Is this Calvin?

Noticed a sign about a missing cat named Calvin a month or so ago, then started seeing this guy a few weeks ago, finally got a picture of him. Will call the owners of Calvin again (already talked to them earlier this week but I didn't really have a whole lot of information then) and send them here. Hopefully, it is Calvin and they can get him back.

Here piggy, piggy, piggy

Alien life

project playlist

Came across this kind of cool website, project playlist. Basically it allows you to create playlists pulled from songs available on the web. I'm not sure how they're getting around the copyright issue but i made sure that all the songs in my playlist are songs I actually own. You can find mine on the right below the pic of my senator (also a full size version at the bottom of the page, but that will probably go away soon). If you have had a conversation with me about music and the intarwebs you know of my disgust of the music industry; their litigiousness, their inability to adapt, their greed.

Now, having said those things it might be easy to dismiss the rest of my arguments as "Oh, you're just pissed off because you can't download free music anymore." Well, no, that's not it at all. I'll admit that back in the first heady days of Napster I downloaded some songs (probably less than 100), but I always realized that on some level it was stealing and my momma didn't raise a thief (at least not one who didn't know it was wrong and didn't feel guilty about it).

To be continued...

This pet food recall is getting ugly.

Apparently, there is evidence that Menufoods knew there was a problem with their pet food, the problem may have been contaminated wheat, there has been a lawsuit filed which may become a class action suit.

Some articles

New Media vs Old Media, Post 1

We start with this, Matt Drudge drives them.

Now you might say that I'm pissed off because the Reichwing drives the MSM and not the LeftWing. But, no, my point (and the point of Josh Michah Marshall) is that the MSM is being guided by anyone; if you are supposed to be impartial, you need to be completely INDEPENDENT AND IMPARTIAL, not GUIDED by (in other words, taking your cues from) one side or the other.

Hold on to your hats people!

'Cause with Shrub's press conference this evening the shit has officially hit the fan. The comparisons to Nixon are now unavoidable, this is the beginning of a Constitutional crisis. He has effectively thrown down the gauntlet that Congress does not have the oversight and investigative powers that the Constitution gives it.

Damn, there are not enough foul words in the English language to convey my contempt and utter hatred for this man and his repulsive little band of wannabe thugs. Sen. Leahy, you're up, I better see subpoenas by Thursday. In fact, I'll be calling your office to make sure you follow through.

As deaniac83 said here:

I noted this in the other thread, but thought it was important to post it again here

As Kos noted, refusing Congressional subpoenas opens one up to a charge of Contempt of Congress. It's a crime. According to the US DOJ, investigations of perjury before Congress and contempt of Congress are cases that have to approved by the Criminal Division of the DOJ; and the only reason for that has to be that it is a criminal offense. And I say refusing Congress its Constitutional oversight role is also a "high crime."

But, Congress has its own remedy against such crimes. It's called impeachment. I say if Rove doesn't show up, Congress do the following:

1. Refer the case to the US Attorney in DC for criminal prosecution of Contempt of Congress.

2. Congress issue subpoenas against Bush and Cheney.

3. When they don't show up, refer it to the USA's office for criminal prosecution, AND BEGIN IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDING based on the charge of Contempt of Congress.

Two can play at this game, George.

And this is only the beginning. Get the popcorn ready, but also keep the gas masks and marching boots handy, there might have to be some serious demonstratin' before this is over.

Check this out for a good explanation of why the neocons are doing this.

American Yeti Sightings

These specimen are of the urban subspecies and, in my opinion, are not as splendid as the suburban variety documented here. Kudos and a hat tip to Whitney H. for the bus spotting.

St. Patrick's Day Pictures

Here are some of the pictures from yesterdays festivities. For those who are interested I can send you the link to the full web album, just leave your email address in the comments if I don't already have it (I'll delete the comment as soon as I get it to maintain privacy).

The Mittens and Max Experiment has ended

Jen and Drake brought Max over last Sunday, by Tuesday Jen was having second thoughts. She picked him up on Saturday and I don't blame her, sometimes we just don't realize how attached we become to our furry friends. I think it was a successful experiment in that it seems like Mittens will be able to accept another cat here. Unfortunately, it was not long enough to determine if having another cat here would make Mittens a little less demanding. But I think I'll be making a trip to the animal shelter soon.



Also, there has been a pet food recall, check here to see if you have some of the bad food.

The Mittens and Max Experiment

Well, it's not going as well as I hoped but better than I expected. Max arrived on Sunday and as soon as Jennifer and Drake left hid under the bed until 4am Monday morning (according to Jen this is his normal wake up time) when he proceeded to play in his carry box and knock things over. At least he was out from under the bed. Monday night I let him outside for a supervised outing, he was much more gung-ho than Mittens was his first time out. Eventually was able to get him back inside. During the day I shut him in my bedroom and in the evening let he and Mittens "encounter" each other. Mitts is not happy about the situation and hisses and growls a lot (if you have ever heard Mitts growl he can be very loud and can make it last for almost a minute, hell he intimidates me when he does that). Max, on the other hand, seems more interested in exploring and his hisses are more like, "yeah, I see you and I'm busy right now but if you really want to step I'm ready for you." So far there have been no attacks and I have found them sitting a few feet apart studiously ignoring each other, which I think is actually a good sign. All in all, not a bad integration so far. This morning Max seemed to regain his interest in eating but I am still worried that he doesn't seem to be drinking much water, he does seem to be adjusting though.

There is a god. (Irony intended)

Apparently there is one Unitarian in Congress, Pete Stark (D-CA13)

Here's his official House website
Here's his "official personal" site
Here's the original place I saw this (one of my usual haunts) and this is where it leads. Here is the press release from Secular Coalition for America.

Here is the email I sent to them:
"Well, two issues really. According to this Stark identifies himself as "Unitarian".

1) He is not the first Unitarian politician in U.S. history, at least 4 presidents identified themselves as such.
2) Unitarian does not signify "non-theist", we accept theists in our congregations as well.

That being said, good work and good for Pete Stark, I will be donating to your organization and Stark's re-election fund."

There is hope for us yet. Oh, and here's the UUA (Unitarian-Universalist Association) site.

UPDATE:
As pointed out in the original post:
Here's the rundown on the four politicians mentioned in the press release. In bold are the terms these politicians were willing to use to describe their religious beliefs:

--Terry S. Doran, School Board President, Berkeley, Calif.: "Atheist, humanist, Bright."

--Nancy Glista, School Committee Member, Franklin, Maine: "Atheist, humanist, freethinker."

--Michael Cerone, Town Meeting Member, Arlington, Mass.: "Atheist."

--Pete Stark, Congressperson, 13th District Calif.: "Unitarian."

California, Maine and Massachusetts. All places I'd move to.

Peace Takes Courage

Indeed it does Ava and you've got it. A 16 year old with an anti-war message in the deep south. That takes huge cajones.

Peace Takes Courage blog
Mother Jones' article about Ava and the site.

Ava's most recent video:
California Dreaming?


And a "comments" video. These are comments she has received on her site, unreal.

MWAHAHAHAHA

If Mittens (and soon Max as well) would sit still long enough for me to take pictures I'd do something like this. Hmm, maybe i need to get an old Casio keyboard for music making.

GUILTY, GUILTY, NOT GUILTY, GUILTY, GUILTY

As I'm sure most everyone knows "Scooter" Libby (seriously, he should get at least a couple years for the dumbest ass nickname ever) was found guilty of 4 of the 5 counts he faced. This makes the Wilson civil suit a bit easier (see Joe Wilson's reaction here) and opens the door for Libby to make a deal and offer up the undead vampire Dick. My best case scenario, Libby flips, Dick resigns by April and Shrub impeachment proceedings start soon after. Dear God, I've never prayed for anything... make this happen.

Washington Post article
Madame Speaker Pelosi's statement on her blog
Governor Howard Dean's statement on DNC site (YAY!! Howard!)
Majority Leader Reid's statement on the Senate Democrat site
CNN Situation room video of Dean ripping the Shrub administration a new one.
Finally, it is impossible to mention this case without a link to Firedoglake, THE authority on Plamegate.

BTW, Wolf Blitzer is an f'ing tool.

A little snow

So many things...

to talk about this evening. But I'll start with two things.

First, my Mom wanted me to post this for my Chinese contingent (Ni Hao!):

Hey, China. We were there in November - the usual tourist places - Beijing, Xian, Yangtze River trip, Shanghai. Ou favorite place was Yunnan Province - Zhongdian and especially Lijiang. Also, Tiger Leaping Gorge, Shudu Lake, Yu Long Snow Mountain. Beautiful.

This photo shows the rooftops of Lijiang (my favorite place in China) and Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.


Second, comments. You all aren't making any. Do it.

Paws Up, Bitches...

New Cute Overload PUB entry.

And of course here is the original.

Some really good submishes on CO this weekend, check them out.

Oh. My. Fucking. Gawd.

So I'm online and come across the TurboTax "Tax Rap" website. They have a bunch of people rapping about taxes and the spokesman for this endeavor is... wait for it... Vanilla Ice.



That's right, Ice ice baby, If there was a problem yo I'll solve it
Check out the hook while my DJ revolves it.

I love this place...

Was going through some pictures and found these. I've been a lot of places in the world and there aren't many that rank higher than this particular spot. Sitting on the porch at Spring River Lake, Maine.

I know my Mom agrees.

One shoe

What is it

China

I was looking at a listing of who is visiting FreshSnaps and realized that maybe 25% of all visits originate from China (actually it's more like 50%, 27 out of the most recent 100 visits, keeping in mind that easily 50 of the rest are me). Huh? The only reason I can think of is that Chinese users really like the "random" blogger link.

Well, whatevs. Welcome China! Leave a comment.

Some Pics

So I'm at work right now, re-imaging some computers. But it's such a nice day I had to step outside and take a couple pictures. Enjoy.

Geek Hierarchy

Just found this flowchart of geek hierarchy from The Brunching Shuttlecocks site, which has lots of good stuff which I will be mining and posting since it appears that the site is now defunct (at least with regards to new content). I think it is possible to expand on it, if anyone has any ideas about levels of "geekness" that should be included put them in the comments.

City skyline

Gas in the gutter

crap picture from dc united game

Peter and Anika after the DC United - CD Olimpia (Honduras) game. DC won the game 3-2 and won the series 7-3. Fairly convincing. Next up Chivas de Guadalajara March 15.

BTW, for those who don't know this was the second leg of the quarterfinal of the CONCACAF Champions Cup