None of my words, nor any of the video or pictures you’ll eventually see, will really bring you how bad it really is.
Scoble is in NOLA.
First stop of the morning … New Orleans’ neighborhood « Scobleizer - Tech Geek Blogger
Scoble is in NOLA.
File under DUH: Obese kids more likely to have low self-esteem
Wow, stunning.
Feel free to leave your own follow-up research project ideas. Personally, I'm gunning for the lucrative "people who consume alcohol get drunk more often than teetotalers" NIH funds.
[via Reuters ] (?!?!)
Obese children, particularly girls, may be more likely than their peers to suffer from low self-esteem, research shows.
Feel free to leave your own follow-up research project ideas. Personally, I'm gunning for the lucrative "people who consume alcohol get drunk more often than teetotalers" NIH funds.
[via Reuters ] (?!?!)
Christmas in Chelsea
Let's hit the major stuff.
What'd you do?
Not a damn thing. J-- and I stayed home, no family, no friends, just us and the pets. We got up on time and opened presents (more later), had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, and then farted around all day.
For dinner, we made a prime rib using a recipe from Simply Recipes along with some asparagus and two disastrous potatoes. Potatoes were justly jettisoned and a wonderful dinner was had.
What'd you get?
It's not about presents.
Seriously, what'd you get?
Ok, maybe it's a little about the presents. I got a kick-ass Dell 20" wide-screen LCD. It makes me droll just looking at it. I kept my CRT so now I have two monitors.. I feel like such a geek. I also got a really cool stainless tea cup with an infuser and lid. Now I can finally have loose-leaf tea at work. J-- also stuffed the bottom third of my stocking with enough candy to make any Halloween begger trick-or-treater weep.
What'd you get J--?
I bought J-- a digital camera (which was wanted), a new alarm clock (which was needed), and, ironically, a tea infuser pot with some tea samples (which was gratuitous considering the amount of tea in this house).
We're off to see my family this weekend; did the other side last night.
All in all a very enjoyable, quiet Christmas. No snow (yet), but we're supposed to get a couple inches tonight.
Belatedly wishing you and yours a happy season as well. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah.
Get Raped in Second Life
No, seriously. This time it's not trading real money for fake property or fleecing some media company into opening a bureau in the game. Nope, this time it's honest-to-simulated-God avatar rape. You even get of a Choose Your Own Deviant Sexual Adventure feel as well. There's Victim, Rapist, or Participant, where you get to help, but not "help" if you know what I mean.
Sure, it's simulated. Sure, both avatar-owners have to click something to participate. But are we really so far gone that we have to enable people to commit virtual felonies?
It's not Snow Crash; get over it.
Second Life: Rape for Sale - Gawker
Sure, it's simulated. Sure, both avatar-owners have to click something to participate. But are we really so far gone that we have to enable people to commit virtual felonies?
It's not Snow Crash; get over it.
Second Life: Rape for Sale - Gawker
Second Life Sucks - Someone Calls BS
Clay Shirky pegs the issue with the graphically-awful, over-hyped, socially-devoid virtual life that is Second Life.
Push marketing. You'd think the hipsters and technorati would see through that. Oh, right, it's marketed by BoingBoing.
Second Life: What are the real numbers?. Many-to-Many:
Finally, the current mania is largely push-driven. Many of the articles concern “The first person/group/organization in Second Life to do X”, where X is something like have a meeting or open a store — it’s the kind of stuff you could read off a press release. Unlike Warcraft, where the story is user adoption, here most of the stories are about provider adoption, as with the Reuters office or the IBM meeting or the resident creative agencies. These are things that can be created unilaterally and top-down, catnip to the press, who are generally in the business of covering the world’s deciders.
Push marketing. You'd think the hipsters and technorati would see through that. Oh, right, it's marketed by BoingBoing.
Second Life: What are the real numbers?. Many-to-Many:
9th Ward body thought to be Katrina victim
Everyone, note the day that this post is being written: 4 Dec 2006.
Katrina made landfall on August 29, 2005. That was 1 year, 3 months, and 5 days ago. After that long, you'd think it was buried under a ton of debris, something like the bodies being found at the World Trade Center, right?
Wrong.
In a yard. Decomposed to the point that they have to call in an anthropologist to determine the victim's gender. Their gender.
Link
Coroner Frank Minyard told the City Council last month that the Michoud area of eastern New Orleans had never been searched for bodies since Katrina and should be investigated as soon as possible.
Katrina made landfall on August 29, 2005. That was 1 year, 3 months, and 5 days ago. After that long, you'd think it was buried under a ton of debris, something like the bodies being found at the World Trade Center, right?
Wrong.
The body was found Wednesday night in a yard at St. Maurice Avenue and North Robertson Street, chief coroner's investigator John Gagliano said. (emphasis mine)
In a yard. Decomposed to the point that they have to call in an anthropologist to determine the victim's gender. Their gender.
Link
Just What a Young Facist Needs for Christmas
Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer and self-appointed censor of many bad words in others' products, has been carrying a Nazi-logo'd T-shirt for months, now into Day 22 since they said the shirts would be removed. You can follow the whole saga at The Consumerist (warning, Gawker site; get your Adblock on.)
Can't have a Sheryl Crow album that refers to Wal-Mart, but hurry and get your neo-nazi iconography while it lasts. No publicity is bad publicity, right Wal-Mart?
Can't have a Sheryl Crow album that refers to Wal-Mart, but hurry and get your neo-nazi iconography while it lasts. No publicity is bad publicity, right Wal-Mart?
Ohio State Defeats Michigan 42-39 In Ultimately Meaningless Game
"I mean, come on—we could have lined up in alphabetical order in the end zone dressed in nothing but helmets and socks and whacked off for 60 minutes, and the BCS would still send us to the Tostitos Championship Game," Tressel told the assembled reporters. "Hell, you'd all still vote for [Buckeyes quarterback] Troy Smith to win the Heisman. And you know it."
*snort*
Link
And Another Term Passes Out of Relevance
If all you've done is stick a ring through your banana bunch and hung that banana bunch from a closet rod, you are not hacking. You are being clever.
Hacking involves actually doing something to the bananas, like inserting a caller-ID unit into each banana to display incoming calls on multiple lines. You know, something that takes skill.
Hacking involves actually doing something to the bananas, like inserting a caller-ID unit into each banana to display incoming calls on multiple lines. You know, something that takes skill.
How is it that I've never been here before?
Washington D.C. is pretty cool. Not "I'd like to live there" cool, but "I need to go back for more than 2 hours of tourism" cool.
This title was supposed to reference a Jimmy Stewart movie
I'm out for the next few days, off to our nation's capitol to hob-nob with politicians, researchers, and vendors. Well, ok, just vendors and a few fellow customers, but hob-nob I shall!
I'd ask for places to go, but I don't think I'll have the time. I've never been to DC so I would have loved to stay a few extra days. But, hotels costing what they do, I won't be. Ah well, can't always turn business into vacation.
By the way, as I don't travel much anymore, I was totally flabbergasted at the idiotic rules for flying. No liquids or gels in containers over 3oz, and all those containers have to be in a plastic bag no bigger than a quart. Oh, and you can only take one plastic bag of said liquids. Good thing I travel light.
Microsoft Photosynth
Via Scoble, the demo for a new technology preview from Microsoft Live Labs, Photosynth. I'm not usually a fan boy and I try to stay away from hyperbole, but this is simply an amazing demonstration of technology and academics intersecting.
Check out the demo video. Yes, it only works in IE and via ActiveX, minus points for that. But the technology itself is stunning and opens the window for so many more possibilities.
Imagine an image search engine that could recognize related images to one you choose and stitch together a 3-dimensional representation with those images. You see this happening in the demo with a data set of images of Rome, Italy. You could potentially see Rome from angles you didn't photograph by having the software find images and forming the perspective you want to see.
Outside of virtual tourism, the possibilities roam to gaming (naturally), archeology, criminal justice, landscaping, mapping/navigation.. it's a very exciting thought. Definitely an technology to continue to watch.
Check out the demo video. Yes, it only works in IE and via ActiveX, minus points for that. But the technology itself is stunning and opens the window for so many more possibilities.
Imagine an image search engine that could recognize related images to one you choose and stitch together a 3-dimensional representation with those images. You see this happening in the demo with a data set of images of Rome, Italy. You could potentially see Rome from angles you didn't photograph by having the software find images and forming the perspective you want to see.
Outside of virtual tourism, the possibilities roam to gaming (naturally), archeology, criminal justice, landscaping, mapping/navigation.. it's a very exciting thought. Definitely an technology to continue to watch.
Davezilla: Clean humor, filthy comments » How to speak in Programmer
When they say:
“Is that really a good user experience?”
They really mean:
“You’re cutting into my World of Warcraft time.”
Heh.
Davezilla: Clean humor, filthy comments » How to speak in Programmer
Holy Crap! Zeeland voters overturn alcohol ban!
I. Am. Stunned. Congratulations Zeeland for pulling yourselves out of the 30's.
For the first time since it's inception as a city in 1907, alcohol can be sold in restaurants and stores. Prepare for moral decay, rioting, and a murder or two now that people can buy booze in town. Oh, wait, they have that already (maybe not the rioting) and they can buy booze by driving 3 miles.
As someone who grew up in this community I have to wonder why it took so long. Any teenager can tell you exactly where to go to buy beer in town. And there are liquor stores in almost every direction leaving town within one mile of the city line.
Sorry CRC, it's over. Get your recount on but I imagine you'll still lose. Too bad the vote was so close (40 votes!)... it emboldens the prudes to try and re-instate the ban. Of course, once residents get a taste of having beer with their meal at Community Kitchens, they'll never go back.
Oh, and family that are reading, I'm buying the first round next time I'm in town.
Zeeland voters overturn alcohol ban
For the first time since it's inception as a city in 1907, alcohol can be sold in restaurants and stores. Prepare for moral decay, rioting, and a murder or two now that people can buy booze in town. Oh, wait, they have that already (maybe not the rioting) and they can buy booze by driving 3 miles.
As someone who grew up in this community I have to wonder why it took so long. Any teenager can tell you exactly where to go to buy beer in town. And there are liquor stores in almost every direction leaving town within one mile of the city line.
Sorry CRC, it's over. Get your recount on but I imagine you'll still lose. Too bad the vote was so close (40 votes!)... it emboldens the prudes to try and re-instate the ban. Of course, once residents get a taste of having beer with their meal at Community Kitchens, they'll never go back.
Oh, and family that are reading, I'm buying the first round next time I'm in town.
Zeeland voters overturn alcohol ban
Rumsfeld's Out
And another Bush crony is in. As much as I want to be happy about this, I filled with dread about the devil we don't know.
Election Hang Over
So, we're officially the third-most intolerant state in the union, voting down Proposal 2. Through lies, deception, and a dubiously-worded proposal, affirmative action is now illegal in Michigan. And, although it's only correlation, isn't it somehow fitting that Michigan also has the third-highest rate of hate crimes in the US? Congratulations Michiganders; you really showed the country what we're made of.
Speaking of which, here's the break-down of the voting for two Proposals (PDF). Hm, let's see, the Proposal was approved (meaning these people voted to not help minorities) by non-union, white, Republican men with less than a college education. I hate to talk in broad generalities here, but how many people in that demographic took the time to actually, you know, research the issue? How many of them knew Michigan the third-most segregated state in the country? That's right, fellow citizens, we're more segregated than many Southern states. Whoop it up. Election's over so we don't have to think about that again... whew.
I'm so disgusted with this state. We'll overwhelmingly vote down a proposition to allow a hunting season for cute birds (dammit), but when it comes to giving a hand to the oppressed minorities (and, yes, despite your protests, they are oppressed), it's the middle finger and "get a job" to them.
At least we didn't elect DeVos.
Speaking of which, here's the break-down of the voting for two Proposals (PDF). Hm, let's see, the Proposal was approved (meaning these people voted to not help minorities) by non-union, white, Republican men with less than a college education. I hate to talk in broad generalities here, but how many people in that demographic took the time to actually, you know, research the issue? How many of them knew Michigan the third-most segregated state in the country? That's right, fellow citizens, we're more segregated than many Southern states. Whoop it up. Election's over so we don't have to think about that again... whew.
I'm so disgusted with this state. We'll overwhelmingly vote down a proposition to allow a hunting season for cute birds (dammit), but when it comes to giving a hand to the oppressed minorities (and, yes, despite your protests, they are oppressed), it's the middle finger and "get a job" to them.
At least we didn't elect DeVos.
Go Vote, You Lazy Bastard
Got your attention? Good. You took the time to surf over to this site and, let's face it, you're not reading something in the top 1,000,000 pages on the Web so you're scraping bottom here. You obviously have the time.
Go pick a governor, vote on some propositions (PDF), maybe elect a judge or two. Just don't sit on your butt all day and then slap your forehead at 8pm when the polls close.
Get up! Move it, buddy. See your ballot before you go. It's easy now; I've done all but drop you in front of a voting booth and pointed where you should make your mark.
Go pick a governor, vote on some propositions (PDF), maybe elect a judge or two. Just don't sit on your butt all day and then slap your forehead at 8pm when the polls close.
Get up! Move it, buddy. See your ballot before you go. It's easy now; I've done all but drop you in front of a voting booth and pointed where you should make your mark.
Close One
Wow, I had no idea how close to annihilation we came this past week. How close, you ask?
How about a marching band forming Star Trek logos with Star Trek actors in the stadium. That's close.
Photographic Proof!
Whew. (Oh, and Patrick Stewart was in the stadium; Royal Shakespeare was in town and he guest conducted.) God help us he even said "Make it so." Perhaps all the Ann Arbor snootiness and entitlement somehow canceled out all that concentrated geekiness, nerdiness, and Star Trek fanboy, helping us to narrowly escape total destruction as the Earth herself would have reached up to consume all that social awkwardness and self abuse.
How about a marching band forming Star Trek logos with Star Trek actors in the stadium. That's close.
Photographic Proof!
Whew. (Oh, and Patrick Stewart was in the stadium; Royal Shakespeare was in town and he guest conducted.) God help us he even said "Make it so." Perhaps all the Ann Arbor snootiness and entitlement somehow canceled out all that concentrated geekiness, nerdiness, and Star Trek fanboy, helping us to narrowly escape total destruction as the Earth herself would have reached up to consume all that social awkwardness and self abuse.
Random Hard Drive Droppings
Been a while... busy... blah blah blah.
Instead of a long-winded "sorry I dropped off the face of the earth" post, I going to root through my hard drive and talk about something in my backup folder.
Like this:
This is a logo for a band named Cycle. When I lived in Grand Rapids, Cycle was a rock band that had a modicum of notoriety, playing the standard GR haunts: The Intersection, The Radio Tavern (now destroyed), Ten Bells, etc as well as some opening shows for major-label bands (American Hi-Fi, Sponge, Bowling for Soup).
At my day job, I worked with one of the band members, drummer Jay Blakeslee. In my smokin' days, Jay and I frequently ran into each other outdoors, catching a break.
Conversation led to outside interests, his musical, mine web-related. They needed to revamp their website, I needed a reason to hack and draw so we started working on their site. I hacked together a website for them (and it was a hack); no server technology, nothing but JavaScript, images and hypertext. I wish I'd kept the damn thing cause it wasn't that bad, it just didn't have any oompf. I also did some graphics work for them.
The image above is the first logo I showed the guys for the band's logo. There were some other ideas, now lost to backup discs gone missing, but this is the one they liked and went with. I have to say I liked this one most of the concepts I showed, and it had a lot of potential.
Unfortunately, the site became tough to keep up with after I moved to the East side and my relationship with the band drifted away. The URL is no more, but Cycle lives on through MySpace.
Check 'em out, ask for a CD.. they're not bad.
Requisite Halloween Post
In between working at work and working at home, J-- and I took a couple hours to lead a few more kids down the path to juvenile diabetes Sugar High City by passing out candy to the trick-or-treating kids.
Chelsea has, like many towns, a designated trick-or-treating time for the kids to minimize the amount of traffic in town at night. As with last year's event, this year was from 4-6pm.
This has a couple downstream effects. The first is all your neighbors are home for the festivities. Everyone comes home early from work, camps out in front of their houses and chucks obscene amounts of sugared treats at teenagers and toddlers alike. We met around-the-corner neighbors tonight... we've been here for 16 months.
The second effect is that all the country kids pile into trucks, conversion vans, mini-vans, and all manner of soccer-mom modes of transport and descend on the city like locusts on Egypt. The actual amount of kids that live in the city and who wind up at your door is pretty small. But when your clientele is a steady stream of little guys and girls like this...
... you cough up the snacks to all comers.
We went through 11 giant-sized bags of candy in 90 minutes. We were inside calling for pizza by 5:30. And the best part? All those kids went home with someone else.
Things That Are Bad To Do To Your Computer
In no particular order
- Allow cats to rub against the main air vents, causing a sickly build-up of hair, dander, and catiness.
- After allowing cats to deposit general catiness, fail to clean inside of computer for 8 weeks...
- ...then crank up the resolution on your favorite graphics-intensive application (video editing is best; games work in a pinch); Play "Count the Crashes" while attempting to figure out why computer crashes.
- Through dog toy under desk, when the only path from dog's current position to said dog toy is through a 6-inch opening made by your office chair and computer tower.
- Bonus points if dog is wider than 6-inches; guess what happens to a computer tower?
- Disconnect your computer from a VPN with multiple application-created connections to that VPN.
- Eat Cottage Inn, thin crust pizza over beloved keyboard.
- Remove portable hard drive from protective case with a) bare hands, b) ungrounded, c) on a cold, fall day, d) over carpet.
Your Tax Dollars At Work
Polling is a pretty well-developed industry. The Usual Suspects may provide an incomplete data set, but they’re by and large an earnest bunch, who give recovery matters a lot of thought, and their responses as individuals count as much as anyone else’s. So what was made of their sacrifice of three hours of a beautiful Saturday morning? Not much, as far as I could tell. I’m not sure how the questions were crafted - I’m sure UNOP told the AmericaSpeaks people what they wanted to ask, but my impression of how AmericaSpeaks conducted the polling suggested that they were more involved than mere readers and tabulators, and anyway, I’d expect an organization that purports to specialize in citizen-led contribution to decision-making to have some expertise how best to craft that opportunity to contribute.
Read the rest to see the spectacular use of $3 million dollars.
More to come on America Speaks, I'm sure; nothing like being cloak-and-dagger with your funding ($2.3 of their $3 million came from as-yet unnamed private sources.)
Becky Houtman » The Ballroom Speaks
New Site Content - Google Reader Shared Items
For those on RSS readers, you may have missed the new element on the front page. I've added the shared items feed from Google Reader to the sidebar on the site. It will show the last 5 items that I've shared from my news feeds.
You can view the page here, as well; there's also an RSS feed at that page (or just grab it here) if you want to subscribe to that.
The page will be whatever I share; could be tech, could be weirdness, might be a cartoon or three.
By the way, if you haven't already, go get Firefox 2. I have one hyphenated and one whole word for you: built-in spellcheck. Awesome.
You can view the page here, as well; there's also an RSS feed at that page (or just grab it here) if you want to subscribe to that.
The page will be whatever I share; could be tech, could be weirdness, might be a cartoon or three.
By the way, if you haven't already, go get Firefox 2. I have one hyphenated and one whole word for you: built-in spellcheck. Awesome.
Rush Limbaugh is an Ass
Not that that's news, but usually I chalk Rush up with most of the idiots on Democratic Underground; you can't seriously believe 1/1,000,000th of the seething hatred that pours off their lips or keyboards.
But Rush has crossed a line that few will cross in pursuit of their politics. He has labeled a disabled person a liar, accusing that disabled person of pretending that their condition was worse than it is. It didn't help that that person was Michael J. Fox.
For those that don't know, Fox has Parkinson's disease and it has progressed a long way in the past couple of years. Fox takes medication, as do millions of people who suffer from Parkinson's, to control the more visible symptoms of the disease, including the tremors we all see.
Fox has made some political ads in support of stem cell research (and no, we won't be exploring that topic here). Limbaugh is opposed to this research. In his criticism of Fox's ads, Limbaugh said:
Shameless; what an interesting word Limbaugh used. What's the logic here? Parkinson's isn't bad enough on its own that Limbaugh thinks someone with the disease has to exaggerate the symptoms? And the implication that Fox would stop taking medication for a commercial is ludicrous. Medications for diseases such as Parkinson's aren't optional; if you stop taking them, there are real and potentially long-lasting consequences.
Of course, the most damning criticism of Limbaugh comes from a, you know, actual medical professional.
Limbaugh has, of course, retracted his statements and apologized, but the trick worked; hell, I'm writing about it. Still, there's only one person who's shameless in this exchange. Unsurprisingly, it's Rush Limbaugh.
But Rush has crossed a line that few will cross in pursuit of their politics. He has labeled a disabled person a liar, accusing that disabled person of pretending that their condition was worse than it is. It didn't help that that person was Michael J. Fox.
For those that don't know, Fox has Parkinson's disease and it has progressed a long way in the past couple of years. Fox takes medication, as do millions of people who suffer from Parkinson's, to control the more visible symptoms of the disease, including the tremors we all see.
Fox has made some political ads in support of stem cell research (and no, we won't be exploring that topic here). Limbaugh is opposed to this research. In his criticism of Fox's ads, Limbaugh said:
"He is exaggerating the effects of the disease," [...] "He's moving all around and shaking and it's purely an act. . . . This is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn't take his medication or he's acting."
Shameless; what an interesting word Limbaugh used. What's the logic here? Parkinson's isn't bad enough on its own that Limbaugh thinks someone with the disease has to exaggerate the symptoms? And the implication that Fox would stop taking medication for a commercial is ludicrous. Medications for diseases such as Parkinson's aren't optional; if you stop taking them, there are real and potentially long-lasting consequences.
Of course, the most damning criticism of Limbaugh comes from a, you know, actual medical professional.
"Anyone who knows the disease well would regard his movement as classic severe Parkinson's disease," said Elaine Richman, a neuroscientist in Baltimore who co-wrote "Parkinson's Disease and the Family." "Any other interpretation is misinformed."
Limbaugh has, of course, retracted his statements and apologized, but the trick worked; hell, I'm writing about it. Still, there's only one person who's shameless in this exchange. Unsurprisingly, it's Rush Limbaugh.
WoW Burning Crusade Delayed until January 2007
The latest bump in my online drug will be delayed until January 2007 as Blizzard announced that the World of Warcraft expansion won't be coming out this year after all.
Maybe I'll have two level 60 toons to work with when the expansion comes out (as opposed to my single level 60 character, now).
Actually, my playing has tailed off lately; level 60 hasn't been as fun as I'd hoped and, frankly, I can't stand grinding yet another toon through the depressing landscapes of the higher-level zones. Why is everything above level 50 burned, broken, cursed, diseased, or undead? I don't want rainbows and kittens but a little green and blue now and then wouldn't kill the experience.
By the way, anyone on Medivh who has a guild that's recruiting, I'm looking for a guild that can take a casual player (one to three nights a week) and can run high-ish end instances. Having more than 3 guildies above level 20 on per evening would be a huge bonus.
Link
Maybe I'll have two level 60 toons to work with when the expansion comes out (as opposed to my single level 60 character, now).
Actually, my playing has tailed off lately; level 60 hasn't been as fun as I'd hoped and, frankly, I can't stand grinding yet another toon through the depressing landscapes of the higher-level zones. Why is everything above level 50 burned, broken, cursed, diseased, or undead? I don't want rainbows and kittens but a little green and blue now and then wouldn't kill the experience.
By the way, anyone on Medivh who has a guild that's recruiting, I'm looking for a guild that can take a casual player (one to three nights a week) and can run high-ish end instances. Having more than 3 guildies above level 20 on per evening would be a huge bonus.
Link
Chelsea Loses One Of Its Own In Iraq
Lance Cpl. Clifford R. Collinsworth, of Chelsea, was killed Saturday in the Anbar province, Iraq. Lance Cpl. Collinsworth was 20 years old.
All our best wishes to his family and friends here in Chelsea. This is a close-knit community and his loss will be felt by many people here.
Link
All our best wishes to his family and friends here in Chelsea. This is a close-knit community and his loss will be felt by many people here.
Link
Monty Python star has cancer
Terry Jones has bowel cancer. His doctors believe they've caught it early, though, so things may not be as bad as they could.
This is the second Python so far with cancer; Graham Chapman died in 1989 from throat cancer.
Jones has always, to me, been the Python who quietly drove the troupe with his ideas, despite never catapulting to stardom as John Cleese and Michael Palin have. His commentaries on the Python experience (and outside of the Pythons) are always insightful.
Best wishes and a speedy recovery to Terry.
7-2
Schooled by a rookie pitcher and a lot of unnecessary errors.
Bring on Kenny Rogers. Bring on Game 2.
Bring on Kenny Rogers. Bring on Game 2.
The Shame of The Nation
Magna Carta required the king to renounce certain rights, respect certain legal procedures and accept that the will of the king could be bound by law. Link
Oh how far we have fallen. Tuesday will be remembered as one of the saddest days in the legislative life of this country. Tuesday, by law, the President (a single, elected official) has the ability to indefinitely detain, incarcerate and torture anyone. Anyone. All this frothing about how it's only aliens is a cover to the real, central issue. Today, representatives of your rights allowed your right to be taken away. Watch Olbermann for the scenario where you're the one who gets picked up as an "unlawful combatant".
It is immoral, it is reprehensible, and it is a travesty to the memory of hundreds of thousands of fallen men and women who laid down their lives so this generation, the generation currently buckling to the war-mongering power grabs of a corrupt government, can claim to live in safety.
This country should be more than ashamed. This country should be more than guilt-stricken. This country should be in mourning. Mourning the passing of ideals. Mourning the passing of the American dream. Mourning the death of Freedom.
- We have, I fear, confused power with greatness.
Indeed, we have lost the ability to evaluate our own minds, or hold thoughts that go beyond our small sphere of effect. Most Americans will not feel the impact of this law, either for good or bad. But the American people have allowed a precedent to be set. We have allowed our government to strip our freedoms without so much as a march or a thought of opposition. We yawned in the face of a President granting himself almost dictatorial powers. Those who stood up for the ideals were labeled as lovers of terrorism or, worse and most ironically, traitors.
I say this with all sincerity. I would rather a dozen terrorists go free than one person be held in my name and be tortured by mistake.
We have one tool left to fight this despicable turn of events: we can still vote. Despite faulty machines, an overwhelming voice cannot be tampered with. We can't vote out the President, but we can vote out anyone who supported him in this bid to wipe out the basic freedoms all Americans enjoyed, up until yesterday.
Michiganders, Pete Hoekstra supports this policy. Vernon Ehlers, David Camp, Fred Upton, John Schwarz, Michael Rogers, Joseph Knollenberg, Candice Miller, and Thaddeus McCotter all support this policy. Debby Stabenow, a Democrat, supports this policy. Every one of them deserves to be voted out of office.
Countrymen, find your representative on either the House or Senate voting records. If they voted Aye, vote them out. This is not how America thinks. This is not how America acts. Have we learned nothing from the past? Are we so blind that party loyalty is all we see? If you are religious, is this how your god wants you to treat your fellow man, as a punching bag? No level of safety is worth compromising our conscience. No enemy is so dangerous that we have to wound ourselves in their pursuit. If we, as a country, believe that the ends justify the means then the "war on terror" is already lost.
Situations Under Which You Automatically Lose
- 180 pound man, 3 ton truck.
- You begin a sentence with "In Azeroth/$MAJOR_CITY/Europe..."
- You end a sentence with "..., trust me."
- Invoking religion as an argument for or against anything.
- ...or abortion...
- ...or hunting...
- ...or pie. (Don't ask)
- Using "Don't ask" as an out for a meaningless joke.
- Any web-like term comes up in casual conversation and you get a silly grin on your face.
- "I heard IE7 supports something called Are-Ess-Ess??" *stupid grin*
- Pointing out the disproportionate treatment of a sibling in order to gain a favorable outcome with a parent.
- e.g. "You never did that for $SIBLING!" "Well, I'm doing it for you!"
Feel free to pile on.
Screw Your Family Values!
Why? Because I'm now classed as a "nonfamily household". According to the last US Census, "...for the first time, a new survey has shown that traditional marriage has ceased to be the preferred living arrangement in the majority of US households."
By the numbers this means that 50.2% of households weren't comprised of traditionally married couples but instead were made up of selfish single men and women and heathens such as myself and J--, unmarried cohabitants, and homosexual couples. But the really fun stat is this:
That's right, we out number you by 0.4%! And the really significant figure: this represents a drop in traditionally married households from 52% in six years.
Reading towards the bottom of the article, though, reveals some of the philosophical takes on this data. Take the conclusions drawn by Stephanie Coontz, head of the Council on Contemporary Families:
Did she just imply that longer life expectancy and the financial independence of women are bad because it impacts contemporary families?
By the numbers this means that 50.2% of households weren't comprised of traditionally married couples but instead were made up of selfish single men and women and heathens such as myself and J--, unmarried cohabitants, and homosexual couples. But the really fun stat is this:
By comparison, the number of traditional households with married couples at their core stood at slightly more than 55.2 million, or 49.8 percent of the total.
That's right, we out number you by 0.4%! And the really significant figure: this represents a drop in traditionally married households from 52% in six years.
Reading towards the bottom of the article, though, reveals some of the philosophical takes on this data. Take the conclusions drawn by Stephanie Coontz, head of the Council on Contemporary Families:
"The growing length of time partners spend with only each other for company, in some instances, has made individuals less willing to put up with an unhappy marriage, while women's economic independence makes it less essential for them to do so,"
Did she just imply that longer life expectancy and the financial independence of women are bad because it impacts contemporary families?
Endger's Game, Anyone?
For anyone who's read Ender's Game, this commercial for Nerf's new sniper rifle will send an extra chill down your spine.
And I so want one.
[via Penny Arcade]
And I so want one.
[via Penny Arcade]
Oughtta Be In Pictures
Who wouldn't buy a bag of dog food with that face on the bag?
Purina, Alpo, Science Diet, shoot me an email!
Snow
Everyone talked about it already but honestly, is this really anything to get worked up about? Are we not Michiganians/Michiganders? I didn't even have to brush the Jeep off.
Oh, right, October. Way too early.
I'll Take Two - Multi-Point Touch-Screen Input
Jeff Han is a research scientist for New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences . Here, he demonstrates-for the first time publicly-his intuitive, "interface-free," touch-driven computer screen , which can be manipulated intuitively with the fingertips, and responds to varying levels of pressure. (Recorded February 2006 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 09:32)
Link (requires Flash)
Guess Who's Back, Back Again
Shady's back, tell a friend!
Kidding. And don't ever call me slim anything.. someone's bound to die laughing.
I am back in town, pets are alive (Grandma was happy to spend time with her grand-dogs and grand-cats). This trip was for pleasure. I have a feeling many more trips to come will not; hopefully more on that in the future (job stuff).
I hear the Tigers made the World Series. Friends, family, I have to ask you... are you right with God? Because if they win, it's likely that fire, brimstone, and a seven-headed dragon will lay waste to the planet. Or San Fran will fall off the edge of the coast. Or snow will fall in Houston.. I can't remember how it ends, just make sure that, should the Tigers win 3 games you pray extra hard the night before Game 4.
That said... Go Tigers!
Ah yes, there's the snow
As many people have shown, it snowed here for the first time. While I'm not thrilled, snow really doesn't bother me that much. I like the cold and I like the quiet that winter brings as everyone hides inside. I don't ski or anything, so I've always found winter to be a slower season.
That said, I'm really not looking forward to driving up North tonight. Every moron from here to Charlevoix will be freaking out at the first freezing temps and snowflakes. Yeah winter.
That said, I'm really not looking forward to driving up North tonight. Every moron from here to Charlevoix will be freaking out at the first freezing temps and snowflakes. Yeah winter.
Best Use of $40K This Week
Ottawa County, Michigan will have to spend $40 to reprint 170,000 ballots for the upcoming election. Why?
The "L" was left out of "public."
As a former resident and voter in Ottawa County, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
M-14 to Continue to Suck Through Thanksgiving
Many road projects are finishing up around the state, except one. M-14 will continue to be under construction until early December.
As the Detroit News headline says; "Yay!"Link
The $38 million project is about three weeks behind schedule and won't end until early December...
As the Detroit News headline says; "Yay!"Link
AllofMP3 Must Shut Down before Russia allowed in WTO
This is the pressing issue that is keeping Russia out the WTO? A music retailer?
Russia, a country where oil, natural gas, metals, and timber account for nearly 80% of its exports, a country with 74 million laborers, a country that has existed in some form since the 12th century, is being held up from joining the rest of world's super economic powers (of which it already is one) over music.
The sad fact is, Russia needs to join the WTO in order to gain some help with their myriad of other problems; a failing banking system, a dying manufacturing industry, and a business environment so corrupt, American reality looks almost as good as the American ideal.
So, what better time to hang the damn Ruskie's over a barrel, right? I can't imagine the amount of money being spent by the music industry to have US diplomats threaten a foreign government's formal acceptance into a group they belong to in all but name.
I have never used AllOfMP3, not out of some sense of idealism, but more because I don't quite trust the idea of coughing up my credit card number to a business that, it appears, will eventually be raided for information. I do wish I could support them somehow over this strong-arm crap being pulled at the WTO, though. There are far more important issues to worry about than music licensing.
BetaNews | US Official: AllofMP3 Must Shut Down
Russia, a country where oil, natural gas, metals, and timber account for nearly 80% of its exports, a country with 74 million laborers, a country that has existed in some form since the 12th century, is being held up from joining the rest of world's super economic powers (of which it already is one) over music.
The sad fact is, Russia needs to join the WTO in order to gain some help with their myriad of other problems; a failing banking system, a dying manufacturing industry, and a business environment so corrupt, American reality looks almost as good as the American ideal.
So, what better time to hang the damn Ruskie's over a barrel, right? I can't imagine the amount of money being spent by the music industry to have US diplomats threaten a foreign government's formal acceptance into a group they belong to in all but name.
I have never used AllOfMP3, not out of some sense of idealism, but more because I don't quite trust the idea of coughing up my credit card number to a business that, it appears, will eventually be raided for information. I do wish I could support them somehow over this strong-arm crap being pulled at the WTO, though. There are far more important issues to worry about than music licensing.
BetaNews | US Official: AllofMP3 Must Shut Down
Something to think about
A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move against him, believing that he has the gods on his side.
~~Aristotle
[via Crooks & Liars]
~~Aristotle
[via Crooks & Liars]
How would a Technical Writer phrase "Idiotic Omission"?
In a former life, I was a technical writer. Scratch that, I was a damn good technical writer, the lack of appreciation from one Southeast Michigan-based employer not withstanding. I dreaded every minute spent writing a manual, help system, or technical spec. But I was damn good at doing it.
That said, it's not hard to be a technical writer. It is hard to be a good technical writer, however. So, to all you struggling tech writers, take this small piece of advice from a tech writer turned pseudo-developer/business process analyst: every blurb of documentation you put out should lead to a measurable outcome. Yes, you have to do the expository "this is why we built it this way" crap, but if I can't act on the information you put out, that information is worthless - documentative lint, if you will.
This post brought to you by two weeks of frustration caused by bad documentation. Frustration, I might add, that was cleared up by a 5 minutes phone call with a very accessible Subject Matter Expert.
That said, it's not hard to be a technical writer. It is hard to be a good technical writer, however. So, to all you struggling tech writers, take this small piece of advice from a tech writer turned pseudo-developer/business process analyst: every blurb of documentation you put out should lead to a measurable outcome. Yes, you have to do the expository "this is why we built it this way" crap, but if I can't act on the information you put out, that information is worthless - documentative lint, if you will.
This post brought to you by two weeks of frustration caused by bad documentation. Frustration, I might add, that was cleared up by a 5 minutes phone call with a very accessible Subject Matter Expert.
Google Gadgets For Your Webpage
Interesting thing happened today, Google opened its gadgets for placement on any web page (it used to only work on their own properties). Why is this interesting? Because most of Google is open via their API.
As part of the wiki/blog at ThinkNOLA, this opens up a possibility for something that has generated a little discussion in the past, that of a community calendar. Now, with open gadgets and the Google API, ThinkNOLA could create and maintain a public Google calendar of events and publish the mini calendar on the site. Updates to the calendar automatically go on the mini-calendar, which could be placed anywhere. Thoughts?
Google Press release
Main Google Gadget page
As part of the wiki/blog at ThinkNOLA, this opens up a possibility for something that has generated a little discussion in the past, that of a community calendar. Now, with open gadgets and the Google API, ThinkNOLA could create and maintain a public Google calendar of events and publish the mini calendar on the site. Updates to the calendar automatically go on the mini-calendar, which could be placed anywhere. Thoughts?
Google Press release
Main Google Gadget page
Moments from someone else's childhood
I never watched Bob Ross, mostly because I never considered myself artistic as a kid.
So, watching this fascinating clip of Bob Ross that someone posted to YouTube made me feel like I was watching clips from someone else's childhood. I was vaguely aware of Bob Ross and slightly more aware of this painting thing, but I never actually sat and watched this show.
Now, I sort of regret that. For all it's kitsch, there are so many redeeming qualities to Ross' work: it was approachable, it was simple, and it was completely for the audience. Ross never tried to make what he was doing anything more than it was. Even in this short clip, you can sense the pride in his voice as he teaches.
Compare this clip with any show on HGTV or your favorite DIY show. You don't find the simple pride in something done well there, all you get is "see how simple it is" as they hide the complex issues behind jump cuts.
Huh, I think I was just pining.
(Sorry for not posting the video directly; WordPress doesn't do embed)
How did they kill the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park again?
I only ask because it might be important to know in the future. Seems that some paleontologists (that would be smart people who play in the dirt) found a friggen huge Tyrannosaurus rex thigh bone in Montana a couple months ago. Unfortunately, when they tried to stuff the bone in their chopper, it wouldn't fit. So, after spending what was likely weeks dusting off this bone to preserve it, they very scientifically broke it in two.
Luckily, this paid off as they found soft tissue in the middle of this bone. What kind?
This tissue, including blood vessels, bone cells, and perhaps even blood cells, was so well preserved that it was still stretchy and flexible.
If someone teaches Wayne Knight to use bash, we're in big trouble.
Google Reader
Hmm.. looks like Bloglines. Congrats, Google. You finally made the reader we were all using already.
Google updates Reader
Google updates Reader
19 Year Old Diebold Technician Wins U.S. Presidency
Buwhahahahaha!
Link
In a dramatic development that has come as a surprise to pundits and the public alike, a youthful technician with Diebold, Inc. has emerged as the unlikely winner of the 2008 U.S. Presidential election. The president-elect, 19 year old Billy Pustule of Green, Ohio, reached via SMS at the garage apartment by his mother's house in which he currently resides, said he was "real psyched about being the president" and "had big plans for the inauguration party".
Link
How to Know When You Game Too Much
You write articles discussing the hand-edness of video game characters.
You create distrubing art of video game characters.
You have a category for gaming on your.. web... sitecrap.
You create distrubing art of video game characters.
You have a category for gaming on your.. web... sitecrap.
Intelligent design OK for science class, DeVos says
And another interesting race became a moot point. It's too bad because DeVos had everything going for him: he wasn't Jenny, he was a DeVos, and he wasn't Jenny. But then he had to go and do something stupid like this.
Sigh. Sorry Dick, not even Lee Iacocca can pull you out of this stupid, stupid maneuver. You just lost my vote.
Let's say this one more time: Intelligent Design is religion. As someone from the unbelievably religious West side of this state (which is the only reason DeVos made this statement, sucking up to the old, Dutch protestants), I know religion's effects on a young mind. Note to all you old (and not so old) Dutch protestants: not everyone believes what you believe and you have zero right to force them to hear your cosmological views, especially in a science class.
You can read all the ass-kissing at the Freep; hat tip to Stupid Evil Bastard for the link.
"Lots of intelligent people can disagree about the origins of life. In the end, I believe in our system of local control,” he said in a news release Wednesday afternoon. “Local school boards should have the opportunity to offer evolution and intelligent design in their curriculums."
Sigh. Sorry Dick, not even Lee Iacocca can pull you out of this stupid, stupid maneuver. You just lost my vote.
Let's say this one more time: Intelligent Design is religion. As someone from the unbelievably religious West side of this state (which is the only reason DeVos made this statement, sucking up to the old, Dutch protestants), I know religion's effects on a young mind. Note to all you old (and not so old) Dutch protestants: not everyone believes what you believe and you have zero right to force them to hear your cosmological views, especially in a science class.
You can read all the ass-kissing at the Freep; hat tip to Stupid Evil Bastard for the link.
Network Weaving: NOLA Networks
Kudos to Sarah Lewis, Operations Director for ThinkNOLA, and Valdis Krebs from Network Weaving for their continued work on making sense of all the New Orleans groups involved in the recovery. Valdis has posted the first network map of the more than 1,000 groups, people and orginizations that Sarah catalogued. You can see the map on Valdis' blog.
Motivational Moment
I. Effing. Hate. those insipid managerial motivational posters. The Demotivational posters [purchase] jumped the shark a long time ago, too. But, you have to have something in your mental back pocket to jump start yourself (as my last post illustrates). Mine is from Hugh MacLeod at gapidvoid.com and came from the Hughtrain, his response to the Clue Train Manifesto. It's simple, true, and hits a certain spot for me.
I see this over and over in people like NOLA bloggers, national figures (both Left and Right), and even in my team. I can buy my way into a meritocracy; I can't make someone passionate. And only the passionate see those fundamental things that really and truly matter.
I will work to be one of the passionate.
Merit can be bought. Passion can't. The only people who can change the world are people who want to. And not everybody does.
I see this over and over in people like NOLA bloggers, national figures (both Left and Right), and even in my team. I can buy my way into a meritocracy; I can't make someone passionate. And only the passionate see those fundamental things that really and truly matter.
I will work to be one of the passionate.
Doldrums
Warning: This post contains petty whining, references to winter, and cathartic material. I am not depressed, I just play it on the Internet.
Fall must be on the way; I'm feeling the demotivating doldrums coming on. J-- and I talked about this last night about how, in the middle of the day, I felt as if anywhere but where I was would be better. Not the "I want to quit my job and join the Peace Corps" kind of anywhere, just the "not my butt in that seat yet again" kind. Maybe it's a leftover from a disastrous Labor Day vacation attempt (which I now realize I didn't blog). Maybe it's the realization that I just helped justify my team (most of which hasn't even been hired yet) into $5 million. And, oh yeah, we have to build a complete ERP system in two years.
Maybe it's the onset of fall and the realization that snow is right around the corner. I actually don't mind the snow, just the constant dramatics that come with it ("a whole FOOT of snow" Booga booga booga). You'd think each flake was a harbinger of doom the way people prattle on about it.
Maybe it's not feeling motivated to work on ThinkNOLA, and the guilt that comes with not working on ThinkNOLA, which leads to less motivation, which.. you get the picture. I need to make a concrete list of items I can work on; I know I work better with tasks and items I can cross off.
Maybe it's looking at my blog and thinking "no one cares". Not that I want to have thousands of people flaming the hell out of my posts, but this is really, more than anything, vanity. And I don't like to think myself vain (seriously). So I don't blog, which doesn't add good to the equations.
I don't say these things so people will heap encouragement on me (please don't) but to, well, confess. These are not excuses, these are ruminations. I know from reading my feeds that there are others not that far removed from me who have far, far more to be depressed about. And this, too, makes me feel guilty. Guilty for wallowing. Guilty for being apathetic. Guilty for sitting on my ass doing nothing to help.
I hear a resolution coming; god let it get here.
Fall must be on the way; I'm feeling the demotivating doldrums coming on. J-- and I talked about this last night about how, in the middle of the day, I felt as if anywhere but where I was would be better. Not the "I want to quit my job and join the Peace Corps" kind of anywhere, just the "not my butt in that seat yet again" kind. Maybe it's a leftover from a disastrous Labor Day vacation attempt (which I now realize I didn't blog). Maybe it's the realization that I just helped justify my team (most of which hasn't even been hired yet) into $5 million. And, oh yeah, we have to build a complete ERP system in two years.
Maybe it's the onset of fall and the realization that snow is right around the corner. I actually don't mind the snow, just the constant dramatics that come with it ("a whole FOOT of snow" Booga booga booga). You'd think each flake was a harbinger of doom the way people prattle on about it.
Maybe it's not feeling motivated to work on ThinkNOLA, and the guilt that comes with not working on ThinkNOLA, which leads to less motivation, which.. you get the picture. I need to make a concrete list of items I can work on; I know I work better with tasks and items I can cross off.
Maybe it's looking at my blog and thinking "no one cares". Not that I want to have thousands of people flaming the hell out of my posts, but this is really, more than anything, vanity. And I don't like to think myself vain (seriously). So I don't blog, which doesn't add good to the equations.
I don't say these things so people will heap encouragement on me (please don't) but to, well, confess. These are not excuses, these are ruminations. I know from reading my feeds that there are others not that far removed from me who have far, far more to be depressed about. And this, too, makes me feel guilty. Guilty for wallowing. Guilty for being apathetic. Guilty for sitting on my ass doing nothing to help.
I hear a resolution coming; god let it get here.
Confessions of an Angry Blogger
I have to 'fess up; I got snookered, hoodwinked, and down-right tricked. My previous post about the Humane Society of the US (Don't We Have More Important Things to Do) was, in short, wrong.
Thanks to Dan for pointing out my ironic reaction to that false report about Wayne Pacelle's statements; the Animal Agriculture Alliance apparently either placed comments out of context or made them up completely. Dan's right when he says "They've got plenty of reasons to be mocked, but the use of the silly "canine American" term ain't one of 'em." So true. So, sorry for the mis-info, I was wrong.
That said, my comments about animal activists still stand. Reading Mr. Pacelle's Statement of Beliefs gave me pause. The euphemism-laden statement is a bleach-faded version of more radical activist propaganda. His profile in the Washington Post (linked by many vegan sites) shows a more radical side to Mr. Pacelle, including his agenda to "ban hunting, species by species, state by state, and the use of animals in research". Check out some other (older) quotes from Mr. Pacelle. Google returns many interesting articles about Mr. Pacelle; I encourage you to check him out.
However, the statements I ranted about earlier were taken out of context and I bit. Hard. For that I apologize to Mr. Pacelle and anyone who I may have offended. But, if Mr. Pacelle continues on the road he has been on since his college days, I don't think a similar statement is too far off and will be met with the same reaction as before. And for that I will not apologize.
Thanks to Dan for pointing out my ironic reaction to that false report about Wayne Pacelle's statements; the Animal Agriculture Alliance apparently either placed comments out of context or made them up completely. Dan's right when he says "They've got plenty of reasons to be mocked, but the use of the silly "canine American" term ain't one of 'em." So true. So, sorry for the mis-info, I was wrong.
That said, my comments about animal activists still stand. Reading Mr. Pacelle's Statement of Beliefs gave me pause. The euphemism-laden statement is a bleach-faded version of more radical activist propaganda. His profile in the Washington Post (linked by many vegan sites) shows a more radical side to Mr. Pacelle, including his agenda to "ban hunting, species by species, state by state, and the use of animals in research". Check out some other (older) quotes from Mr. Pacelle. Google returns many interesting articles about Mr. Pacelle; I encourage you to check him out.
However, the statements I ranted about earlier were taken out of context and I bit. Hard. For that I apologize to Mr. Pacelle and anyone who I may have offended. But, if Mr. Pacelle continues on the road he has been on since his college days, I don't think a similar statement is too far off and will be met with the same reaction as before. And for that I will not apologize.
Just so you know..
... you can tape bacon to a cat. Just not ours.
I'm curious to hear a reaction from our Feline Americans.
Whatever: Clearly You People Thought I Was Kidding [via Fark]
I'm curious to hear a reaction from our Feline Americans.
Whatever: Clearly You People Thought I Was Kidding [via Fark]
Don't We Have More Important Things To Do?
UPDATE: Welcome Googlers. Check out the follow-up post before you flame this one.
Remember kids, if you want to advance your cause, personalize the subject and rev up your logical fallacies. Today's example: they're not dogs, they're "Canine Americans". No joke.
And animal-rights groups wonder why we don't take them seriously. I'm not advocating random acts of brutality against dogs, cats, or rodents, but are we so confused about this issue that we have to anthropomorphize our pets?
I love my dog, he's the closest I ever hope to having a child. But even I know that, at the end of the day, he's a dog. Yes, he has feelings and emotions and desires, but he also has no opposable thumbs, would run away at the first chance you gave him, and would knock down a door to get peanut butter. I am responsible for that animal, but that doesn't make him anything more than that, an animal. He has primal instincts and motivations that, with education, I have been able to use to train him.
However, he is not an "American" anymore than I'm an executive by virtue of sitting in a high-back chair. That identity is meaningless simply because it is based on convenient accoutrement of my present situation. If my dog is moved to Canada, does he lose his "American" rights? What about a country where it's customary to eat dogs?
If my dog has any rights, he has the right to be happy and free from abuse, rights which are my duty to ensure. I am constantly disgusted by these moral bigots and busy-bodies who think they have the burden of telling me how awful I am for using certain words. I'm not a pet "owner", I'm a pet "parent". He's not a dog, he's a canine American. Oh, please.
We have laws to punish those who mistreat animals; enforce them. Instead of these idiotic agendas--which cost millions of dollars to create, market, and legislate--how about tossing some money to the people who are protecting animals? Animals are not people. I'll say it again. Animals are not people. As much as I love my dog, I would save a person over him. That doesn't mean I wouldn't miss him terribly. That doesn't mean I hate dogs. And it doesn't make me unworthy of being a pet "parent". It means that I am able to distinguish between people and animals, something that groups like the Humane Society of the United States have apparently ceased to be able to do.
Remember kids, if you want to advance your cause, personalize the subject and rev up your logical fallacies. Today's example: they're not dogs, they're "Canine Americans". No joke.
And animal-rights groups wonder why we don't take them seriously. I'm not advocating random acts of brutality against dogs, cats, or rodents, but are we so confused about this issue that we have to anthropomorphize our pets?
I love my dog, he's the closest I ever hope to having a child. But even I know that, at the end of the day, he's a dog. Yes, he has feelings and emotions and desires, but he also has no opposable thumbs, would run away at the first chance you gave him, and would knock down a door to get peanut butter. I am responsible for that animal, but that doesn't make him anything more than that, an animal. He has primal instincts and motivations that, with education, I have been able to use to train him.
However, he is not an "American" anymore than I'm an executive by virtue of sitting in a high-back chair. That identity is meaningless simply because it is based on convenient accoutrement of my present situation. If my dog is moved to Canada, does he lose his "American" rights? What about a country where it's customary to eat dogs?
If my dog has any rights, he has the right to be happy and free from abuse, rights which are my duty to ensure. I am constantly disgusted by these moral bigots and busy-bodies who think they have the burden of telling me how awful I am for using certain words. I'm not a pet "owner", I'm a pet "parent". He's not a dog, he's a canine American. Oh, please.
We have laws to punish those who mistreat animals; enforce them. Instead of these idiotic agendas--which cost millions of dollars to create, market, and legislate--how about tossing some money to the people who are protecting animals? Animals are not people. I'll say it again. Animals are not people. As much as I love my dog, I would save a person over him. That doesn't mean I wouldn't miss him terribly. That doesn't mean I hate dogs. And it doesn't make me unworthy of being a pet "parent". It means that I am able to distinguish between people and animals, something that groups like the Humane Society of the United States have apparently ceased to be able to do.
Crooks and Liars » Keith Olbermann’s Special Comment on Bush: Who has left this hole in the ground? We have not forgotten, Mr. President. You have. May this country forgive you
I've talked about Keith Olbermann before. I'm doing it again. Edward R. Murrow would be proud.
Video here. Text below. Read it, watch it.
[via Crooks and Liars ]
Video here. Text below. Read it, watch it.
And lastly tonight a Special Comment on why we are here. Half a lifetime ago, I worked in this now-empty space.
And for 40 days after the attacks, I worked here again, trying to make sense of what happened, and was yet to happen, as a reporter.And all the time, I knew that the very air I breathed contained the remains of thousands of people, including four of my friends, two in the planes and — as I discovered from those "missing posters" seared still into my soul — two more in the Towers.And I knew too, that this was the pyre for hundreds of New York policemen and firemen, of whom my family can claim half a dozen or more, as our ancestors.I belabor this to emphasize that, for me… this was, and is, and always shall be, personal.
And anyone who claims that I and others like me are "soft", or have "forgotten" the lessons of what happened here — is at best a grasping, opportunistic, dilettante — and at worst, an idiot — whether he is a commentator, or a Vice President, or a President.
However. Of all the things those of us who were here five years ago could have forecast — of all the nightmares that unfolded before our eyes, and the others that unfolded only in our minds… none of us could have predicted… this.Five years later this space… is still empty.
Five years later there is no Memorial to the dead.
Five years later there is no building rising to show with proud defiance that we would not have our America wrung from us, by cowards and criminals.
Five years later this country’s wound is still open.
Five years… later this country’s mass grave is still unmarked.Five years later… this is still… just a background for a photo-op.
It is beyond shameful.
—
At the dedication of the Gettysburg Memorial — barely four months after the last soldier staggered from another Pennsylvania field, Mr. Lincoln said "we can not dedicate - we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract."
Lincoln used those words to immortalize their sacrifice.Today our leaders could use those same words to rationalize their reprehensible inaction. "We can nto dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground." So we won’t.Instead they bicker and buck-pass. They thwart private efforts, and jostle to claim credit for initiatives that go nowhere. They spend the money on irrelevant wars, and elaborate self-congratulations, and buying off columnists to write how good a job they’re doing — instead of doing any job at all.
Five years later, Mr. Bush… we are still fighting the terrorists on these streets. And look carefully, sir — on these 16 empty acres, the terrorists… are clearly, still winning.
And, in a crime against every victim here and every patriotic sentiment you mouthed but did not enact, you have done nothing about it.
—
And there is something worse still than this vast gaping hole in this city, and in the fabric of our nation.
There is, its symbolism — of the promise unfulfilled, the urgent oath, reduced to lazy execution.The only positive on 9/11 and the days and weeks that so slowly and painfully followed it… was the unanimous humanity, here, and throughout the country. The government, the President in particular, was given every possible measure of support.
Those who did not belong to his party — tabled that.
Those who doubted the mechanics of his election — ignored that.
Those who wondered of his qualifications — forgot that.History teaches us that nearly unanimous support of a government cannot be taken away from that government, by its critics.
It can only be squandered by those who use it not to heal a nation’s wounds, but to take political advantage.
Terrorists did not come and steal our newly-regained sense of being American first, and political, fiftieth. Nor did the Democrats. Nor did the media. Nor did the people.
The President — and those around him — did that.
They promised bi-partisanship, and then showed that to them, "bi-partisanship" meant that their party would rule and the rest would have to follow, or be branded, with ever-escalating hysteria, as morally or intellectually confused; as appeasers; as those who, in the Vice President’s words yesterday, "validate the strategy of the terrorists."
They promised protection, and then showed that to them "protection" meant going to war against a despot whose hand they had once shaken… a despot who we now learn from our own Senate Intelligence Committee, hated Al-Qaeda as much as we did.The polite phrase for how so many of us were duped into supporting a war, on the false premise that it had ’something to do’ with 9/11, is "lying by implication."The impolite phrase, is "impeachable offense."Not once in now five years has this President ever offered to assume responsibility for the failures that led to this empty space… and to this, the current, curdled, version of our beloved country.Still, there is a last snapping flame from a final candle of respect and fairness: even his most virulent critics have never suggested he alone bears the full brunt of the blame for 9/11.
Half the time, in fact, this President has been so gently treated, that he has seemed not even to be the man most responsible — for anything — in his own administration.Yet what is happening this very night?A mini-series, created, influenced — possibly financed by — the most radical and cold of domestic political Machiavellis, continues to be televised into our homes.The documented truths of the last fifteen years are replaced by bald-faced lies; the talking points of the current regime parroted; the whole sorry story blurred, by spin, to make the party out of office seem vacillating and impotent, and the party in office, seem like the only option.
How dare you, Mr. President, after taking cynical advantage of the unanimity and love, and transmuting it into fraudulent war and needless death… after monstrously transforming it into fear and suspicion and turning that fear into the campaign slogan of three elections… how dare you or those around you… ever "spin" 9/11.
—
Just as the terrorists have succeeded — are still succeeding — as long as there is no memorial and no construction here at Ground Zero…
So too have they succeeded, and are still succeeding — as long as this government uses 9/11 as a wedge to pit Americans against Americans.
This is an odd point to cite a television program, especially one from March of 1960. But as Disney’s continuing sell-out of the truth (and this country) suggests, even television programs can be powerful things.And long ago, a series called "The Twilight Zone" broadcast a riveting episode entitled "The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street."
In brief: a meteor sparks rumors of an invasion by extra-terrestrials disguised as humans. The electricity goes out. A neighbor pleads for calm.Suddenly his car — and only his car — starts. Someone suggests he must be the alien. Then another man’s lights go on.As charges and suspicion and panic overtake the street, guns are inevitably produced.
An "alien" is shot — but he turns out to be just another neighbor, returning from going for help.The camera pulls back to a near-by hill, where two extra-terrestrials areseen, manipulating a small device that can jam electricity. The veteran tells his novice that there’s no need to actually attack, that you just turn off a few of the human machines and then, "they pick the most dangerous enemy they can find, and it’s themselves."And then, in perhaps his finest piece of writing, Rod Serling sums it up with words of remarkable prescience, given where we find ourselves tonight.
"The tools of conquest do not necessarily come with bombs and explosions and fallout. There are weapons that are simply thoughts, attitudes, prejudices - to be found only in the minds of men.
"For the record, prejudices can kill and suspicion can destroy, and a thoughtless, frightened search for a scapegoat has a fallout all its own — for the children, and the children yet unborn."
—
When those who dissent are told time and time again — as we will be, if not tonight by the President, then tomorrow by his portable public chorus — that he is preserving our freedom, but that if we use any of it, we are somehow un-American…
When we are scolded, that if we merely question, we have "forgotten the lessons of 9/11"… look into this empty space behind me and the bi-partisanship upon which this administration also did not build, and tell me:
Who has left this hole in the ground?
We have not forgotten, Mr. President.
You have.
May this country forgive you.
—
As a born-in-the-blood Republican, and someone who voted for Bush, I've given up. I'm also someone who examines the facts and, while not everything from the Left is the truth, the lies from the Right are profoundly worse.
[via Crooks and Liars ]
The New and Improved Auchtoon! (now with Blog)
Awesome cartoonist and all-around great guy (no, seriously) John Auchter has a new and improved website/blog. John's been cranking away learning all about Wordpress and servers and hosting (oh my) and he's finally up and running. Check out his new site and leave a commnet.. he'll even talk back.
Cool
In a follow-up to a post on Boing Boing about New Orleans a year after the Big K, I dropped a link to point out that ThinkNOLA's been around for a tad bit longer.
Damn if that suggestion didn't make the front page (on a holiday weekend Friday, but hey, it's better than a knitting blog).
Words you must read. Words you must understand
We don't have enough orators in this world anymore, at least not orators that make any damned sense. We get people like Bush, or Gore, or Rumsfeld who fancy themselves orators but, really, at their heart are passionless readers.
Except, that today, we may have found one. A writer, to be sure, of some prowess. A writer who, tonight, spoke the words that every American needs to hear and understand. Below is a transcript; this is a link to the video.
Dismissal of these words based on the source is foolish beyond even this generation. Not understanding these words importance is proof that you're part of the problem.
The man who sees absolutes, where all other men see nuances and shades of meaning, is either a prophet, or a quack.
Donald H. Rumsfeld is not a prophet.
Mr. Rumsfeld’s remarkable speech to the American Legion yesterday demands the deep analysis—and the sober contemplation—of every American.
For it did not merely serve to impugn the morality or intelligence -- indeed, the loyalty -- of the majority of Americans who oppose the transient occupants of the highest offices in the land. Worse, still, it credits those same transient occupants -- our employees -- with a total omniscience; a total omniscience which neither common sense, nor this administration’s track record at home or abroad, suggests they deserve.
Dissent and disagreement with government is the life’s blood of human freedom; and not merely because it is the first roadblock against the kind of tyranny the men Mr. Rumsfeld likes to think of as “his” troops still fight, this very evening, in Iraq.
It is also essential. Because just every once in awhile it is right and the power to which it speaks, is wrong.
In a small irony, however, Mr. Rumsfeld’s speechwriter was adroit in invoking the memory of the appeasement of the Nazis. For in their time, there was another government faced with true peril—with a growing evil—powerful and remorseless.
That government, like Mr. Rumsfeld’s, had a monopoly on all the facts. It, too, had the “secret information.” It alone had the true picture of the threat. It too dismissed and insulted its critics in terms like Mr. Rumsfeld’s -- questioning their intellect and their morality.
That government was England’s, in the 1930’s.
It knew Hitler posed no true threat to Europe, let alone England.
It knew Germany was not re-arming, in violation of all treaties and accords.
It knew that the hard evidence it received, which contradicted its own policies, its own conclusions — its own omniscience -- needed to be dismissed.
The English government of Neville Chamberlain already knew the truth.
Most relevant of all — it “knew” that its staunchest critics needed to be marginalized and isolated. In fact, it portrayed the foremost of them as a blood-thirsty war-monger who was, if not truly senile, at best morally or intellectually confused.
That critic’s name was Winston Churchill.
Sadly, we have no Winston Churchills evident among us this evening. We have only Donald Rumsfelds, demonizing disagreement, the way Neville Chamberlain demonized Winston Churchill.
History — and 163 million pounds of Luftwaffe bombs over England — have taught us that all Mr. Chamberlain had was his certainty — and his own confusion. A confusion that suggested that the office can not only make the man, but that the office can also make the facts.
Thus, did Mr. Rumsfeld make an apt historical analogy.
Excepting the fact, that he has the battery plugged in backwards.
His government, absolute -- and exclusive -- in its knowledge, is not the modern version of the one which stood up to the Nazis.
It is the modern version of the government of Neville Chamberlain.
But back to today’s Omniscient ones.
That, about which Mr. Rumsfeld is confused is simply this: This is a Democracy. Still. Sometimes just barely.
And, as such, all voices count -- not just his.
Had he or his president perhaps proven any of their prior claims of omniscience — about Osama Bin Laden’s plans five years ago, about Saddam Hussein’s weapons four years ago, about Hurricane Katrina’s impact one year ago — we all might be able to swallow hard, and accept their “omniscience” as a bearable, even useful recipe, of fact, plus ego.
But, to date, this government has proved little besides its own arrogance, and its own hubris.
Mr. Rumsfeld is also personally confused, morally or intellectually, about his own standing in this matter. From Iraq to Katrina, to the entire “Fog of Fear” which continues to envelop this nation, he, Mr. Bush, Mr. Cheney, and their cronies have — inadvertently or intentionally — profited and benefited, both personally, and politically.
And yet he can stand up, in public, and question the morality and the intellect of those of us who dare ask just for the receipt for the Emporer’s New Clothes?
In what country was Mr. Rumsfeld raised? As a child, of whose heroism did he read? On what side of the battle for freedom did he dream one day to fight? With what country has he confused the United States of America?
The confusion we -- as its citizens— must now address, is stark and forbidding.
But variations of it have faced our forefathers, when men like Nixon and McCarthy and Curtis LeMay have darkened our skies and obscured our flag. Note -- with hope in your heart — that those earlier Americans always found their way to the light, and we can, too.
The confusion is about whether this Secretary of Defense, and this administration, are in fact now accomplishing what they claim the terrorists seek: The destruction of our freedoms, the very ones for which the same veterans Mr. Rumsfeld addressed yesterday in Salt Lake City, so valiantly fought.
And about Mr. Rumsfeld’s other main assertion, that this country faces a “new type of fascism.”
As he was correct to remind us how a government that knew everything could get everything wrong, so too was he right when he said that -- though probably not in the way he thought he meant it.
This country faces a new type of fascism - indeed.
Although I presumptuously use his sign-off each night, in feeble tribute, I have utterly no claim to the words of the exemplary journalist Edward R. Murrow.
But never in the trial of a thousand years of writing could I come close to matching how he phrased a warning to an earlier generation of us, at a time when other politicians thought they (and they alone) knew everything, and branded those who disagreed: “confused” or “immoral.”
Thus, forgive me, for reading Murrow, in full:
“We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty,” he said, in 1954. “We must remember always that accusation is not proof, and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law.
“We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men, not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes that were for the moment unpopular.”
And so good night, and good luck.
Feedback
Scoble says that Steve Ball, group program manager for the Windows Audio Video Excellence team (hell of title) is reading all the blog, newsgroup, and beta feedback about the Vista sound.
For those of you not familiar, the Windows Audio Video Excellence team has decided that the default, startup sound for Windows Vista will not be configurable. They're considering allowing "advanced users" to disable the sound. How considerate.
Hey Steve, here's some feedback. Don't you ever, ever, tell me I can't turn a sound off. I know Microsoft probably paid a shit-ton of money to get just that sound, and good for you. But you know what, after hearing it for maybe a week, I'm going to want it off. Every corporate IT person in the world will want it off. You know why?
Imagine a Tuesday morning in late 2008. It's 7:56am. 500 people on a floor all start arriving for work. For the next 20 minutes the entire floor will echo with, what will be by that time, the insipid sound of Windows Vista booting up. Again. And all we have to look forward to is Wednesday when the whole damn thing happens again. And again. And again.
While many people are able to turn off their speakers, I can rattle off about 25 people from the top of my head who couldn't. They will play the Vista sound at full volume. Over. And over. And over.
Run Like Hell was a good song, too. Until they played it to death.
Let us turn off the sound. For the love of God, let us turn off that sound.
For those of you not familiar, the Windows Audio Video Excellence team has decided that the default, startup sound for Windows Vista will not be configurable. They're considering allowing "advanced users" to disable the sound. How considerate.
Hey Steve, here's some feedback. Don't you ever, ever, tell me I can't turn a sound off. I know Microsoft probably paid a shit-ton of money to get just that sound, and good for you. But you know what, after hearing it for maybe a week, I'm going to want it off. Every corporate IT person in the world will want it off. You know why?
Imagine a Tuesday morning in late 2008. It's 7:56am. 500 people on a floor all start arriving for work. For the next 20 minutes the entire floor will echo with, what will be by that time, the insipid sound of Windows Vista booting up. Again. And all we have to look forward to is Wednesday when the whole damn thing happens again. And again. And again.
While many people are able to turn off their speakers, I can rattle off about 25 people from the top of my head who couldn't. They will play the Vista sound at full volume. Over. And over. And over.
Run Like Hell was a good song, too. Until they played it to death.
Let us turn off the sound. For the love of God, let us turn off that sound.
Hey Ray!
Brilliant political strategy or stupidest thing you've heard in a year?
Ray Nagin to CBS Reporter (on camera)
*head to desk*
[via Ashley Morris]
Ray Nagin to CBS Reporter (on camera)
"That’s alright. You guys in New York can’t get a hole in the ground fixed and it’s five years later. So let’s be fair."
*head to desk*
[via Ashley Morris]
Blogger nation - The Detroit News Online
Check it out.. Ed Vielmetti is the lead interest in a Detroit News article about local bloggers. Blogs really are mainstream if The News picked it up.
I would have killed to have The News out Ann Arbor is Overrated, though.
I would have killed to have The News out Ann Arbor is Overrated, though.
ARG! There's Goes Another Fact!
At some point, I believe I heard or read that the human mind has a certain capacity for retaining information, sort of like a hard drive. At some point, you have kick out data in order to accommodate new data.
Which makes reading articles like this so damn infuriating. BBC NEWS | UK | Cows also 'have regional accents'
First, let me get this out of the way: Who effin' cares? How, in any way, shape, or form, does this improve the life of anyone? A university in the UK paid someone to research this. The stunning conclusion was expressed by a local farmer:
Wow. Assuming it's true (and, let's just say it is), this idea wasn't valid until some professor pronounced it so. Only then does it get a BBC story.
Second, I read this due to the car-accident effect; the article simply couldn't be about actual cows with actual accents. But, oh yes, it was. And now some fact which will be important to me in the future has been kicked out of my head to make room for the fact that cows have accents.
And now you have experienced the same joy as I have.
Which makes reading articles like this so damn infuriating. BBC NEWS | UK | Cows also 'have regional accents'
First, let me get this out of the way: Who effin' cares? How, in any way, shape, or form, does this improve the life of anyone? A university in the UK paid someone to research this. The stunning conclusion was expressed by a local farmer:
I spend a lot of time with my ones and they definitely moo with a Somerset drawl
Lloyd Green
Farmer
Wow. Assuming it's true (and, let's just say it is), this idea wasn't valid until some professor pronounced it so. Only then does it get a BBC story.
Second, I read this due to the car-accident effect; the article simply couldn't be about actual cows with actual accents. But, oh yes, it was. And now some fact which will be important to me in the future has been kicked out of my head to make room for the fact that cows have accents.
And now you have experienced the same joy as I have.
News Flash: This Story *might* be a subliminal advertisement
As J-- said, must be a slow news day.
ABC News has just learned that Republicans have sex. In fact, they have so much of it, they're out-producing Democrats and creating a "Baby Gap". Like that? Baby Gap.. get it? It's like the store. Oh, and want a little trivia with your slow news day? Paul Pressler, President and CEO for Gap, Inc. since Sep 2002, joined the Gap, Inc. board after leaving.. anyone.. anyone? That's right, The Walt Disney Company, which owns.. anyone? If you said ABC News, you'd be smarter than the average American.
But, back to the real news.. baby gaps *snicker* in political groups. If you can get through the blatant stereotyping (Democrats have cats not kids, Republicans are Puritan abstainers) and rhetoric ("'They're for abortion policy, they're for same-sex marriage, they're for many of the agenda items that eventually mean you probably don't have children in the household,' [conservative pollster Kellyanne] Conway said").. hmm.. there's actually only one meaningful fact in the entire story.
This, apparently, constitutes news.
Oh, by the way ABC News, there's a couple countries threatening to toss nukes around, a major US city is still in ruin a year after a natural disaster, and the federal government is taking its first steps to a Gattaca-esque world.
Maybe you could send one of your "reporters" out to cover some of that.
ABC News has just learned that Republicans have sex. In fact, they have so much of it, they're out-producing Democrats and creating a "Baby Gap". Like that? Baby Gap.. get it? It's like the store. Oh, and want a little trivia with your slow news day? Paul Pressler, President and CEO for Gap, Inc. since Sep 2002, joined the Gap, Inc. board after leaving.. anyone.. anyone? That's right, The Walt Disney Company, which owns.. anyone? If you said ABC News, you'd be smarter than the average American.
But, back to the real news.. baby gaps *snicker* in political groups. If you can get through the blatant stereotyping (Democrats have cats not kids, Republicans are Puritan abstainers) and rhetoric ("'They're for abortion policy, they're for same-sex marriage, they're for many of the agenda items that eventually mean you probably don't have children in the household,' [conservative pollster Kellyanne] Conway said").. hmm.. there's actually only one meaningful fact in the entire story.
Studying numbers from the General Social Survey — a government survey of social trends — [Syracuse University professor Arthur] Brooks found that 100 unrelated liberal adults have 147 children, while 100 unrelated conservatives have 208 kids.
This, apparently, constitutes news.
Oh, by the way ABC News, there's a couple countries threatening to toss nukes around, a major US city is still in ruin a year after a natural disaster, and the federal government is taking its first steps to a Gattaca-esque world.
Maybe you could send one of your "reporters" out to cover some of that.
This list means something
Hmm..
- Unbelievably expensive dinner (and damn good steak)
- Wrapping paper
- Chocolate Bill Knapp's cake
- Candles
- Dog begging for food at my feet
Well, four of those things are special. Must be my birthday. No more blogging today.
How to Set Up WordPress - Step by Step Video Tutorial
Kick-ass tutorial for getting your WordPress blog up and running. You'll have to resize the display window to get rid of the distortion in the Flash video, but it's fairly comprehensive, if a bit quick.
Wordpress Quickstart Screencast Tutorial (1)
Wordpress Quickstart Screencast Tutorial (1)
Idiots
As the anniversary of Katrina rolls over us, everyone is scrambling to do something "meaningful" to commemorate the event.
Like TalkLeft. Their brilliant idea?
Har Har! Get it? Water the bushes? Yes, send your bottle of water to Washington, that'll really help the hundreds of thousands of people still waiting for work to begin on their homes in New Orleans. Send your bottle of water and wallow in your sense of self satisfaction and wittiness. Send your bottle of water and then go back to concentrating on mid-term election analysis.
Someone else will pick up your slack. Do-nothing, feel-good, blogging; yeah!
Like TalkLeft. Their brilliant idea?
Help water the bushes for the anniversary of Katrina.
Please send a bottle of water to:
President George Bush
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Put your return address as:
Ernest N. Morial Convention Center
900 Convention Center Boulevard
New Orleans, LA 70130
Har Har! Get it? Water the bushes? Yes, send your bottle of water to Washington, that'll really help the hundreds of thousands of people still waiting for work to begin on their homes in New Orleans. Send your bottle of water and wallow in your sense of self satisfaction and wittiness. Send your bottle of water and then go back to concentrating on mid-term election analysis.
Someone else will pick up your slack. Do-nothing, feel-good, blogging; yeah!
Keyboard Down
I'm thoroughly disappointed. My Microsoft Ergonomic 4000 keyboard, for which, I might add, I paid over $50 for, just crapped out on me in under 8 months of use. I've had nothing but love for Microsoft keyboards in the past, pounding Ergonomic Pros into the ground for over 6 years.
But I've never had a keyboard flat out die on me after less than a year. At first I thought had some driver corruption or a, god forbid, a virus. Hitting "x" resulted in nothing, pressing "s" 3 times opened the help for the application I was working in, hitting "\" printed out some machine code. After installing the Intellitype software and the keyboard on J--'s computer, however, and seeing the same thing, we knew the keyboard was toast.
I have a spare POS keyboard that came with J--'s computer, but it's straight and small, so I'll be running to get a new keyboard when I get some time. But the frustration of having only a few hours of our own over the weekend was compounded by the frustration of not being able to even type. Thank god the weather was bookmarked.
Maybe it's time to get a Logitech keyboard.
But I've never had a keyboard flat out die on me after less than a year. At first I thought had some driver corruption or a, god forbid, a virus. Hitting "x" resulted in nothing, pressing "s" 3 times opened the help for the application I was working in, hitting "\" printed out some machine code. After installing the Intellitype software and the keyboard on J--'s computer, however, and seeing the same thing, we knew the keyboard was toast.
I have a spare POS keyboard that came with J--'s computer, but it's straight and small, so I'll be running to get a new keyboard when I get some time. But the frustration of having only a few hours of our own over the weekend was compounded by the frustration of not being able to even type. Thank god the weather was bookmarked.
Maybe it's time to get a Logitech keyboard.
Bullshitr!
Sort of NSFW URL.
integrate long-tail mashups
tag rss-capable networking
create rss-capable wikis
Ah Jeez.. another "Virgin" sighting
Workers in some California chocolate factory spotted a clump of waste chocolate that, kid you not, looked like the Virgin Mary. You know, the same Virgin that seems to pop up beneath overpasses, in burned houses, and slices of 10-year-old toast.
You'd think the Virgin Mother would have better things to do.
Or, maybe, it's delusional people.
...but [Cruz] Jacinto said she froze when she noticed the unusual shape of this cast-off: It looked just like the Virgin Mary on the prayer card she always carries in her right pocket.
Uh, yeah... it's called pareidolia people. Look it up. Nevermind.
Hot Damn!
I am a Tabasco head. I have bottles everywhere; kitchen, den, work. If they made bottles for the Jeep I'd keep one there.
Which makes my discovery of Tabasco Food Service all the more surprising. How did I miss this site for years? How have I lived with my simple dashes of Tabasco on virtually every food I eat without making stuff like this?
[via this guy's LJ]
Which makes my discovery of Tabasco Food Service all the more surprising. How did I miss this site for years? How have I lived with my simple dashes of Tabasco on virtually every food I eat without making stuff like this?
[via this guy's LJ]
Psychic Knew What JonBenet's Killer Looked Like?
A sketch created on a 1998 television show, when compared to a photo of the current suspect in the JonBenet case, has a "remarkable resemblance", according to the Denver Channel.
Take a look.. it's not just some "here's an vaguely familiar man" sketch; the "psychic" put a great deal of shading and features into the sketch, which correspond to the face of John Karr very well. I'm not postulating that she actually was psychic, but anyone know what the connection is here? Did she know the Ramsey's well? Would she have been privy to information not released publicly?
Because if she wasn't, that's one hell of a coincidence.
Take a look.. it's not just some "here's an vaguely familiar man" sketch; the "psychic" put a great deal of shading and features into the sketch, which correspond to the face of John Karr very well. I'm not postulating that she actually was psychic, but anyone know what the connection is here? Did she know the Ramsey's well? Would she have been privy to information not released publicly?
Because if she wasn't, that's one hell of a coincidence.
Blogging Better
Check out this plugin for Firefox for blogging: Performancing.
[via Gen Kanai weblog: Performancing]
Update: After only a couple posts, I'm not impressed. The Blog This function is buggy, there's no spell check (essential for some of us), and there's just to many tabs, buttons, and sections. It's a nice tool, but I'm still liking Windows Live Writer or the stock WordPress editor.
[via Gen Kanai weblog: Performancing]
Update: After only a couple posts, I'm not impressed. The Blog This function is buggy, there's no spell check (essential for some of us), and there's just to many tabs, buttons, and sections. It's a nice tool, but I'm still liking Windows Live Writer or the stock WordPress editor.
I'm all Web 2.0'd up with No Place to Go
Oh yeah.. we're Web 2.0, baby. We're lean, mean, and we like to validate. Or something... Does any get this Web 2.0 thing, aside from the people trying to sell you something Web 2.0 related?
You can make your own logo here.
[via Micro Persuasion]
Open Source Developers Add "No Military Use" Clause to License, Snicker as Friend Makes Farting Sound with Armpit
GPU, an open-source project that allows the formation of P2P grids, added a "no military use" clause to their GPL-based software license. The license says that
"the program and its derivative work will neither be modified or executed to harm any human being nor through inaction permit any human being to be harmed."
Which is cute and all in that Disney-esque picture of the world that the developers apparently have. But, it's the sort of hypocritical stance that sullies the name of open-source development. Open-source is just that, open. It's also, frankly, highly unlikely to be enforceable as there just in no precedent for excluding a specific user community based on intent.
The developer who inserted the clause cites ham radio operators as an inspiration, stating that a rule that says the technology can't be used commercially is "respected by almost every ham operator". Which, I suppose, is good enough, if we ignore those few who don't respect it. I fail to see a supporting argument in citing a closely-tied community respecting a rule to not use out-moded technology for commercial gain. Oh, and the military routinely used ham radios. Was that poof of smoke an argument?
Even Richard Stallman has his reservations, saying that even he doesn't support restricting the use of the software. Nevermind that grid computing might be used to say, oh, I don't know, simulate a scenario that leads to not attacking someone.
This is a self-serving addition by developers who obviously think a great deal about themselves. I hope the pats they've given themselves is sufficient comfort as many of us laugh at their gesture and watch a little bit of the open-source community's credibility drift away.
"the program and its derivative work will neither be modified or executed to harm any human being nor through inaction permit any human being to be harmed."
Which is cute and all in that Disney-esque picture of the world that the developers apparently have. But, it's the sort of hypocritical stance that sullies the name of open-source development. Open-source is just that, open. It's also, frankly, highly unlikely to be enforceable as there just in no precedent for excluding a specific user community based on intent.
The developer who inserted the clause cites ham radio operators as an inspiration, stating that a rule that says the technology can't be used commercially is "respected by almost every ham operator". Which, I suppose, is good enough, if we ignore those few who don't respect it. I fail to see a supporting argument in citing a closely-tied community respecting a rule to not use out-moded technology for commercial gain. Oh, and the military routinely used ham radios. Was that poof of smoke an argument?
Even Richard Stallman has his reservations, saying that even he doesn't support restricting the use of the software. Nevermind that grid computing might be used to say, oh, I don't know, simulate a scenario that leads to not attacking someone.
This is a self-serving addition by developers who obviously think a great deal about themselves. I hope the pats they've given themselves is sufficient comfort as many of us laugh at their gesture and watch a little bit of the open-source community's credibility drift away.
Terror Starts at Home
Want to know why yesterday's foiled terrorist plot actually worked? Watch the show with zefrank - 08-10-06 and you'll understand. To wit:
Indeed.
Today the President said, "This nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom to hurt our nation." Generalized statements like this which instill nebulous fear without specific information are exactly in line with the goals of terrorism.
Indeed.
Land Use in NOLA
Why are developers always, always at loggerheads with residents? What is it about open land, rows of modest houses, and quiet neighborhoods that just screams "Build condos on me!!!"?
Hmm, that sounds downright lovely. With my developer hat firmly in place, I must recommend bulldozing the entire Ward and find my company's Johnny Mallseed to skip through town to sprinkle the area with Quik-E-Marts, 7-11s, and a Taco Bell. Then, when I have my "business district" in place, I can start plunking down boxy, 3-story, walk-ups, modestly landscaped and selling for three times the local market value. That'll price out all those undesirables.
In many ways the Lower Ninth Ward incorporated all of the components of a lively, sustainable, engaging Smart Growth neighborhood. Residents understand the authentic connectivity that made their neighborhood work, the kind of physical, social and economic co-mingling that so many Americans desire, but which actually existed in the Lower Ninth.
It’s easy, even in the wreckage left by the hurricanes, to understand how the Lower Ninth Ward represents the idea of “neighborhood” and “community” — not as developers build them, or planners map them, or architects design them or politicians campaign in them. [source]
Hmm, that sounds downright lovely. With my developer hat firmly in place, I must recommend bulldozing the entire Ward and find my company's Johnny Mallseed to skip through town to sprinkle the area with Quik-E-Marts, 7-11s, and a Taco Bell. Then, when I have my "business district" in place, I can start plunking down boxy, 3-story, walk-ups, modestly landscaped and selling for three times the local market value. That'll price out all those undesirables.
To Do Today - New Orleans Wiki
So, in my continuing immersion (descent?) into all thing New Orleans, I have one nagging question at the fringes of my mind: How, exactly, does a Michigan resident (native and current) actually go about involving himself in, well, all things New Orleans? I can't go there with any regularity or, for that matter, at all, at the moment. I can't attend meetings or talk to citizens or any of that.
Or can I?
Excuse me while I wax poetic, but I can do much of this from the relative comfort of my home and/or office via the mystical experience of the Internet. From Blogometer to NorthWest Carollton, Think New Orleans to Gentilly Girl, Ray in New Orleans to Your Right Hand Thief, I can virtually participate. I can hear podcasts of meetings, collaborate on Wikis, comment on blogs. I can, for intents and purposes all my own, become part of a larger community, one that only exists because of technology. Granted, many of these blogs and the people behind them can interact in ways I cannot, but that's part of the community as well.
Which leads us full circle to the burning question: How, exactly, does this Michigan resident (native and current) involve himself in all things New Orleans? As I look, I see a list already exists for me at the New Orleans Wiki in the form of the To Do Today list.
Since Karen has clued me in to the BNOB documents as a starting point, it seems logical that I would start by populating the Architects and Non-profit Organizations databases at the Wiki. Alan mentioned that a whole lot of you are doing research; where would you like me to start?
Or can I?
Excuse me while I wax poetic, but I can do much of this from the relative comfort of my home and/or office via the mystical experience of the Internet. From Blogometer to NorthWest Carollton, Think New Orleans to Gentilly Girl, Ray in New Orleans to Your Right Hand Thief, I can virtually participate. I can hear podcasts of meetings, collaborate on Wikis, comment on blogs. I can, for intents and purposes all my own, become part of a larger community, one that only exists because of technology. Granted, many of these blogs and the people behind them can interact in ways I cannot, but that's part of the community as well.
Which leads us full circle to the burning question: How, exactly, does this Michigan resident (native and current) involve himself in all things New Orleans? As I look, I see a list already exists for me at the New Orleans Wiki in the form of the To Do Today list.
Since Karen has clued me in to the BNOB documents as a starting point, it seems logical that I would start by populating the Architects and Non-profit Organizations databases at the Wiki. Alan mentioned that a whole lot of you are doing research; where would you like me to start?
Return to Your Hovels, This Is Not An Election
So, I've been drawn into New Orleans politics, mostly because a) they matter and b) people around Ann Arbor think their politics are as important, which they are not. What got my hackles up was a "vote" conducted by Concordia Architecture and Planning (which I talked about over here). I'm still coming up to speed on a large backstory, but the current issue is basically this: planners are being chosen to rebuild the city after Katrina. Yeah, by the way, you should read some blogs from New Orleans; it's not all puppies and song-birds down there yet.
Think New Orleans exposed a process for receiving input from New Orleans citizens as a sham; many citizens groups considered the process a vote and their one opportunity to influence or outright choose the planners. Concordia, after the fact, is saying that it wasn't, and that the process was, in fact, a "consultation".
It should be noted that this "consultation" took the form of an easily-manipulated and impossible-to-verify online form, akin to, as Alan Gutierrez called it, a guestbook. Now Concordia is attempting to manage the damage, insisting that it wasn't a vote. I bit, jumping into the conversation.
As one of those who bit hard on calling that process a vote, I'm as guilty as anyone for propagating what, apparently, was a myth. But, that said, you can't call it a vote (and, let's be clear, it was called that on UNOP's site -- and still is (Google cache) -- and then change the marketing of that voting event in mid-stream because you don't like people latching onto that word.
But, really, the only questions left fall into the "what now" category. Concordia, the ball is in your court. Since you have carried out an unbelievably flawed "consultation", not utilized the only means to identify voters (their codes), and failed to even consider how to include over 75% of the population of the city, how do you prove (not state, but convince) those watching this democratic process that the flavor of this process isn't as rotten as it smells?
Your own model states: "Concordia has been developing tools to promote the comprehensive planning and design of facilities in the context of the total community." The total community. I think, measured against your own model, you have missed the voice of the total community and, out of principal, should want to do it again, correctly.
Concordia seems to be managing this democratic process. They are also the ones fighting for buy-in, the whole while promising this was the important moment. Well Concordia, the challenge is, for you, this: your words have created importance around an event your now wish to downplay. The proverbial genie is out of the bottle. The responsibility now lies in your hands to legitimize the event, because right now, it's looking pretty discredited. And, as action goes, so follows reputation.
This was, for anyone without a vested interest in it not being so, an election. Hell, you have the Mayor calling it "democracy in action". It's time to drop the smoke, mirrors, and pretense and 'fess up. How, precisely, will this democratic process work? How, precisely, will you collect legitimate "consultations" from the citizens of New Orleans? And how, precisely, are the citizens of New Orleans being made, not made to feel, vested in the activities that will will rebuild their city?
Think New Orleans » For the Record, This Is Not An Election
Think New Orleans exposed a process for receiving input from New Orleans citizens as a sham; many citizens groups considered the process a vote and their one opportunity to influence or outright choose the planners. Concordia, after the fact, is saying that it wasn't, and that the process was, in fact, a "consultation".
It should be noted that this "consultation" took the form of an easily-manipulated and impossible-to-verify online form, akin to, as Alan Gutierrez called it, a guestbook. Now Concordia is attempting to manage the damage, insisting that it wasn't a vote. I bit, jumping into the conversation.
As one of those who bit hard on calling that process a vote, I'm as guilty as anyone for propagating what, apparently, was a myth. But, that said, you can't call it a vote (and, let's be clear, it was called that on UNOP's site -- and still is (Google cache) -- and then change the marketing of that voting event in mid-stream because you don't like people latching onto that word.
But, really, the only questions left fall into the "what now" category. Concordia, the ball is in your court. Since you have carried out an unbelievably flawed "consultation", not utilized the only means to identify voters (their codes), and failed to even consider how to include over 75% of the population of the city, how do you prove (not state, but convince) those watching this democratic process that the flavor of this process isn't as rotten as it smells?
Your own model states: "Concordia has been developing tools to promote the comprehensive planning and design of facilities in the context of the total community." The total community. I think, measured against your own model, you have missed the voice of the total community and, out of principal, should want to do it again, correctly.
Concordia seems to be managing this democratic process. They are also the ones fighting for buy-in, the whole while promising this was the important moment. Well Concordia, the challenge is, for you, this: your words have created importance around an event your now wish to downplay. The proverbial genie is out of the bottle. The responsibility now lies in your hands to legitimize the event, because right now, it's looking pretty discredited. And, as action goes, so follows reputation.
This was, for anyone without a vested interest in it not being so, an election. Hell, you have the Mayor calling it "democracy in action". It's time to drop the smoke, mirrors, and pretense and 'fess up. How, precisely, will this democratic process work? How, precisely, will you collect legitimate "consultations" from the citizens of New Orleans? And how, precisely, are the citizens of New Orleans being made, not made to feel, vested in the activities that will will rebuild their city?
Think New Orleans » For the Record, This Is Not An Election
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