A coworker glanced over at me, looked down, and said, “Are those white socks?”
“Yes”, I said. “Why, what’s the matter?”
“But… you are wearing sandals”, she said.

That was the conversation the put everything on the table… socks and sandals. And not only socks and sandals, white Wilson socks (above the ankle), sporting themselves under a comfortable pair of ‘WindRiver’ sandals.

“Why”, she asked. “Why would you do that? Isn’t there a some unwritten fashion rule the prohibits wearing socks with sandals.. and white Wilsons to top it off. It’s like wearing white after Labour day.

Well, I agree, there are some dos and don’ts when it comes to fashion.

1. Oprah should not be allowed to dress herself.
2. Socks should not be worn with thong sandals.
3. Pink does not look good on straight men, despite how hard the fashion world tries to convince us otherwise.
4. Capris are stupid and ugly, no matter which way you look at it. I’ve heard that men are wearing capris in Europe. Come one guys. Why don’t we all just start wearing sugar sack shorts. Better yet, throw on workout leggings again and put a scrunchy in your hair.
5. Tapered, form fitting pants only look good on heroin addicted British actors and 70’s punk rockers. Emo boys are not going to bring them back.

However, despite all the rules, I feel that socks have a place with a certain style sandal. I’m not making a rule. I think that caution and good judgment should to be used. But I do think theer is room for white socks with sandals and I will provide you with 2 reasons.

1. You should follow your own fashion sense, no matter what people tell you (yes, this includes Oprah and the two hosts from ‘What not to wear’).

2. In the summer, working in an office, its nice to wear sandals. It is cooler. However, it is not cool to smell sandal feet from the cubicle next to you from the guy who thinks it’s not cool to wear socks with sandals.

Categories: fashion, rants
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I’m sorry. I could not resist. All PETA advocates, I do care about the welfare of animals. However, my priorities are a little more in line with rational and logical thinking. I am for the ethical treatment of animals in production for consumption.

Categories: animals, rants
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The Moral and Ethical Implication of Theft

My car was broken into this past weekend; a long weekend at that. I was furious. How could some one knowingly do this to someone else’s property? I had a Garmin c550 in a hidden console. Other than that, the only valuables in the car was some pocket change in the middle council. This was also hidden. This lead me to believe that it was a random break in. Perhaps it was some kids looking for something valuable?

My car is a Red Nissan Altima, 2007. It’s a nice car, not a Porsche, but a relatively nice automobile. Perhaps they saw the car and was hoping that I had some cash or other valuables. In the end it was probably some kids looking for some money and a rush.

They broke the passenger side window. I think it was amateur because they first tried to bust the handle, and then the damaged my side paneling when using it as leverage to bust in the window. In total, there is probably about $3000 dollars worth of damage done to the car.

But this got me to thinking. I was upset and angry because I felt violated. Someone damaged my car as well as stole some of my property. Obviously it’s a crime because I paid for the items and they took them from me without asking. But what is the difference between this and stealing software, songs or copyrighted material on the internet?

I know that I have and probably will continue to download songs over the internet. I made a conscious choice to switch to Linux in order to avoid using illegal versions of proprietary software. But songs, I will likely continue to download from torrent sites. And yet, I do not feel remorse for stealing these things.

Is it because:

1. Songs are and abstract medium with no physical substance (unlike my Garmin)?

2. Stealing from large nameless corporations isn’t wrong. We should being doing this because the artist in the end makes a fraction of what the record label makes from the artist’s en devour?

3. We choose which actions are right and wrong based on convenience. There are no morals or ethics, only decisions and choices?

Guilt is like a bag of bricks. You just have to let it go. Obviously, this only works when you are the one stealing (not the one being stolen from), and the dilemma remains unsolved.

Let me know what you think.

Categories: economy, linux, rants, stupidity
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