It is the eve of Presidential Election 2008, when America will finally learn who our new commander-in-chief is. And, if you've been reading this blog of mine, you know whose side I'm on. And, it aint "Moose and Squirrel's"!
I'm as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof, with jitters, wringing hands and the whole business! I was also so sad to hear about Obama's grandmother's passing today. :( so sad. But, we all must keep pressing on...
This country is such a mess! Let's hope enough people are "awake" enough to realize that CHANGE is the only way to save ourselves and make the future salvagable. Seriously.
Anybody as nervous as I am!?!?
Monday, November 3, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
Stealing something sacred
Music is mad sacred to me -- it rules my world. And, I'm not alone. Many people have music they not only like and love, but its a part of their heart and psyche -- and, you don't mess with that part of people. Seriously. Just ask any hardcore music lover.
So, it is with disgust that I recently read that for the. third time, the McCain campaign has used a song (this time by Bon Jovi) for one of its rallies, without permission (nor compensation) to the artist.
Ahem, isn't that called "theft"? Of intellectual property, I believe. Its why Napster gots its behind sued off. McCain's campaign has also used songs by Jackson Browne and Heart, ignoring complaints even from the artists themselves that the songs are being used illegally, and for the wrong purpose.
Why is this so disturbing? By not only taking songs and using them without permission and, using them out to context in a way/manner they weren't meant for, you are polluting their sacredness. They're songs meant to convey great meaning, a sentiment. Using them as background accompany for your political candidate is not ok! (By any political candidate, anywhere, ever!)
By hijacking the songs, you pollute and sully their original intention, their essense and meaning. Its just like going to an art museum, taking a painting off the wall, then going out to the parking lot and using it to dry up the oil slick under your old, beaten up monster truck.
Oy, what knuckleheads.
So, it is with disgust that I recently read that for the. third time, the McCain campaign has used a song (this time by Bon Jovi) for one of its rallies, without permission (nor compensation) to the artist.
Ahem, isn't that called "theft"? Of intellectual property, I believe. Its why Napster gots its behind sued off. McCain's campaign has also used songs by Jackson Browne and Heart, ignoring complaints even from the artists themselves that the songs are being used illegally, and for the wrong purpose.
Why is this so disturbing? By not only taking songs and using them without permission and, using them out to context in a way/manner they weren't meant for, you are polluting their sacredness. They're songs meant to convey great meaning, a sentiment. Using them as background accompany for your political candidate is not ok! (By any political candidate, anywhere, ever!)
By hijacking the songs, you pollute and sully their original intention, their essense and meaning. Its just like going to an art museum, taking a painting off the wall, then going out to the parking lot and using it to dry up the oil slick under your old, beaten up monster truck.
Oy, what knuckleheads.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
A Small Note On Early Voting
I am encouraging you (yes, You!) to go ahead and vote early, if you can possibly manage it. Why? Because on Election Day, from what I have personally gathered, there are going to be a lot of first-time voters, etc. Why not do your little part to make lines a little shorter on the big day by going and casting your vote early? If you are a die-hard political devotee and already have your mind made up, why not just go ahead? Just a gentle suggestion. :)
The Loose Cannon That Is Sarah Palin
The choice of Sarah Palin as John McCain's VP running mate looked even more bizarre this Sunday as I read my usual three morning newspapers. (I do love my newspapers, and I'm old and like to hear the sound of the rustling paper pages turning, and the whole business.)
In sum, it would seem from what I've been reading that Palin is really outer limits -- even more so than we have probably imagined. How? Oh, as in referring to the campaign during a recent speech as the "Palin-McCain" campaign. And, upon hearing that McCain camp had decided to pull out of Michigan, Palin issued her own independent statement questioning the decision, stating she felt they ought to "stay in there and fight it out".
So, it would seem that the "little miss" they chose as some sort of calculated distraction (or whatever she is - religious right vote attracter?) hasn't just inadvertently stolen the spotlight. She's openly admitted she'd like to steal the whole show and become president one day. (Yes, really.) Her head has become this huge inflated entity, just like McCain's ego. Yikes! And, both of them on the same ticket. God, help us.
With Obama-Biden looking stronger with each poll, things look promising. But, just the mere thought of McPalin winning is enough to give me a rash! So, I will keep working, praying for change.
The psychological implications of having four more years of nutty psychos running my country compels me to keep pushing forward, personally as well as politically. I hope that you are being driven to do the same.
In sum, it would seem from what I've been reading that Palin is really outer limits -- even more so than we have probably imagined. How? Oh, as in referring to the campaign during a recent speech as the "Palin-McCain" campaign. And, upon hearing that McCain camp had decided to pull out of Michigan, Palin issued her own independent statement questioning the decision, stating she felt they ought to "stay in there and fight it out".
So, it would seem that the "little miss" they chose as some sort of calculated distraction (or whatever she is - religious right vote attracter?) hasn't just inadvertently stolen the spotlight. She's openly admitted she'd like to steal the whole show and become president one day. (Yes, really.) Her head has become this huge inflated entity, just like McCain's ego. Yikes! And, both of them on the same ticket. God, help us.
With Obama-Biden looking stronger with each poll, things look promising. But, just the mere thought of McPalin winning is enough to give me a rash! So, I will keep working, praying for change.
The psychological implications of having four more years of nutty psychos running my country compels me to keep pushing forward, personally as well as politically. I hope that you are being driven to do the same.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
O.J. Simpson's luck runs out -- and his victims families must be thrilled.
(Well, normally I don't blog on weekends because its against my "detachment code". But, oh, is this an exception!)
Late Friday evening, Simpson was convicted of about 13 counts of armed robbery and kidnapping for having held a lot of two or three collectibles dealers at gun point in a low-end casino in Las Vegas.
Seeing as how he "wrote" a book called "(If) I Did It", and has arrogantly thumbed his nose in the faces of his victims' families for years, how do you think the families are feeling right now? You don't have to think. You already know!
He's been on some sort of a "hall pass" from justice for the past 13 years. And, it certainly wasn't due to the forces of good! Oh, what will Yale Galanter do now? Maybe he'll get some effing self respect. And, maybe his murdering, sociopath of a client will finally STAY incarcerated where he belongs. Amen, literally.
A victory, not only for the families of Nicole Brown-Simpson and Ron Goldman, but for victims and their families awaiting justice everywhere. This shows that justice delayed isn't always justice denied. And, that if you give a fool enough rope to hang himself with, he'll eventually find a way to do it.
Late Friday evening, Simpson was convicted of about 13 counts of armed robbery and kidnapping for having held a lot of two or three collectibles dealers at gun point in a low-end casino in Las Vegas.
Seeing as how he "wrote" a book called "(If) I Did It", and has arrogantly thumbed his nose in the faces of his victims' families for years, how do you think the families are feeling right now? You don't have to think. You already know!
He's been on some sort of a "hall pass" from justice for the past 13 years. And, it certainly wasn't due to the forces of good! Oh, what will Yale Galanter do now? Maybe he'll get some effing self respect. And, maybe his murdering, sociopath of a client will finally STAY incarcerated where he belongs. Amen, literally.
A victory, not only for the families of Nicole Brown-Simpson and Ron Goldman, but for victims and their families awaiting justice everywhere. This shows that justice delayed isn't always justice denied. And, that if you give a fool enough rope to hang himself with, he'll eventually find a way to do it.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Some weekend silliness. :)
Hello all. Before I head out of town for the weekend, I thought that I would post this snippet. Its an odd article that I swiped off Reuters that is sure to make you snicker (or, scratch your head...)
"Spermicide Coke, stale chips research wins Ig Nobels"
Friday, Oct 03, 2008 11:1PM UTC
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A researcher who figured out that Coke explodes sperm and scientists who discovered that people will happily eat stale chips if they crunch loudly enough won alternative "Ig Nobel" prizes Thursday.
Other winners included physicists who found out that anything that can tangle, will tangle and a team of biologists who ascertained that dog fleas jump farther than cat fleas.
The Ig Nobels honor real research, but are meant as a funny alternative to next week's deadly serious Nobel prizes for medicine, chemistry, physics, economics, literature and peace.
Awarded by the editors of the Annals of Improbable Research, a scientific humor magazine, the prizes are based on published research, some intended to be humorous but often not. Usually the "honored" researchers go along with the joke.
Deborah Anderson of Boston University Medical Center and colleagues were awarded the chemistry prize for a 1985 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that found Coca-Cola kills sperm.
She said she was serious in testing the soft drink because women were using it in a douche as a contraceptive and, later, to try to protect themselves from the AIDS virus.
"It definitely wouldn't work as a contraceptive because sperm swims so fast," Anderson said. But Coke made with sugar quickly kills sperm, she said, probably because sperm soak it up. "The sperm just kind of explode," she said in a telephone interview.
It kills the AIDS virus too, she said.
The Ig Nobel committee made up a "nutrition prize" to go to Massimiliano Zampini of the University of Trento, Italy and Charles Spence of Britain's Oxford University, who tricked people into thinking they were eating fresh potato chips by playing them loud, crunching sounds when they bit one.
The biology prize goes to a French team that found dog fleas can jump higher than cat fleas, while the medicine prize was awarded to a team at Duke University in North Carolina who showed that high-priced placebos work better than cheap fake medicine.
Dorian Raymer of the Scripps Institution in San Diego and a colleague won the physics prize for demonstrating mathematically why hair or a ball of string will inevitably tangle itself in knots.
The peace prize was given to the Swiss Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology for adopting the legal principle that plants have moral standing and dignity. There is a website explaining this: http://www.ekah.admin.ch/en/topics/dignity-of-creation/index.html.
A team at The University of Sao Paulo in Brazil won a special archaeology prize for showing how an armadillo can mess up an archaeological dig.
The economics prize went to researchers at the University of New Mexico who learned that a professional lap dancer earns bigger tips when she is most fertile, while David Sims of Cass Business School in London won the literature prize "for his lovingly written study 'You Bastard: A Narrative Exploration of the Experience of Indignation within Organizations'," the committee said.
Past winners include the creator of the plastic pink flamingo, a researcher who recorded a mallard duck sodomizing a dead drake and a doctor who cured hiccups by applying digital rectal massage.
(Reporting by Maggie Fox, editing by Anthony Boadle)
"Spermicide Coke, stale chips research wins Ig Nobels"
Friday, Oct 03, 2008 11:1PM UTC
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A researcher who figured out that Coke explodes sperm and scientists who discovered that people will happily eat stale chips if they crunch loudly enough won alternative "Ig Nobel" prizes Thursday.
Other winners included physicists who found out that anything that can tangle, will tangle and a team of biologists who ascertained that dog fleas jump farther than cat fleas.
The Ig Nobels honor real research, but are meant as a funny alternative to next week's deadly serious Nobel prizes for medicine, chemistry, physics, economics, literature and peace.
Awarded by the editors of the Annals of Improbable Research, a scientific humor magazine, the prizes are based on published research, some intended to be humorous but often not. Usually the "honored" researchers go along with the joke.
Deborah Anderson of Boston University Medical Center and colleagues were awarded the chemistry prize for a 1985 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that found Coca-Cola kills sperm.
She said she was serious in testing the soft drink because women were using it in a douche as a contraceptive and, later, to try to protect themselves from the AIDS virus.
"It definitely wouldn't work as a contraceptive because sperm swims so fast," Anderson said. But Coke made with sugar quickly kills sperm, she said, probably because sperm soak it up. "The sperm just kind of explode," she said in a telephone interview.
It kills the AIDS virus too, she said.
The Ig Nobel committee made up a "nutrition prize" to go to Massimiliano Zampini of the University of Trento, Italy and Charles Spence of Britain's Oxford University, who tricked people into thinking they were eating fresh potato chips by playing them loud, crunching sounds when they bit one.
The biology prize goes to a French team that found dog fleas can jump higher than cat fleas, while the medicine prize was awarded to a team at Duke University in North Carolina who showed that high-priced placebos work better than cheap fake medicine.
Dorian Raymer of the Scripps Institution in San Diego and a colleague won the physics prize for demonstrating mathematically why hair or a ball of string will inevitably tangle itself in knots.
The peace prize was given to the Swiss Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology for adopting the legal principle that plants have moral standing and dignity. There is a website explaining this: http://www.ekah.admin.ch/en/topics/dignity-of-creation/index.html.
A team at The University of Sao Paulo in Brazil won a special archaeology prize for showing how an armadillo can mess up an archaeological dig.
The economics prize went to researchers at the University of New Mexico who learned that a professional lap dancer earns bigger tips when she is most fertile, while David Sims of Cass Business School in London won the literature prize "for his lovingly written study 'You Bastard: A Narrative Exploration of the Experience of Indignation within Organizations'," the committee said.
Past winners include the creator of the plastic pink flamingo, a researcher who recorded a mallard duck sodomizing a dead drake and a doctor who cured hiccups by applying digital rectal massage.
(Reporting by Maggie Fox, editing by Anthony Boadle)
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Biden, the statesman, shined -- Palin did a "gosh golly"
Tonights debate was a bit more spirited and interesting. In sum, Biden held up quite well, made his points concisely (or, as brief as he could for Biden), and his brilliance shone. He challenged Palin but not to excess. I felt he stuck more to making his own presense "sure" with the audience rather than focusing squarely on Palin. And, the winking!
Palin was quite scripted, even uttering a "gosh golly" at one point! She held up better than I thought she would, and now, I think she will quiet inner Republican party nerves going forward. She couldn't "invent" credentials obviously, but did refer to her governorship of Alaska as "executive experience". Ummm, not so sure about that, but I think she did as well as could be expected.
But, Biden took the win, and tonight may have helped some undecided voters reach a decision. Meanwhile, I think already-decideds are staying put!
Let's see what happens in blogs and press on Thursday eve and Friday morn.
Palin was quite scripted, even uttering a "gosh golly" at one point! She held up better than I thought she would, and now, I think she will quiet inner Republican party nerves going forward. She couldn't "invent" credentials obviously, but did refer to her governorship of Alaska as "executive experience". Ummm, not so sure about that, but I think she did as well as could be expected.
But, Biden took the win, and tonight may have helped some undecided voters reach a decision. Meanwhile, I think already-decideds are staying put!
Let's see what happens in blogs and press on Thursday eve and Friday morn.
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