| shorter McCain speech |
[Sep. 5th, 2008|02:56 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | politics | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  calm | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | old LOST podcasts | ] |
(yay Tom Toles!) |
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| I would like to marry The Daily Show |
[Sep. 4th, 2008|10:24 am] |
(with thanks to ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) omega697) |
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| things that, upon further reflection, really piss me off and have come up recently |
[Sep. 3rd, 2008|03:19 pm] |
Abstinence-only education
This is in the news because Sarah Palin supports it, but it really didn't make me angry until I thought about it for a while. I understand teenagers having sex is bad (in a relative sense) and abstinence is a good thing and all that, but the fact is that around 60% of high school seniors will have had sex at least once before they graduate. (saw this recently, although I can't find a reliable citation at the moment)
If you think condoms are immoral (looking at you, Catholic Church) then I can at least understand the objection here (not that I agree), but imagining that not telling kids anything else except "don't have sex, it's horrible, etc." will make them (teenagers! the most rebellious age group?) just decide not to have sex, despite the fact that hormones are raging.
Not telling these kids about how to protect themselves is irresponsible. Only 15 percent of Americans support only teaching abstinence.
"Traditional" gender roles
This weekend, there were some books and movies and stuff in the beach house we rented, one of which was "Husbands Who Won't Lead and Wives Who Won't Follow". This really grinds my gears (I read like half a page over breakfast and couldn't continue). Firstly, the existence of gay couples is brushed aside with no explanation or anything, which almost makes me more upset than if one were arguing against us directly.
But even beyond that, this is flat out sexism. And what is the justification for this? I know that's the way it was in the past, because men were slightly stronger so they could go kill the mammoths while the women cared for the children, but I don't see anything fundamentally good or bad about that. Why is sex supposed to determine our role, and not personality and the particular relationship we're in or whatever? This is a conservative point of view ("conservative" in the this-is-how-things-were-done-in-the-past-so-we-better-keep-doing-them-because-the-past-was-awesome-compared-to-now) but why is it pushed by religions as well? I know there are a few small examples of this in the Bible ("Wives, be submissive to your husbands") but I just don't get how this fits in with anything else. |
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| computer miscellany |
[Sep. 3rd, 2008|10:31 am] |
My Linux box is losing time...like a lot of time, over a minute an hour. Is there some battery I can replace on the motherboard or something?
I installed Windows on my Mac laptop last night with the help of Boot Camp. It worked, despite the fact that I did pretty much everything wrong or out of order. I really got into the groove of reading an instruction that contradicted what I had just done :-) Anyway, all the drivers and such work so maybe I have a hope for playing Warhammer Online, or possibly WoW crash-free! |
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| back from beach, more Palin |
[Sep. 2nd, 2008|10:21 am] |
Port Aransas was fun. I got sunburned but they're mostly gone by now. Better recap will follow at some point in time. But, for now...
I'm feeling a lot better regarding Palin than I did on Friday. Turns out she's more conservative than I thought especially on abortion and sex education - she supports abstinence-only education, which will prompt an angry rant sometime this week.
And it turns out her 17 year old daughter is 5 months pregnant and will marry the father. I don't think her daughter is fair game, but it gives a slight "hypocrisy" angle to the abstinence-only education which is enough to give the story legs. As Atrios says, "Policy matters".
And she hired an attorney today in that trooper scandalish thing. And...well, here's a list. (was a member of a fringe group wanting a vote on Alaskan secession, did actually support the "bridge to nowhere")
Anyway, announcing the pick on Friday seemed like a good idea at the time but now it seems like these stories are gonna overshadow the Republican convention. |
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| Obama's speech, McCain picks Sarah Palin |
[Aug. 29th, 2008|09:57 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | politics | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  curious | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Obama speech | ] |
Obama's speech was pretty amazing last night - here's part 1 and part 2. A lot of people thought it was going to be very high-falutin' rhetoric but he talked about a lot of concrete things mixed in there. Even Pat Buchanan loved it! Edit: better link to Obama speech
McCain just announced he picked Alaska governor Sarah Palin as VP. She's young and pretty which has me a little worried, but she's very inexperienced (elected as governor in 2006) and apparently has a scandal about firing a state trooper (although her wikipedia page notes her as leading some anti-corruption efforts). Plus, she's a woman, which means McCain can legitimately claim to be running an "historic campaign". So I dunno. kos thinks it was a choice made in desperation. I reeeeeally wish it had been Romney :-) Edit: more information about Palin's scandal
On a more personal note, I've been pretty crabby this week for no particular reason I can think of. I don't like being that way, so I'm gonna put more effort into being upbeat and cheerful and all that. My apologies to those who had to put up with me (mostly djedi and quijax).
I'll be out of town this weekend - everyone have a nice Labor Day! |
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| NCAA Football 09 |
[Aug. 28th, 2008|10:01 am] |
Last week destroyerj and I bought copies of NCAA Football 09 to play an online dynasty together. I haven't played video game football since college to my recollection, so it sounded like fun!
5 weeks into the season, it is indeed fun. The controls have gotten a lot more complicated since then but I'm starting to get the hang of it - trying to pick up one or two new moves every game.
( boring details in here )
Anyway, it's a good game and worth picking up, especially if you plan on playing an Online Dynasty! |
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| panhandling |
[Aug. 26th, 2008|12:59 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | essay, links, poll | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  thoughtful | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Death Cab For Cutie - "I Will Possess Your Heart" | ] |
I read this article on panhandling and it brought some things to mind.
I've never been quite sure what to do about panhandlers - they're somewhat common in Austin (and Houston) and so it's not infrequent that I'll be stopped at a light and one or two will be on the median. Back when I first started driving, I leaned towards giving them a dollar and feeling good about myself. "After all", I'd tell myself, "even if they are just going to spend it on alcohol or whatever, it's not my place to judge them, and I have the right to spend my money on stuff that isn't great for me, so why shouldn't they?" I thought it was the Christian thing to do.
After a while of that, I got a little jaded, and thought about the fact that economically I was encouraging more panhandling by "rewarding" those who were. (cold-hearted economics strikes again!) My mom tended to have a bag of non-perishable food (cereal and the like) that she would give instead of money, which is actually a pretty good solution.
Now I'm generally torn on the issue. Since we moved further away from downtown I don't see panhandlers as much so it hasn't come up, but reading the article sure makes me less likely to give. I like Denver's solution of converted parking meters where you can drop money and the city will give it to homeless shelters, etc. - that way you can give at the time you're being asked while ensuring it goes to a good cause.
Poll #1248617 panhandling
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: AllDo you give to panhandlers when in your car? Do you give to panhandlers when on foot? |
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| pretty contentless |
[Aug. 22nd, 2008|01:34 pm] |
I got another link to my runs per inning calculator. Yay!
There's this new IM/email/social networking app called Digsby. It's pretty awesome - I can do Google Talk, AIM, and Facebook chat through it, as well as twitter, regular Facebook stuff and it checks my Gmail too! And it's written mostly in Python and there will be Mac/Linux clients soon. If you're gonna give it a try use this installer - apparently it fixes some memory problems. (hmm, it just crashed...but that's the first time that's happened)
Obama should announce his VP soon! Speaking of which, FiveThirtyEight.com shows he and McCain essentially tied. If Obama loses I'm am going to be quite distraught. On the other hand, politics is always entertaining: yesterday McCain couldn't say how many houses he owns and Obama hits back with an ad. Some scummy right-wing group trying to swiftboat Obama made an ad that even Fox wouldn't air!
A New York Times article about The Daily Show points out that it is actually a pretty substantive source for news, covering long-running scandals like prewar intelligence in a way most places don't. Also, this comment about how the staff finds footage to air from a former Daily Show employee is pretty interesting.
Here's a panoramic view from the high diving board of the Olympics. |
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| why is my laptop crashing? |
[Aug. 19th, 2008|09:36 am] |
Executive summary: my laptop is now nigh-unusable for playing WoW.
( sooo much pain )
I'm getting to the point where I'd like to take it in for repair, but without knowing what needs to be repaired I doubt it would be fixed. And the laptop was quite expensive, and I only bought it a year ago so I really really really don't want to replace it or anything crazy like that. For now I patched WoW on my Linux box so that's at least a possibility.
It's frustrating because yes I'm aware that it's just a game, and a (gasp!) video one at that, but this is something djedi and I like to do together, and play and socialize with friends and such. |
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| back from Maine |
[Aug. 17th, 2008|03:20 pm] |
Well, we're back from Maine! Here are pictures, and trip recap is behind the cut:
( the cut )
It was nice to have some time off! |
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| final musical notes |
[Aug. 11th, 2008|09:17 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | asmc | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  accomplished | ] |
notes...get it? (BOOs from offstage) ...Hmm, didn't like that one, huh?
I woke up a bit cranky and tired for our last two shows yesterday, and despite having a nice relaxing time in the guy's dressing room was kinda meh even up until the overture. (it didn't help that the audience, not even applauding at the end of the overture, sounded pretty dead) Once we got going, though, I felt really comfortable and the show went really well, probably our best one of the run. (the audience did laugh some, but they made us work for it!) The next show also went really well, and our wonderful crew was striking the set even as the show was going on. It was pretty weird having fewer and fewer props backstage every time I left the stage :-) We finished striking the set and a nice cast party followed at Spaghetti Warehouse.
Thanks to all y'all who could make it - it really makes it more exciting to have people you know in the audience.
All in all, I had a good time - the best part is at the end, when the lines and blocking and music and choreography is pretty rock-solid and I can really try to channel my character. I had a rougher time at rehearsals this year than usual, possibly due to the compressed schedule. Also, my feet still hurt and there may be something wrong with my left big toe (hurts to walk without shoes).
Next up - vacation with my family in Maine from Wednesday-Saturday! |
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| probably not worth a whole post |
[Aug. 9th, 2008|08:53 pm] |
I like my new userpic! (taken from here) |
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| random stuff friday! |
[Aug. 8th, 2008|10:01 am] |
Back to the summer musical grind tonight. It should be fun though - only one show and then the silent auction and a cash bar! Wooo!
random stuff:
- What I Learned Buying a Rug in Turkey - a narrative of good salesmanship. By the end I want a rug, too!
- The Tire-Gauge Dust-Up - contains this gem from Obama: "It's like these guys take pride in being ignorant."
- Women would rather carpool with Obama: because that matters for the leader of the free world. I'm glad Obama's winning that question (and the coveted "Who would you rather vacation with?"), but come on people!
- Nasty Democratic primary ends - I think "Jew-baiting" is a little strong for the ad that was aired, but it was nasty, and she lost.
Ever had that experience where, months or years after the fact, you discover there were crazy things going on you never expected behind the scenes that would have totally changed how you acted or felt? That always weirds me out. |
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| first weekend is over |
[Aug. 6th, 2008|03:22 pm] |
As djedi mentioned, we survived the first weekend of shows. Friends and Family night went OK although I screwed up a part and was generally jittery - maybe because it had been two years or something? Anyway, I settled down into a pretty good rhythm about midway through Saturday and no major catastrophes. (one time I said "three minutes" twice instead of "two minutes", but in the grand scheme of things, not so bad)
Saturday was of course long - three shows and we had to do pictures between the first and second shows. You can see the ASMC pictures here (warning: spoilers!) They turned out well.
It was nice to get Saturday evening off and some sleep before the two Sunday shows, although I forgot that while two shows is a lot easier than three shows, it's still a lot harder than (say) no shows.
Days off are good, although what with NIWeek this week work has been tiring too. And tomorrow we have a short rehearsal and then back to shows again! Easier because I'll be better rested, harder because we're up until midnight Friday night with gala stuff.
Saw Batman in IMAX. It was awesome. The part where he jumps off the building looked even more incredible. Would see again.
Got my WoW account restored (at least all the important stuff). Pretty sure it's crashing because of memory, and if I run in windowed mode it doesn't seem to. At some point I need to actually fix the problem. |
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| Batman in IMAX? |
[Jul. 28th, 2008|09:00 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | movies | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | excited | ] |
Anyone interested in seeing Batman in IMAX (at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum) next Monday (August 4) at 6:30? |
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