Fast Times at Hero High

This is actually pretty cute.

Hey KF Monkey, I found one!

Last December, John Rogers wrote a piece over at his blog about how he misses Republicans. Well, apparently so do actual, real-life Republicans! It's an excellent guest editorial which points out just how far the GOP has moved from what has been their core constituency.

I've stated numerous times on this blog that I'm neither Dem nor Repub. I believe neither party has a monopoly on the Truth or on the Right Answers. I think both major parties along with the numerous (very) minority parties have plenty to add to our ongoing national debate over the various issues we face. I hope most Americans believe the same. Reading commentary like this reinforces that hope.

Found via Shakes.

Just Desserts

Freestar Media, LLC has requested the Towne of Weare, NH to rezone Supreme Court Justice David Souter's private home to build a hotel.

Clements, CEO of Freestar Media, LLC, points out that the City of Weare will certainly gain greater tax revenue and economic benefits with a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road than allowing Mr. Souter to own the land.

The proposed development, called "The Lost Liberty Hotel" will feature the "Just Desserts Café" and include a museum, open to the public, featuring a permanent exhibit on the loss of freedom in America. Instead of a Gideon's Bible each guest will receive a free copy of Ayn Rand's novel "Atlas Shrugged."

Clements indicated that the hotel must be built on this particular piece of land because it is a unique site being the home of someone largely responsible for destroying property rights for all Americans.

Scrushy Not Guilty

Reuters reports. Incredible. The prosecutor had five ex-HealthSouth CFOs testify that Scrushy knew about the fraudulent reporting and they still couldn't get a conviction. Wow. War Liberal's been blogging this since the beginning - go read his stuff for good coverage.

My new desktop image

Birmingham Zoo 112
Originally uploaded by piercingwit.

Mrs P had the day off today, so I took off as well and we hit the zoo. Neither of us had been in years and we had a blast. If we didn't already have plans tomorrow, we might very well be going back. The Birmingham Zoo is a smaller zoo and is in the process of renovating and updating its facilities, and it's a hell of a lot better than I remember it from last time. Some of the most interesting exhibits:

• Babec, the gorilla with a pacemaker
  
• Giraffe feeding (for a $1 donation you get to hand feed the giraffes)
  
• The white tiger
  
• The Butterfly House - a really amazing display
  
• The Lorikeet House - another walk-though exhibit
  
• Alabama Wild, a new addition to the zoo showcasing local wildlife. Excellent and informative.
  

Click on the meerkat to see more zoo pix on Flickr!

It's not just about pr0n

EFF: DeepLinks has examples of why DOJ 2257 is a huge First Amendment problem. Via After-Party.

UPDATE: DOJ won't enforce "for now". The reprieve only applies for those sites which register with the Free Speech Coalition, the trade association of the adult entertainment industry. I suppose everyone else is on their own.

Drool

Stay Free! Daily: How did Mad Hot Ballroom survive the copyright cartel?

John Rogers has already told you to go see this movie, and this article makes me want to see it even more. Stay Free! Daily: How did Mad Hot Ballroom survive the copyright cartel? It's an eye-opener to how far copyright's been twisted. They had to pay EMI to keep a scene in which a cell phone rings - the ring tone was copyrighed (the "Rocky" theme). Another reason to promote Creative Commons

Bright Blue Dot

I saw one of these last week in the parking lot of our supermarket. What I didn't realize is that the company making these are based here in Birmingham! Go visit and patronize: www.britebluedot.com.

Followup: Broadcast Flag

EFF:

Within the space of a few hours, the committee was Slashdotted, BoingBoinged and Instalanched.

By 6 p.m. on Tuesday, the 27 members of the Senate Appropriations Committee received more than 11,000 emails and faxes. That's nearly 500 faxes an hour. Dianne Feinstein alone received more than 2,600 messages in her inbox. Kay Hutchison, the senior senator for Texas, received 1,441 letters.

via BoingBoing

1991

I know that Cubs, White Sox and (until last season, at least) BoSox fans have their long standing tales of woe and misery, but to grow up as a Braves fan in the 70s and 80s was pretty crappy. Something like what kids born in Kansas City around 1986 must feel like now. Yeah we had Aaron until '74 and Murphy through the 80s but from 1971 to 1990 we finished 5th or 6th (that's last and 2nd to last) 13 times. We did manage to win the division in '82 only to get swept in the LCS by the Cards. Stupid Cards.

So when the Braves managed to win the division in 91 by one measly game over the Dodgers and then follow up with a amazingly tough pennant win by sweeping the deciding two games at the Pirate's Three Rivers Stadium - wow. I still remember the feeling of getting to watch the World Series and for the first time in my life having a team to root for - having MY team to root for. What followed was the best World Series ever. I know, people can argue that the 2001 NY-AZ series was better, but no. First off, both teams in the '91 series had been in last place the previous year. Five of the seven games were decided by 1 run. Two went to extra innings. Four were decided in the last at-bat. And the 7th game - man, it broke my heart. But the one thing I'll always remember from that game - the whole series really - is Jack Morris. And that's why I'm posting this tonight (long way around to that, eh?)

John Smoltz started game 7 in that series against Morris, his long-time hero. Morris pitched for Detroit, Smoltz's hometown, from '77 to '90. Smoltz pitched a great game, going 7 scoreless innings, but Morris pitched 10 (nearly unheard of in today's game) and got the win. He retired after the '94 season with 254 wins, 186 losses, a 3.90 career ERA and 2,478 strike outs.

So why am I writing all of this tonight? John Smoltz is still pitching for the Braves. He pitched tonight - a complete game shutout just like his childhood hero. It wasn't for a World Series victory, but it was an important game in the division standings. Smoltz struck out six batters tonight. That makes his career total 2,480. Two more than Morris.

Any Alabamians out there

Boing Boing: URGENT: Call your Senator RIGHT NOW or live with the goddamned Broadcast Flag forever! Senator Shelby sits on the subcommittee determining this. Go here to automatically emaill/fax him.

Books: Revenge of the Sith

I wrapped up Revenge of the Sith Saturday night after my step-sister's wedding. All in all a pretty good book. It contains a lot more detail about the plot than the movie (obviously) - it's nice to be able to see what's going on inside the character's heads. My only gripe is the repeated use of a stilted "This is how it feel to be XXX right now:" bit. At many of the climactic scenes, Stover uses this construction to try to draw the reader into the affected character's ego but it just falls flat. Other than this relatively small complaint, I'd recommend this for any sci-fi and/or Star Wars fan. In fact, it makes me want to read the preceeding two books and possibly some of the rest of the canonical work to get the full story, especially more on General Grievous, Episode III's answer to Boba Fett & Darth Maul.

I've not yet determined my next book. I'm torn between Royal Flash and Spectacle of Corruption. Well, we shall see.

Irony isn't dead

"This mission isn't easy, and it will not be accomplished overnight."
- GWB, 6/18/2005


- October 29, 2003

Dave Devries's Monster Engine

Dave Devries's Monster Engine is a cool link I saw on BoingBoing earlier this month. We just had an art opening at my job consisting of art from employee's kids (which is pretty cool). Made me think of it again. Very cool stuff.

Cool: DIY Air Conditioning

Each week we get together at J's to play. He has graciously allowed us to take over most of his semi-finished basement. In the three years we've played there, we've accumulated tons o' crap. The only problem with the area is that the central heat & air don't circulate very well. As anyone who's spent any time in Alabama in the summer can tell you, A/C is necessary. It's only the middle of June and we're already hitting the mid-90s with 85%+ humidity. So when I saw this BoingBoing entry I knew I had to do it. We already had a fan, so the rest of it was pretty easily obtainable. And talk about serendipity, J's ex-roomie had left 5 1/2 gallon milk jugs filled with water (now ice) in the deep freezer. That definitely helped with the cool down. So if any of you don't have A/C or have some area that doesn't get climatized very well (or you're just bored), try it out - it really works.

RIP David Sutherland

A little piece of my childhood died today. David Sutherland, one of the original illustrators for Dungeons & Dragons products passed away from chronic liver failure. Mr. Sutherland illustrated dozens of D&D products over his career, but I'll always remember him from this one:



It's the cover of the 1977 edition of the Basic Rulebook, the very book my dad's friend Mack brought over to introduce us to the game. Mack was an educator (last I knew he was a principal in NC) and very interested in alternative methods of teaching. I don't know how he discovered D&D, but he and my father thought it would be a great way to teach problem solving skills (which it is!) and so brought me in to play. My first character was a Dwarf whose name I don't recall, but I soon followed up with a Halfling. We played Keep on the Borderlands with a group of my friends (all around 8 or 9 - Mack had the patience of a saint) and I managed to slay the ogre! Big deal for a 1st level Halfling, let me tell you. I still remember jumping around the dining room table in glee. I didn't even mind getting killed later by a goblin. I was hooked. I played throughout my childhood and on into high school. I fell away from the game in college, though I joined in a couple of pick up games. Finally about five years ago my best friend and I were sitting in a local pub one weekend and I brought up that I used to play. He admitted he had played growing up as well and had thought about picking it back up. Before the night was over we'd drawn a map of Mord - the world we created and populated with characters like An'alla, Vaspar, Thorkin and Toshiro.


Thank you Mr. Sutherland, for years of adventure, puzzles, ideas and laughter. Lots of laughter.

Scrushy

Just a quick note that while the Michael Jackson jury returned a verdict, ex-Healthsouth head Richard Scrushy's peers (heh, right) are still deliberating. Unfortunately, from most indications they aren't the brightest bulbs in the bulb-box. War Liberal's got all the details (and lots of other cool stuff too).

And for those of you with a streak of geek (hmm...that's kinda catchy), go read the story of our d20 Modern campaign, the first episode of which stars a local businessman in trouble with the law (and with other, um, things). Not that this is related in any way to the previous paragraph. Just sayin'.

My (least) Favorite DINO

Admittedly, I'm not a Democrat. I'm not a Libertarian, either, though I fall somewhere between the two. For the most part, I'm a common sense, Golden Rule type of person. Still, I have to speak from a partisian Demo POV on this. Sunday's Birmingham News reports that former Georgia Governor & U.S. Senator Zell Miller (D-GA*coughbullshitcough*) is schedule to speak this Friday evening at a GOP fundraiser. That's right - Miller, a lifelong Democrat (and still espousing that affiliation) is coming over to Alabama to help the Republicans win state Legislature seats in next year's race. Tickets are available in a range of tithes - $250 to $5K - to be "used primarily to fun Republican bids to win open legislative seats or targeted seats now held by Democrats". The event is hosted by the Alabama Republican Majority Committee.

I'm not against fundraising, nor do I care that Mr. Miller wants to speak out for the Republican party. However, in the words of President Jimmy Carter:

Great Georgia Democrats who served in the past, including Walter George, Richard Russell, Herman Talmadge, and Sam Nunn disagreed strongly with the policies of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and me, but they remained loyal to the party in which they gained their public office. Other Democrats, because of philosophical differences or the race issue, like Bo Callaway and Strom Thurmond, at least had the decency to become Republicans.

...

Zell, I have known you for forty-two years and have, in the past, respected you as a trustworthy political leader and a personal friend. But now, there are many of us loyal Democrats who feel uncomfortable in seeing that you have chosen the rich over the poor, unilateral preemptive war over a strong nation united with others for peace, lies and obfuscation over the truth, and the political technique of personal character assassination as a way to win elections or to garner a few moments of applause. These are not the characteristics of great Democrats whose legacy you and I have inherited.

More at the ADP Blog.

Books: Thirteen Gun Salute & A Walk in the Woods

I finished the next book in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series, The Thirteen Gun Salute, yesterday afternoon. I don't know what to say about this book but this: if one has read thirteen books in a series, they must be pretty decent, right? This one's no different - Aubrey does in fact get his name put back on the Navy List (reinstated, that is) and Maturin deftly executes a diplomatic coup while the whole time they discuss food and nature. There was one section of the book which strayed from O'Brian's normal seafaring adventure. Maturin explores an ancient Buddhist temple which is isolated in an extinct volcanic crater. The tone of the narrative of his trek up to the temple and his stay there differ so from the rest of the series' that it almost feels like a different author.

After dinner and a movie Saturday evening, I picked up the next book in my stack: Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods. Bryson walked the Appalachian Trail (mostly with an old friend of his) in the spring and summer of 1996 and relates his tale here. Bryson reads like a cross between Douglas Adams and Garrison Keillor, effortlessly keeping the reader amused. There were a couple of chucklers but for the most part his sense of humor is reminiscent of the British style. Makes sense as he lived overseas for a couple of decades. I just finished it during dinner tonight. I know it's bad manners to read at the table, but I only had 20 pages left when dinner was ready!

Next up: The Revenge of the Sith.

Books: Tokyo Cancelled

I finished this book Sunday evening. The cover blurbs describe it as the 1001 Arabian Nights of the 21st century or Canterbury Tales for the global citizen. I enjoyed it, though maybe not quite as much as I thought I would. Each story is wonderful in the real sense of the word: full of wonder. The 30K' summary: 13 travellers are stuck in an unnamed terminal when Tokyo get snowed in. They pass the night telling each other stories. Much of it feels stream-of-conscious, as if the narrator isn't quite sure exactly where the story is going or where it will end. A number of scenes are vulgar or gruesome - few would actually feel comfortable telling a story such as "The Doll" to a group of just met strangers. There is minimal crossover between the stories. I suppose coming from a long background of role-playing (which is itself just storytelling with oddly shaped dice) I'm used to weaving tales out of what seem to be disassociated pieces, and thus expected that perhaps each narrator would build on the last, or at least incorporate a character or two. My favorites were "The Store on Madison Avenue" and "The Changeling" but that may simply be my bias for sci-fi. All the stories are fantastical - only the first one could plausibly happen and even it reads more like a fairy tale or one of Aesop's fables. I'd recommend it to adventurous readers.

Big Brass Alliance

So if you've not heard about the Downing Street Memo, you've probably not heard of the Big Brass Alliance:

The Big Brass Alliance was formed in May 2005 as a collective of progressive bloggers who support After Downing Street, a coalition of veterans' groups, peace groups, and political activist groups formed to urge that the U.S. Congress launch a formal investigation into whether President Bush has committed impeachable offenses in connection with the Iraq war. The campaign focuses on evidence that recently emerged in a British memo containing minutes of a secret July 2002 meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his top national security officials.

I shall post more later, but I wanted to at the very least get something up about it to make others aware. All three of my regular readers, that is.

Twisted Logic

Nope, not talking about the administration's grilling of Newsweek. Mrs P and I have our tickets to the Coldplay show in September! Woo hoo!

New definition of SUCK

Go visit him.