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So, yeah, I made it home safely. To find a rejection letter awaiting me when I got back from one of the locales I’d interviewed for. And from there, it’s been a pretty aimless sort of day. Yesterday, I went to the Science Fiction Museum / Experience Music Project, where I was pleased to see that I recognized much of the material in the science fiction museum, having either read or viewed it, or at least knowing the author involved. The EMP was a little less of knowledge and a little more of interactivity. All told, though, the time I spent out in Washington was fantastic. We’ll see whether the trip was a complete bust when the other place gets back to me. It’s unfortunate if it turns out to be a complete bust, just because then I’ll feel like the money was wasted. Even though I got to meet ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
przxqgl in person, which was great (I also now have the appropriate “I am a Terrorist!” button and got to see in person why his telemarketer derailment scripts work so well), along with Kreely, Pi, and Vermillion. So it wasn’t a total bust, really, but considering the primary purpose of the visit, the Magic Eight-Ball says “Outlook not so good, d00d. Thrash some Prinnies and call me in the morning”, or something like that.
This extended absence from Livejournal also leaves me with a backlog of odd things, about five days’ worth. So the usual dumping in groups will happen, with or without the snark/commentary. While I was away, the Betamax format celebrated another birthday, although not many came to the party. It was also announced that all the Discovery Channel stores would be closing, prefering one on-line store to many physical ones. Additionally, a festival of movies based on Jules Verne's books will be heading to Los Angeles. And then... Mr. Wizard has passed away.
In Georgia, a judge threw out the 10-year mandatory sentence imposed on someone who had consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old when he was 17. However, the attorney general has planned to appeal, which keeps the gentleman behind bars, where he has already served more than two yers of the ten year sentence. Over, that’s right, a blowjob.
Anti-gay webmaster outed by Michigan publication. At this particular point, we note that the Republicans really do want it both ways - when it’s anyone but their own, homosexuality is sinful, disgraceful, and evil. When it is one of their own, it’s “a personal choice” and not noteworthy. So why don’t they extend that thought to the rest of the world, then. After all, at some point the Pentagon was trying to build a bomb that would turn enemy soldiers into homosexuals - and to such a degree that they would jump their fellows, rather than focusing on the battlefield. Yep, this is what the finest minds in the military were thinking of at one point.
On other fronts, the Creation Museum needs a geologist. (Although the original page has been removed, McCranium is offering what was just there.) There is also the gentleman who wants "In God We Trust" displayed in all public schools. Utah already requires that phrase to be displayed in all their schools. Schoolchildren generally say the revised Pledge of Allegiance... even while these are hiding behind the “patriotic” veneer, the underlying assumption that “Why, of course it’s JHVH they mean when they say God” makes this dangerous. This is without the active demonization of Islam and atheism by Southern Baptists. Or the teachers that refuse to let their students read Harry Potter because of the spells. (For advanced classwork, study what's happened after the Gwinnett County judge ruled that Potter could stay on the school shelves - the parent involved has taken the fight to... MySpace! And maintains that Potter fans are in league with terrorists, among other things. If you want an example of where those sorts of ideas go out to their conclusions, an L.A. Times writer describes her experience in Saudi Arabia. The Islamic kingdom there, while ensuring that nothing serious heads their way through petrodollars, shows a rather less amiable front to all those who inhabit the area. And it’s sufficiently ingrained that it would take a strong upheaval and several generations to change it. It may not be exactly the same sort of strange and lunatic, but the reactions are often the same. I don’t think this country would be made into Gilead (The Handmaid’s Tale was mentioned at the Science Fiction Museum) but rather into the Christian version of Saudi Arabia. And then they can have their nuclear crusade against each other, and those of us caught in the balance... well, we’re hosed.
Americablog wants to know if Mr. Bush has taken up drinking again, something that even with a “near beer”, he should not be doing as a recovered alcoholic. The stresses of the job might be getting to Mr. Bush. Iraq is bad enough without fabricated accounts of atrocities. The true accounts, like Arming Sunnis to fight al-Qaeda as a potential U.S. strategy are probably more than enough to make Mr. Bush feel that the bottle is the least of his worries.
According to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, a warrantless raid that involved physically stealing a car from someone is legal. A staged traffic collision, a supposed carjacking, and the only people who weren’t law enforcement in the matter were the couple who had their car stolen and then returned after it had been searched, with a warrant obtained after the car had been stolen. This is apparently all possible because of a provision that nullifies the right for people to be secure in their persons and papers when it comes to the War on (Some) Drugs. We’ll see whether this travels further up the chain.
The Fourth Circuit, however, rejected the idea that legal residents of the United States, even when designated "enemy combatants", cannot be detained indefinitely and tried by military tribunal. They can be tried in the civilian court system, though. And there’s no such guarantee for those who are not legal residents of the United States.
Liberal Eagle wants people to remember why perjury is a crime, and thus why “Scooter” Libby should be serving his jail time.
Amnesty International is increasingly concerned about the growing presence of censorship by nation-states of the Internet. The countries they mention have state-mandated filters, but the Untied States also requires filtering on the Internet if children are involved in many cases. Just because we don’t have a “government-approved” sub-section of the Internet doesn’t mean the government isn’t trying to ensure that restrictions aren’t being put in place. Or other entities, like the RIAA, putting agents in the field that look remarkably like law officers, but aren’t.
All in all, the paranoids are starting to look downright sane these days. With the passport requirement for travel being moved back to the end of September, there’s still time to enjoy things without needing that expensive document, but it’s only temporary.
The odd and not-as-inflammatory starts with Prince Phillip being worshipped as an island god. From there, though, a pirate-themed birthday party was prevented from flying the Jolly Roger by a neighborhood council. Which is both odd and stupid, but a lot of the time, that describes subdivisions pretty well.
Lines and Colors has a public service announcement about how not to display your artwork on the web, something that will be of use to everyone in this day and age.
A very Cool Thing demonstration is this TED talk about Photosynth, a technology that can build three-dimensional space from hundreds of two-dimensional images. In the demo, the software basically took lots of photos of Notre Dame that other people had taken and stitched together a three-dimensional model of the cathedral. (Flash) A similar Cool Thing is Rome Reborn, a three-dimensional simulation of Rome at the time of Constantine (also Flash). Something of interest is 65 East 125th street, over thirty years' time. Interesting to see how the fronts change as the eras do.
Last for tonight is from Buddhist Geeks, that says to look for morally perfect teachers is to be disappointed. So rather than look for the very perfect outcome, I think I’m just going to go to bed. I haven’t had a full night’s sleep since Sunday.
przxqgl in person, which was great (I also now have the appropriate “I am a Terrorist!” button and got to see in person why his telemarketer derailment scripts work so well), along with Kreely, Pi, and Vermillion. So it wasn’t a total bust, really, but considering the primary purpose of the visit, the Magic Eight-Ball says “Outlook not so good, d00d. Thrash some Prinnies and call me in the morning”, or something like that.This extended absence from Livejournal also leaves me with a backlog of odd things, about five days’ worth. So the usual dumping in groups will happen, with or without the snark/commentary. While I was away, the Betamax format celebrated another birthday, although not many came to the party. It was also announced that all the Discovery Channel stores would be closing, prefering one on-line store to many physical ones. Additionally, a festival of movies based on Jules Verne's books will be heading to Los Angeles. And then... Mr. Wizard has passed away.
In Georgia, a judge threw out the 10-year mandatory sentence imposed on someone who had consensual oral sex with a 15-year-old when he was 17. However, the attorney general has planned to appeal, which keeps the gentleman behind bars, where he has already served more than two yers of the ten year sentence. Over, that’s right, a blowjob.
Anti-gay webmaster outed by Michigan publication. At this particular point, we note that the Republicans really do want it both ways - when it’s anyone but their own, homosexuality is sinful, disgraceful, and evil. When it is one of their own, it’s “a personal choice” and not noteworthy. So why don’t they extend that thought to the rest of the world, then. After all, at some point the Pentagon was trying to build a bomb that would turn enemy soldiers into homosexuals - and to such a degree that they would jump their fellows, rather than focusing on the battlefield. Yep, this is what the finest minds in the military were thinking of at one point.
On other fronts, the Creation Museum needs a geologist. (Although the original page has been removed, McCranium is offering what was just there.) There is also the gentleman who wants "In God We Trust" displayed in all public schools. Utah already requires that phrase to be displayed in all their schools. Schoolchildren generally say the revised Pledge of Allegiance... even while these are hiding behind the “patriotic” veneer, the underlying assumption that “Why, of course it’s JHVH they mean when they say God” makes this dangerous. This is without the active demonization of Islam and atheism by Southern Baptists. Or the teachers that refuse to let their students read Harry Potter because of the spells. (For advanced classwork, study what's happened after the Gwinnett County judge ruled that Potter could stay on the school shelves - the parent involved has taken the fight to... MySpace! And maintains that Potter fans are in league with terrorists, among other things. If you want an example of where those sorts of ideas go out to their conclusions, an L.A. Times writer describes her experience in Saudi Arabia. The Islamic kingdom there, while ensuring that nothing serious heads their way through petrodollars, shows a rather less amiable front to all those who inhabit the area. And it’s sufficiently ingrained that it would take a strong upheaval and several generations to change it. It may not be exactly the same sort of strange and lunatic, but the reactions are often the same. I don’t think this country would be made into Gilead (The Handmaid’s Tale was mentioned at the Science Fiction Museum) but rather into the Christian version of Saudi Arabia. And then they can have their nuclear crusade against each other, and those of us caught in the balance... well, we’re hosed.
Americablog wants to know if Mr. Bush has taken up drinking again, something that even with a “near beer”, he should not be doing as a recovered alcoholic. The stresses of the job might be getting to Mr. Bush. Iraq is bad enough without fabricated accounts of atrocities. The true accounts, like Arming Sunnis to fight al-Qaeda as a potential U.S. strategy are probably more than enough to make Mr. Bush feel that the bottle is the least of his worries.
According to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, a warrantless raid that involved physically stealing a car from someone is legal. A staged traffic collision, a supposed carjacking, and the only people who weren’t law enforcement in the matter were the couple who had their car stolen and then returned after it had been searched, with a warrant obtained after the car had been stolen. This is apparently all possible because of a provision that nullifies the right for people to be secure in their persons and papers when it comes to the War on (Some) Drugs. We’ll see whether this travels further up the chain.
The Fourth Circuit, however, rejected the idea that legal residents of the United States, even when designated "enemy combatants", cannot be detained indefinitely and tried by military tribunal. They can be tried in the civilian court system, though. And there’s no such guarantee for those who are not legal residents of the United States.
Liberal Eagle wants people to remember why perjury is a crime, and thus why “Scooter” Libby should be serving his jail time.
Amnesty International is increasingly concerned about the growing presence of censorship by nation-states of the Internet. The countries they mention have state-mandated filters, but the Untied States also requires filtering on the Internet if children are involved in many cases. Just because we don’t have a “government-approved” sub-section of the Internet doesn’t mean the government isn’t trying to ensure that restrictions aren’t being put in place. Or other entities, like the RIAA, putting agents in the field that look remarkably like law officers, but aren’t.
All in all, the paranoids are starting to look downright sane these days. With the passport requirement for travel being moved back to the end of September, there’s still time to enjoy things without needing that expensive document, but it’s only temporary.
The odd and not-as-inflammatory starts with Prince Phillip being worshipped as an island god. From there, though, a pirate-themed birthday party was prevented from flying the Jolly Roger by a neighborhood council. Which is both odd and stupid, but a lot of the time, that describes subdivisions pretty well.
Lines and Colors has a public service announcement about how not to display your artwork on the web, something that will be of use to everyone in this day and age.
A very Cool Thing demonstration is this TED talk about Photosynth, a technology that can build three-dimensional space from hundreds of two-dimensional images. In the demo, the software basically took lots of photos of Notre Dame that other people had taken and stitched together a three-dimensional model of the cathedral. (Flash) A similar Cool Thing is Rome Reborn, a three-dimensional simulation of Rome at the time of Constantine (also Flash). Something of interest is 65 East 125th street, over thirty years' time. Interesting to see how the fronts change as the eras do.
Last for tonight is from Buddhist Geeks, that says to look for morally perfect teachers is to be disappointed. So rather than look for the very perfect outcome, I think I’m just going to go to bed. I haven’t had a full night’s sleep since Sunday.
