eNom vs. OpenSRS

I have been an active registrant and reseller with eNom since 2000. In that time I have witnessed eNom go from a small company in Seattle to a large firm with multiple divisions as part of Demand Media. I have gone from having a personal e-mail address for high level executives to having to resort to communicating with only a high-volume support system with support agents in countries I probably can’t even pronounce. There has also been a change from me paying about $8 per year for my domains to now being at $10.50 (or $19 for a .me). This is partially due to changes in fees in the ICANN fee structure, but also partially because other resellers have paid their way into higher positions in the hierarchy than me, and them getting my discounts. When I first opened my account, it didn’t matter how many domains you had, just as long as you were willing to keep money in your account to cover their renewals.

I have considered a good number of options for a possible move. The first option was the registrar that I had previously moved away from and developed a hatred for, GoDaddy, or in this case Wild West Domains, their wholesale domain counterpart. This seemed like an OK idea, most of their capabilities matched my needs, pricing is good, but still there was this feeling of sleaze that just goes wherever Bob Parsons has been. I don’t trust smaller registrars without a reseller program because they have variable pricing, and also variable availability. With a budget registrar you never know if your domain is residing with the next RegisterFly. At the moment I am strongly considering OpenSRS. OpenSRS has reasonable prices, and they will declare where every cent is going (they proudly claim that $3 of the fee is their profit). OpenSRS also features a very flexible reseller program that will allow me to control how they interact with my clients, if at all. The forms are also very straight-forward and do not have the marketing pitches that eNom has begun throwing in. There exists a problem though, OpenSRS for all of their features, do not support Dynamic DNS, the ability for computers to update their own IP addresses in the domain records. This is problematic for me because I have so many of them, but I can see the rationale from a security perspective. All it would take it one time of someone sniffing the security token and being able to hijack a host record, but with improved security mechanisms this has become less likely. If I opt to go to OpenSRS I would have to set up an alternate mechanism using their API to manage those host records, and I’m not sure I like moving to that from a trusted method of host management. The other issue I have is a slightly weirder quirk, sub-domain delegation. Also called NS records, a sub-domain delegation allows a managed DNS domain name to have a 3rd (or beyond) level record created and pointed at a different set of name servers, allowing greater administrative flexibility. eNom doesn’t have it, neither does OpenSRS (at the moment, but they hint at it coming, unlike Dynamic DNS which they give a snowcone’s chance in hell). OpenSRS is owned by Tucows, a long-established registrar, but one with a reasonable reputation of integrity and working with customers. Also, if there is something that doesn’t work for me, I know that support is just an email away to help, and during the day, I get a response in less than 2 hours.

GoDaddy’s managed DNS has the option for sub-domain delegation, and in fact I’m using it for cmkularski.net for an external hosting experiment that I am working with. They seem to be one of the few registrars allowing this, although other hosting providers support them fully. The other cool thing about GoDaddy is their capability to allow for uploading of a plain text BIND file, which means the idea of writing a zone file and then publishing it is very easy. There are no annoying fields to fill out, or anything like that, just write the file straight across and drop it into the box. Very simple. GoDaddy is one of the few registrars that seems to be actively updating their DNS control panels to be more robust and more useful. Sadly, GoDaddy themselves is still in a large corporate entity that seems to be doing every aspect of the Internet business including domains.

Things have changed a lot since 1999 when I registered my first domain name with Network Solutions, the successor to InterNIC.

Making Microsoft Word Usable

Lately I have been spending a lot of time in Microsoft Word 2010 for various tasks that are academic, and I have noticed that the 3 installations of Word I run all seem to start off with great amounts of annoying.

To make Word more usable I have taken the following steps:

  1. Set default font for Normal.dotx to be Times New Roman at 12 points. While Calibri is a nice font, a pretty font on screen even, it just isn’t appropriate for academic work, or any work that must be printed (remember the old Computer Apps rule, sans-serif on screen, serif on paper). Since I blog in a separate application (Windows Live Writer), I do not see any negatives coming from changing the defaults.
  2. De-claw Protected View. I got along really well for a long time without having Protected View. Never managed to infect myself with a macro virus or anything. Currently the thing pops up whenever I open a document that is from the server (which considering my files live on my server, ALL of them). I rarely open documents from anyone other than myself or an instructor, so I don’t feel particularly endangered by having Protected View off. I have changed my settings to not use Protected View except for documents that come from an e-mail client, and of course macros are disabled unless I manually enable them.
  3. Add ASA bibliography style sheet. ASA isn’t one of the styles that is pre-packaged with Word, so I had to add it. Not hard to do, but it actually does make Word more useful. I have to juggle 3 citation styles (APA, MLA, ASA) this semester, and if Word can help me keep the formatting straight, it will make my life a lot easier.
  4. Add myself to the dictionary. So many versions of Word have been released, but yet none will include the registered owner’s name in the dictionary to ensure it isn’t flagged (and keep the unhappy X from appearing in the status bar). When I am first flagged, I manually add myself.
  5. Turn off grammar checking. I haven’t done this yet, but Word continues to falsely flag some of my sentences as not being grammatically correct. I do use some strange phrasing as a matter of the discourse in my writing that Word makes assumptions about. I wrote a sentence involving the phrase “a masculinity” today, Word flagged it because it makes an assumption that “masculinity” is a universal single concept.

Just a few pet-peeves of word processing that I had to address today to make my world more functional.

What if ‘we’ are wrong?

What if homosexuality is not normal and natural? What if there is a reason for the gender divide?

The more I read for my classes in Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies the more I am beginning to question everything. The readings and theories go as far as claiming that physical sex is a social construct. I just cannot seem to accept that. I accept that physical sex is manipulated by society, especially in intersex births. Maybe intersex children should not be changed or assigned, but if that is the case, its only because it would physically change their natural state. I do not believe that there is any way to save an intersex person from emotional distress. If you change then there is distress from their feelings regarding any gender/sex discrepancies that may occur (but that is really cultural anyway), but if you don’t change them, then there is distress from being different (also a cultural issue). As for the gender divide, call me a social functionalist if you must, but the average male and the average female are suited to certain tasks. Men have a great difficulty with birthing children, women have great difficulty standing to pee. That being said, I do not feel that in society we should set limits on what each person can do. If a male feels that he is the more caring/nurturing half of a couple raising a child, then he should be able to take care of the child. If a women feels that she wants to be a firefighter/construction worker/mechanic and has the skills/physical strength for it, then I see no reason for that to not be the case. I suppose the issue I’m having is the academic need to define, describe and theorize everything (and the use of Latin phrases, but that’s a separate issue). Sometimes with academics I feel that the most effective way of approaching something is simply ‘let it be’.

The main issue that has been coming into my mind lately though with the readings and with actually thinking about sexuality is, is it possible that homosexuality is actually a mental disorder? I know it has been removed from the DSM, but only under great pressure. Homosexuality has become acceptable in society, only after great pressure. I find myself sort of questioning the origin of my own sexuality. I fully accept that sexuality is a social construction and that its not a ‘born that way’ kind of thing, at least not by genetics. I cannot say for certain if there are traits that propel one toward one sexuality or the other. I question for myself if there was some type of social training in my past that has created me as a homosexual. I question if perhaps it is something that could be resolved by therapy. The only problem now is if I were ever to seek counseling because it bothered me, then I would be diagnosed as having some type of identity disorder and not be able to seek therapy to attempt to explore the root of my sexuality and bring to surface anything that may have contributed to my present state. I do not presently feel like I am suffering from a reduced functioning because I am gay, so therefore I do not need to seek counseling.  I question if being gay is my natural state, or if it is a state that was somehow achieved through some social disposition I was taught. I cannot speak for all homosexuals, but I do know that for myself there have been reasons to question things surfacing lately as I’ve considered the topic more.

I realize that these thoughts go against the nature of my classes, and that in general it goes against my normal way of perceiving myself.  I just find that I cannot blindly accept things that I have assumed or that I have been told in my classes now or in things in my past.

I do not think that [modern] homosexuals will ever be able to fully integrate into this society as a whole. Primarily, because they don’t want to. Some gays/homos/queers create lives for themselves which are so far outside of cultural norms that it cannot be seen as anything except an act of defiance of society. This may be a result of already feeling rejected by society, but more and more it seems like many homosexuals do not want to be part of society. I think for full acceptance in this society there has to be a level of blending. Homosexuals will have to give up some of their pride (and I mean that in the Gay Liberationist sense), and accept the fact that they are ‘normal’ (if that word can even be defined). There has been so much effort put into distinguishing gays from other members of society that it is impossible to blur the distinction and make a homogenous society. In Denmark this problem doesn’t exist, the identities have dropped and society is more or less homogeneous, but the homosexuals do not stick out, neither do the heterosexuals. When is it time to let the rainbow flag fade into the background and let the individuals be themselves without hiding behind such a flamboyant banner?

Maybe my perspective on everything is skewed. I have not really ever had to deal with rejection or even a lot of mis-identification as heterosexual. I have had one instance of each in my past. I had a short-lived rejection from one of my friends in 8th grade, and I had a mis-identification/assumption from one of my aunts, other than that, the fact that I have a sexual identity that is other than heterosexual has not been a problem. I don’t go around announcing that I’m gay, but I don’t fear people knowing either. I don’t have any special pride in being gay, but not because I’m hiding, but just because it is part of me, its how I identify myself sexually (among a list of other titles, which is beyond the scope of this blog, or at least this post). I am proud of myself for academic accomplishments. I am proud of myself for the state of my body. I am proud of myself for the fact that I don’t drink. I am proud of a lot of things about myself, but all of those things are things that I have made a choice or have worked toward in some way. Being proud of being gay would be like being proud that I am a male, its just part of me that I can’t say I had a lot to do with (at least not actively).

This post is intended as a way for me to explore my own identity, as well as feelings about my current coursework. I do not mean to take any particular position regarding homosexuality, gender or sex. I remain open minded and receptive to all people in my life and all forms of academic discourse that I encounter.

SOCY 6895 Paper Outline

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This project is starting to come together, mentally at least. There are still so many articles to read and so many things to review. There will also be a bit of concluding research. I am personally happy that I managed to get this outline out. It is rough and will be updated frequently, but I feel like its putting things in the right direction and putting things in a visual space that I can comprehend, now all I have to do is fill in the blanks.

What I Know About Sex and Gender.

[Cross Post: http://www.masculineimagery.net/?p=12]

When I began the certificate program in Gender Studies I accepted that I did not know a lot about gender, and probably even less about sexuality.

Before I began the program I accepted that men have a penis and women have a vagina. This was my essential “truth” of sex. I also implied to myself that they had those organs since birth. Now I find myself 5 weeks into the program and I must now accept that most males were born with a penis, but not all of them, and not all people with a penis are “men” or were born with them.

Before I began the program I knew that men tended to be in control in relationships due to cultural precedents, but I wasn’t sure why. Now I have a lot more data on the topic and still don’t have a clue what makes men so special.

The bottom line… I know nothing about sex or gender, and labels are more trouble than they are worth.

Fall 2011 Semester Papers

Tutorial in Sociology [SOCY 6895] – Final paper only. Topic Sociology of Masculinity. The specifics are not yet determined, but the paper will focus on the Western conception of masculinity in its hegemonic form and in alternative forms.

Introduction to Lesbian and Gay Studies [WGST 2050] – 3 papers (2 req, 1 EC). Topics selected from the major course sections.

Paper 1 (History), Declassification of Homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
Paper 2 (Sociopolitical), Evolution of Interaction Between Homosexuality and Western Religions [tentative]
Paper 3 (Indentity), Gay Identity vs. “Disappearance” [tentative]

Transnational Feminism [WGST 5050] – 1 paper. Topic is selected from topics covered in course readings. I have done little to no planning on the paper as of yet, but I’m focusing on the area of a critical analysis of transnational feminism vs. global feminism.

Theoretical Approaches to Sexuality [WGST 6601] – 1 paper. Topic is open ended, but should be based on the core topics on the syllabus. I have selected to focus on the social construction of non-normative sexual behaviors.

Posted from Charlotte, North Carolina, United States.

Floating Above Myself

I’m sitting in the student union in the balcony around the rotunda. I’m in the perfect spot to be a passive observer to the social interactions and other things happening below me.  I am not an active participant, only an observer. I am sitting above the activity trying to focus on academic work (that focus I believe was lost a while ago). I find myself being very sad and a bit reflective on things. I’m watching all these students enjoy the party-like atmosphere that happens during a Union takeover, but I’m not involved, I wouldn’t know how to be involved. During my undergraduate life I never participated in anything on campus. I kept telling myself this summer that my graduate career would be different and that I would get involved and enjoy my time on campus, enjoy still being young. The fact that it is parents weekend on campus doesn’t help my mood. My parents never went to one of these events when I was an undergrad, and never showed much interest in seeing the campus or anything like that. I suppose most of it is my own fault, I pushed my parents away in a major way when I started college. My aunt has been to this campus more times than my parents have been. My father never set foot on the campus (can’t say I’m surprised, or even bothered by it). I was always closer with my mom anyway, but still, the only time she was ever on campus with me was at my undergraduate orientation and then on the day before my first day of classes, but no other time. Now that I am a graduate student I wouldn’t even think of asking my parents to come to an event like this. The time for involvement was back then, not now.

I keep thinking back on the way that things went before, trying to figure out why I keep doing the same thing over and over. I know I’m on campus more now than I was when I was an undergrad, and I have a desire to get involved and participate in things outside of academics, but I just can’t quite figure out how to dive into it. Times like this I wish I were more like Chris. He isn’t what I would describe as being highly involved, but he has found his own path to being included, and his own way to make an impression on the university. I don’t know why during my first experience on this campus I couldn’t wrap my head around the idea that there is something outside of academics. There is so much going on here every day. The academics I can handle, but it is the social that I still haven’t mastered. I barely talk to anyone when I am here, other than instructors and I just feel so outside of everything. I have to get involved on campus, I have to find my own method, but I can’t stand being this outside of being social anymore. I have at least 2 more years on this campus, and I don’t intend to waste them.

Why Masculine Studies?

[Cross Post with: http://www.masculineimagery.net/?p=10]

Why did I choose to focus on masculine studies, when it seems that feminist theory is where everything is?

The simple answer is because I feel that masculinity is where the social problems originated. There are social difficulties because of hegemonic masculinity. This is the problem for non-whites in western culture, it is the problem for non-heterosexuals and it is the problem for women. It is my belief that as long as masculinity holds the power and a certain type of masculinity is defining culture, then there can be no liberation and no equality. Society is crippled and controlled by a gender that makes up a lot less than 50% of the population. Assuming that there were 50% men in the United States (there isn’t, its closer to 55% women, 45% men I believe, but I don’t have the exact numbers at the moment), we must remove those that are non-white, and those who identify as something other than heterosexual to find out final number. In those remaining after taking those numbers away, only about 1/3 of them probably have the financial resources to have “power” in society, and the other 2/3 believe that just because they fit the hegemonic standard they are somehow attached to that power and continue to support the mission of those who do have power. The issues lie in the masculine ego, and in the social institutions that value having a penis.

Another concept I have considered is that one day men will no longer rule the Earth. Women are slowly beginning to realize that there is someone behind the curtain pulling the strings and that men are not the majority and have done nothing to deserve the power, and the world is slowly changing.  Once men are no longer in a position of power I feel that the construct of masculinity may be severely damaged. I personally believe that being a male who holds a masculine identity is something that is quite special, and do not wish to see men (collectively) reduced to just another “human”  “person” in a homogeneous pool of homo sapiens. I feel that masculinity is in need of a major revitalization to an establishment that does not exist based on power, but on a certain solidarity and sense of shared honor. Those traits cannot be held while others are being oppressed to support the masculine cause.

Finally, feminist theory is great in concept. Feminist theory proposed equality for all genders and sexes. It is an honorable goal, but current theorists in the field are lacking a key factor in making that happen, men. Elizabeth Grosz has become my favorite feminist to pick on, just because she is so far out there with some of her writing. She believes that certain concepts of physics (mostly our understanding of mater and time) need to be reconsidered simply because they were created by men. There are implications made that because the theories were established by men, they must in some way be flawed and designed to oppress women.  I do admit however, that there are others in the field that seem to be for the equality of everyone and seem to be focused erasing social boundaries. Unfortunately, those individuals tend to be more on the side of sexuality studies, and no one in this society (outside academics) really takes them seriously, society just isn’t ready for it yet.

I am in masculine studies because I am a man, whether by my biological components or my socially presented gender. I do not wish to discriminate against women, homosexuals or any other group. I am curious about how the masculine identity was formed and how society molds and manipulates it. I am a male and I am proud of it.