Thoughts from a jumbled mind

Inequality

2012-01-28T22:46:00.001-08:00

Okay, I have to admit, when I saw this picture, my first thought was that I agreed with whatever these women were saying. Cause they’re cute (especially the angry one on the right) and in the cold and topless.

But then I read on and it turns out that I do actually agree with what they’re saying.

If you’re not familiar with Davos, it’s the location of the annual World Economic Forum, where a bunch of incredibly wealthy and powerful smarty pants get together to talk about what they have identified as the most pressing issues in the world and how to address them.

From the Telegraph:

Police in the Swiss resort of Davos quickly arrested the three topless women demonstrators near the heavily guarded grounds of the World Economic Forum (WEF) as they repeatedly chanted, "Poor because of you!".

"In this building now there are a lot of men but only a few women, the same way as in each parliament and in each congress," protester Inna Shevchenko told reporters on her way to the venue where business and world leaders gathered for the 42nd annual WEF meeting.

She’s got a point. In the U.S., women are not only under-represented in the top 1%, but we’re also under-represented in government and the executive suites of corporations. I wonder how things might be different if there were more women driving these businesses and participating in making the decisions of government.

Of course, there are many different flavors and perspectives amongst women, ie: me and Sarah Palin. But I do think that we come to the table with some different perspectives and that’s always a good thing (although scary to those currently at the table).

Full video at the Telegraph site if you want to see them in action.

Education and Liberalism

2012-01-27T22:39:00.001-08:00

Rick Santorum recently said that Obama wants to make it easier for more kids to go to university because the university system makes them into liberals. While I know that it is a fact that the majority of college professors are indeed to the left of the political spectrum (which seems to reinforce this study showing that less intelligent people tend to be more conservative), this letter from a professor to his students shows how far Americans have gotten away from the idea of learning how to think and challenge different beliefs:

(click to embiggen)

I really regret being in a place in my life where I wasn’t able to go to a good university and have the experience of being intellectually challenged – it’s probably the biggest regret of my life. From my outsider’s perspective, one of the big things that you learn in university is how to think. I’ve done my best to do so on my own and I think that I’ve been pretty successful, but I don’t think that university is about indoctrinating certain ideas, but rather to be able to look at things from different perspectives; to understand that there are many perspectives on issues and to be able to deal with complexity.

Love

2012-01-27T22:25:00.001-08:00

Animals

2012-01-26T11:08:00.001-08:00

Went to a private reserve today and saw a bunch of animals. Tired, but here’s a few pix I shot to keep you interested:

Apartheid and the U.S.

2012-01-23T23:47:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, Ilda and I went to the District 6 Museum. District 6 is an area of Cape Town that was designated a “white” area in the 60s and all (primarily black) residents (35,000) were forced to move 16 miles away. Then they demolished the entire neighborhood. And never did anything with it. We drove around there after the museum and it’s just fields.

It started me thinking about what it would be like if all of Eastchester (where I grew up) was demolished. A whole community displaced and redistributed. It’s almost inconceivable.

The museum was largely focused on showing what an active and vibrant area District 6 was. It also focused on illustrating what life was like during apartheid. One of the items they had was a “Whites Only” bench. While taking a picture of it, I realized that we in the U.S. had plenty of “Whites Only” items until the 60s. And it got me thinking…

I kinda wanted to think about apartheid as this distant, terrible thing that happened in Africa. But in the U.S., we (or at least some/many Americans) treated black people in a very similar way:

We made intermarriage between black and white people illegal.

While we didn’t force them to live in separate areas officially via laws, unofficially, they were effectively forced to live separately from white people.

We treated black folks like they were a different, substandard species by doing things like conducting scientific and medical experiments on them, treating them like they were intellectually inferior, not allowing them to have the same rights and opportunities as white people.

And, we (along with the Brits), kidnapped black people, brought them here and enslaved them.

It’s kinda hard to feel superior to what the government of South Africa did under those circumstances. I found it really uncomfortable, actually. And, to boot, when much of the world was supporting the ANC in fighting against the government and the concept of apartheid, the U.S. did not help at all. So who ended up stepping up to support them? Communist and terrorist (Libya, etc) countries, which made it really easy for the U.S. to continue to do business here and claim that the commies would take over if the ANC was successful, thereby allowing apartheid to continue and effectively supporting the government that was imposing it.

Makes it a little hard to swallow being an American here. Makes me sad.

After the District 6 Museum, we went to the Jewish Museum. Among other things, it showed how many Jewish South Africans stood up to apartheid and were very influential in the fight against it. There was a newspaper article that talked about a trial of hundreds of people who had been arrested for anti-apartheid actions and it talked about the fact that over 1/3 of them were Jewish. Considering that Jews are a very small part of the population in Cape Town/S.A., that was very inspiring to see. This helped provide some balance for me and made me feel somewhat less guilty by association.

It’s a complicated, difficult world out there. I often am busy with my own thing, just worrying about what is happening in my life and how it makes me feel. Or I’m focused on U.S. politics and not very aware of what’s going on in the world. Something like this really slaps you in the face.

Everyone needs a good slap every now and then, I think.

Cape Town Thoughts

2012-01-22T01:25:00.001-08:00

Today is my third-ish day here. I am not sure what I really expected but I am surprised. I think that I anticipated that it would be more ‘third world’-y but it’s definitely not. Other parts of South Africa may well be but this city is definitely first world – as a matter of fact, I keep getting mixed up about where I am and I keep reminding myself I’m in (friggin’) Africa!

I haven’t started messing with the pictures I’ve been taking, so any pix posted on this blog at this point are from other people…(thank you interwebs).

I have mostly just been to the tourist sites so far, so it’s hard for me to judge what the city really is like. The first day I arrived, Ilda picked me up at the airport and took me to their wine area. We went to a farm that makes wine & cheese and also happens to have goats climbing a thingy (I don’t know how to describe it – one of those Rapunzel thingys) and a lovely restaurant. After 33 hours of traveling, it was so nice to be able to walk around and stretch. I felt pretty good when landing, but quickly faded. We had a great lunch and cheese platter and then she dropped me off at my hotel. I ended up passing out around 6pm, woke up at 8 for an hour or so and then slept through until 8am!?!?!

The good news about sleeping all that time is that I am over the whole jet lag thing.

The next day, we headed over to Robben Island, which is where Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners were held from the 1960s until the 1990's. I had really mixed feelings about going there as I expected it to be a very solemn and sad place. We took a little bus ride around the island at first and the tour guide was talking about people coming to the island to get married there and that they are building places for people to come and stay overnight. I just didn’t get it. I had a good conversation with Ilda about it and she said that the other perspective that I wasn’t seeing was that this was the place where the plans for post-apartheid South Africa were made. This was reinforced by the tour, led by a former political prisoner who had been imprisoned on the island. He talked about how they had committees and organized political discussions and how they passed around snippets from newspapers. It turned out to be incredibly inspiring. At the gift shop on the island, many of the items for sale included the phrase “Triumph in the face of adversity” which I thought was a great way to look at this horrible period.

We lightened things up with lunch on Long Street, which provided excellent people watching and I had a chance to meet one of Ilda’s sisters and her husband, who was very enthusiastic to talk about computer security.

That night, Ilda took me to a really great, artfully decorated restaurant named the Sidewalk Café which was in a neighborhood up on Table Mountain. The area reminds me a lot of southern California – I liked it a lot and the food was excellent – I told the waitress that it was my favorite restaurant in Cape Town – after my 2 days.

Yesterday, I went to a market and then took the cable car up to the top of Table Mountain. I took a nice walk around the top of the mountain, then had a snack and hung out there several hours waiting for sunset, which was around 8pm. You have incredible views of the city, the ocean and north of the city from on top there and it was a really pretty day. I can’t wait to post my pictures so you all can see.

Today is Ilda’s bridal shower. It’s at her favorite beach. I am not great with groups of people I don’t know, but I’m sure they’ll all be nice. After all, they’re Ilda’s friends. Also, this will make it somewhat easier at the wedding since I’ll have met these people today and therefore have a deep personal connection with them. They are having a traditional braai (barbecue) there, which means they’ll be cooking lamb. As I’m a fowl pescaterian, I’m going to be sticking with the veggies since lamb neither has wings or fins. Should be interesting and hopefully, will provide some good photo opps.

Sorry for spouting so much in this post. I’ll try to be better at writing shorter, more frequent updates now that I’m settled in here.

Seattle drivers in two inches of snow

2012-01-16T15:05:00.001-08:00

This illustrates why it’s not safe to drive here when it snows (other drivers):

1) Big hills

2) It doesn’t snow very often, so people have no clue how to drive in the snow

3) Idiots (seriously – putting chains on in 2” of snow? And…on the rear tires of a front wheel drive car?)

Diving trick

2012-01-14T09:34:00.001-08:00

I wish I thought to try this (they’re at about 100 feet below the surface):

According to geek.com:

The science behind the result is not too difficult to understand. Because of the weight of seawater, objects at considerable depth have much more pressure placed on them. The greater the depth, the higher the pressure. At 100 feet of water, the pressure felt is equal to about three times the our normal pressure on land (about 45 PSI). With all of that force pushing in on the egg, it can maintain the ovoid shape. The reason that the egg looks yellow is the fact that raw egg whites are nearly transparent, so it’s hard to make them out on video.

Getting excited

2012-01-13T08:03:00.001-08:00

Rather than

Actual A hole

2012-01-11T10:32:00.001-08:00

via whosay.com

Should have known this was from Demetri Martin.

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Kim Jung Un

2012-01-10T09:01:00.001-08:00

Okay, so you’re 20-something-ish and you’ve just been named the dictator of a nuclear nation. Photos of you are rare. So you pose with military men…holding your hands?

Click on the pic to enbiggen & see better.

Caption: New North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (front row, center) posed early this month for photos with soldiers of the Seoul Ryu Kyong Su 105 Guards Tank Division of the Korean People's Army.

I’ve seen this picture floating around a bunch lately and thought that the guy on the left was holding Un’s hand but when I looked today, I saw that the guys on both sides of him are holding his hands.

Must be a cultural thing (I’m hoping).

Terrorist ID Chart

2012-01-09T05:58:00.001-08:00

via gonzoville.deviantart.com

Click to enbiggen.

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Sign language basics

2012-01-05T13:48:00.001-08:00

The GOP Circus

2012-01-05T13:31:00.001-08:00

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Indecision 2012 - Iowa Caucus - Mitt Romney's Victory Speech & Rick Santorum's Coup

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It’s National Trivia Day

2012-01-04T14:08:00.001-08:00

And the Mental Floss blog has pulled out 119 amazingly trivial facts. Here are some of my favs:

6. When he appeared on Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!, Bill Clinton correctly answered three questions about My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.

15. A 1913 New York Times article on portmanteaus includes the word “alcoholiday,” which describes leisure time spent drinking. <how did that fall out of favor?

35. That thing you use to dot your lowercase “i” is called a tittle.

44. Norwegian skier Odd-Bjoern Hjelmeset on why he didn’t win gold at the 2010 Olympics: “I think I have seen too much porn in the last 14 days.”

59. When the computer mouse was invented, it was called the “X-Y Position Indicator for a Display System.”

64. A milliHelen is the quantity of beauty required to launch just one ship.

79. Dr. Ruth was trained as a sniper by the Israeli military.

84. Judge Judy makes $45 million a year.

97. At an NOAA conference in 1972, Roxcy Bolton proposed naming hurricanes after Senators instead of women. She also preferred “him-i-canes.”

99. Horses can’t vomit.

Read the full list here.

Baking is easy

2011-12-30T14:27:00.001-08:00

Stop-Motion Biscuit Cake from Alan Travers on Vimeo.

I’m new to the whole cooking/baking thing, but I would have started way earlier if I knew how easy it is. At least according to this (quite entertaining) video…

Adorableness

2011-12-29T12:25:00.001-08:00

Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt sing a duet. They’re both so cute. And they can sing, which doesn’t hurt either.

How fun is this?

2011-12-23T10:54:00.001-08:00

I especially like when the kids start singing the chorus. What a great dad!

How to make Republican candidates uncomfortable

2011-12-22T09:16:00.001-08:00

Awwww–sailor kisses girlfriend upon return from sea

2011-12-21T12:57:00.001-08:00

Didn’t expect sailor girl kissing girlfriend, didja?

According to msnbc.com:

A Navy tradition caught up with the repeal of the U.S. military's "don't ask, don't tell" rule on Wednesday when two women sailors became the first to share the coveted "first kiss" on the dock after one of them returned from 80 days at sea.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Marissa Gaeta of Placerville, Calif., descended from the USS Oak Hill amphibious landing ship and shared a quick kiss with her partner, Petty Officer 3rd Class Citlalic Snell of Los Angeles. The crowd screamed and waved flags around them.

…

Navy officials said it was the first time on record that a same-sex couple was chosen to kiss first upon a ship's return. Sailors and their loved ones bought $1 raffle tickets for the opportunity. Gaeta said she bought $50 of tickets. The Navy said the money would be used to host a Christmas party for the children of sailors.

Updated at 4:16pm to add this video where they talk a bit about this. They’re both adorable!

Kim Jong Il

2011-12-18T21:14:00.001-08:00

Tyrant, dictator, oppressor of his people, megalomaniac.

Dead. Couldn’t happen to a better guy.

Vaclav Havel

2011-12-18T11:11:00.001-08:00

Man who was influential as a dissident (and eventual politician) to the beginning of the end of Communism in Europe.

(that is one terrible sentence, especially when describing a writer. It is Sunday and my brain is not functioning well, so please forgive me.)

From the NY Times obit (they’re way better at this than I am in illustrating what an impressive man he was):

A shy yet resilient, unfailingly polite but dogged man who articulated the power of the powerless, Mr. Havel spent five years in and out of Communist prisons, lived for two decades under close secret-police surveillance and endured the suppression of his plays and essays. He served 14 years as president, wrote 19 plays, inspired a film and a rap song and remained one of his generation’s most seductively nonconformist writers.

Dead.

The 25 Most Beautiful College Libraries in the World

2011-12-18T10:30:00.001-08:00

Beautiful photo essay. This makes me realize that when I’m traveling to big cities, I should go to local universities and check out their libraries. It really shows how people (did?) respect(ed?) books and knowledge. I find it interesting how many of the (older) libraries resemble cathedrals. That’s very telling. Plus, I am a big of a fan of beautiful architecture.

Aside: if you’re in NYC, go check out the NY Public Library on Fifth Ave & 42nd Street. It’s incredible. And then walk down the road to check out Grand Central Terminal. Not spots you might normally think to wander through, but incredibly beautiful places.

And if you’re in Seattle, our public library is very (contemporary) and cool (and has a super-interesting gift shop!

Go to Flavorwire.com to see all of them. Here are a few of my favs (as always, click on the image to enbiggen):

Stunning

2011-12-17T09:57:00.001-08:00

I so want to see the Northern Lights in person. But this footage from the international space station shows us the earth’s auroras from above – a perspective very few humans ever get to see. It’s breathless.

Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.

They took time lapse sequences of photos and combined them to make this video. To watch it in high def, click here. If you have decent bandwidth, watch it in high def & watch it in full screen mode & be astounded.

These people care

2011-12-16T12:12:00.001-08:00

These two people have decided to give up something they love and treasure – until abortion ends. Why? To remind them that people are still getting abortions – they know that this won’t stop abortion.

But the best part is that the thing they love so much and are going to be giving up?

Taco Bell.

Fox Faux Pas

2011-12-16T11:29:00.001-08:00

Here’s the graphic they posted:

It’s an easy error to make.

Christopher Hitchens

2011-12-16T08:21:00.001-08:00

Author, outspoken atheist & irritant to many.

Dead.

Destroying Marriage

2011-12-15T13:00:00.001-08:00

Yes, this is what is destroying American values & marriage.

It’s adorable, btw.

This is beautiful

2011-12-13T15:58:00.001-08:00

Let’s start by saying that the piece itself (Sugar Plum Fairy from The Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky) is gorgeous. But it’s worth it to be amazed at how people are playing this on glasses filled with various amounts of liquid to set their tone. Can you imagine how long it took to fill those glasses properly to get each one tuned properly?

Nice, slightly off-beat holiday celebration.

Gay Guitar?

2011-12-12T12:35:00.001-08:00

I searched for “Guitars” on Amazon & this is what was in the left sidebar:

I’m feeling a little ghetto-ized.

These kids might just be cuter than kittens

2011-12-12T11:54:00.001-08:00

Funny Brits

2011-12-08T06:48:00.001-08:00

British sailors aboard the amphibious assault ship HMS Ocean lip-sync to Mariah Carey's Christmas recording while on their way home from what was originally supposed to be a seven-week deployment -but then they were diverted to Libya, and seven weeks turned into seven months. After a 225-day deployment (176 at sea), they are stoked to get back to the UK by this Friday, in time for the holidays!

400 people onboard (at peak during the amphibious exercises just under 900 onboard but approx 650 during Op Ellamy)
Steamed just over 40,000 miles
Burned approx 6,000 tonnes of fuel
Operated 16 different type of aircraft off the deck
Realities of deploying:
15 babies born while the ship has been away (fathers did get home to see mum and baby)
5 people were sent home so they didn't miss their own weddings.
1 sailor whose son's third birthday is on homecoming. Family meeting ship
Ships company have missed:
Summer holidays.
Children's exam results
Children finishing school and starting university
The Padre missed his daughter's graduation.

Found via http://www.misscellania.com/miss-cellania/2011/12/7/all-i-want-for-christmas.html

Colonel Potter

2011-12-07T14:05:00.001-08:00

aka Harry Morgan.

Dead.

Mirrors

2011-12-06T09:22:00.001-08:00

Car & Driver magazine says this is the right way to set the mirrors in your car to avoid blind spots:

They say it takes some getting used to, but it’s much safer. I’ll give it a shot…

Rap that amuses me

2011-12-06T09:07:00.001-08:00

This guy is doing his own version of Chris Brown’s “Look at me now”. Definitely worth checking out. He’s definitely amusing, but seriously talented.

There’s cursing, so if you’re at work, please put on the headsets so you don’t get fired…

Beautiful naked girl, beautiful thoughts (SF most W)

2011-12-02T07:53:00.001-08:00

Amber Heard is an out, gay actress, who has appeared in The Rum Diary with Johnny Depp, the Playboy Club on TV (is it still on? I have no idea.) and a bunch of other small stuff.

Honestly, I’m not familiar with her until I recently started hearing about her on the gay blogs. But a) she’s awfully pretty & b) she’s open about her sexuality & c) this is a great quote, so watch away.

Glenn Beck has a new “humor” show

2011-11-28T09:29:00.001-08:00

I am not familiar with this brand of comedy. I must be missing something.

I keep thinking this is just a joke but it is all really from the new show he started to compete against the Daily Show & Jon Stewart. Seriously. Look: https://www.facebook.com/thebsofa

Ken Russell

2011-11-28T08:27:00.001-08:00

Dead.

Directed many movies, including Tommy.

Thoughts?

2011-11-24T08:18:00.001-08:00

Any idea why this person is following me on Twitter?

I’m very tempted to go all postal on the GOP in his honor…

Sad spam

2011-11-23T07:49:00.001-08:00

It’s like they ran out of energy in the middle:

Singing Schnoodle

2011-11-21T09:56:00.001-08:00

via youtube.com

I don't have a piano, so I'm not sure if Roxie has this skill...

Posted via email from amygeek's posterous

The triumphant return of Marcel the shell with shoes on

2011-11-15T07:54:00.001-08:00

via youtube.com

Posted via email from amygeek's posterous

Engineering Flowchart

2011-11-14T08:24:00.001-08:00

Do you recognize yourself?

Do you want to be my friend?

2011-11-13T09:04:00.001-08:00

via 1.bp.blogspot.com

Sounds about right.

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Sexy Snow White?

2011-11-11T09:11:00.001-08:00

Seriously- check out Charlize Theron as the Evil Queen. Also, this looks like it is filmed beautifully. Very interesting…

Why I live in the burbs

2011-11-10T17:02:00.001-08:00

Supposed to go to an event in Seattle at 6pm tonight. Here’s what bing maps has to say:

So a trip that normally should take 17 minutes will take 52 minutes if I leave right now.

Sigh.

Literary Pinup Calendar

2011-11-08T18:00:00.001-08:00

1) How cool is this?

2) My friend Lee drew them.

3) Proceeds go to Heifer International.

Walk, don’t run (okay, click) here to buy.

Great video

2011-11-08T10:03:00.001-08:00

47,000 people run in the NYC Marathon. This time lapse video shows them all starting off at the Verazzano-Narrows Bridge.

The greatest city on the planet

2011-11-06T08:32:00.001-08:00

A Year in New York from Andrew Clancy on Vimeo.

Hate your life?

2011-10-31T09:39:00.001-07:00

via soberinanightclub.com

Yep. That's how I feel when I get in that state.

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The Mariana Trench Shown To Unsettling Scale

2011-10-30T09:43:00.001-07:00

via piggynap.com

This planet we live on is incredible.

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Science versus your gut

2011-10-28T08:40:00.001-07:00

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Weathering Fights - Science: What's It Up To?

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The fact that science has somehow become a political issue makes me absolutely lose my marbles. This “Republican strategist” feels that every American should go with their gut feelings rather than what scientists prove through testing and peer review. And she says it with a straight face.

Watch this. Please.

2011-10-25T12:31:00.001-07:00

Taking on Fox "News"

2011-10-25T09:57:00.001-07:00

via slog.thestranger.com

Makes me almost like Maroon 5.

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Evil & Greedy

2011-10-24T21:55:00.001-07:00

$20 for the Kindle version of this book? The hardcover is $21.00 and it includes stuff like paper, binding, shipping. There is just no reason for a publisher to charge this much.

They just don’t get it.

Middle class?

2011-10-24T07:58:00.001-07:00

I read this really interesting article yesterday in the NY Times Magazine about how the as the US has gotten better about mainstreaming various dispossessed groups (black, Hispanic, women, gays), the distribution of (power and) wealth in the US has gotten more extreme.

I definitely recommend reading the article. It got me thinking about the middle class though. A while ago, a friend who was in college asked me what “class” I thought I belonged in. At the time, I owned two homes, split my time between Manhattan and Los Angeles and was making more than double what I make now. I said I was in the upper class – because I knew that I made significantly more than most people in the country. She later told me it was interesting, because there was a family she asked who were extremely wealthy (way more than me) & when she asked them, they said that they were upper middle class.

Today, I feel like I am in the upper middle class. But percentage/income wise, I’m in the top 10 or so percentage of Americans. I’m not the only one – we compare ourselves to our neighbors and our point of reference is obviously skewed.

Recently Mitt Romney, while referring to the middle class, said “us”, including himself in this group. This is a man who has many millions of dollars – was he being dishonest, or does he really feel like he’s part of the middle class?

Here’s a breakdown (from Wikipedia, so make be somewhat inaccurate):

Bottom 28% makes up to $25,000 a year

Next 27% makes $25,000 – $50,000 a year

Next 18% makes $50,000 – $75,000 a year

Next 11% makes $75,000 – $100,000 a year

Top 16% makes $100,000 or more

Being generous and using the above numbers as a broad reference, that would make the middle class anyone who makes $25,000 – $100,000 a year. But middle class should be defined not simply about income. $100,000 a year is a lot of money in a small city or town in the middle of the country, but not in San Francisco or New York City where cost of living is so high. $100,000 in Omaha needs to be balanced against something like $65,000 (random number pulled from my butt, but you understand) in NYC due to cost of living. We can’t simply break down classes by income because it’s not reasonable, but in my (very quick) internet search, I didn’t see anything that took this into account.

In the same Wikipedia article, they show several different models of defining class, always using income as the means of breaking down the classes. All three models show the top 1% as a separate class and two of the three models show the next top 15% as upper middle class. How does someone in the top 16% somehow end up in the “middle”?

I am really thinking about this in regards to the 99% movement, which officially includes all of us earning less than $500k or so. There’s obviously a difference in political influence between those at the very top and the rest of us and so, I think the reference to 99% works. However, I am a little confused about how we think about what is middle class, especially if Mitt Romney thinks he’s one of us.

Cause no matter what, Mitt Romney is not one of us.

** Updated at 8:20am with this info from new article on The Atlantic’s website based on 2010 payroll taxes reported to the Social Security Administration:

Half of all workers made less than $25,364, which means that the typical wage is at its lowest level since 1999, after adjusting for inflation (and makes us have to rethink the percentages in the Wikipedia breakdown above).

The number of millionaires increased by about 20%.

How the 1% actually feels about being called the 1%

2011-10-24T07:33:00.001-07:00

via andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com

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Another apocalypse date spurned (it was today) again

2011-10-21T12:17:00.001-07:00

by Bill Chappell

Enlarge Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

A sign on an RV announces the end of the world, outside Harold Camping's ministry in Oakland, Calif., Monday, May 23, 2011. Ahead of that day, many of Camping's followers had quit their jobs or donated money to pay for more than 5,000 billboards and 20 RVs plastered with the Judgment Day message.

Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

A sign on an RV announces the end of the world, outside Harold Camping's ministry in Oakland, Calif., Monday, May 23, 2011. Ahead of that day, many of Camping's followers had quit their jobs or donated money to pay for more than 5,000 billboards and 20 RVs plastered with the Judgment Day message.

The Oakland minister who predicted the end of the world would take place on Friday, Oct. 21, was confronted by the continuation of the world instead. It marks the second time this year that the ministry led by Harold Camping, 90, has settled on a doomsday date, only to have it tick by in quotidian fashion.

But to be fair, Camping has said that "the end is going to come very, very quietly," as Mark reported last week.

The AP reports:

Family Radio International stirred a global frenzy when it predicted the rapture would take 200 million Christians to heaven on May 21. Its most recent pronouncement said natural disasters would destroy the globe on Friday.

Though two moderate quakes did jolt the San Francisco Bay area on Thursday, the planet remained intact.

The ministry and its 90-year-old leader, Harold Camping, are avoiding the media this time and perhaps a repeat of the international mockery that followed the previous prediction.

Calls to the ministry went to voicemail and were unreturned.

After the earlier date elapsed, a message on the Family Radio site announced that the "day" of May 21, 2011, would last for five months — or until Oct. 21, 2011.

The folks over at the Family Radio International website were evidently confident in the Oct. 21 date: As of Friday afternoon, the "What's New" section had not been updated since Oct. 16.

Tags: doomsday, end of the world

via npr.org

Posted via email from amygeek's posterous

The market will provide

2011-10-21T11:39:00.001-07:00

You know, like the GOP says – we can’t regulate or force insurance companies to do anything because that’s anti-capitalist. The market will regulate itself because that’s how capitalism works, right?

From today’s NY Times:

Citing rising costs, Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest private employer, told its employees this week that all future part-time employees who work less than 24 hours a week on average will no longer qualify for any of the company’s health insurance plans.

In addition, any new employees who average 24 hours to 33 hours a week will no longer be able to include a spouse as part of their health care plan, although children can still be covered.

…

The company said the changes were not a result of the new federal health care law. But the higher rates along with steep spikes in premiums for other plans this year are likely to stoke the national debate over the year-old legislation that has pitted President Obama and Democrats against Republicans opposed to the changes. Challenges to the law by several states are now before the Supreme Court.

…

Wal-Mart also significantly reduced the amount of money it contributes to the savings accounts workers can use to pay for medical bills that are not covered under their plan. Last year, the company put $1,000 into accounts for families but it will cut the amount by half for next year to just $500. Companies typically put more money into these accounts as a way of encouraging employees to choose these plans, which cost employers less than traditional policies.

While Wal-Mart defends its decision to reduce these contributions, few companies have made similar cuts, according to Mercer. Companies are continuing to try to do what they can to encourage employees to enroll in these plans, said Beth Umland, who oversees the company’s benefits research.

Barbara Collins, a sales associate at the Wal-Mart in Placerville, Calif., said that the premiums for the H.M.O. plan for herself and her 5-year-old son would rise to $18 every two weeks from $10. Her big concern, she said, was that her deductible would jump to $5,000 a year, from $1,000 — a daunting amount considering she earns $19,000 a year.

Muammar el-Qaddafi

2011-10-20T09:22:00.001-07:00

Dead.

Now we can stop worrying about how to spell his name.

Digging this track

2011-10-19T11:10:00.001-07:00

Brooklyn band called “Friends” – they’re not on Spotify yet and this track isn’t available on Amazon.com yet.

Hooray! Another GOP debate!

2011-10-18T11:00:00.001-07:00

I’m so frustrated with US politics. Obama has done some good things (like healthcare and DADT ending) and disappointed me (like leaving Guantanamo open) and just overall, I feel like he hasn’t positioned himself as a leader. Some of the attacks on him say that he just wasn’t ready and I’m afraid there may be something to that. However, I think that the more important issue is that his personality and approach is not that of someone who grabs the reins and says “this is wrong. This is what we must do.” Instead, he says “this is a concern. We should talk about how to address it.” Even when he makes proposals, they aren’t particularly strong and they are so frigging moderate – no matter what he does, they’re going to say he’s a socialist, so why even try to be moderate unless you really are? I was hoping for more aggressive leader and I didn’t get it.

The 99%/Occupy movement is really super interesting to me. First of all, it’s the first time (other briefly for Obama’s election) that I’ve seen young people (and old people) really worked up & willing to participate in the electoral process. I think it’s because they’re frustrated with Obama as well – I think they’re frustrated with the whole scene – the rich are always taken care of, but increasingly, the rest of us are increasingly ignored. I am incredibly blessed with my job and financial situation, but I definitely feel that I am ignored politically because the corporations and the wealthy have the means (which at this point boil down to money) to make politicians jump. I really hope that all these people vote. Not enough unhappy people are voting – they’re sitting out the process and letting the loudmouths make the decisions.

And that brings me to the 57th GOP presidential debate tonight. I have watched most of these debates and find myself increasingly upset with what’s going on. Mitt Romney could have been a decent moderate with a good shot at pulling in the undecideds. But he’s so busy tacking to the right to appease the GOP base, he’s losing the middle and the GOP base still doesn’t like him because he was moderate 20 minutes or so ago.

Huntsman is interesting in a reasonable, I believe in science way, but he is against abortion (maybe he isn’t really & is just appeasing the right, but that’s what he says) and gay marriage, so I have a big problem with him on social issues.

Perry is a bad GWB rerun and I just don’t think that’s going to play with the country at this time. Bachmann and Ron Paul are extremist nutcases with no chance of even a VP nom. They are distractions and they encourage the loud (and in my opinion, uneducated and misinformed by Fox “News”) minority.

And then there’s the businessman, Herman Cain who refuses to answer any question with details. He replies that he will rely on advisors for foreign affairs when he’s President (of course he will – they all must rely on experts to give them the details and backgrounds and make recommendations), but he seems to think it’s ok not to know anything about foreign affairs until something happens where he must. This is naïve and dangerous. Same thing with his tax plan – when questioned about some specifics, he just says “I don’t know.” I don’t really care where the plan came from (although I am very amused by the fact that 9-9-9 is the default plan in Sim City) – I care that it’s well thought out and can be discussed and defended by the man who is recommending it. Having a hundred words about it on your webpage is insufficient. We’re talking about potentially changing the entire US tax scheme – that can’t be explained in a page. There are so many issues to be considered and defined. It’s just ridiculous.

I will say that I would kinda like Cain to get the nod just to make the racists heads explode. But that’s mostly for humor’s sake and not a great political reason to support the dude.

Of course I’m going to vote for Barry. But I am so let down by him. And I am very distressed by the way that the GOP has kowtowed to the Tea Party and are ignoring multiple polls that show that the majority of Americans WANT to increase taxes on the wealthiest Americans. Extremism is unrealistic in a democracy – saying “we won’t raise taxes for any reason” and refusing to budge is having an incredibly dangerous effect on the country. Of course there’s waste and it should be addressed. But spending time and money addressing waste on NPR and Planned Parenthood isn’t just stupid, divisive and political – it’s a waste of energy & time! The percentage of money that is given to these causes is so minimal, that even if the GOP “won” & got these orgs unfunded, it would make NO difference in the big picture.

Until the GOP and the spineless Democratic party are willing to look at where we actually spend the vast majority of our tax dollars = Defense, Medicare, Social Security AND look at raising taxes, we’re going to continue to be in a huge financial mess.

There’s always Canada.

US Marine who told off NYC police brutalizing protesters

2011-10-18T10:35:00.001-07:00

Shamar Thomas, a marine veteran, was upset and frustrated when he saw NYC policemen attacking non-violent protesters at the Occupy Wall Street protests. He was shocked when he saw a cop punching a woman in the face and felt compelled to speak up. This video shows him that night and an interview with Keith Olbermann where he explains why he chose to speak out and how the police responded to him.

Very cool celebration of product launch

2011-10-17T07:42:00.001-07:00

via youtube.com

This is how Microsoft Australia celebrated LightSwitch's launch. http://aka.ms/lightswitchAU

Posted via email from amygeek's posterous

Reasons to Fear Canada.

2011-10-12T12:10:00.001-07:00

Reasons to Fear Canada.
BY Sean Carman
- - - -
Ninety percent of population is massed within 100 miles of northern American border.
Seems not to mind that one of its provinces has turned almost entirely French.
Excessive politeness only makes sense as cover for something truly sinister. But what?
Citizens seem strangely impervious to cold.
Decriminalization of marijuana and acceptance of gay marriage without corresponding collapse of social institutions indicate Canada may, in fact, be indestructible.
Has infiltrated entertainment industry with singers, actors, and comedians practically indistinguishable from their American counterparts.
Consistently stays just below cultural radar yet never quite disappears.
Parliamentary government and common-law judiciary appear to function acceptably yet remain completely inscrutable.
Never had a “disco phase.”
Seemingly endless supply of timber, donuts, and Scotch-plaid hats with earflaps.
Keeps insisting it “has no designs on America” and “only wants peace.”
Plays a mean game of pond hockey.

via mcsweeneys.net

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Westboro Church Announces Protest of Steve Jobs’ Funeral…on an iPhone

2011-10-06T15:48:00.001-07:00

Westboro Church Announces Protest of Steve Jobs’ Funeral…on an iPhone
by Mike Flynn

The fringe crazies at Westboro Church are going to protest Steve Jobs’ funeral for…well, for reasons I can’t possibly explain. As best I can tell, they believe this titan of capitalism should have done more to support their particular religious views. I don’t know. But, their tweet is delicious…

Well.

If you think Steve Jobs’ funeral is worthy of protest (!), shouldn’t you maybe not want to use his one of his products to announce it? I mean, according to them, he gave God no glory and taught sin. (!) And yet, they will use his greatest innovation to spread the word of their protest. Couldn’t they find a Droid phone for this?

Write your own joke in the comments.

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Tags: funeral, protest, steve jobs, westboro church
Posted Oct 5th 2011 at 10:39 pm in Culture | Edit 34490085 Comments2011-10-06+05%3A39%3A26Mike+Flynn

via biggovernment.com

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Chicago Traders Respond To Protesters With Signs Reading ‘We Are The 1%’

2011-10-05T16:48:00.001-07:00

via thinkprogress.org

The Occupy Wall Street movement spread to Chicago this week, where protesters have gathered outside the Chicago Board of Trade, the world’s oldest options and futures trading center. Like the protesters in New York and other cities around the country, the group gathered to protest our nation’s growing income inequality, as the top 1 percent of Americans continue to see their incomes rise rapidly and their tax rates fall. The Chicago traders, confronted by the protesters’ “We are the 99 percent” message, crafted their own not-so-subtle reply, hanging signs in eighth-floor windows that read "We are the 1%". Despicable.

Posted via email from amygeek's posterous

Steve Jobs

2011-10-05T16:41:00.001-07:00

Dead. (no link cause this was just announced moments ago.)

I am the 99%

2011-10-05T15:47:00.001-07:00

The posts at WeAreThe99Percent are sobering, shocking.

They are some of people caught in the downward spiral of the US economy, but in reality it’s been happening for years as the split between the wealthy and the ‘middle class’ gets increasingly large.

The stories are of cripplingly high health care costs that destroy families, of foreclosures on mortgages and of the obvious result of years of banks pushing debt to customers.

There are also strong themes of ever-increasingly expensive education that is of diminishing value in the job market, and people are loaded up with tens of thousands in debt and low paid or no jobs.

These are signs of a society that is failing its people, and a strong articulation of exactly what the Occupy Wall Street movement is all about.

Is this the real Tea Party?

David Koch, second richest man in New York is apparently a cornerstone funder of the Tea Party, and he and his brother hold strong Libertarian views. Some of those views I regard as part of a fair society (legalisation of prostitution and drugs, gay marriage, removal of farm subsidies) but some are downright dangerous (removal of Social Security, the Federal Reserve Board and welfare).

The Tea Party movement was arguably taken over and certainly accelerated by Fox News into what seems to be a nutty right wing group, but the mass membership are driven by much of the same concerns as Occupy Wall St.

We are faced with interesting times over the next weeks – will the Tea Party followers increasingly realise that they have been duped?

This newer Occupy Wall Street movement appears to be a genuine one, rising from a sea of frustration from people who are under-served and with little prospect. It started from a suggestion in a email from Adbusters to their readers, and seems to have no leaders.

Many of the participants made mistakes, perhaps taking on too much debt or studying the wrong degrees. But many more of them have done what society demanded of them, attending university, paying insurance, buying a car – and then got clobbered. The safety net in the USA has many holes, and doesn’t last for long.

The problems are not so simple

A lot of what the financial industry (Wall Street) does is good, even the slicing and dicing of mortgages up into CDOs was a good idea. What was not good was the pricing of those CDOs, the way they were sold and the way that mortgages were granted to people who realistically had no hope of ever paying them off. What is worse is the propensity to clip the ticket for increasing amounts. The short term dealmaking, get the money now nature of the street has its place as lubricant for helping businesses make tough decisions, but it encourages unacceptable banking practices in the long run. The US really does need to reinstitute the separation of retail banks and investment/trading banks, and bring in adult supervision.

The financial institutions do not stand alone in being recipients of fury. US corporations there are paying an increasingly small share of the overall tax burden, with some such as GE earning billions and paying little or no tax, or even receiving rebates. This is the result from years of corporate lobbying for tweaks in tax law, and the results are repugnant. The USA could learn from New Zealand should dramatically simplify their tax code, much like Roger Douglas did in 1984, and introduce a GST.

That’s not to say that that everyone on Wall Street is repugnant, or that even they see themselves doing wrong – far from it. It’s a game where the choices are laid out in front of you, and if you excel then the money will come. It’s a game where the amount of money flying around is so high that it’s relatively easy to ensure that a little sticks to those making the transaction.

Financiers however play within rules set for them by legislators in Washington DC. Those legislators are there thanks to a host of donations from thousands of people, but some of the larger amounts come from companies and individuals on Wall Street. That mixture of politics and money has lifted the concerns of corporations and diminished the relative concerns of individuals. It’s got to stop, but a recent Supreme Court decision actually went the other way – defending the right of corporations to get involved in elections.

A decent society is decent to everyone, regardless of whether they are old, young, sick, or healthy, or even whether they chose at times not to abide by our rules. I reject completely the idea of living in a society that accepts homelessness, that does not care for mentally and that locks up people for offenses that are relatively harmless. We humans are better than that.

Being part of the 1 percent

I was lucky enough to study and work at two elite USA institutions – Yale University and McKinsey & Co. The experiences at those two places were outstanding – the level of education at top schools and the scale of the work available in the USA at the top end far exceeds anything here. I helped, for example, 2 organisations with over $500 billion in assets at the highest level. I was taught by people that wrote the books we study from and met a group of ultra smart, globally savvy, fun and driven people. In short I was becoming part of the 1 percent, even though for four of my five years in the USA I was in debt, and even though my income paled in comparison with those on Wall street.

I deliberately chose not to apply for Wall Street jobs during my MBA, as despite the fun of playing with large sums of money there seemed to be little reward beyond chasing the money god. I was lucky (or unlucky) enough to temp for a few months in a bank that sold structured financial products in London, counting the amount of money that the bankers had made over and above the internally calculated value of those products. It was a calculation of a knowledge advantage, and the units were millions of dollar per day. Those bankers or traders were seen as the elite within the bank people, but in reality they were arseholes, and like everyone else there, including me, they were dedicated to making money and to little else. I was lucky because I managed to get kicked out relatively quickly.

Being part of the 1 percent as a professional isn’t easy either. You are expected to work incredibly hard, maintain a certain sense of decorum and not rock the boat. It helps to have gone to the right school, for undergraduate and graduate studies, if not before. You don’t get much in the way of holidays, and are expected to be on call at all times.

I managed, courtesy of the last recession, to again break away from the USA corporate scene.

New Zealand

Meanwhile in New Zealand many are experiencing at some of the negative impact of the GFC, though I am unsure as to how bad it really is. Compound that with the hammering that Christchurch took, and while we are just getting on with it, we potentially have some real problems.

However we are blessed with a society and politics that, ACT party notwithstanding, generally and genuinely finds it unacceptable to treat people so harshly.

We are seeing increasing disparity between the wealthy and the rest in NZ, and we therefore need to doubly continue to ensure that the social welfare safety net is working. That means free or cheap education and health, as fundamental rights, it means a living income for everyone regardless of their circumstance and it means making sure we don’t have a situation where housing is unaffordable and can create catastrophic losses for families.

At the same time we need a society and economy where businesses can start, nurture, grow and prosper. We already have some good elements in our tax system, but there is a way to go before we get a fair tax system that rewards entrepreneurialism and has minimal loopholes. We don’t, for example, tax capital gains at all here. A simple across the board 20% tax on capital gains worked well in the USA for many years, and a tax I would welcome here, excluding only primary residences.

While there are problems, we have a good society here, and many live the life that many of the 1 percenters do not manage to live in the USA. We have the lifestyle many in the world dream of, while we have the ideal economy to start and grow businesses.

So what can we do about it here in NZ?
There is not a lot we can do about US policy, and it is senseless to get buried in US politics as it is something which we can and should not try to influence. Also it is, as far as I know, illegal for non-citizens to donate to campaigns.

But we can make sure that we don’t follow in the footsteps of the US by making sure we stay vigilant on the things that make our society great. We missed for example, decent regulation of finance companies, resulting in the loss of billions. We succeeded though in standing up to banks, and their current strength is partially a function of that.

Why can’t we make our 1% into 100%? Why not aim to make New Zealanders the envy of the world, combining a (minimum) decent living with a vibrant economy and the world’s best lifestyle.

It’s something worth pushing for, and here are some of the basic elements I believe we need to (continue to) push for*:

A simple social welfare system that ensures everyone gets a living wage, regardless of the reason they need help

Low or no income taxes for those earning under a minimum amount

Free or near free high and consistent quality education for those who cannot afford otherwise

Free or near free health care for those who cannot afford otherwise

A flat capital gains tax (say 20%) on all capital gains except for sale of the primary residence

Decriminalization of all and legalization of certain drugs, to drive safer drug taking though better messaging, less drug taking (Portugal example), higher income from tax on drug sales and removal of the largest cause of crime from the mandate of police.

Constant effort to maintain our short election campaigns and campaign financing that cannot be influenced by wealth of individuals or corporations.

Constant effort to increasingly simplify tax law, making it as easy for corporates to understand their income liability as it it is with GST.

Firm and fair regulation from well educated and informed regulators of companies that take money from investors.

Continued celebration of individuals who make it big by building great companies with strong values, and condemnation of those who create wealth through financial trickery and do not give back.

There is more. However for now my main question is just how bad is it in New Zealand? Are we seeing the desperation of the US, or are our limited resources being largely applied where it matters? We will always have perceived and actual individual injustices, and we should seek to clear them, but for now it is the systemic ones that we need to worry about.

*Note that I don’t believe, for now anyway, in a financial transaction tax as has been mooted by some. The call is for a, say, 50 cent tax on each financial transaction. The difficulty is in understanding exactly what a transaction is. Traders could simply gather up all trades for a day between themselves and other institutions and call them one transaction. Alternatively if the tax was based on the number of securities exchanging hands, then bankers would simply construct products with higher face value and lower numbers of securities. And so on. For every tax a financial product can be created off-market that avoids the tax, but only the largest banks will be able to do this. The smaller investors would pay the tax regardless.

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via lancewiggs.com

These are not people who "choose not to work". These are fellow Americans in a terrible situation who are outraged at the power that Wall Street and other mega-corporations have in the US.

One thing that strikes me about all these notes is that they are all spelled properly. These are educated people. Contrast them with the signs at the tea party rallies...

Posted via email from amygeek's posterous

Case warfare

2011-10-05T07:19:00.001-07:00

via twitpic.com

Posted via email from amygeek's posterous

I’m a winner!

2011-10-04T15:37:00.001-07:00

Received this email today (click on image to enbiggen):

I’m very excited.

Fox News tries to set up "Occupy Wall Street" interview - never aired this for some reason...

2011-10-03T13:59:00.001-07:00

via youtube.com

The left's Joe the Plumber? Contrast this with the tea party interviews. Also, the signs from this protest are properly spelled, unlike tea party protests. This guy is obviously part of the liberal elite, with his high faluting education.

Posted via email from amygeek's posterous

This is great

2011-09-30T14:11:00.001-07:00

I was born deaf and 8 weeks ago I received a hearing implant. This is the video of them turning it on and me hearing myself for the first time :)

More Traditional Blue Men

2011-09-27T15:07:00.001-07:00

I have been going to see them for more than 20 years and I love that the show just keeps evolving so that it’s current.

This is brilliant:

Blue Men

2011-09-27T14:58:00.001-07:00

I love the Blue Man Group because they’re smart & funny & their music rocks. My niece just turned 13, so I’m getting her tickets to go see them in NYC with a friend. I wanted to send her some links to videos so she got an idea of what they’re about & stumbled on this beautiful piece.

This is such a simple, gorgeous & emotional piece.

Yup, me too

2011-09-27T11:24:00.001-07:00

Sounds about right.

Yanked from Yimmy’s Yayo.

‘Cat Scratch,’ The Turntable for Kitties

2011-09-27T11:23:00.001-07:00

If you own a cat, there's little reason not to buy it its own record player

Fact: Cats will scratch everything in your home except the expensive purpose-made scratching post you bought them. Shredding a sofa is always better than following the rules for these devil-creatures, but that doesn’t stop the Cat Scratch Turntable from being 100% awesome (and probably 100% tacky).

The flat-pack decks are made from cardboard, and ship complete with a “pose-able tonearm.” Not that everything is guaranteed to go smoothly: you’ll notice that in the photo the cat is standing on the wrong side of the turntable.

As somebody who has lived with both cats and record players, often simultaneously, I can report that cats do indeed love to chase a spinning record and scratch the needle across its delicate surface. So there’s a fair chance that kitty might relax her usual haughty rules and deign to play with this cat toy. And if not, who cares? The kit costs just £15 ($23), which is worth paying, just for the pun-tastic name.

Cat Scratch product page [Suck UK via Oh Gizmo]

See Also:

Cat-Library, A Stairway to Feline Heaven

Backyard Cat Weighs Odds Against Escape

ZOMG You Can Has CatPaint for iPhone

via wired.com

Once again proving that 70% of the internet is dedicated to cats.

Posted via email from amygeek's posterous

My kinda poem (may be NSFW. Odd, eh?)

2011-09-26T08:05:00.001-07:00

via soberinanightclub.com

Posted via email from amygeek's posterous

It's Banned Books Week - exercise your first amendment right & read a banned book

2011-09-24T11:44:00.001-07:00

via bannedbooksweek.org

For a list of the most commonly banned books in the US, go here--> http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/bannedbooksweek/ideasandresource...

Posted via email from amygeek's posterous

How you get guys to watch a cancer video (NSFW!)

2011-09-21T14:17:00.001-07:00

Definitely not work safe. But worth watching.

So not an American ad…

SuperGay

2011-09-21T08:21:00.001-07:00

Just noticed there’s 3 gay related posts in a row on here. Sorry about that straights. I’ll try to find some amusing non-gay material right away. Hang in there…

The Daily Show on the end of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell

2011-09-21T08:20:00.001-07:00

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

A Few Gay Men

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog

The Daily Show on Facebook

Jason Jones is the sloppiest gay man ever…

A Victory for the Gay Agenda

2011-09-20T01:03:00.001-07:00

You know the agenda; to serve in the military and get married. Subversive stuff.

It’s amazing how many discharged military personnel want to rejoin. Incredible people.

Anti-Gay Christian Right-Wing Activist Says ‘There’s No Proof’ LGBT People Exist

2011-09-19T18:00:00.001-07:00

Linda Harvey
Linda Harvey, the founder of Mission America, says that LGBT people don’t exist. She made the comments during her weekend broadcast while she was attacking the Gay, Lesbian, And Straight Education Network.
Harvey was particularly perturbed by the GLSEN Sports Program which works towards “creating and maintaining an athletic and physical education climate that is based on the core principles of respect, safety and equal access for all students, teachers and coaches regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression.”
Harvey believes there is no need for such a program because according to her, there is no proof that LGBT people exist.
Harvey: “There’s one big fact that’s not backed up. There is no proof that there’s ever anything like a gay, lesbian or bisexual or transgendered child, or teen or human. One of the other things you’re gonna see as I mentioned is a big campaign GLSEN’s gonna roll out this year calling for ‘respect,’ respect! Not just for people, but for homosexual lifestyle. The PR campaign to hold up gay as a good thing: the lifestyle, not the person, because there are no such humans.”
Mission America’s major area of focus is homosexuality from a conservative Christian viewpoint, particularly as it relates to American youth. It also opposes the influence of Pagan and feminist spirituality, and provides a range of apologetics for Christianity.
Linda Harvey is hateful and in denial. There are many LGBT people in the public eye who are living proof that gay people exist like Rachel Maddow, Barney Frank, and Ellen DeGeneres, just to name a few. If you are part of the LGBT community, feel free to contact Harvey and her organization to let them know that you exist.
Mission America
P.O. Box 21836
Columbus, OH 43221-0836.
webmaster@missionamerica.com

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Michael Moore visits our corporate campus

2011-09-19T14:25:00.001-07:00

He started off with a Steve Jobs quip & then mentioned that this is the first time he had ever been asked to speak at a corporate headquarters. He said he stopped at Men’s Warehouse to get a jacket to wear to speak to us and that we were dressed like we belonged in Nirvana (yes, old, hokey, Seattle reference – but we are a bit of a sloppy crew).

Talk was entertaining and inspiring, as I expected. He is very passionate and surprised me with his talk about how all religions talk about taking care of the less fortunate. I just didn’t expect any religion to come from him – it was very interesting.

Sorry for the blurry videos – my camera didn’t want to focus very well on him – but you can get the gist. They’re each about 1 minute long.

On Jesus’ influence on his thinking:

On how we are going to be viewed in the future:

On the US being #1:

On Bill Gates:

Totally going to see this flick when it comes out

2011-09-19T08:49:00.001-07:00

Best taxidermy commercial ever (really)

2011-09-15T15:47:00.001-07:00

via youtube.com

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Anderson Cooper takes on Michele Bachmann's relationship with truth

2011-09-15T10:33:00.001-07:00

via youtube.com

She's a sloppy mess.

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Drunk Ron Paul Fan Gets Arrested

2011-09-14T13:22:00.001-07:00

via youtube.com

it's important to live by the Constitution but not the laws of the US. Go Ron Paul!

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It’s hard to know what to make of this

2011-09-09T10:45:00.001-07:00

My favorite female musical comedic duo strikes again

2011-09-08T09:35:00.001-07:00

Headline of the day: Seemingly drunk Swedish moose found stuck in tree

2011-09-08T08:27:00.003-07:00

STOCKHOLM (AP) – A seemingly intoxicated moose has been discovered entangled in an apple tree by a stunned Swede.

By Per Johansson, AP

A seemingly intoxicated moose is discovered entangled in an apple tree by a stunned Swede in Goteborg, Sweden, late Tuesday.

By Per Johansson, AP

A seemingly intoxicated moose is discovered entangled in an apple tree by a stunned Swede in Goteborg, Sweden, late Tuesday.

Per Johansson, 45, says he heard a roar from his vacationing neighbor's garden in southwestern Sweden late Tuesday and went to have a look. There, he found a female moose kicking about in the tree. The animal was likely drunk from eating fermented apples.

With the help of police and rescue services, Johansson later managed to set the moose free in part by sawing off tree branches.

But the animal appeared confused and wandered into Johansson's garden, where she was still resting Thursday.

Other neighbors in the Goteborg suburb Saro had seen the animal sneaking around the area for days. Johansson said the moose appeared to be sick, drunk, or "half-stupid."

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

via usatoday.com

Posted via email from amygeek's posterous

Headline of the day: Seemingly drunk Swedish moose found stuck in tree

2011-09-08T08:27:00.001-07:00

STOCKHOLM (AP) – A seemingly intoxicated moose has been discovered entangled in an apple tree by a stunned Swede.

By Per Johansson, AP

A seemingly intoxicated moose is discovered entangled in an apple tree by a stunned Swede in Goteborg, Sweden, late Tuesday.

Enlarge Close

By Per Johansson, AP

A seemingly intoxicated moose is discovered entangled in an apple tree by a stunned Swede in Goteborg, Sweden, late Tuesday.

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Per Johansson, 45, says he heard a roar from his vacationing neighbor's garden in southwestern Sweden late Tuesday and went to have a look. There, he found a female moose kicking about in the tree. The animal was likely drunk from eating fermented apples.

With the help of police and rescue services, Johansson later managed to set the moose free in part by sawing off tree branches.

But the animal appeared confused and wandered into Johansson's garden, where she was still resting Thursday.

Other neighbors in the Goteborg suburb Saro had seen the animal sneaking around the area for days. Johansson said the moose appeared to be sick, drunk, or "half-stupid."

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

via usatoday.com

Posted via email from amygeek's posterous

How Many Days Has It Been Since a Prominent Homophobe Was Caught Up In a Gay Sex Scandal? | Slog#

2011-09-07T14:15:00.001-07:00

via slog.thestranger.com

Now you don't have to wonder: http://gayhomophobe.com/

Posted via email from amygeek's posterous

Something about this ebay picture is creepy

2011-09-06T07:33:00.001-07:00

via ebay.com

http://www.ebay.com/itm/High-Precision-Miniature-US-M134-Minigun-1-6-Scale-/3... for all the info

I can't put my finger on it...

Posted via email from amygeek's posterous

Do no evil: G-Male

2011-09-05T14:32:00.001-07:00

via youtube.com

Appropriately creepy. Thanks Bob!

Posted via email from amygeek's posterous

KY acknowledges lesbians

2011-09-01T14:17:00.001-07:00

Cute ad!

You can't blame everything on your goddamn period...

2011-09-01T13:57:00.001-07:00

via 9gag.com

Posted via email from amygeek's posterous

Something is not quite right

2011-08-25T07:33:00.001-07:00

with this picture…

Yanked from http://funtimeshad.com/2011/08/bah-secure-enough/

Rick Perry insists that abstinence education works & to ignore studies

2011-08-19T14:33:00.001-07:00

Forget the studies that show that it doesn’t work, forget that Texas has the third highest teen pregnancy rate in the country even though they teach abstinence – from Perry’s own experience, abstinence education works.

Just what America needs. A President who doesn’t believe in facts and goes with his gut. Sounds vaguely familiar.