Is socialism bad? If so, why?

With the election of Barack Obama and the implementation of his policies to shore up the worsening economy, I’ve heard a lot of people throw around the word “socialism.” I will freely admit that I do not understand economics; I have little education on the subject, just enough to know that it’s incredibly complex and that there are a lot of people who are way smarter than I am who still don’t understand what’s going on. So I ask these two questions in complete seriousness:

What exactly is socialism?
Why is it such a horrible thing?

People typically say things like, “Socialism will make us like France”, or worse, “Like Soviet Russia!” without really explaining these statements. Getting beyond the political ramifications of a socialist agenda, does it really make for bad economic policy? Should I expect my children or grandchildren to be standing in bread lines and buying Levis on the black market because of Obama’s alleged socialist agenda?

Lite Brite

The standard modern Lite Brite ships with a small, sealed bag of 200 plastic pegs. However, if you allow a 5-year old to open the bag of pegs, and he does so with the bag upside down, and the pegs spill out onto the kitchen floor, the number of pegs will magically increase to 15,000.

Dancing Queen

I've been terribly remiss in my posting lately. Things have been busy at work, the kids have been sick off and on, and Ann and I managed to get away for a cruise last week. I'll get back into the posting-groove soon but until then please enjoy this latest video of Vanilla Bean dancing...

Vanilla Bean dancing it up from cbalmain on Vimeo.

A good belly laugh

Today for lunch we had grilled bratwurst. Normally the Monkey loves sausages, but he was a little wary this time. Ann served him some, he looked at it, and said, "What's this?" I said, "It's bratwurst." There was a pause, and then he said:

"Raw horse?"

I haven't seen Ann laugh that hard in a long time.

Books for the cruise

Ann and I are going on a cruise in two weeks, sans kids (this is a vacation, not a family trip). During our last cruise, I managed to read three books cover-to-cover in seven days, so I figure that on this five-dayer I should be able to get through two pretty easily. Here's what I'm considering:

• Joel Olsteen's Your Best Life Now. I know, I know - but here's the deal. People bag on this guy CONSTANTLY, and admittedly I do too. But to be honest, I don't really know what the guy's preaching, and it'd be interesting to know what the message is straight from his mouth. The only problem is I think I would be embarassed to be caught reading this by the pool.
• Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope. Again, I know... but the fact of the matter is that this guy is going to be president for four to eight more years and I want to know where he's coming from without the filters of biased journalism.
• The Last Colony. This is the third book in John Scalzi's sci-fi series, the first book of which I read on the last cruise and absolutely LOVED.

So besides these three, I'm at a loss. Any suggestions?

16 Things About Me

Last week, T tagged me to come up with sixteen things about myself. After putting it off, here's my list:

1. I consider Raiders of the Lost Ark to be the greatest example of cinematic art ever created.
2. I have dived to 120 ft deep and climbed to the top of Mount Fuji, but otherwise I’m not really much of an outdoorsy person.
3. My favorite hobby is PC gaming, one I've enjoyed pretty much non-stop since we got our first computer in 1986.
4. If I could wear shorts every day of my life, I totally would.
5. I am married to the single most patient and understanding person on the planet.
6. I never believed the idea that kids were all that different, until I had two kids of my own who are totally and completely different.
7. I love to read. Lately I've been on a kick about polar and naval exploration and food history, although I always enjoy a good sci-fi. Unlike T, I can't handle reading more than one book at a time.
8. I am fortunate enough to work at a job that I consider to be just about the coolest in existence.
9. I will eat anything at least once.
10. I love sipping a good wine (I'm a horrible Baptist), although I probably wouldn't know a good wine from rotten grape juice if I were tested on it.
11. My idea of the perfect date: takeout Freebirds and a movie rental. Fortunately, Ann thinks that's a pretty good date too.
12. If I could choose how to die, I want to be hit by a meteor.
13. I can juggle three balls really well and three pins so-so.
14. I can't play a single musical instrument, although I'm a decent tenor.
15. I consider Lost to be the greatest television show ever made.
16. It's really hard for me to come up with 16 things about myself that anyone else is likely to find interesting.

How not to design electronics

I'm sitting here on a phone conference with some people in Japan, using my home cordless phone connected to a headset. I'm at a desk, near a charging station, and the battery on the phone is showing low power levels. I'm not moving around and don't plan to, so I figured I'd drop the phone on the charger to make sure the battery doesn't die while I'm talking.

You totally know where this is going, don't you? As soon as I place the phone on the charger it disconnects the call. The call with about eight other people, most of whom are in Japan. What kind of electronics design prevents me from using a phone at the same time that I recharge it?! Come to think of it, I can't think of any other piece of gadgetry I own that doesn't allow me to operate it while it's being charged. This is also the same phone system that doesn't let me use two handsets on the same call (which my last cordless system did let me do). So if I'm in a call and the battery is running low, there doesn't appear to be either a way to swap to another phone or to charge the one I'm using.

AT&T E1813B user rating: 5 Stars of Sucking out of a possible 5.

Oh, yeah, and they're ugly as sin.