massdestruction

Spot the difference

The national coverage of Hurrican Katrina was pretty stupid, but Wonkette found something that is just sick.

A change is a coming

Its an odd year for the N.C. Legislature. Ours is one that is traditionally very staunch and not ready for change no matter what the people think. Though the following bills have no real social quality to them it does seem to me that this session shows a bit of change in the making.

First, there is the beer alcohol percentages being raised¹. We were one of 4 states to not sell beer over 6.2% until now. This makes the local Budweiser distributor mad, makes me happy when I drink a good Belgian beer but means nothing in the big scheme of things.

Second, we have raised taxes on cigarettes². What!!??!! In North Carolina?? You are shitting me! No, I'm not. South Carolina stores are celebrating and probably already have large billboards proclaiming the "Last stop for Cheap Cigarettes". Good, you can have that S.C. Anything to make us different than you is fine with me. This has a little more social worth than the beer one at least.

Finally, as of a few minutes ago we are the final state on the East Coast to implement a lottery³. I can see both sides of this one but in general I don't mind it. Unfortunately for our Governor it means his term has lost all its meaning since it is the only thing the guy ever talked about.

So three bills and a whole new direction for a Legislature that still allows members to smoke on the floor. We can only hope that they will continue their path of change for things like Medicare, education, and other items that really matter. However, I can't leave this without pointing out that they also managed to sign into law a bill that never actually hit the floor of the Senate. Well, they are only human.

¹Beer Law

²Cigarette Tax

³Lottery

Who names their kid Shepard anyway?

You're damn right Shepard, it really is none of your fucking business. Now, go home twit.

Watch the videos, it is interesting that both Shepard and the anchor dismiss the man's language by saying "well, that's the attitude". Hmmmm... lets see... my city is about to be destroyed... Fox Fucking News Channel is sticking a microphone in my face... did I mention it was Fox News Channel. I'm inclined to think that the attitude in New Orleans is just fine.

Its not a bucky-ball damnit!!

My friend, and Clark-alum, Mark (Maaaaaaahhhhh!) laments not being in New Orleans anymore but takes the wise view of not wanting to be there right now in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. I have to agree Mah. This one looks bad.

I was a bit surprised to hear that the "Superdome" has now become a "back-up storm shelter"... and by back-up they mean that they have only now decided to make it into one. I know I shouldn't compare one superdome to another, not being a structural engineer, but haven't these entertainment palaces generally been bad when it comes to structural integrity? When I think superdome I immediately have visions of the Seattle superdome ceiling tiles taking out football fans in the middle of games. This looks like an unfunny disaster waiting for the tragic punchline.

I don't want there to be a disaster and have my two (is it three now?) readers think I'm a sage or anything.. I'm just trying to use common sense here.

Koko, meet Ai Ai. Ai Ai, this is Koko

This chimp named Ai Ai (and supposedly another in South Africa) has picked up the habit of smoking.

My assumption is that Ai Ai's incarceration is to blame for her addiction. If this is the case, I know a great lawyer she should consider hiring who has experience in Simian legal matters.

Wes on Iraq

Look, I know I've said this before but someone should elect this guy to be President or something. For those of you political junkies, the General will be on "Meet the Press" this Sunday.

George for President!

I don't know much, if anything, about Liberian politics, but I do know that George Weah has thrown his name into the running for President. He has my full support. Why? Because he once played for my team, Chelsea. That's enough for me.

He's here, he's there,
He's every-fucking-where
Georgie Weah, Georgie Weah!

Evangelical cleric of the radical persuasion

Do you see that? Do you? Even after calling for an assassination of a head of state and endagering Americans doing missionary work in Venezuala, as well as causing problems for an already weak State Deptartment, the press still insists on calling Pat Robertson and evangelist while guys like Muqtada al-Sadr are consistently called Radical Clerics.

Someone explain the difference to me, because if Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, and James Dobson don't fall into the category of Radical Cleric no one does.

Pat "dubya" Robertson

I found this article about Pat Robertson wanting to break the Ten Commandments scary on a number of levels. However, the scariest thing about it to me is that in that photo he looks exactly like George "dubya" Bush. Its gotta be a conspiracy - thats just too freakin' scary.

Two notes on technology

Lets do the bad news first. Recently I completely wiped my powerbook and reinstalled OS X 10.4.2 (aka Tiger). I had been experiencing some badness and hoped it would help to get rid of all those previous upgrades. I must now report that it is as unstable as before. I think this is the most unstable Apple OS since OS 9. My problems generally revolve around my plugging and unplugging devices into my laptop. I can generally count on at least one GSOD (Grey Screen of Death) when I have to use more than one peripheral. Suck. I may put Panther back on it.

OK, now for the good news. I just bought an external Digital Analog Converter (DAC) for my CD Player. Some of you know I am a bit of an audiophile though without super expensive gear. My CD player is a Musical Fidelity from a few years ago and digital conversion technology moves as fast as any other technology so its quite a good upgrade, and very easy. Recently a few very good DACs for under $200 came out and I knew it was now time to pounce. I am very pleased with the outcome. My "Entech Number Cruncher" has added a great deal of warmth which is what I live for. If you have a CD player with digital out and its a few years old you really should consider it.. if, of course, you care. I do.

Leonard Pie

My old friend from the Clark campaign, Leonard, has written an interesting article for IBM's developerWorks on CherryPy a Python based CGI-ish web development platform with its own small webserver. Its kinda groovy though I am pretty sure I have absolutely no need for it at the moment. Nice job Leonard!

By the way, Leonard is also one of a few authors of Beginning Python which is one of those Wrox books where they plaster the author's photo all over the cover. Luckily for Leonard there is more than one author so its not an extreme close-up of him, he's one of three geeks on the cover. I'll have to buy it and frame it.

sharp and sweet

I'm making some ribs for this evening and I have to say that going outside in 95° F weather and standing over a smoker full of glowing charcoal is not exactly... fun. I am sure, however, that once I bite into the first one all the pain will be forgotten. I certainly don't make them as tasty as our friends Bryan and Susan can but truth be told, it is hard to make a bad rib. My signature is in using two kinds of paprika, a sharp variety and a sweet variety. mmmmmmmmmmmmmm, ribs.

On religion

The other day a friend of mine asked me on Instant Message if I was an atheist. Despite the fact that this was a little more than I really wanted for a conversation on the Instant Message format, it occurred to me that people who read this blog probably think I hate all religion or something. This really isn't true despite the fact that I really don't approve of what most Christian denominations are attempting to accomplish politically the last few years. I will repeat that I am not Christian, however, I am not an atheist either. I should also provide some back-story here. Myy parents raised me Methodist and would not allow missing more than one Sunday in a row. Considering the hypocrisy I felt from our church, this might not have been a positive thing for me. However, my late Uncle was a Methodist minister and probably the kindest and most generous person I have ever known... this was a positive thing.

So what am I? I am a liberal religious thinker.

This is not liberal as in politics, this is liberal as in being open. My beliefs revolve around old school liberal-religious thoughts that are best realized today in Unitarian-Universalism. UUs are a non-doctrinal liberal religious organization that believes spirituality can be found in any experience. For me it is most important to understand that our own thoughts and ideas can be as illuminating as the ideas and experiences of those who came before us. This does not imply that they will be superior, nor does it suppose that the ideas before ours are. To me, no single book, revelation, or doctrine contains the whole truth, and I am not sure that we can know the whole truth of existence.

This is my religious liberalism. Not an attempt to follow a fad, simply being open to any source of spiritualism. I can find religion sitting on the floor with headphones on listening to albums, as easily as I can find it standing on a mountain that has taken days to climb, as easily as I can find it standing on stage having a crowd of people completely involved in notes I am playing, as easily as I can find it in a text.

Growing up I remember having to repeat a doctrine in church that (to paraphrase in my words) stated that we believed in Jesus being born of suspect circumstances, Jesus dying a terrible death, and Jesus rising again in suspect circumstances. Not once did we repeat any belief in the things Jesus taught in between those suspect endpoints. Why is that? Where did the "be good to your neighbor" go? What happened to meek inheriting earth? I think its apparent in our society that these are secondary elements to many modern religious teaching. I want religion that attempts to update one's point of view, not doctrine that refuses to change.

The nice thing about liberal religious organizations like UUs is that I can have these personal beliefs and someone else can have slightly or extremely different ones.

On a more personal note, I simply think I could do with a little more development of the way I go through the world. I am too critical of others, and I am lacking in service to others. All religious texts, humanist texts, transcendental texts, and many secular texts speak to being better people and I feel I could use some time studying these. Perhaps most of us could.

Does this mean I will go to a UU church every Sunday? Well maybe, maybe not. I don't think that's necessary though it could be a good way to take time, relax, and think which is not a bad thing for anyone.

OK, that is how I approach spirituality as best as I can explain it. I hope you had the patience to read it and think about your approach. Even the belief in atheism is a valid approach to something more than the here and now to me.

The cross we bear

From this first hand account I learned that someone ran over the crosses Cindy Sheehan set up outside Bush's vacation spot. The thing that strikes me about this is the view from the press. I am 100% positive that had this been a protest from the right-wing the press would have repeated the outrage from them about desecrating a memorial to fallen soldiers, and repeated it, and repeated it....

However our <cough> liberal press has these headlines:

A Bad Week For Protesting Mom - CBS
Peace Mom's husband files for divorce - Chicago Tribune
CINDY SHEEHAN'S AGENDA - Yahoo News

The crosses being run over have barely been mentioned so far. We are talking about crosses here... the Christian symbol of Jesus Christ's sacrifice for our sins... the very heart of Christianity, the most dominant religion in our country and the one that our President loves to mention over and over again. Mention that the ten commandments have no place in a court of law and the press is all-the-fuck over that one - run over crosses that a liberal-leaning person places and who gives a shit - her husband wants a divorce!!

Lame.

dot-dot-dot-dash

I imagine that 60 years ago this was an amazing day not just for my Grandfather (pictured) but for my Dad and Grandmother as well. My Grandfather served for the duration both in Europe and in the Pacific and was gone for quite a few years. I never got to meet him as he died a couple months before I was born but I have done a lot of reading about his unit and asked many a question about his life.

Happy VJ day Granddad.

Zeus, allow me to punish the Athenians

Today there is a story about Bush's Texas neighbor pulling out the shotgun and firing into the air in order to "make a point" to the protesters out there. So lets take a short trip down memory lane for a second... First we have a male prostitute faking his name and getting into the White House, then we have people like The Denver Three being kept away from a Bush rally by perhaps the Secret Service, perhaps just "handlers". Now we have a guy with a shotgun at the entrance to Bush's ranch firing randomly into the air and he isn't even talked to by the Secret Service. There is no mention of them being concerned, there is no mention of them going for their guns. Have the Secret Service, like the rest of the White House, become complete imbeciles since Bush took office? I bet Cindy Sheehan has been searched and questioned a few times and she hasn't pulled her gun. You might make the argument that this dude is on his own property, for which I would ask - so what? He's firing into the air, near the President.

Someone tell Judy Miller we found them!

This is pretty sweet... now that we have destroyed Iraq, they are producing chemical weapons! I think we should go to war with them now... you know... to get rid of their chemical weapons program.

That's unpossible!

Watching the news tonight I actually heard the use of the word impactful in relation to two Carolina Panther players. Impactful. These people speak for a living.

And I thought I had it bad

When I posted earlier about the article that describes what its like in summer for me, I should have also noted how thankful I am not to live in a place where air quality is an emergency.

I don't know if Malaysia uses the same air quality scale we use but they are reporting a reading of "500" (they don't say of what). If it is the same as ours then they have maxed out the scale.

On a typical summer day I can start having asthma, though not always, even when it is "Moderate" which is 50-100 on the Air Quality Index. If its over 100, I know it for sure. I am not sure what I would do if it were 500+

PAW is still there

Just to let you know, I am still keeping my PAW project. I am about one week behind which isn't too bad for the summer months - I really don't ever want to take photos in the summer. Check it out, enjoy it. The photo to the right is probably my favorite of the recent photos.

Its summertime, living is easy

Life for Dave in summer.

Seems kind of like a "duh" article to me.

Everything is Hunky Dory, thanks.

I have a great headphone amp and a phenomenal set of headphones. I have to, I am a record nerd.

Tonight I have pulled the turntable forward, fired up the headphone amp, slipped on the headphones and listened to Pet Sounds and Hunky Dory.

It occurs to me that we are desperately in the need of a new renaissance in this country. A new transcendentalism movement. But that's probably just the albums talking.

Paging Dr. Dobson, you're needed in the insurgency room

Radical cleric James Dobson obviously didn't get the memo that bringing up Nazis to make current-day comparisons never turns out well.

Young boys do that in Europe too

Its really a simple story - a soccer team builds a new stadium and everyone is happy. However, mix the team name "Young Boys", the new Stadium name "Wankdorf", and an English editor with that famous U.K. wit and you get this headline

Note: Click on my screenshot if they have taken the story down or changed the title.