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Finally back and ready - 19 May 2008
May. 19th, 2008 11:24 pmGo away for a weekend or so, and all this stuff piles up on your desk. So it’s time for the proverbial machete-stuff as I try to catch up on everything that’s just gone down while I was away at Anime Central. It was a hoot, even for as little as I saw the JAMS crew. The rundown on autographs and stuff to follow as I sort everything out. Suffice to say, it was definitely ROCK! - including the part where I was playing Egyptian Rat Screw with yaoi fanatics on Saturday Night.
Onward to news - this is going to be a big, big summary, so for your friendslist, the cuts are in order after the very most important bits. My professional self cheers that teen literature is up, even while the rest of lit is down.
Starting in the international sphere, For want of funding, some research was not implemented. For lack of research, insects are devouring rice crops everywhere...
To further drive a knife in, there is a significant amount of edible food wasted in the "developed" world, while people go hungry elsewhere. That problem is not new, certainly. With the rising costs of food, however, that waste is felt more keenly across the world.
And then, there are more storms headed Myanmar/Burma's way. Provoking yet more of what![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bradhicks considered to be evil versus evil decisions, where bad stuff happens no matter what option is taken. As things are, Myanmar has apparently permitted aid to appear, if it is shuttled through Asian allies.
I’m really not pleased that a week after xenophobic violence has erupted in South Africa, we're finally starting to hear about xenophobic violence in South Africa. Maybe my news sources aren’t quite tuned in right.
Pictures of a wedding that was interrupted by the earthquake in China. Luckily, nobody was hurt in the wedding party. That said, more than 7000 schools collapsed during the quake, prompting accusations that the schools were not built solidly at all.
Going domestic, The Bush Administration believes that it can change executive orders and their interpretations without notifying anyone at all, keeping hidden from the public very important things, and hiding behind confidentiality and secrecy in not telling the public what interpretation of law and order the government is operating on at any given time. Thus, an administration could say straight-faced that “we do not torture” because the definition of torture has been changed without the public’s knowledge. Secret laws like this is no way to run a democratic and open state.
Neither is members of a VA hospital telling their doctors not to diagnose PTSD immediately, in an attempt to cut down on costs coming through because of all the vets who have PTSD from Iraq.
Furthermore, after the knowledge that Mr. Bush gave up his golf game as a symbolic gesture of support for Iraq’s War, Keith Olbermann gives solid advice to Mr. Bush: Shut the hell up. There’s very little left that Mr. Bush can do or say that will further drop people’s opinions of him, but for some reason, he finds new ways to prove his ineptness. Like the detention and imprisonment of children on terror charges. Elect an elitist intellectual who’s not afraid to say that he’s got the brains to do stuff for once, okay?
( And more, like not-so-secret secret data, another reason not to buy Vista, )
California's highest court has overturned the state's ban on gay marriage, at least for a while. Opponents are already attempting to put a constitutional amendment referendum on the ballot, a still-reprehensible tactic, considering that constitutional amendments should be for very serious matters that don’t expect to be changed any time soon. The Slacktivist points out that the coutr's logic is fairly undeniable, but that the opposition to the lifting of the ban won't engage on those grounds.pocochina reflects a bit on the victories gained so far, and why while it may seem to be middle-class persons always in court, the benefits to be gained are for everyone. There’s plenty of discussion over at the Unabashed Feminism Department, so have a look and see. For a perspective that blames birth control for the reason why homosexual marriage is advancing as a cause, consult Carol Platt Liebau's column, where the pill is responsible for decoupling sex from marriage, which in turn leads to all sorts of boys and girls without strong male presence, because of no fathers, and other such things. Because it’s always going to be women who want to marry and have a fatherless child. Very rarely do they talk about two men who want to marry and adopt, I note.
Along with that, A federal judge has ruled that wearing symbols to express support for homosexual relationships is permitted in schools, over the objection of the school that wearing symbols such as rainbows would immediately trigger a picture of homosexual men engaged in sexual activity. Asgreyweirdo has pointed out many times, this stems from a fixation on the sex part of homosexual. It’s not like we see heterosexuals everywhere and keep having images of them having sex pop into our heads.
As the matter may be, perhaps a solution to the screaming of pro-lifers about the sanctity of marriage might arrive from Iran: The muta marriage, a marriage contract that specifically states its duration and ensures any children from the marriage are taken care of by the father with the same rights as other children. There. Sex within marriage, children taken care of. Sounds like the marriage contingent should be pushing hard for these. We’ll lower the divorce rate, too, as muta marriages simply expire. And that way, nobody has to stay married to a man that straps his beer in and leaves his child free in the back seat of a vehicle.
Following on an earlier story, several thousand students and a few faculty members at Washington University turned their backs on Phyllis Schlafly as she was introduced to receive her honorary degree. The students were not amused at the choice of honorary, and we’re certainly not blaming them for turning away from someone who says that once a woman is married, she can’t be raped by her husband. I hope the students who turned their backs find their dream jobs out of college, and the faculty who turned theirs find enough good teaching and research to achieve tenure.
In a truly scary moment, a 911 operator said that he "didn’t give a shit" about a woman who had called because her boyfriend had attempted to stab her with a knife. The operator who said that has been dismissed.
( Candidate matters, the opinion columns, and the technology report )
At the very last for this, after all of that, Ghandi's ten fundamentals for changing the world. Simple advice, simple implementation... just needs lots of people to do it. Of course, there’s always the Discordian Masquerade, if world-changing the Ghandi way doesn’t seem to appeal. Just be sure to keep it in your pants at the appropriate points in time.
So, I’ll be going to bed soon. Have a look at some of the funniest alarm clocks while you consider what time to get up in the morning. And try to avoid a bad date, a worse date, a really bad date, and a date with no self-esteem. Instead, follow some tips on getting good sleep.
Have to get up early and talk to kids about Summer Reading. Here’s hoping that I don’t flub things up too badly, having missed the meeting where all of this was probably discussed, because I was going to ACEN.
Onward to news - this is going to be a big, big summary, so for your friendslist, the cuts are in order after the very most important bits. My professional self cheers that teen literature is up, even while the rest of lit is down.
Starting in the international sphere, For want of funding, some research was not implemented. For lack of research, insects are devouring rice crops everywhere...
To further drive a knife in, there is a significant amount of edible food wasted in the "developed" world, while people go hungry elsewhere. That problem is not new, certainly. With the rising costs of food, however, that waste is felt more keenly across the world.
And then, there are more storms headed Myanmar/Burma's way. Provoking yet more of what
bradhicks considered to be evil versus evil decisions, where bad stuff happens no matter what option is taken. As things are, Myanmar has apparently permitted aid to appear, if it is shuttled through Asian allies. I’m really not pleased that a week after xenophobic violence has erupted in South Africa, we're finally starting to hear about xenophobic violence in South Africa. Maybe my news sources aren’t quite tuned in right.
Pictures of a wedding that was interrupted by the earthquake in China. Luckily, nobody was hurt in the wedding party. That said, more than 7000 schools collapsed during the quake, prompting accusations that the schools were not built solidly at all.
Going domestic, The Bush Administration believes that it can change executive orders and their interpretations without notifying anyone at all, keeping hidden from the public very important things, and hiding behind confidentiality and secrecy in not telling the public what interpretation of law and order the government is operating on at any given time. Thus, an administration could say straight-faced that “we do not torture” because the definition of torture has been changed without the public’s knowledge. Secret laws like this is no way to run a democratic and open state.
Neither is members of a VA hospital telling their doctors not to diagnose PTSD immediately, in an attempt to cut down on costs coming through because of all the vets who have PTSD from Iraq.
Furthermore, after the knowledge that Mr. Bush gave up his golf game as a symbolic gesture of support for Iraq’s War, Keith Olbermann gives solid advice to Mr. Bush: Shut the hell up. There’s very little left that Mr. Bush can do or say that will further drop people’s opinions of him, but for some reason, he finds new ways to prove his ineptness. Like the detention and imprisonment of children on terror charges. Elect an elitist intellectual who’s not afraid to say that he’s got the brains to do stuff for once, okay?
( And more, like not-so-secret secret data, another reason not to buy Vista, )
California's highest court has overturned the state's ban on gay marriage, at least for a while. Opponents are already attempting to put a constitutional amendment referendum on the ballot, a still-reprehensible tactic, considering that constitutional amendments should be for very serious matters that don’t expect to be changed any time soon. The Slacktivist points out that the coutr's logic is fairly undeniable, but that the opposition to the lifting of the ban won't engage on those grounds.
pocochina reflects a bit on the victories gained so far, and why while it may seem to be middle-class persons always in court, the benefits to be gained are for everyone. There’s plenty of discussion over at the Unabashed Feminism Department, so have a look and see. For a perspective that blames birth control for the reason why homosexual marriage is advancing as a cause, consult Carol Platt Liebau's column, where the pill is responsible for decoupling sex from marriage, which in turn leads to all sorts of boys and girls without strong male presence, because of no fathers, and other such things. Because it’s always going to be women who want to marry and have a fatherless child. Very rarely do they talk about two men who want to marry and adopt, I note. Along with that, A federal judge has ruled that wearing symbols to express support for homosexual relationships is permitted in schools, over the objection of the school that wearing symbols such as rainbows would immediately trigger a picture of homosexual men engaged in sexual activity. As
greyweirdo has pointed out many times, this stems from a fixation on the sex part of homosexual. It’s not like we see heterosexuals everywhere and keep having images of them having sex pop into our heads.As the matter may be, perhaps a solution to the screaming of pro-lifers about the sanctity of marriage might arrive from Iran: The muta marriage, a marriage contract that specifically states its duration and ensures any children from the marriage are taken care of by the father with the same rights as other children. There. Sex within marriage, children taken care of. Sounds like the marriage contingent should be pushing hard for these. We’ll lower the divorce rate, too, as muta marriages simply expire. And that way, nobody has to stay married to a man that straps his beer in and leaves his child free in the back seat of a vehicle.
Following on an earlier story, several thousand students and a few faculty members at Washington University turned their backs on Phyllis Schlafly as she was introduced to receive her honorary degree. The students were not amused at the choice of honorary, and we’re certainly not blaming them for turning away from someone who says that once a woman is married, she can’t be raped by her husband. I hope the students who turned their backs find their dream jobs out of college, and the faculty who turned theirs find enough good teaching and research to achieve tenure.
In a truly scary moment, a 911 operator said that he "didn’t give a shit" about a woman who had called because her boyfriend had attempted to stab her with a knife. The operator who said that has been dismissed.
( Candidate matters, the opinion columns, and the technology report )
At the very last for this, after all of that, Ghandi's ten fundamentals for changing the world. Simple advice, simple implementation... just needs lots of people to do it. Of course, there’s always the Discordian Masquerade, if world-changing the Ghandi way doesn’t seem to appeal. Just be sure to keep it in your pants at the appropriate points in time.
So, I’ll be going to bed soon. Have a look at some of the funniest alarm clocks while you consider what time to get up in the morning. And try to avoid a bad date, a worse date, a really bad date, and a date with no self-esteem. Instead, follow some tips on getting good sleep.
Have to get up early and talk to kids about Summer Reading. Here’s hoping that I don’t flub things up too badly, having missed the meeting where all of this was probably discussed, because I was going to ACEN.
