SUN 13 AUG 2000

Web Site Update
The Creative Dynamix forum has moved. What can I say? I just got tired of Bravenet.

Thought for the Day
"Not until the male becomes female and the female becomes male shall ye enter the Kingdom of Heaven."
--Jesus, in the Gospel of Thomas

Personal Observation
When lies masquerade as opinion, the truth is reduced to the guise of opinion as well.
(This bubbled up to memory as the result of all the recent political conventions... [Dana Carvey imitating Robin Leach voice] ... I don't know why....)

Local Boy Makes Good

A good friend of mine (who's already a professional web designer) is part of a three-person team that's developing new software to make MP3s economically feasible, which in theory should help calm down the recording industry before it has a collective stroke. The company is called M-Pak, and the software is a self-contained MP3 player called MusicPak that lets music companies limit playback of samples by time limit, number of plays, or whatever they want. Ideally this will thwart piracy while still satisfying listeners. You can try out a demo at musicpak.com.

M-Pak founders Holden, Brent, & Tim

Thought for the Day
"To choose order over disorder, or disorder over order, is to accept a trip composed of both the creative and the destructive. But to choose the creative over the destructive is an all-creative trip composed of both order and disorder."
-- from the Principia Discordia
by Malaclypse the Younger, K.S.C.

Now Where Have I Heard That Before?

Whenever I hear fundies (or Pat Buchanan, or anybody really) condemning gay people as "disease-ridden parasites who threaten our way of life," and tossing about other similar epithets, it reminds me of something. Now, what could it be? Oh, yeah. This.

The W. Dance

First, there was HamsterDance. Then came the Nut Sac Dance and JesusDance. Now there's the W. Dance. This version features both the Shrubya and Jesus, a fitting tribute to George Jr.'s recent declaration of Texas Jesus Day. (We assume that Texas Jesus is much like the regular Jesus, sep'n bigger 'n' better.) For some reason, the Texas Jesus Day summary is from a web site in Denver, Colorado.

Thought for the Day
"I have come to believe that the universe is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth."
--Umberto Eco

Update
Added firefly.net to Explositions.

Why I Don't Much Care for Fundies
Some people would like to take the living forest of spiritual wisdom and reduce it to a lumberyard of doctrine and dogma -- cut, dried, stacked, labeled... and dead. This applies to fundamentalists of any stripe, not just Christian ones.

Another Unlikely Political Alliance

Gore and Lieberman, eat your heart out.

Thought for the Day
"A common criticism of the internet is that it is dominiated by the crude, the uninformed, the immature, the smug, the untalented, the repetitious, the pathetic, the hostile, the deluded, the self-righteous, and the shrill. This criticism overlooks the fact that the internet also offers -- for the savvy individual who knows where to look -- the tasteless and the borderline insane."
--Dave Barry

Skull & Bones
Even as Ishi's brain wends its way back to California at last, news breaks that Republican Presidential nominee George W. Bush's grandfather may have come into possession of Geronimo's skull during a rambunctious college grave-robbing expedition. Read about it here. And remember -- character counts.

Documentation
The article about the Bush campaign's treatment of reporters quoted in yesterday's log is from arcamax.com. If you want to, you can subscribe to their listserv.

Joke
An old lady in a nursing home is wheeling up and down the halls in her wheelchair making sounds like she's driving a car. As she's going down the hall an old man jumps out of a room and says, "Excuse me ma'am, but you were speeding. Can I see your driver's license?"

She digs around in her purse a little, pulls out a candy wrapper, and hands it to him. He looks it over, gives her a warning and sends her on her way.

Up and down the halls she goes again. Again, the same old man jumps out of a room and says, "Excuse me ma'am, but I saw you cross over the center line back there. Can I see your registration please?" She digs around in her purse a little, pulls out a store receipt and hands it to him. He looks it over, gives her another warning and sends her on her way.

She zooms off again up and down the halls weaving all over. As she comes to the old man's room again he jumps out. This time he's stark naked and has an erection!

The old lady in the wheelchair looks up and says, "Oh no, not the Breathalyzer again!"

No Joke
When I first discovered the fundie web site I linked to in yesterday's log, I thought it must be a parody along the lines of Landover Baptist Church because of fanatical ravings like this. (Did I mention that I was banned from their messageboard because I made an irreverant joke? I posted a message with the heading, "I Just Found Jesus!" and inside was the punchline, "He was behind the sofa the whole time!" The fundies didn't find that very amusing, but hey, like I said, at the time I thought it was another parody site.) Turns out these guys are totally serious. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

One interesting note -- the owners of the web site are very proud to have been "Jailed for the Unborn" and "Jailed Opposing Bill Clinton." But take a look at their "Jailed for the Homeless" page. Kinda telling, eh?

Thought for the Day
"Ever notice how most of the people who are against abortion are people you wouldn't want to fuck in the first place?"
--George Carlin

The Free Press Under Bush
Ruthie got this from a listserv. She's going to get me the exact address tomorrow.

Things We Don't Undestand
Maybe he just doesn't like reporters.

At Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush's campaign stop in Joliet, Ill., last Sunday, the local folk -- i.e., civilians -- were allowed to get as close as they wanted to the platform where the Texas governor was about to speak.

But not the news media.

Reporters were restricted to a specific entrance, at which time their credentials were checked. They were then scanned with electronic devices to ensure they were not carrying weapons and drug-sniffing dogs were brought in for some reporters, before they were issued the bright-red credential that permitted them to enter the press pen set up in back of the rally grounds. Reporters were restricted to an area measuring about 20 by 25 feet and seven security officials kept an eye on them, their backs turned to the regular people attending the rally.

Neither the Secret Service nor Bush campaign officials Monday would discuss the security measures. However, on Sunday, one of the security officials in Joliet who refused to identify herself said the additional attention was actually for news media benefit.

"We're trying to clear people out of here so the media can have room to work," she said.

Fundamentalist Quote of the Week
The following is an actual quote from an actual fundamentalist on why Democrats can't be Christians. I swear to god I'm not making this up.

"The Dems ... have promoted feminism and abortion and sodomy.

Feminism has cause the family to deterioate. When the mothering influence and nurturing is removed from a family and given over to a baby sitter then the family suffers. A rise in crime, abortions, sexual deviation, child abuse, lack of discipline, lowering of moral values. All these can be contributed to Mothers leaving the Homes and going to work.

Abortion has cause a nation to disregurd the value of life. The location of a human should not make any difference, yet abortion says it does.

Sodomy is really a result of a nation who has NO self control and God is allowing it to take place to bring condemnation on this country."

For similar rants, you can visit this guy's web site. He also has a messageboard, but it's moderated, so don't bother trying to disagree.

System Support
After slamming on capitalism with an admittedly broad brush -- roughly the equivalent of saying "Christian" when you really mean "judgemental authoritarian Bible-thumping homophobic whacko" -- I was recently asked what system I do support. (I could be a smart ass and say " the MacOS", but I won't.) Specifically, I was asked whether I support "government entitlements."

This is a loaded question. Do I support a bloated, corrupt federal bureaucracy giving away people's hard-earned tax dollars to good-for-nothing louts who don't deserve it? Of course not. On the other hand, do I think that all poor people are living in poverty due to their own laziness and shortcomings and we should just let them starve to death because we'd rather keep all our money for ourselves? Again, a resounding no.

I support a system where everyone has the opportunity to achieve their full potential regardless of the circumstances of their birth, where what you know and how well you know it are more important than who you know and what you look like, and where individual liberties are preserved to the greatest extent possible without compromising the social fabric. If anyone has any idea where I can find such a system, please let me know.

Dr. Seuss Speaks from the Grave
I was drifting in a state of semi-sleep, thinking about the trade-off between caution and longevity (if you take fewer risks, you may live longer, but you might not have as much fun), when these words floated into my head:
You burn the candle fast or slow.
Will you regret it? I don't know.

For the First Time in My Life...
I'm following a trend. If not for the first time in my life, then at least since junior high school. I am, at least temporarily, following the example of the ShanMonster and Stile (and countless ShanMonster and Stile wannabees, I'm sure) and turning the first page of this site into a web log.

I'm not doing this for commercial reasons, although I tip my hat to people who manage to make a little extra cash off their personal web sites, so long as they don't have to sacrifice the integrity of their content, as most people I know have not. Still, I plan to keep this site ad-free as long as possible. Of course, by the time I actually need advertising, the Net may have been "civilized" to the point where I won't be able to attract any sponsors. Only time will tell. I'm essentially doing this in an attempt to make this site more interesting by updating it more often, and to reduce the number of click-throughs needed to get to various areas of the site. (If you prefer doing things the old-fashioned way, you can still get to the old index, at least for now.)

Anyway, I went to a great party this weekend for a number of people who have birthdays this month. (Mine's the 19th.) There were lots of chicken wings grilled various different ways (all delicious), copious amounts of munchables and beverages, and an interesting variety of music. (Is this Abba?!? Are we listening to Abba?!?!?!?) At various points in the evening, I donned a blue plastic fedora, got champagne poured down my tank top, and put on a toe ring for the first time. I did not drive home.