Living in fear is no good to anyone.

Poll #1060609
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 26

The Beatles

The Who

Led Zeppelin

Pink Floyd

Cheney's Levers:
http://www.overcompensating.com/posts/20070410.html

There are some quite good songs in this week's Contrast Podcast.
One instance is Cinema du Lyon's "Thank you Mr. Spell," which has a bunch of good samples in it. I picked out some from "Phonebooth", "Blade Runner" and "Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory," though there are others I didn't know the provenance of.

Peep Dioramas (The Lloyd Dobler bunny is awesome)

GTA4 will be awesome. (HD wmv video)

Being a Yes and Michael Jackson fan, I think this violin performance is pretty awesome.

Puppies are dangerous.

This joke is terrible/great/the-right-word-doesn't-exist:
http://xkcd.com/c241.html

The new Catbank shirt is awesome.

I used the word awesome a bunch up there. I guess it's just awesome.

This paper on the law of confidentiality looks interesting.

This quiz is kinda lame but kinda ok:
( Polyamory Quiz )

The "War" on Women

There is movie night tomorrow. I'm going to make green carne adovada. I don't know how it will come out as I've never tried making something quite like this, but it should be tasty even if it is totally "wrong". I'll have tortillas, cheese, and some rice to go along with it.

The other day chamewco posted about poetry. I don't have exactly the same "block" he talks about, but I often don't notice poetry and lyrics. With songs, for instance, I usually don't hear the words until at least the third time I've heard the song. The sounds are much more important to me than whatever the words may be saying. If the song sounds bad to me, I won't care about the lyrics.

I found a fun comic I'd never seen before, ( The Warehouse )

This is an interesting bit of code I encountered today. It's both straightforward and complicated at the same time.

while((bFirst ? 
       FProcess32First(hSnapShot, &processInfo) : 
       FProcess32Next(hSnapShot, &processInfo)))

This might be a new restaurant run by John of the former Hong Kong Restaurant in Socorro. schlake is probably going to eat there tonight and let us know if it's him and how the food is.

I went to a kirtan with royal_spice on Saturday. I was feeling ok before the chanting started. Then things got started and I felt really uncomfortable and alien. I couldn't bring myself to sing with everyone. I was thinking really hard about it. I realized I had to stop trying and it might come to me. About half-way through the second chant (there were four chants totaling roughly 2 hours), the uncomfortableness went away. I wasn't able get myself to sing along, but it wasn't a bad experience; once I got into it, the feeling was akin to dancing at a club or electronica concert but without moving and instead, sitting uncomfortably.

"[Attorney General] Alberto's [Gonzales] history reads like a paint by numbers, how-to instruction manual on how to destroy your local democracy."

A Silly Thing

A non-Silly Thing

A 48 minute video put together by BBC4 about journalists in Iraq:
Iraq:The hidden story

Beatboxing Flute:
"Inspector Gadget Theme/Axel F" Video

A Chewbacca blog:
http://rrrrrrrrrrrrrnnnnnnnnnnhhhh.blogspot.com/

I submitted something to Contrast Podcast again:
Contrast Podcast 047 Alternate Versions

I don't know who miss_tenacity is, but I'll generally friend people I don't know that compliment me* and don't have offensive or boring LJs.

*She may have only been complimenting Elyse and not me**. Also, complimenting me is not a prerequisite for me to friend someone.

**I'm an idiot. The date of her post makes it clear that she was only talking about Elyse since she only just friended me today.

The most important lesson about the Iraq War for reporters was perhaps the simplest one: Don't assume the White House is telling the truth. It's a lesson that many reporters seem to be forgetting now that U.S. officials are escalating their claims about Iran's role in Iraq.

Germany, Italy and Canada are our allies, nations with a profound respect for the rule of law. Whatever the benefits of such circuslike kidnappings — the one in Italy was said to feature an impressive length of stays in luxury hotels — they are not worth the damage they do to our relations with our friends and to our reputation.

An ultra-conservative Washington think tank with direct ties to the Bush Administration is offering a $10,000 bribe to any scientist or economist who will dispute a global warming report released today by the United Nation's top scientific panel.

"I think you have to assume a 27% Crazification Factor in any population."

How increasing ethanol production from corn could cause lots of environmental and economic problems.

Romania "built our country on pirated Windows"

I've known the song for a long time, but I never saw the very weird video until today:
Aphex Twin - Windowlicker

( Mooninite Images )
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignignokt#Ignignokt

Contrast Podcast 43 is up. I got a song in this time, and I plan on submitting one for #45. It's a cool weekly podcast where bloggers from all over submit songs and short audio intros in line with some theme for the week. I also had submitted a song back in June for Contrast Podcast 10.

I want something like this:
http://www.tuffyproducts.com/trunk/071.html (~$400)
or maybe this:
BesTop InstaTrunk (~$140)
There are advantages and disadvantages to both.

These are also cool:
http://www.tuffyproducts.com/door/043.html (~$50 per pair)
http://www.tuffyproducts.com/door/104.html (~$40 each)
http://www.acmejeepparts.com/products/13103_01.htm (~$20)

This looks interesting and is not Jeep related:
http://www.redsavina.com/

Fun music:
http://weebls-stuff.com/toons/hos/
http://weebls-stuff.com/toons/chase+me/

Many security specialists (including me, if that's not yet clear) are skeptical of the value of ID-based security generally, and believe that the TSA has not demonstrated (in the public literature at least) that an ID-based system is an effective or efficient form of protection against aviation terrorists. But because it is so easy to circumvent the TSA's mechanism, one does not need to agree with that broad point to see that the current system needs to be replaced. Since the ID system can be reliably bypassed by criminals and terrorists, we pay all of the costs associated with ID-based security and yet get none of the potential benefits, whatever they might be. That should be unacceptable no matter where one stands on the other issues. [bold emphasis mine, italics in original]

Clearly, liability is not all or nothing. There are many parties involved in a typical software attack. The list includes:

• the company that sold the software with the vulnerability in the first place
• the person who wrote the attack tool
• the attacker himself, who used the tool to break into a network
• and finally, the owner of the network, who was entrusted with defending that network.

100% of the liability should not fall on the shoulders of the software vendor, just as 100% should not fall on the attacker or the network owner. But today, 100% of the cost falls directly on the network owner, and that just has to stop.

"If my Democrat colleagues are truly opposed to the mission in Iraq, then as the new majority in Congress they should schedule a serious debate and a vote on cutting off funding for our troops," said Cornyn, R-Texas.

Cutting off funding for the troops in Iraq could be a great idea. The troops would mutiny and come home to see their families, abandoning the Iraqi Civil War to itself. The Shia and Sunni have been fighting for something like 1200 years. They can wait us out as long as needed, so we might as well just get out of their way.

If lawmakers make good on their pledge, the Heritage Foundation figures that 67 million more foreigners will enter the United States in the next 20 years. That surge surely excites multiculturalists and capitalists eager for an endless flow of cheap labor.
But Americans have a different desire.
In opinion poll after opinion poll, U.S. citizens say they want less immigration, not more. They want existing laws enforced, not nullified.

I sympathize with people who aren't making very much and are probably forced to comply with arcane corporate rules and who have to deal with weirdoes coming in with cans labeled "Rocket Fuel." I really do. But... c'mon. How much effort is involved in *not* being part of the common-sense-negating, spirit-crushing, Bush-era fear-slash-stupidity machine? The terrorists win again.

In the interests of dignity, we have taken public executions out of the public square where vendors used to go around selling treats to the slavering crowd. We have invented execution lite, strapping people to gurneys and injecting them with fatal drugs.
But even if we killed criminals by making them watch public-television fund drives until they expired, it would still be undignified. Premeditated killing is always undignified. The crowd outside still drools in its imagination.

This is really sweet (a myspace music thing):
http://www.myspace.com/computerthanks
I've heard other songs of his, but this one is extra good.

If you've traveled abroad recently, you've been investigated. You've been assigned a score indicating what kind of terrorist threat you pose. That score is used by the government to determine the treatment you receive when you return to the U.S. and for other purposes as well.

Curious about your score? You can't see it. Interested in what information was used? You can't know that. Want to clear your name if you've been wrongly categorized? You can't challenge it. Want to know what kind of rules the computer is using to judge you? That's secret, too. So is when and how the score will be used.

This newish BitTorrent client sounds interesting:
http://bittyrant.cs.washington.edu/

I just found out that one of my favorite songs is a cover and I've never heard the original.

A man in a COONSKIN CAP wants eleven (20) DOLLAR BILLS and you only got TEN.

I've wanted it for a while, but only just got it about a week ago. It's good.

Since I'm going up to see the Thomas Dolby and BT show on Friday, and two_pi_r is probably going up to the 2600 meeting, there won't be a movie night this week. Next week there will be a lalabob11's Birthday party movie night.

This essay is excellent. Go read it:

All global ambitions are based on a definition of productivity and the good life so alienated from common human reality I am convinced it is wrong and that most people would agree with me if they could perceive an alternative. We might be able to see that if we regained a hold on a philosophy that locates meaning where meaning is genuinely to be found -- in families, in friends, in the passage of seasons, in nature, in simple ceremonies and rituals, in curiosity, generosity, compassion, and service to others, in a decent independence and privacy, in all the free and inexpensive things out of which real families, real friends and real communities are built -- then we would be so self-sufficient we would not even need the material "sufficiency" which our global "experts" are so insistent we be concerned about.

(Thanks for linking to it pflarr)

If you don't know how to play the drums or piano, but do know how to edit film and want to make music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzqumbhfxRo

houdini_cs told me about Bill Monk at lunch today. I signed up and sent invites to all of the people I owe money to and all of the people that own money to me. It hopefully will replace my widget banking entirely. The EFF likes them quite a bit: Bill Monk Privacy

Nationally syndicated talk show host with 8 million listeners reveals evil Jewish plot.

Non-Newtonian Fluids FTW!!

Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra is fun:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSj6qna3aJc

This album is awesome:
http://www.pandora.com/music/album/89cca81827e2aeb7

I like it when one of my all-time favorite songs comes on on Pandora:
http://www.pandora.com/music/song/566e5bcd5ab68de4

Now Let's Do Something About Iraq

Warning to Democrats: Remember why you won

It's stuck in my head. Now it can be stuck in yours too.
Loverboy - Working For The Weekend:

Everyone's watching, to see what you will do
Everyone's looking at you, oh
Everyone's wondering, will you come out tonight
Everyone's trying to get it right, get it right

Everybody's working for the weekend
Everybody wants a little romance
Everybody's goin' off the deep end
Everybody needs a second chance, oh
You want a piece of my heart
You better start from start
You wanna be in the show
Come on baby lets go

Everyone's looking to see if it was you
Everyone wants you to come through
Everyone's hoping it'll all work out
Everyone's waiting they're holding out

Everybody's working for the weekend
Everybody wants a little romance
Everybody's goin' off the deep end
Everybody needs a second chance, oh
You want a piece of my heart
You better start from start
You wanna be in the show
Come on baby lets go

You want a piece of my heart
You better start from start
You wanna be in the show
Come on baby lets go

You want a piece of my heart
You better start from start
You wanna be in the show
Come on baby lets go

Voting Machine Design

To say that politics has gone to the dogs is a libel on the dogs.

Self-esteem is down. Hyper-sexuality is up. It's even seen as a badge of empowerment. What, who, huh? Having the freedom to walk around in public like a vamp is empowering? Having the freedom to sell your body means women have achieved parity?

Fettes Brot

I'm definitely in the majority:

Awesome Wikipedia vandalism.

( Accent Meme )

This is awesome:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSPvvVfcoAw

Song meme answers:
The first one was "Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division. royal_spice was able to guess it.
The second one was "Stakeout" by Freezepop. No one guessed it. lizenthusiasm's cake is here.

While I'm on the topic of songs, here are a few I've been liking lately (in no particular order):
"Common Gound" by Dave Aude
"Searching" by Offer Nissim
"I Begin To Wonder" by Dannii Minogue
"Let Go" by Gabriel & Dresden
"Jupitersex" by Sylvie Marks & HAL9000
"Hello" by Howard Keel (This one is doesn't fit in with the others, but it does fit somehow.)
"Hung Up (Bill Hamel Remix)" by Madonna

To listen to the Pandora station I've been hearing these on, go here:
http://www.pandora.com/?sc=sh157171957377396061

( Read more... )

I'm having fun, so another one.

I know you work on the road in note indie the memory. I think one day that we meet. I am thinking make us slightly more. I am dissimulated behind my review, I see you going above that beyond that. I am not to be seen ready. I precisely sat towards the line here and spy. Young people come and go from the boys. to explain me slightly that I do not know. I saw you here front. I would like to see you more and more. you receive in my head. I wish you in my bed. faraway I re-examine you outside. cannot show you me. I am stakeout. I am stakeout. I am stakeout. I am stakeout. I have a plan in the understanding for you. I wait, until time is right. I know that you want, which me. no need for placing in top a fight. You pay attention faraway you look at so gently and clueless. I move soon inside on my victim. it is a time for me to do that. To pay attention and offers the feeling elating. To wait my time. yeah I know that you are soon my. to be soon my. cannot show you me. cannot show you me. cannot show you me. I am stakeout. I am stakeout. I am stakeout. I am stakeout. Young people come and go from the boys. to explain me slightly that I do not know. I saw you here front. I would like to see you more and more. you receive in my head. I wish you in my bed. faraway I re-examine you outside. cannot show you me. cannot show you me. yeah I know that you are soon my.

The clue is that the singer made a really awesome cake the other day. Photos of it are in her LJ and a community she runs. Both are in my friends list.

Take one of your favorite songs. Put a verse into google language tools. Translate from English to German. Translate from German to French. Translate from French to English. Post the results and let your friendslist guess which song.

If the program strongly bites and if the ambition is low, and the Grollfahrten tops, feelings not do not rise however and modify to us our manners, taking different roads, then like, with loves violently breaks separately again us.

Why the room be slept is so cold? Turned far on your side? Is my TIMING deformed that? Our respect to run so dry calm? However, there is still this resemblance, the weve by our lives held. The love breaks separately violently again expensive, us.

Do you cry outside in your sleep? My whole Schwächeexposé? A taste in my opening to receive; As a despair to take holds. Is it slightly, therefore good just cannot work any more? If the love, still violently breaks us with share with loves.

This should be easy. Comments are screened, so the correct answer isn't shown. I'll unscreen all wrong answers. Also, I used the entire lyrics, not just one verse. The icon is a clue, not my current mood.

Weird Al - White And Nerdy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZhuz9Gbgk8&eurl=
It's pretty good.

The Muppet Swedish chef video page:
http://www.alluvium.com/~wes/chef/

U.S. history as I was taught it:
The U.S. history classes I had up through 8th grade were wholly cheerleading: "America is awesome! Yay!"
The classes I had in high school were better; things were taught more objectively. The classes focused on "rule of law" and how the laws changed over time.
In college, the U.S. history classes (I took both that were offered, pre 1865 and post 1865) were focused on once core topic, and were cheerleadery about it. The topic was "slavery is bad." ALL of the material covered was brought back to that point.
I would estimate that I know more about U.S. history than the average American, but my knowledge is clearly biased and has gaps due to the courses I've taken.

Bush declares himself absolute ruler: It's 'my government'

Retroactive War Crime Protection Proposed

The Bush administration drafted amendments to the War Crimes Act that would retroactively protect policymakers from possible criminal charges for authorizing any humiliating and degrading treatment of detainees, according to lawyers who have seen the proposal.

James McMurtry's "You Can't Make It Here Any More":
http://scoffeepie.livejournal.com/224510.html

Information and authentic videos of metals reacting violently with water:
Sodium Party
Alkali Metal Bangs

A parody of "The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny":
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/330027
It is very vulgar, with penises flapping around everywhere, but it pretty accurately spoofs every scene in the original.

I'm trying to remember where these (or very similar) lyrics are from:
"...gonna have a party, have a real good time."
They were used in a recent song, but they're also from an older (60s, 70s or 80s) song. I wasn't able to find anything useful with Google other than another group of people trying to find the older song. I poked some of the other search engines, but they didn't help either. I'm hoping someone out there might know what song it is.

Issues:</a>
Sky Marshals Name Innocents to Meet Quota:

The air marshals, whose identities are being concealed, told 7NEWS that they're required to submit at least one report a month. If they don't, there's no raise, no bonus, no awards and no special assignments.
"Innocent passengers are being entered into an international intelligence database as suspicious persons, acting in a suspicious manner on an aircraft ... and they did nothing wrong," said one federal air marshal.

Random Entertainment:
The Fairy of Actual Nickels:
http://wigu.com/overcompensating/2005/03/fairy-of-actual-nickels.html

Monty Python:
http://spamusement.com/index.php/comics/view/323

Just for Laughs Gags - "Protester Leader" video:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=NFFbmDkDV_c

While My Guitar Gently Weeps:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8oxlPoZNbU

wolf359nmt will love this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0neAHeBc_Zc

Personal stuff:

Does anyone know/know of any NM attorneys experienced with poly and/or gay partnership legal issues?

There is a movie night tomorrow. lalabobo11 already picked the movie we'll watch, but I forget what it is called; it's something with Angelina Jolie that was made after Hackers but before she was really famous. We'll be making empanadas for dinner. Some will be spicy beef, some will be mild beef, a few will be mild apricot and a very small number will be spicy apricot. People bringing food to share is always welcome too.

I bought plane tickets and reserved a rental car for my trip to WA next month. I'll be flying in on August 24th and leaving on September 2nd. I've got a hotel reserved for Aug 24th through Aug 29th checkout. I'll figure out the other nights as the time gets closer (I have a bunch of friends in the area that I can probably stay with and some of them have already been contacted). The days I have the hotel for are the days I'll be busy with Penny Arcade Expo. The rest of my time up there is there for me to visit with people and do some touristy things.

Other stuff:

According to the IRS, in 2001 (the most recent year examined) the government lost more than $340 billion in uncollected taxes. This is money that is actually owed to the federal government — not money that taxpayers have been able to legally avoid paying through creative accounting or the clever use of loopholes. This is a substantial sum. It is approximately 20 times what the federal government spends on Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) each year, the main welfare program for poor families. It is 55 times what the federal government spends on Head Start and almost 100 times annual foreign aid spending for Sub-Saharan Africa. Alternatively, the taxes that go unpaid each year are 30 percent of what the federal government actually collects in income taxes (personal and corporate). This means that if the federal government could find a way to get tax evaders to pay their bills, then tax rates could be reduced for everyone by 25 percent, and the federal government would have the same amount of money.

Download Muppet Music! They've got lots of stuff, including almost all of the music from Fraggle Rock.

Also somewhat related to Muppets, a company is selling plush sex dolls that look kinda like Muppets with large breasts:
http://www.teddy-babes.com/ (NSFW)

Drawings of stereotypical fan convention attendees (specifically ComicCon):
http://storyboredom.blogspot.com/
Some of the drawings and descriptions are really accurate to the sorts of people I often have to deal with at cons.

I haven't tried it yet, but this thing is supposed to be able to figure out what song you're thinking of from you tapping the vocal melody with your space bar:
http://www.songtapper.com/s/tappingmain.bin
If it works, it would be useful if you need to find a song but can't remember anything about it but a few lyrics.

Fabulous He Man sings!
It's a very silly video from here.

Having never studied Latin and always having had a very tough time learning languages, my results are better than I expected:
( Latin Test )

I'm convinced George W. Bush is a madman, a brain-damaged dry drunk whose insanity and megalomania threaten the very existence of America. He represents a clear and present danger to the peace and security of this nation and must be treated as a traitor to the very Constitution he swore to uphold in two inaugurations.

The "evocative" part of the love song thing yesterday was very subjective and I'm sorry I didn't consider that when I brought it up. I don't know some of the songs people posted, so I can't judge them. Of the ones I know, I don't consider most of them to be "evocative." The most evocative love song (to me of course) mentioned was Willie Nelson's "Always On My Mind." Yesterday I couldn't come up with any powerful love songs other than The Smiths' "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" and The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows," both of which are religious. Thanks for your input.

Anyway, off to movie night and what I hope to be a relaxing and productive weekend.

I was thinking about music today, particularly love songs. All of the evocative love songs I know of invoke religion in some way (usually the Christian religion since it dominates the English and Spanish speaking worlds). Do any of you know any really strong love songs that don't invoke religion in some way?

Some of you know about it, and some don't, but there was some tension between lalabob11 and I for the past ~week. We have mostly worked it out, putting us on strong ground again. It was a different type of hardship than we've encountered before, but we're learning.

Why Do People Only Love Cute Animals?
The ethics of meat eating.
I am a callous person as regards this issue (and animal treatment in general), but I overall agree with Barbara.

Mas Que Nada FTW!!

Merlin Mann is sometimes awesome.

Some good advice:

If you are certain that you have committed no crime, and if the agent promises you that nothing will happen to you if you tell the truth, and if it is crystal clear that you are nothing but a peripheral witness, it may be appropriate to voluntarily interview with federal law enforcement officials. But don't speak to them unless: you have discussed the matter thoroughly with your attorney; your attorney has called the prosecutor to determine your status as a witness, subject or target; and, your attorney is present during the interview.

Neither am I suggesting that it is generally acceptable to be interviewed by federal agents as long as your attorney is present. In fact, it is usually unacceptable and is often quite risky. ... Indeed, barring special circumstances, I never let a client with the slightest degree of criminal exposure submit to an interview by government agents.

This is a cool gadget, but more expensive than I can justify for buying:
Wireless Camera Hunter

From My Old Kentucky Blog:
I had no idea there were so many covers of my favorite song.

two_pi_r's favorite Saturday Night Live skit:More Cowbell

After I posted last night, I ended up screaming myself hoarse at the unruly line for Rocky Horror. Once we got them in the room, I went to bed. I got about 4 hours of sleep.

Morning was calm. I bought a nice Totoro plushie, finding him for sale at only two dealers (specific size and color) and offered the dealer with the higher price the chance to undercut the other. He didn't take it, so I went to the one with the already lower price. I also decided that I'm not going to buy any of the cels I looked at yesterday. Things looked like they'd be nice and easy til the evening (i.e. no fires for me to put out) and I was tired, so I went and took a nap. I was able to get another ~2.5 hours of sleep. I saw angryvirginrec when I was on my way to my nap, but was too tired to do much. I didn't see him for the rest of the day; I hope he had fun.

The afternoon was ok until 1600 when we had to start dealing with the lines for cosplay. The lines were hellish and we had to turn at least 700 people away once the room was full.

Then we were organizing the forming lines for the concert (this was at 1900; the concert wasn't supposed to start until 2200). Cosplay ran about 40 minutes long, it having started about 30 minutes late. Then there were some sort of setup issues in the theater which delayed us more. We ended up opening the doors at 2350, about 2 hours late. The crowd (over 2000 people) was in the room by 0015. I ran away to bed, assuming the show would run without me.

I got up to my room, and started writing this post. Just now (actually, between paragraphs 3 and 4), lying in bed, I got a phone call about shutting down a room party a few floors up. Security is being called to take care of it. This day doesn't want to end. I'm hoping I can get to sleep.

We just got gas at the Smith's at Central and Tramway.
Odo 170418
Time 2251

Earlier we saw Stomp at Popejoy Hall. The show was fun.

This heavily annotated article goes into some depth on the various issues relating to election fraud in the 2004 Presidential Election:
Was the 2004 Election Stolen?
Republicans prevented more than 350,000 voters in Ohio from casting ballots or having their votes counted -- enough to have put John Kerry in the White House.
BY ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.

Jaron Lanier on the hazards of online collectivism:

We now are reading what a collectivity algorithm derives from what other collectivity algorithms derived from what collectives chose from what a population of mostly amateur writers wrote anonymously.

The Contrast Podcast is a collaboration of bloggers all over, commenting on mainly new music, though older stuff is usually allowed. Each podcast has a theme uniting the songs people choose. The current podcast has the theme "Road Trip." It also has a contribution from me (I need to spend more time working on the intro the next time I submit something). Download the mp3 here.

While I'm on the topic of music, My Old Kentucky Blog has a post up about Murder By Death. They're a hard band to classify, but I guess rockabilly comes close. It's good stuff.

What happens when you combine 200 liters of Diet Coke and over 500 Mentos mints? (video)

MediumLarge is often quite silly:


A comic comparing the X-Men comic books with the new movie.

I read about the Supreme Court decision the other day but there wasn't a straightforward enough article to link to. No there is:

Stephen Kohn, chairman of National Whistleblower Center, said, "The ruling is a victory for every crooked politician in the United States." A person who burns a U.S. flag is protected from retaliation; a public employee who exposes waste, fraud and corruption can be fired, he said.

Everybody loves singing karaoke to Journey (Family Guy clip).

Margot & The Nuclear So and So's - "Quiet As A Mouse"
The song isn't great, but the video is a cool style of animation I haven't seen before.

Many, many versions of the classic Leonard Cohen song Hallelujah. My favorite is the Jeff Buckley version. The Elisa, Chris Botti, Erik Flaa and Leonard Cohen versions are also pretty good. Most of the rest are interesting, and I could see how some would like them better than the ones I picked, but I felt they were only "eh" or worse (one, I forget which, is a shitty bootleg where the nearby people at the bar are considerably louder than the performer).

As I watched Bush deliver his Memorial Day speech at Arlington Cemetery Monday, I saw a man without an ounce of grief or remorse. Bush delivered his speech in a cold, calculated way, using a day of honor for dishonorable purposes, exploiting a time of memoriam to further his political agenda.

Blade Runner will be rereleased to theaters and DVD. (Thanks alphamajor.) I have both the original international theatrical release and the director's cut on VHS, but neither on DVD. Getting the theatrical releases on DVD will be awesome. Also, it would be cool if I could catch it in a theater, but I don't know if it'll play in Albuquerque when it's rereleased.

I'm not really looking (because I don't want to leave Socorro right now and am reasonably satisfied with my current job even though it gets me down sometimes), but I do get emails from the NMT Career Services people about jobs from time to time. This programmer/classics job at Tufts looks pretty cool except for the time limit thing.

It appears that Hasbro is selling a cum shot gun. They don't call it that of course.

This one is going around again.
( Rate My Life Meme )

I have always found the song reasonably enjoyable, but the video (which I had never seen before) is incredibly strange and detracts from the song.

These are some pretty cool stockings.

wolf359nmt will like this photo of a rooster.

Do any of you have a Resistance/Inductance/Capacitance meter I can borrow for a while?

Wow, there were huge amounts of cheating in the Google DaVinci Code Quest (read the comments). My 41 minutes isn't even close to some of the times cheaters got (<5 minutes) and is double some of the legitimate claims.

Do the English usually pronounce libido with the second 'i' hard [le-BYE-do]? A cover of Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit.

( Sexual Style Meme )

A-Kon is in two weeks and the travel plans are pretty well figured out. This year I have a camera, so some of the silly people will have their souls sucked by me. Also my plans for the PAX trip in August are slowly coming together (Yay, I'll get to spend some in-real-life time with ladymarguerite (who's probably going to attend PAX) and the WA people in addition to working the most fun con I've been to).

Does anyone want to go down to El Paso and see Devo on August 17th?

The Optigan is a weird "instrument."

Do any of you have any Kate Bush albums I can borrow?

Preventing Youth pregnancy and STDs
The above link is preaching to the choir, but maybe we can find a way to affect change in the outside world with some of the info from first (or at least second) sources:
"Pierre-Andre Michaud, chief of the Multidisciplinary Unit for Adolescent Health at the University of Lausanne Hospital in Switzerland and a leading researcher in European teen sexuality, dismisses the idea--widely held in the United States--that sex constitutes risky behavior for teens."

It appears a group has started what appears to be a racing club on the runway that was turned into the Matrix:Reloaded freeway since I last looked.

"Another year passes and once again I face a terrible truth..."

This is silly and wrong: Shining

Guy jumping from roof to roof (thanks aisa0)

I thought I had personal content to put here, but I guess not. Oh, the showtime for DVC we're going to is 9:30 p.m. tonight at the Starlight in Los Lunas.

"As we stagger toward the realization that we are in a full-fledged energy crisis, I am hoping for a cooler-than-normal summer."

"I don't, for a second, believe Bush is a Christian or a religious man. He is an opportunist who uses religion as a political tool as do far too many of the so-called family-value Republicans who infect Congress like a rampaging cancer."

Ian Curtis: July 15, 1956 – May 18, 1980

The culture of 'national security' in which as much as possible is classified has proved itself to be dysfunctional. It does not protect us from our enemies. It protects bureaucrats and politicians. It is the perfect place to hide incompetence and even malfeasance. It is a tool for turf wars and in-fighting and false prestige. Clearly the Senators and Congressman who are supposed to perform intelligence oversight are so thrilled at being part of the top security clearance club that they don't notice how much has gone wrong or understand why.

When making decisions about other security systems, it's important to look for these two characteristics. Imagine a "panic button" in an airplane cockpit. Assume that the system was designed so that its publication would not affect security. Should the government publish it? The answer depends on whether or not there is a public community of professionals who can critique the design of such panic buttons. If there isn't, then there's no point in publishing.

Missile guidance algorithms is another example. Would the government be better off publishing their algorithms for guiding missiles? I believe the answer is no, because the system lacks the second characteristic above. There isn't a large community of people who can benefit from the information, but there are potential enemies that could benefit from the information. Therefore, it is better for the government to keep the information classified and only disclose it to those it believes should know.

It's been about a year since I got incredibly excited about a new artist (Jem). I just discovered Lily Allen, who has a somewhat similar feel (British girl, fairytale hip-hop), but jazzier. She doesn't have an album out yet (I think), but I'm buying as soon as I can.
http://earfarm.blogspot.com/2006/05/lily-allen.html
http://www.myspace.com/lilymusic

This is kinda slimy, but reasonable at the same time:

Always enter a conversations[sic] with a drink you are about to finish. If things don't go well, all you need to do is take one last gulp from your drink and excuse yourself to get another, never to return. If the conversation is going well, finish your drink and ask the other person if you can get them anything when you go to get another. They will appreciate the gesture even if they decline, and it impies[sic] that you'll be returning for a longer conversation.

An animation about a badger and some crows:
http://www.beam.tv/beamreels/play_clip.php?reel_file=QyqWJvFcVH&action=open

There isn't an organized Movie Night tomorrow. I won't be making a big dinner for everyone. People are welcome to show up and hang out if they want though. I'll be at the Taiko PAS thing, but others should be home then. Once that's over, I'll be home.

This is a webcomic I just found that's pretty silly:
http://www.wigu.com/overcompensating/

The past few days have been some of my busiest at work. Having a lot of things to work on and having clear goals for them is refreshing (and not the usual situation for me). I don't think it'll keep up though, meaning that work will probably be trudging again soon. The alpha-version product we are shipping tomorrow for a few customers to evaluate is really cool/easy to use and does some really complicated ray-tracing stuff in near-real-time (millions of rays in a few microseconds). I'm not supposed to talk about it in more detail (trade-secret stuff), so I'll stop here.

[Scott McClellan] wasn't put there to brief the White House press but to frustrate, and belittle it, and provoke journalists into discrediting themselves on TV. The very premise of a White House "communications" office gets in the way of understanding the strategy that prevailed from July 2003, when McClellan took over from Ari Fleischer, until this week, when he announced his resignation.

"They terrorize other government officials, and they're so secretive that their names aren't even revealed to a harmless federal employee directory. And they've helped ruin the country. Meet Dick Cheney's staff."

Ahmadinejad's Demons (bugmenot.com for logins)
An article is about the new President of Iran and the gruesome events leading up to his term.

William Stuntz's Misguided Theory of Privacy and Transparency
by Daniel J. Solove
Stuntz wrote an article arguing that privacy and transparency are bad for government and citizenry. This is Solove's counter-argument.

http://www.petefagerlin.com/
A bunch of cool "helmetcam" mountain-biking videos.

Paul Anka Spins Pop His Way with 'Rock Swings'
I ordered this CD, which should be silly/fun. The link has 3 tracks you can listen to (RealPlayer).

The Smiths. Live. 1985.
A whole concert you can download.

From http://www.overheardintheoffice.com/

2PM Mentoring Session
Tenured faculty guy: You know you really should start attending faculty meetings.
Non-tenured faculty guy: Why? I'm not allowed to vote on any departmental issues.
Tenured faculty guy: It would still be professionally instructive for you to attend.
Non-tenured faculty guy: But I'm already aware of the fact that this department is full of petulant egomaniacs.

Department of Mathematics
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Overheard by: mark mccombs

Firefly Squid

Some people are confused so I'll make it as clear as I can:

1. No Movie night this coming Friday.
2. My Birthday party this Saturday evening. Show up around 6ish. There's lots of space for Albuquerque people to come down and spend the night as usual. I'm going to make a barbecue dish of some sort (probably NC Pork).
3. Easter Dinner at 2 p.m. Sunday. I'm making hams, kielbasa and cabbage, and a Polish white soup.

A bunch of Christains are trying to get tolerance laws and regulations repealed because the believe the laws discriminate against them:

[Christian activist Gregory S. Baylor] says he supports policies that protect people from discrimination based on race and gender. But he draws a distinction that infuriates gay rights activists when he argues that sexual orientation is different — a lifestyle choice, not an inborn trait.

I see a very simple counter to this argument: being Christian is "a lifestyle choice, not an inborn trait" so, by his reasoning, taking any legal actions to protect them is unreasonable.

...dire pronouncements about new forms of entertainment are old hat. It goes like this: Young people embrace an activity. Adults condemn it. The kids grow up, no better or worse than their elders, and the moral panic subsides. Then the whole cycle starts over.

( Real/Fake Breast Identification Meme )

The other day, a friend was talking about love. She ended her post with a question. I left this in reply:

How do you know?
For me, it's how I feel when I haven't been able to talk to her or hold her in over ~18 hours. She fills a hole I didn't even know was there before and now it hurts when it's empty. I'm the happiest I've ever been and it's mostly due to our relationship.

HerbieHancock-Rockit segues really well into TheHumanLeague-Don'tYouWantMe.

This will tell you how to make your LJ's calendar not show how many times you posted in a day:
http://community.livejournal.com/lj_nifty/142451.html

Political Cartoons:
"Rugged individualism is strongest when we obey"
Banana Republicans

It's really cool when you're listening to the radio and a really cheesy 80's instrumental comes on that you recognize, but it takes you a moment to figure out what it is: Jan Hammer - Miami Vice Theme.

I'm doing well. Work is tolerable and home-life has been good. I've been busy with projects. I gor the water filter installed in the kitchen and I should be able to have the table finished by the 15th when I want it done.

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