Gitmo

Do you know what the youngest age of someone at Guantanamo was when it opened?

11.

They were holding an 11-year-old at Gitmo. And I think he's still there.

God this country is fucked.

Gay rights: mostly about money

Honestly, this is why I've never been too pessimistic (unusual for me) about the prospects for gay rights in the long term: it doesn't make economic sense. Quick summary of the history of Massachusetts since gay marriage was legalized: "DOWN WITH GAY PEOP...oh, wait...they have money?! Fuck, why didn't you say so?!..."

Never forget money makes the world go 'round. :)

Cats can be fucking bitches

Cat doesn't let dog eat - Watch more free videos

Want to be depressed?

Read this. Lays out very succinctly what a failure this administration has been in dealing with terrorism.

Continued Ayn Rand

I've been having more fun with the Ayn Rand thread on Digg (instead of working, of course). Philosophy is far more interesting than virtual machines at the moment...

Poetry

Ayn Rand rant

In a fit of procrastination, I succumbed to my impulse to post on Digg, and I actually came up with a fairly concise description of my objections to Ayn Rand and Objectivism:

"There is a certain irony in Ayn Rand's philosophy in that she held "reason", which she defined roughly as "an objective view of reality," as the ultimate goal of life, and yet psychological studies prove time and again that people, when viewed objectively and scientifically, are fundamentally irrational. Animal training, conditioning with rewards and punishments, is a far more accurate model and effective guide to molding human behavior than any of her nonsense.

Rather than providing a guide for improvement, Rand's philosophy has served mostly as (ironically) a rationalization for discrimination ("if they're poor it's their own fault", "black people are incapable of the same kind of civilized reason that white people are", "women can't be trusted with anything important because they're too emotional", etc.), and consequently a blinder to the inadequacies of capitalism and free markets that arise from humanity's basically impulse-driven nature."

Here kitty kitty kitty...

My mother apparently believes me to be ruled by my baser instincts

I am disturbed by her first assumptions about my ideas for what to do with weightlessness...

Me: "in 50 words or less, what is the first thing you would do in weightlessness?"
Mom: throw up
Me: right. after that.
Mom: try to collect the barf
Mom: Really, it's not a condition I've ever thought of as an opportunity to do something I couldn't do before. What about you?
Me: trying to figure that out
Mom: because ....?
Me: it's a prompt for an entry into the Virgin America contest to win a trip to the unveiling of the Virgin Galactic spaceship.
Mom: I have had to come to understand that I don't think like the age, gender, outlook, tastes of the people who would even think up a Virgin Galactic spaceship.... You're probably a lot closer to it, so what are you thinking.... something sensual? sexual? science-y? life-style-y?

Iranian missile followup

Clearly, if the Iranian news agency hadn't half-assed their image doctoring, it would have been far more effective...

Louis Theroux and the Phelps

Wow...want to take a serious trip through the looking glass? See what it's like inside the Westboro Baptist Church.

I take some solace in that they're essentially a doomsday cult where the children do not marry or reproduce, so they will eventually die out. But damn...it's surprisingly painful to watch that 21-year-old girl, who probably in other circumstances would have been kind and lovely, denied her right to an actual life.

Someone has been seduced by the devil, but it's not us. :(

The truth hurts

From the "You couldn't make this shit up if you tried" files...

Iran sucks at Photoshop.

Oooh...rain_bows_...

We must retake our country, people! The government is now resorting to, uhh, rainbows! Rainbows!!!

(thank you J)

Passive-aggressive notes

Oh, I heart this repository of passive-aggressive notes...

Lava surfing

Certain things are very obviously bad ideas. This happens to be one of them.

Uh, guys?...

Hey, you, umm...you might wanna...uh...


Powerful Avalanche - A funny movie is a click away

Louis Theroux and the Brothel

I found this absolutely fascinating. Louis Theroux (whom apparently I should know but didn't) spends several weeks in the Crazy Horse brothel before it opens, getting to know the girls, seeing what life there is like, etc. (Obviously nsfw)

I don't know why I find it so fascinating. I mean, yeah, sex, titillation, etc. But the social dynamic is just so...unique. It's like a normal relationship viewed through a funhouse mirror.

(you can find the rest of the series in Related Videos)


Similarly, "Pleasure For Sale" is a Sundance award-winning documentary on some of the same stuff.

Ok fine I take it back

It was pointed out to me that certain corporate overlords block Facebook but do not block blogspot. Sigh. Okay, fine. FINE. I will continue posting here. Don't say I never did nuthin' for you.

Especially since I'm giving you Presto, the short at the beginning of WALL-E. If you haven't seen WALL-E, for fuck's sake, what is wrong with you?! Go. Now.

So long and thanks for all the fish

I think, dear friends, it is time to kill this here blog off. It's original intent was to serve as a common repository for random crap I come across in the great wasteland that is the Internet, as well as a location for the occasional rant. I am finding, much as I hate to admit it, that Facebook serves both purposes (particularly the former) better (i.e., with less effort on my part). I don't need the anonymity nor the flexibility of a blog. So, you will see stuff that used to be here instead posted to Facebook. If you don't have a Facebook profile, hi, it's not the 90s any more. Get one. :)