Christopher's blog

Which of The Ten Commandments have you broken or would you consider breaking? Why?
Submitted by balderick24.

LULZ.  what the fuck kind of question is this?

I am not answering this, instead here's a video of George Carlin.

I think I screwed up.

...Well... I guess, ultimately, this will help me in the long run, but I think I went about my cancer research fundraising all wrong.  I wanted to do everything right, legit and legal, so I decided the best route was to create a non-profit organization.  Also, I wanted to prove to myself that I had the ability to start up my own business from scratch.

When I came up with this idea on how to raise money, I just started feeling that business school was fairly useless, because everything that I was learning I could also learn through real world experiences.  What better way to gain real world experience than to tackle it head on and start up your own business, right?

What happened is that I got ridiculously overwhelmed with so much government paperwork and regulatory bullshit that I didn't even know where to begin.  My lawyer helped a bit, but since he doesn't specialize with non-profit work, there was a bit that he didn't know, which meant that it's up to me to figure a lot out.  I can't complain really about it, the price is right, and there would be absolutely no way that I would be able to afford any other lawyer. 

Here's an interesting piece of information that I learned: government workers cannot tell you what is legal. It was the most bizarre thing for me to say "Here is what i want to do, can i do this" and get this in return, "we cannot offer legal advice."  Granted, my idea is bordering the line of stupid/illegal, and they are just covering their ass legally, but it's just frustrating.

Realizing that starting a non-profit organization was taking far more time and effort that I originally expected... silly, naive me... I decided that I would apply for independent study credits at school.  To me, starting up a non-profit, creating a marketing campaign, creating an accounting program in excel, and raising money for cancer reasearch would be perfect for an independent study project.  But for some, bizarre reason that I will never understand, CSUSM said that this project has "no academic merit."  Which was the most discouraging/frustrating thing that has happened to me yet. 

I don't know... After that happened I lost my drive to really get things accomplished, I've had paperwork for about 2 months that I just started on today.  I feel so awkward whenever I go and meet with something for something with my organization.  I tried to go talk to the manager at Major Market to see if we could shoot a scene there for one of our promotional videos, and I didn't even know what I was going to say.  I have zero confidence when it comes to situations like that, I start blathering on like an idiot (more so than usual). 

I know I am so close to getting things done and running, just a few more legal things... which I've said probably about a hundred times before it, then more things get piled on... and I neeeeeeed to get in contact with the guys in charge of designing my website and get that thing finished. 

I've also given up all hope on making any money off of this project at all.  I'm going to treat this as just a learning experience.

I've learned a lot about myself through this past year of attempting to start this organization, and it will help me in future ventures.  For one, I know now that I'm way more comfortable being behind the scenes and creative than in the limelight.  While I don't think this particular idea would work unless it was anyone but me, I'd much rather have someone else be the poster boy in future things.  I also know that I need someone else to make calls and deal with the people that i'm far too awkward to successfully interact with. 

By Saturday, my goal is to have all legal stuff submitted and be ready to launch March, 1st.

I really, really, think this is possible.

It would've been easier to not make a non-profit organization, soooo much easier. Let's see if all this pain and stupidness was worth it.

How many people have videos of their friends making fools of themselves while playing rock band?

I do!

So, some muslims are pissed off because another artist drew the prophet Mohammed as a dog.

Swedish artist Lars Vilks says all he's doing is taking a stand in the name of artistic expression. But because of that stand, on this afternoon he's lying low -- on the ground, in fact -- looking for bombs under his car.

Al Qaeda has put a $100,000 price on his head and offered an extra $50,000 for anyone who murders him by slitting his throat after the eccentric artist and sculptor drew a cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammed as a dog.

"I don't think it should not be a problem to insult a religion, because it should be possible to insult all religions in a democratic way, " says Vilks from his home in rural Sweden.

"If you insult one, then you should insult the other ones."

His crude, sketched caricature shows the head of Prophet Mohammed on the body of a dog. Dogs are considered unclean by conservative Muslims, and any depiction of the prophet is strictly forbidden.

Here is the first of six videos:

These articles really don't tackle big libertarian and atheist issues.... however Penn and Teller are very vocal about both in their lives, so I'm just going to assume all of you love them as much as I do and I'm going to give you links to two new articles about P&T.

Here's an interview with Kurt Loder

AND here is an interview of P&T interviewing each other. It's quite funny.

Does a private business have the right to demand to see a receipt for the products we just purchased or is that infringing upon the our 4th amendment rights?  I've been known to refuse to show my receipt to those guys with the highlighter in electronic stores, especially during busy holiday shopping seasons, and I have never run into a problem.  I have heard of horror stories about people being detained for refusing to comply with these practices of these stores. 

I'm pretty much pro business all the way, however, this is a very touchy subject for me.  Part of me believes that private organizations have every right in the world to conduct business any way they please, but part of me believes that a business transaction ends at the moment that money is exchanged for goods; at that moment, those goods become my property.  It seems absolutely crazy that an organization would force me to prove to them that I really did just purchase those items. 

I think this is where I stand on this subject.  A private organization has the right, to search me upon entry, to make sure I am not bringing in harmful items or whatever else they would not want in the store.  They even have the right to request that I let them see my receipt, however, I do not have to comply with this.  The store then has a right to detain me for shoplifting and then police can be brought in to settle the dispute. If the store does not claim that I have shoplifted, I have full right to leave the store and not be hassled after that.   After this, the store would have every right in the world to refuse me service on every single one of my future visits to the store if they wished, because I refused to comply with their policies and they have the right to refuse service to anyone, for whatever reason. I think the police officer in the story was 100% wrong and out of line when he arrested the man for refusing to show his drivers license.

As for the story I just posted, linked here again for your convince, I think the police officer in the story was 100% wrong and out of line when he arrested the man for refusing to show his drivers license.

Am I mistaken with this? Should a private organization have the right to force people to comply with whatever zany policies they have there, simply because they chose to shop there?  Should a private organization have the right to detain someone for another reason besides shoplifting?  Do the consumers have the right to shop at private organizations having to worry about having their rights infringed upon? What are your opinions?

Let's say that a child is born into extreme poverty. Who is to blame. be held accountable for this child being born into such terrible living conditions?

A. Society
B. The parents
C. A little of both
D. Other

I'm curious to hear your responses, because I just recently had an interesting/frustrating conversation about this very topic.

My friend over at Miniature American Flags posted these videos and I found these videos to be extremely interesting, I would like to hear other viewpoints on this subject.