Pancake City

My wonderful sister, Tina, turned 28 on Friday. Her feelings about her birthday can be summed up by the photo below the fold.

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The Coup, creators of “My Favorite Mutiny“, is a hip-hop band with a lot of funky bass lines and hooks. It sounds like intelligent, independent hip-hop, but I can’t really say because this is the only song I’ve heard from them so far.

I found this link from kottke.org. He prefaced the link by saying it was “creepy.” I found it very cool, and didn’t understand why he thought it was creepy. Then, after a minute or so, I began feeling uncomfortable and had the same feeling. It’s too real.

“Web site name registrar Network Solutions is blocking access to a site owned by a controversial Dutch politician known for his confrontational views about Islam and Muslim immigrants. The move by one of the largest companies in the domain registration business is notable, experts say, because it may be the first documented case of Internet pre-censorship by a major U.S.-based Web registrar.” (link)

The company is pre-censoring the web site because they are afraid of the potential backlash that will come if the politician publishes a movie on his site arguing that the Koran should be banned.

Does Network Solutions need to be this cowardly? They’re located in a different country halfway around the world from the Netherlands. What are Muslims going to do, fly over to America, burn a KFC or two, and fly back? Switch all their domain name registrations from Network Solutions to Go Daddy?

Most people, Muslims or otherwise, don’t even know what a domain name registrar is. Yet before the Dutch politician even posted any offensive material, Network Solutions capitulated and took the site down.

What ever happened to rioting? Back in my day, you had to work for your censorship. Now you don’t even have to leave your house. You can just email a few threats, CC a few of your friends, and frighten companies into compliance.

Maybe in the future someone will create a Fear Bot that will automate the process. You won’t even have to find the offensive material yourself. “Dear [NEW YORK TIMES], Fear Bot has determined your publishing of [SCANTILY-CLAD MUSLIM WOMEN] will offended [A. JABARI (TRIAL USER)]. Please remove immediately or you will be sent [A FROWNY FACE. UPGRADE TO FULL VERSION FOR FATWATS, DEATH THREATS, AND MORE.]

Inflicting or threatening violence on someone just because you are offended by the views they hold is wrong. That’s a principle that supersedes religion and is part of our nation’s values. Network Solution’s action violates this principle, one of our most valuable freedoms, and sets an embarrassingly low standard for caving in.

I hope the ACLU starts a violent extremist wing. That way, every time Muslim extremists threaten a company for publishing something offensive to Islam, ACLU extremists can contact the same company and match their threats. “Oh, yeah? Well, we”ll burn your company and slaughter your employees if you don’t register that domain name.” Maybe being damned if you do and damned if you don’t will make the right thing to do more clear.

Oh, cassettes. Why won’t you listen? The SotW is “Large Radio” by Cassettes Won’t Listen.  This is one of those seemingly straightforward songs that I can’t easily describe.  I felt a flash of bittersweet happiness at the 1:30 mark, like it reminded me of something buried deep in my memories that I couldn’t easily access. I get hit by a lot of odd emotions out of the blue, and I can never figure out where they are coming from. At least the moments of deja vu have subsided over the years–those drove me crazy.

That’s all besides the point though. This one is from a “Song of the Day” podcast, so I’ll leave the link up.

 Tip #1: Don’t put your new headphones in your laundry basket.

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A more detailed assessment:

1. Who?

2. Why?

3. Why?

4. Why today?

5. Are there really that many pagans on the Internet?

6. Okay, I guess.

7. Who?

8. Why?

9. Why?

10. Kind of makes sense.

…where what was ridiculous in the past becomes reality in the present.

“We as a people must stand united, banding together to tear this nation in two,” Bush said. “Much work lies ahead of us: The gap between the rich and the poor may be wide, be there’s much more widening left to do. We must squander our nation’s hard-won budget surplus on tax breaks for the wealthiest 15 percent. And, on the foreign front, we must find an enemy and defeat it.” 

From an Onion article, written in January 2001.

Barack Obama gave a speech in Philadelphia yesterday in part to address the controversy surrounding incendiary remarks his pastor has made over the years, sound bites of which were replayed endlessly on cable news the past few days. The firestorm over the comments, made by his pastor who Obama has had a long relationship with, has threatened to derail his campaign.

I don’t know if his speech will change the minds of the judgmental, those quick to tar him by association and assume that these types of comments occurred weekly in his church, with Obama’s tacit approval, rather than infrequently and with his regret. I doubt that they will.

But it made me proud to support him, more so than ever. Read the rest of this entry »

The post title is my cheesy way of getting Google hits. Although it would help if I wrote “Lost” or “NCAA Tournament” instead of “The Tick.”

“The Tick” is one of my all-time favorite TV shows. It only ran for one season, but it was well-done and often hilarious. Hulu, a wonderful, free online TV and movie streaming service, has all nine episodes up. The series has so many good lines in it that if it were a little more popular when it first aired, people would still be repeating them today.

On another note, we have an early nomination for Crappiest Movie of the Year. I’ll bet someone $5 it doesn’t break 20% on RottenTomatoes.com

***
The Tick: Owwwww! My head feels like it’s… like it’s gunna have a baby.
Arthur: It’s called a headache.
The Tick: It has a name?

Arthur: Toilets don’t talk!
The Tick: Well that’s a maybe in my book, chum.

By Swedish vocalist Lykke Li. See the sidebar for the linky.

Meghan, this test was made for you.

He gets outraged about the right things. The Clinton campaign’s response to Geraldine Ferraro’s dive off the deep end was so tepid and disappointing that I am seriously going to consider voting for John McCain if she wins the Democratic nomination.

Ferraro’s statements are more than the rantings of one angry supporter. Surrogates don’t do interviews on network TV for three days without the tacit approval of the campaign they support. The Clintons’ Machiavellian, use-any-tactic-that-works style of politics is short-sighted and carries a long-term cost.  If Hillary Clinton can’t win Pennsylvania without using racial polarization, she doesn’t deserve the Presidency. What does it say when Sen. McCain appears to be doing more to run a dignified campaign than she is?

Josie Richards and Michelle Dunlap each took the gamble of running for the office of Estancia Town Trustee. But with the vote being a draw, the only way to pick a winner was by a game of chance — in this case, a hand of 5-card stud poker. In the end, lady luck sided with Richards — she drew a pair of nines.”I was very nervous,” said Richards. “I’m a big competitor and I wanted this position.”

This isn’t the first time a New Mexico election has been decided by a deck of cards. Under state law, in the event of a tie in an election, the winner is chosen by a game of chance.” (link)

Does Rock, Paper, Scissors count?