Archive for 2009
« Older Entries | Newer Entries »Bart Stupak, Bishops, & The Family: So Much For Separation Of Church & State
[ Comments Off ]Posted on November 12, 2009 by admin in Politics
Thursday, November 12th, 2009Yes, Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak pulled a “dick move”, but the shadowy organization behind it is even creepier than his Liebermanism.
I thought I’d Appoint |
I got a little annoyed when I read that it was a Democratic congressman from my state that engineered the last minute amendment to the house’s draft of the health care bill that limits federal funding for abortion. It wasn’t anything to do with the fact that the amendment limits federal funding for abortion; I’m not sure I think I approve of the government paying for abortion anyway. It was the fact that congressman Bart Stupak was pulling a total “dick move” that will almost certainly advance his career, while otherwise bringing nothing but divisiveness to the party of which he is technically a member. You know when the GOP calls something a “win win” that what they really mean is “we win”. I wouldn’t be surprised if Stupak later pulled a Lieberman and jumped parties completely just to win an election. But the thing that disturbed me even more about Stupak’s political whoring was the quiet but driving force behind it all. We’re all aware of the incredible influence fundamentalist Christian leaders have on policy in the United States, but I wasn’t aware of The Family until yesterday. The fact that the organization’s name sounds more like the title of a John Grisham novel than the name of a faith-based fellowship is apt; the group’s shadowy and mysterious nature is summed up well by Ronald Reagan’s remark that “I wish I could say more about it, but it’s working precisely because it is private.” Stupak’s little career-advancing stunt is heinous enough in its Karl Rovian manipulation of faith issues for voter sentiment, but it was playing out against a heady background of Catholic influence peddling. And if you don’t think The Family is creepy enough because of its basic nature, read a little about how its leader Doug Coe compares devotion to Jesus to devotion to the Nazi Party.
Don’t Poo Poo The Idea of Pee Pee To Charge Your Batteries
[ Comments Off ]Posted on November 11, 2009 by admin in Clean & Green, Technology
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009We’ve found some interesting ways to recharge your batteries, which includes a better use for your USB port than humping dogs.
 For some reason I hope that’s orange juice |
It just occurred to me the other day that except for the battery for my Movado, I haven’t purchased a disposable battery for over two years. Rechargeable is definitely the way to go, both economically and environmentally. We’ve touched on shaking up your battery routine before, but we’ve found some interesting and bizarre new ways to recharge since then. Number one: don’t poo-poo the idea of using pee-pee for recharging. You’ll be relieved to know that the Japanese company Aqua Power System has developed batteries that will let you use urine to recharge your batteries. Of course, you can also use beer, apple juice, cola, or saliva, but what fun would that be? I eliminated this choice right away in favor of getting some exercise while I recharge. UK mobile provider Orange introduced the the Orange Dance Charge last year, but alas, it’s specifically for phones, and may not even be in actual production at this point. Besides, I think bra power has received more support so far. For your broader recharging needs, you’ll want the Rakuten Pedal Charger. Fortunately its function and purpose are fairly obvious, because the “Engrish” on their site suggests things like “Every 45-90 minutes Please put him on the pedal at the speed of rotation. Before rotation, rotation after you both“. Let’s hope your CEO doesn’t catch wind of this; before you know it they’ll be making us run our companies on pedal power from the cube farm to save on energy costs. Speaking of life in the cubicle, you can also use your USB ports as battery chargers
Noah and the Whale – The First Days of Spring
[ Comments Off ]Posted on November 10, 2009 by admin in Music
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009The new release from Noah and the Whale is more than a breakup album; it’s a 45 minute breakup film as well.
The other day a friend of mine in Scotland turned me on to the latest Noah and the Whale release The First Days of Spring
Monday Misogyny
[ 1 Comment ]Posted on November 9, 2009 by admin in Editorial & Opinion
Monday, November 9th, 2009By request, we’ve brought back our Monday Demotivators. But just this once. We’re pretty sure no-one will ask again, after this edition’s militaristic racism and misogyny, brought to you in part by Best Buy and Nokia.
 Much like the US military, Fragger lets you bomb dark people for no apparent reason. |
A number of people have asked what happened to our Monday Demotivators. Well, the fact that it seemed that the vast majority of Flash games are based on animal torture, random violence, and general acts of futility finally wore me down. That, and the fact that I hate Flash games (o_O). So we’ll do this one more time, in the interest of pleasing our visitors. Besides. We may have covered animal torture and random violence, but we forgot racist militarism and misogyny. First up, we have Fragger, in which, much like the US military, you bomb unarmed dark people for no apparent reason. That game’s catapult feature will be good practice for Cheerleader Toss, in which you fling a helpless cheerleader around a basketball court. A moment of violence against women brought to you by Nokia and Best Buy*. Apparently there’s a real-world version too. Along the same lines, if you find the idea of a grabbing a woman’s breasts to cause varying degrees of discomfort while a disco soundtrack plays to be an offensive idea, please, for the love of God, don’t try Booby Blast (very NSFW), which appears to benefit no-one, not even a sponsor. Unlike Super Jump, which, while maintaining the misogyny theme, appears to be an ad for a British motorcycle insurance firm. It at least hints at being an equal opportunity abuser; while you try to get women naked by showing them the “length of your jump”, they tell you how small it is. *Sigh*. Only the British. But enough human-on-human violence for for now, let’s explore a little human-on-duck violence. You may have noticed a little duck Read the rest of this entry »
Urban Tribalism: From Gore Lolitas To Juggalo Furries
[ 2 Comments ]Posted on November 8, 2009 by admin in Lifestyle & Culture
Sunday, November 8th, 2009If you thought Trekkies were scary, you ain’t seen nothin yet.
Before the white man came, the Americas were populated by hundreds, if not thousands (there are 749 listed here) of tribes that spread from the arctic circle to the tip of South America. Funny how things don’t change; although hundreds of indigenous tribes were wiped out by European colonization, hundreds of urban tribes have sprung up in their place. This is true all across the globe, actually; we tend to think of nations and ethnicities as the most useful way to categorize groups of people, but in fact, the enormous number of subcultures within a culture often have more enduring values that outlive the greater culture itself. In the states, we’re most familiar with the broader subcultures like Beatniks, Bikers, Hippies, and Punks, but there are dozens and dozens more that actually have names, and some of them of them are pret-ty darn peculiar. Many of the newer urban tribes are Internet or pop media driven; Furries, Cosplayers, and Trekkies all have sci-fi/fantasy roots, but wouldn’t exist without the web to connect them. I mean, c’mon. They only leave their computers long enough to order pizza and go to conventions, as far as I know. A breed that’s somehow oddly related to this bunch – Role Playing Gamers – seems to eschew fashion and looks for brains, but probably ends up standing in the same corner at a cocktail party. Then there are subcultures spawned by music, which brings us the more familiar Goths and Emos, but also meanders into the more obscure, like Juggalos (fans of the band Insane Clown Posse), or in a frightening collision of cultures, the Juggalo Furry. Which has been described as being “like a trainwreck raping a tire fire“. When this sort of music-inspired tribe evolves because of international media distribution, the urban tribe ends up being almost like a cargo cult, as in the case of the Argentinian Rolingos (inspired by the Rolling Stones), or the Congolese Hindubills (inspired by Buffalo Bill movies). And then it gets weird. Both the Swedish Raggare and the Chilean Pokemón use various pop music, movies, and games as reference points, but only as a weird vehicle for their respective countries’ versions of white trash public sex, street racing, and drinking. Imagine the hicks from your area dressing up like Pokemón and engaging in bisexual sex at the park, and you get the picture. And then there are the body image cults like body modders, and their more style-conscious counterparts like Wannarexics and Guro Lolitas. Researching all these subcultures has left me feeling like an outcast amongst outcasts, which has been the story of my life; even when I was labeled a punk in the seventies, the punks didn’t like me. I hated beer and thought slam dancing was dumb, so I ended up being more like “Rudolph the Rednosed Punk”. So at this point in my life, and given this rather compelling diversity of subcultures, how could I lay claim to being anything other than an Otherkin? Read the rest of this entry »