to Kassi's.

Indulge Your Inner Cynic

I ran into this blog by accident, but am glad that I did.  It's the blog of James Randi, better known as the Amazing Randi.  He's a stage magician but is best known for using his knowledge and performance of various magic tricks to debunk supernatural claims - psychics, miracles, mediums, etc.

I remember reading then watching documentaries about how Houdini had earned no slight bit of fame himself debunking mediums in his time.  He was genuinely seeking to make contact with his dead mother through a medium (the practice of mediumhood was perhaps more popular in his day than even today).  His keen magician's eye noted the various stunts that were being pulled on him and he made it his business to expose as many con artists as he could. 

It really does come as little surprise that magicians would head up the groups that reveal hoaxes, themselves being so talented in illusion.  The difference is that magicians let you know that they are performing tricks and have you pay them for the entertainment value while these hoaxes leech off your money while tricking you into believing that what they are doing is real.

The Dump Has Opened!

My buddy Just Plain Jim has opened his own weblog - Dump: The Anything Depository.  It's obviously been added to the list of blogs I check every morning.

You know that every time you post to your blog an angel gets it's wings, right?  Well, alright, not quite.  But finding a new post on one of my friends' blogs really makes my day a little brighter.

Flight-Attendant Blogger Fired!

Check out THIS article about a blogging flight-attendant who was suspended without pay from her job at Delta Airlines for posting several pictures of herself on her blog in uniform. Apparently they considered the pictures "inappropriate." The one that they show on the article is of her sitting on the back of a cabin seat with her legs crossed looking, I must say, sexy but not in an inappropriate way. She argues that pictures of male employees are freely available on the web, so what's wrong with hers? Compound that with the fact that there isn't a no-blogging policy with the company and you can see why she's so confused over her predicament.

Weblogs vs. Privacy - A Tightrope

I've come upon another friend (which makes several now) who is having trouble with their blog, specifically how to put something out in the public and really sharing with the people that count while not having it come back to haunt you later on. If you have a business or are looking to work for a potential employer who likes to Google potential employees, you may have a problem.

I mean, if you post about how much your life sucks for you at the moment and about that three day drinking binge will Employer A be willing to hire you? Will you pass that background investigation? Will future significant others like what they see? Are you seeing the multitude of ways in which this could suck?

Erin Q-L's Blog

The fever is spreading, my ardent readers! Yes, another has succumbed to the strange and unnatural need to bear his soul for all the internet to see. Check it out from the link HERE and in the left sidebar of my blog.

If you don't read it, you'll be missing out. Having known Erin for going on eleven years now and having watched him change and grow I can tell you that he has alot to teach. Read and see what there is to see...

In a world where knowledge is power and where everyone has secrets, why in the HELL would anyone take the leap and actually put it all out there like this? For me it was a culmination of wanting to stay in touch with friends, meet new people, share my thoughts with the world, and to learn about myself.

I am an Atheist and of the big things in my mind, having known of my mortality for some time, is the need to leave a legacy of some kind. I (at this point) do not want children which I think is the "normal" way that people leave their legacy - there's something about being part of a long chain of life that helps people to feel that they won't be gone when they're...gone. I feel that I will achieve my immortality through the memories of others. In fact, when I die, I intend for that to be part of my eulogy - "Think of me every now and again...remember our good times and bad times...the times I made you laugh and the times I made you cry...remember the things that are the way they are because I WAS. Because I existed." So, you see, what you read here is part of my recipe for immortality and I thank you for being a part of it. Be a part of Erin's also.

Update: It seems that my buddy Mark had the same idea as me, as you can tell from this POST.

Blogs - The Way of the Future

I just found out today that a friend of mine - Mark Nickel - has a blog. It never came up in conversation, but there it is (you'll see a link to his blog in my left column there). I wouldn't go so far as to say that Mark and I are bosom-buddy close, but we have hung out on a few occassions and had some laughs. Going into his blog was interesting in that I not only had some insight into what's on his mind/important to him now, but what was on his mind weeks and months ago.

So the blog is the way of the future from my point of view. Think about how much the standard person relies on technology on a daily basis? Everyone who HASN'T Emailed someone sitting next to you, raise your hand. Nobody raising their hand? That's what I thought. I know that I have friends out of state or in other cities that I have trouble keeping in touch with. Heck, even my friends in the state don't always get caught up on the happenings of my life. We all have lives, schedules, responsibilities (spouse, SO, kids, pets, or with whatever - you fill in the blank), needs for contact, and needs for solitude. And these things just don't always match up for us.