change is now online
it's great that the obama-biden campaign got their new website [change.gov] up so fast. but i feel like something is missing... ;]
it's great that the obama-biden campaign got their new website [change.gov] up so fast. but i feel like something is missing... ;]
the london book project is an endeavor that takes inspiration from many of the same social behaviours that we observed in the tube and incorporated into undersoung. although their website is not the greatest, the project has some nice ambitions:
The London Book Project is a free book exchange on a massive scale. Using the London Underground as a high speed distribution network, we aim to bring real literature to London's commuters. Scrap the freesheets - read a free book instead!i'm looking forward to seeing the results.Over the next two weeks we'll be distributing thousands of second hand books across the tube and we want YOU to get involved. If you see one of our books, please pick it up! Then read it and replace with any book of your choice. Let's make the tube a giant, free library!
i look forward to the day when this country really is one big fiesta for illegal aliens and homosexuals. listen about it here.
maybe i should go shopping here. i might find some stuff i used to own ;]
check out this video of jon stewart engaging in an amazing defense of gay marriage against the comparatively foolish arguments of bill bennett. stewart always amazes me, and although he is clearly hilarious, he is more logical, persuasive and just generally spot on than most of our politicians. as he says, "divorce is not caused because 50% of marriages end gayness."
[thanks boing boing]
i'm not sure if these shoe things are cool or lame, but i certainly would like to try a pair. the soles are made of vibram, the same stuff my chaco hiking sandals are made from [karma's favorite! heh]. those are super comfortable so i wonder if these bizarre looking foot-glove things would be too. although i could imagine it being a bit painful running on hard concrete, or getting beat up on the playground for looking like an idiot. but still :]
[thanks gizmodo]
since we at the house of 168 1/2 have been doing a all-the-star-trek-movies marathon, i thought it would be apropos to post about leonard nimoy's recent career change. he's now taking photos of naked women, eggs and other things. live long and prosper indeed :]
there is a very provocative article in the new york times magazine today about walmarts move toward stocking organic foods. it speaks a lot to the issues of sustainability, exactly the same sorts of issues we, the members of a seminar on ubicomp, were raising during a discussion of bruce sterling's new book shaping things. the article is definitely worth a read as it's important [if you care that is] to not take "organic" at face value, just because the government says it's organic it might be doing more harm to our environment than you think. for now the burden of sustainability is one which we all must fight to carry.
this paradoy of the sony bravia ad [which was how i first heard of jose gonzalez actually, and perhaps unsurprisingly] is quite cute. it's an ad for a drink called tango and it was filmed on the streets of swansea in wales.
the joy which this photo brings me cannot be expressed in words. i heart the oregon humane society for bringing this picture to the masses. perhaps this bunny is a descendant of the late pancake bunny. the line lives on!
a masterpiece credited only to "two chinese students". i love the internets.
to disturb yourself further read the comments from the original blog post on splitlevel.
[thanks boingboing]
according to the boston globe there are a pair of lesbian swans in the public garden. they were a famed couple apparently, "romeo and juliet," but now in need of a name change.
''I think this proves that there's something in the environment in Massachusetts," Brian Camenker, director of the Article 8 Alliance, a Waltham-based organization fighting same-sex marriage, joked in a telephone interview. ''Maybe it's the water that's causing all this lunacy."but i filter my water! ;]
[thanks meta]
a plane from cyprus crashed on its way to athens this morning and 121 were lost. :(
this one is too good to pass up: a study of Various Aromas Found to Enhance Male Sexual Response found that the winning combo was lavender & pumpkin pie with black licorice & doughnut coming in a close second. guys, i think i just lost a little respect for you *passes the pie*.
[thanks collision detection]
trampled on: f dubya license plate
restored: offering != distributing
[thanks boing boing + /.]
these images are from aides [association de lutte contre le SIDA]. the slogan on the bottom reads "sans préservatif, c'est le sida avec que vous faites l'amour. protéger-vou." meaning: without a condom, it's the aids you're making love to. protect yourself.
the aids, the giant tarantula, whichever. but that woman is having a suspiciously good time...
[thanks emo]
pope benedict is getting behind a boycott of a referendum to discuss medically assisted fertility.
The referendum seeks to overturn key provisions in a law passed here last year that is the most restrictive on medically assisted fertility in Europe. The current law bans donations of sperm and eggs, defines life as beginning at conception, and allows fertility treatment only to married heterosexual couples.the article then drags in the hot-button terri schiavo case, as if there really is some comparison. apparently the church believes in the right to life... er, unless of course you are a single mother, or a gay couple. or what if your husband put his sperm in the bank and then died? what then benedict?
[thanks new york times]
a baby white bison was recently born in british columbia [canada]. he was born on a bison ranch and according to the story:
"This guy is a little different. He won't be going into bison burgers."well that's completely gross, but anyway. white bison are pretty rare, and are a sacred symbol among my peeps [native americans, that is] who call them "tatanka".
[thanks boing boing]
the bbc reports that the world economic forum has done a survey of the "gender gap" in various nations. the five criteria were: economic participation, economic opportunity, political empowerment, educational attainment, and health and well-being. not so surprisingly the u.s. left something to be desired, coming in a poor 17th. let freedom ring! [er...sort of]. the scandinavian countries topped the list, followed by non-american english speaking nations, germany, france, the netherlands, and the baltic republics. greece and italy are the worst EU countries, sorry ladies, at least you can work on your tans... check out the full report here.
[thanks inki]
today microsoft announced that they will once again officially back a gay rights bill in washington state. [full text after the jump]. having previously withdrawn their support, 1,500+ members of the company signed a petition asking microsoft to get behind the bill once again. thankfully, they did. several members of the antioch bible church in redmond were dismayed [bummer, dudes]. the reverend of said church, ken hutcherson, had met twice with microsoft officials regarding the bill. a member of his congregation, and a microsoft employ said:
"I feel that it was wrong for the company to say that they will be supporting issues such as this. Businesses should not actually be publicly taking a stance on that, regardless of their internal policies."clearly the church should take a stance, petition the businesses, but then claim the companies should not take a side. well, unless it's their side.
[thanks new york times]
i have been known to speak at length about the fact that our rights [tech-oriented and otherwise] are slowly slipping away. and you have been known to ask for examples. well here is one that you cannot brush under the carpet: the real id act. [check out the full story from CNET news.com after the jump].
let us not be fooled. the real id card amounts to a national id, and by being machine readable, the makings of a national database. now, although social security numbers are supposed to be a sort of private identifier between you and your government, everyone and their mother sees fit to demand your SSID for all sorts of things [buying a credit card, a cellphone, etc.]. now, do we really think it will be any different with our real ids? no. so when the guy at the package store asks you for some id, uncle sam will know you've been knocking back a few on a wednesday night. these types of tracking technologies are not new, and there exists plenty of research regarding the cost/benefit analysis of getting a discount grocery store card and the like. but what is the perceived benefit in this case? of course the rhetoric goes something like:
It will "hamper the ability of terrorist and criminal aliens to move freely throughout our society by requiring that all states require proof of lawful presence in the U.S. for their drivers' licenses to be accepted as identification for federal purposes such as boarding a commercial airplane, entering a federal building, or a nuclear power plant," Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican, said during the debate Thursday.but it will also hinder our movement, significantly! and last time i checked i did not need my driver's license to start my car [hmm...come to think of it, let's implant an RFID reader into the cars and not allow them to start without a real id, yeah, that will keep terrorists from driving and make sure that no fatalities occur when you are rushing an injured person to the hospital and you forget grab your wallet. or even better let's just implant the real id's right into our bodies to make sure that there are no shady-blackmarket-minorityreport type killings and harvestings]. seriously though, a national id imposed in a climate of fear is not the solution to our nations security problems. its just a rusty nail in a gushing wound.
[thanks CNET news.com]
this would be hilarious if it weren't real.
dean h. saxe says:apparently it means something along the lines of "gayness forbidden" "healthy, normal family guarantees our future." if the future i am guaranteed is one with iconography like that i might have to pass...
I just returned from eastern Europe and wanted to share with you the following poster I found on a brick wall outside the gates of Auschwitz. My wife and I spotted more of these on the road between Auschwitz and Birkenau.
in the "ironic twist department," the mayor james e. west of spokane, an opponent of gay rights, was recently exercising his gay-mayor rights, getting his freak on at gay.com. score 1 point for the closeted self-haters! now why a sting operation had to be set up for this, i do not know... [full text after the jump].
[thanks boing boing and new york times]
in the new york times today there is an article about a dinosaur fossil that is thought to be evidence of a carnivore turning herbivore. you can check out the full text after the jump. oh, also he is in wired. [note: dinosaur is pictured on the left in photo].
i'm just a dinosaur at heart. roar.
this japanese anti-smoking campaign is very informative. it is bad manners to smoke because i will hurt the cigarette's feelings? or because i am meant to feel bad for polluting the rat's sewers? i see.
you all know how much is love socal *wince*, so i was pleased to hear about this installation. a group called heavy trash has installed viewing platforms to get a peak into the gated communities of los angeles. these bright orange [orange county anyone?] platforms have been put up by brentwood circle, park la brea, and laughlin park. when you live in a place like irvine, where all the gated communities are walled off from each other, this sort of installation is especially poignant. one of my favorite quotes from the site:
Since it is difficult to commit a property crime in Los Angeles without a car...
[thanks boing boing]
two penguins from sea world got screened at the airport in denver. i wonder if it is printing out on their boarding passes too.
[thanks boing boing]
so, some of you may know how much i love that photo of the bunny with the pancake on his head. words cannot describe [muhduh!]. well finally, thanks to clive thompson, i now know the origin of these photos. they are of a little japanese bunny named oolong who, very sadly, has hopped off this mortal coil.
[thanks collision detection]
two dudes [lads, chaps, blokes] from england have decided to go on a quest to break as many of the silly american state laws that they can. it is both a virtue and a vice that the states have the power to create their own laws [google away for further information]. overall i think it's a virtue, but in the cases that it's not it is either scary or downright hilarious. here we have a clear case of the latter. from the guardian:
As US coast-to-coast crimewaves go, it is not in the league of Bonnie and Clyde. It lacks both violence and avarice and is further hindered by an overabundance of pre-publicity.look for them this summer in a town near you.
...
"Driving round the town square 100 times in Oxford, Mississippi, is going to take for ever because there are no roundabouts," he said. "And I'm rubbish at walking on my hands so crossing the street in Hartford, Connecticut, while walking on them is going to be very difficult."
[thanks boing boing]
the forward [or rather, current] thinking simpsons just aired an episode about gay marriage. hilarious and spot on, the episode chronicles springfield's decision to support gay marriage purely for the purpose of generating tourism. like all good satire, nothing is sacred on the simpsons. but still as the new york times reports, not everyone can accept gay marriage even when it's the punchline to a joke.
L. Brent Bozell III, president of the Parents Television Council, criticized "The Simpsons" for addressing the issue of gay marriage, though he cautioned that he had not seen the episode. A parental advisory preceded the broadcast."At a time when the public mood is overwhelmingly against gay marriage, any show that promotes gay marriage is deliberately bucking the public mood," he said.
"I'd rather them not do it at all," he added. "You've got a show watched by millions of children. Do children need to have gay marriage thrust in their faces as an issue? Why can't we just entertain them?"
p.s. there's a url flashed across the screen during a fake commercial in the show: www.springfieldisforloversofgaymarriage.com. it's actually real. hilarious.
i should post a link to larry summers' apology which just goes to show that crow is still on the harvard menu. ;]
how did i miss out on these naughty frescos in pompeii? apparently they've been on view since 2000, but i just saw a story about it today which is summed up nicely as:
This Der Spiegel story about erotic frescoes from Pompeii reveals that prior to being buried in heaps of ash, Pompeiians were totally whoring it up.amor vincit omnia ;]
[thanks boing boing]
everyone [or at least every chick in science] knows about [or like amanda and steven johnson has commented on] larry summer's remarks by now. so yeah, at first i was a bit miffed. but after consideration, i agree that people should be free to propose any whacked out theories they like, and that the general backlash has proved more interesting than the remarks themselves. when people say things like "women aren't as biologically equipped for science as men" it pisses people off. but if you hear "women are much better at psychology" no one complains. it occurs to me that this might have to do something with our current metaphorical system. in metaphors we live by george lakoff and mark johnson highlight two interesting metaphors:
GOOD IS UP; BAD IS DOWNmaybe women don't balk at the notion of being assigned [even if rightfully so, but that is still up for grabs] talents which are metaphorically consistent with badness because being endowed with a talent is inherently good. however, when the awarding of one talent comes packaged with a denial of another that is, so to speak, ultimately aligned with "good", that "award" seems disparaging. so maybe it's not just the university system that needs restructuring.
RATIONAL IS UP; EMOTIONAL IS DOWN
anyone remember the colossal squid from the summer of 2002? or the ginormous octopus or whatever it was that actually just turned out to be whale blubber? in any case, they are coming for me, i'm sure of it now. 1,500 "jubmo" squids have shown up in newport beach.
"These things are invading, and we don't know what's going on," he said. "It may be they're following a warm California current. Oceanographers don't have a clue why a large population of squid like this is moving north or why they strand themselves."
obviously they are just trying to find themselves a nice safe neighborhood for their children to grow up in. can you blame them? the sea just isn't what it used to be.
