Sloths are scary looking

see more crazy cat pics

Squirrels are funny.

see more crazy cat pics

So True. Oh, so true.

From the always awesome xkcd.com. Although my embarrassing songs would probably be random chapters of various audiobooks...or traditional Christmas music from the Shetland Islands... or 80's hair metal power ballads... or Hungarian folk music done with sitars... or minimalist trance techno. I have some odd music.

Lane Myer: Ohhhh. Tentacles. N-T. Big Difference

1PM Must've Been Talking about Jellyfish

Visiting sales rep: Wow, that aquarium is really cool! Is it a lot of work?
Desk owner: Thanks. It's not too hard once it's set up for a while.
Visiting sales rep: I've never seen one with all those things with testicles in it before.
Desk owner: [Silence until sales rep obliviously boards elevator.]

75 Battery Street
San Francisco, California

Overheard by: We didn't buy her product.

via Overheard in the Office, Mar 18, 2008

Obama: I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible.

I have been avoiding politics lately, mostly because I was fighting off teh killah strep bacteria of pain. So, I've really kinda missed the whole build up of this Obama/Wright (his pastor) brouhaha. But now I'm paying attention and I won't lie, I'm very nervous about Obama's speech. On the one hand I like to see a Democrat who is going to aggressively and substantively attack the skewed narrative of the corporate media. But on the other hand, he is talking about race and racism which is alive and well in America. And unfortunately there is a lot of nuance required to walk that fine line of race discussions in this country. I am worried about the ease with which that nuance can be ignored or twisted. Will the voting public take the time and effort to hear what Obama is saying and embrace it or will they continue to let the corporate media interpret things for them? I fear the latter but hope for the former, because, dayummm, that's one of the best speeches addressing race I've ever heard.

Full text here.

Some commentary:
Firedoglake
Talking Points Memo and TPM Election Central
Daily Kos Open Thread here, here, here and here.

And of course Glenn Greenwald exposes how badly the corporate media is about discussing this kind of issue here.

And Clinton or a Clinton surrogate belittling this speech in 3...2...1...

Update: One thing that went through my mind after seeing this speech was, "Who the hell are Obama's speech writers? Whoever they are they are awesome and deserve a raise." According to one source the name of the speech writer is Barack Obama. Other people are beginning to comment on this although I haven't seen any sources other than Marc Ambinder. Something else, it seems that he has 3 speech writers, the oldest of whom is 30.

Gonna have me a Corona tonight

Mexico failed to qualify for the Olympics. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Reason # 5975 why Clinton is unacceptable

Seriously, Ickes, you're right, those states are never going to switch...UNLESS YOU FIGHT FOR THEM. Dumbass.

clipped from www.nytimes.com “Most of those states haven’t voted Democratic in a presidential since the Johnson landslide over Goldwater in 1964, and we don’t see that changing,” said Harold Ickes, a senior adviser to Mrs. Clinton. “They’re great states, but Idaho, Nebraska and the Carolinas are not going to be in the Democratic column in November. He’s winning the Democratic process, but that is virtually irrelevant to the general election.”

Hallelujeh and why Grunge failed

A pretty interesting albeit somewhat rambling discussion of the progression of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujeh which evolves into a discussion of the pop significance of "The OC" and why Grunge and other "indie" rock movements don't stay true.

I have in fact said this exact same thing.

9AM Sure Enough, It Says So in the Operating Manual
Tech guy on phone: If it's fixed, it's not working.

South Brunswick, New Jersey
via Overheard in the Office, Mar 5, 2008

Stabby

I wouldn't say I'm a "good" feminist. I haven't read many books on the subject and sometimes I have a hard time with the rhetoric used. But I definitely reject most of the "men are better at X than women" and even more so the "men are smarter than women" arguments. So imagine my disgust when I read this craptastic opinion piece in the Sunday Washington Post. I don't have time to destroy the piece point by point, I'll let Jezebel do that here and Feministing here, but I will say two things.

First, once again the Washington Post exposes itself as the pathetic, lame, dare I say it, right-wing publication that it is. Ok, ok, that's over the top. The most egregious instances occur on the opinion page and there are occasionally more progressive pieces, but... I'm just saying this piece would have been more appropriate in some right wing religiousy publication, maybe the Washington Times.

Second, hey, Charlotte Allen, project much? Just because you have bought into the theory that women are less intelligent than men, maybe in an attempt to explain your own shortcomings, doesn't mean all women are inferior. Yeesh, do you pull the knife out of womankind's back cleanly or do you relish twisting it as well?

Game on

I predict the demise of DRM (a Microsoft product, natch) in 5...4...3... You don't f#$% with gamers.

This Thom Yorke guy...

seems like a sharp dude. And his melodies are pretty good too.

Can't stop the signal

This rather long but very informative article lays out the legal issues of Bank Julius Baer v. Wikileaks. The basics of the case are that Wikileaks provides a place for leaked documents, the bank is trying to shut down the site completely (not just trying to have the incriminating documents removed) on the grounds that the documents are private, internal documents. A hearing is scheduled today to dispute the injunction the bank placed against Wikileaks. This is a pretty big deal; there are First Amendment issues, there are internet issues and there are whistleblower issues.

File under: Well, duh!

Having cats as pets makes you live longer.

Prince William County - how ya like them apples?

So, Prince William County residents (Hi Mom and Dad!) are going to have their property taxes increase by 28% mostly to cover the costs of their stupid, lame, bordering on unlawful illegal immigration initiative. I couldn't find an email address to contact County Executive Craig Gerhart but this is the number to the County Switchboard (703-792-6000). They might be able to direct you the right place to complain about this. Or you could call police Chief Charlie Deane at 703-792-6650 to let him know this is a dumb idea. Or email the police department at policedept@pwcgov.org.

Also, it appears that the official behind the push for this initiative is Republican (natch) Corey Stewart of Woodbridge. You can email him here: corey@coreystewart.com

Hope, people!

After Obama crushes McCain in the general it can be said that the netroots (internet based grassroots blogging activists) have arrived. And the traditional media and the political consultants will become second tier. What makes me say this? Oh, only that Obama has now passed the 1,000,000 individual donor mark. We, the people, own this.

Where are my night vision, infrared, zoom eyes?

Oh, here they are. So, I've been thinking of getting Lasik surgery but maybe I'll hold off until they perfect these lenses.

Cleaning, found this from many years ago

It is hard to hold
      onto a soapy glass
I thought
      with the hollow metallic drum sound
      and the holding
      of breath receding
nothing broken

Then.
What else is hard to hold
What else slips from our
      grip to clatter into the sink

Love you say
Au contraire mi amore

Perhaps you are right
      Coin flip.


This edition of emo poetry brought to you by writing things in notebooks and then not looking at them again for many years. Fun.

I'd vote for him

Hobo: Hello! I am running for president! Vote for me and I'll legalize marijuana! You can marry whoever you wanna!

--Deli, 12th & 6th

Overheard by: Nora, Bianca, and Ethan

From Overheard in New York

CCD - the impact is going to hurt

So, the mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is not only going to affect honey production but the pollination of, well, everything. This is not unknown but the ramifications keep expanding, for instance, your ice cream may be seriously disrupted.

Speaking of Nestle (owner of Haagen-Dazs), they suck. Is there anything that corporations touch that does not have "blood", "slave" or "exploitation" attached to it? This is why it is so important to look for Fair Trade certified products.