Archive for April, 2006

2006.04.22

Funny Family Dream

I’m not sure what induced this dream. It’s pretty random as far as I’m concerned. I’m at some sort of family reunion thing and my Uncle Dave and I are sitting in a living room of some cabin.

My Gramma is getting remarried. She’s kind of losing her mind in real life, but in the dream she’s just weird and gave us some lecture about how if Grampa (who has passed on in real life but hasn’t in the dream) can go on and get remarried without even divorcing her then she can bloody well get remarried herself. She then exits to get changed into her wedding dress. We don’t even know who the groom is.

Me: (to Dave) I can’t believe this family. We’re so weird!

Dave: (looking up from his book he’d been reading the whole time Gramma was ranting) Yeah, but do you believe me?

Me: (after a pause) Yes, yes I do. And I hardly know you so I guess I’m a Nerad.

And the thing is that despite the weirdness I did believe and have trust in him and the rest of us.

Like most dreams this probably doesn’t strike any of you readers as out of the ordinary, but it struck and stuck with me after waking up so I’m writing it out.

2006.04.21

Manga Under Attack

Leave it to small-minded people (irresposible parents and small town politicians) to try and censor manga at a public library. Not only did the parent fail to monitor her child from checking out a book that was clearly in the adult section, but the politician is accusing the book of having content it apparently does not contain.

The 2004 trade paperback, written by Paul Gravett and published by Harper Design, is a history of Japanese comics, and includes, in several chapters, discussion of adult comics that depict sex and violence. The violence was apparently not an issue, nor was the fact that the reproductions of panels that feature sexual situations were, as far as we could tell, all R-rated and treated in a serious, scholarly way. Postmus’ statement and the local newspaper coverage made much of the fact that the book contains “sex with animals,” but we couldn’t find it; we must not have looked as hard.

Yeehaw. Let’s go back to the Comics Code where the most controversial thing anyone will read is the Family Circus. Blah.

2006.04.19

A Source of Progressives

I never served in the military, but I grew up with it and its existence continues to affect my life. My Dad, my Grandfather, my Uncle and my brother all served or serve in the military. My brother-in-law once removed died in the November 2004 offensive in Fallujah. Many of my best friends served. Sometimes I wonder at the choices I made preventing me from joining. I’ve learned not to dwell on it, but there are many lessons I learned from growing up with the military.

I never experienced American racism until I went to college. Thankfully I had a black roommate who was patient enough to explain what was happening. I miss being able to walk into a hospital and not wonder what forms to fill out, how long I would have to wait before being seen, or how much it would cost. We lived on base most of the time; the places weren’t fancy but they we always made them our home. The DoD school system was great (despite being a kid who’s natural instinct is to hate school). We lived in many diverse places and I can’t help but think that promoted a sense of a larger world and an appreciation and respect for it.

I often tell people that the greatest socialist system in the world is the US military. This is kind of ironic when you think that America was going through a Cold War with the greatest (supposed) proponents of socialism while I was growing up. I tell people these stories and they can’t believe that I support the military, let alone endorse it. I’m a progressive who thinks the military is a great thing.

Until today, though, I’d never heard anyone else who had the same (similar?) thoughts as me on this topic, though.

There’s a reason most vets running for office this year are running as Democrats. The military is perhaps the ideal society — we worked hard but the Army took care of us in return. All our basic needs were met — housing, food, and medical care. It was as close to a color-blind society as I have ever seen. We looked out for one another. The Army invested in us. I took heavily subsidized college courses and learned to speak German on the Army’s dime. I served with people from every corner of the country. I got to party at the Berlin Wall after it fell and explored Prague in those heady post-communism days. I wasn’t just a tourist; I was a witness to history.

Yup, the military shouldn’t be equated with conservative values like making money, power, discipline (in the sense of keeping people in line), and religious manipulation for personal gain. Instead it should be equated with progressive values like service, investment in the individual for the benefit of the group, discipline (in the sense of instilling confidence and strength), diversity, protection of American values, etc.

I’m not saying the military is ideal. There are a lot of things that could be better and some intrinsic problems (depending on how you feel about fighting and killing or being killed for what you believe) but it is one hell of a lot better than the idealistic yet ignorant idiots we’ve got running our government right now.

I admire the military and I think it’s a shame when others (and it is a crying shame these are usually liberals) slam the military for the stupid policies of the Presidents that tell the military what to do.

2006.04.16

The Right to be Intolerant

It was bound to happen. Certain “Christians” are suing for the right to be intolerant. Ruth Malhotra is suing so she can practice her anti-homosexual “Christian” faith and call people “buggering faggots” to their faces instead of muttering it under her breath.

The legal argument is straightforward: Policies intended to protect gays and lesbians from discrimination end up discriminating against conservative Christians. Evangelicals have been suspended for wearing anti-gay T-shirts to high school, fired for denouncing Gay Pride Month at work, reprimanded for refusing to attend diversity training. When they protest tolerance codes, they’re labeled intolerant.

Duh, that’s because they are intolerant. The typical gay person I know doesn’t care if you’re a Christian or a Republican as long as you leave them alone and let them get on with life. The average “Christian” and “Republican” (note the quotes) cannot even bear the thought of the existence of homosexuals and thus have to persecute them.

“If gays want to be tolerated, they should knock off the political propaganda,” reads a letter Ms. Malhotra wrote on behalf of the Georgia Tech College Republicans (Republicans aren’t necessarily Christian, it should be noted, so she should STFU). Maybe she should substitute the word “gays” with “Christians” and think on that for a while.

How long will it be after these people succeed against “the Gays” that they start going after their old arch-nemeses “the Blacks” or “the Jews”? Not long at all.

I do, in a certain perverse way, hope they succeed. It will put in place a precedent allowing the Federal and State governments to rescind tax exempt status to churches and prosecute some of these people for hate speech. Those that are a bit subtle will be free to preach all the intolerance they want and marginalize themselves even further. Maybe the Republican party will then be able to cut the tether that pathetically ties them to “Christians” and become a respectable political party once more. Then again, that will probably never happen.

2006.04.16

Shire Reckoning

Ah, if only I’d know the US House of Representatives was considering changing the calendar from Gregorian to Shire Reckoning I might have tooted my own horn and declared, yet again, that I’m ahead of the curve in US politics.

Sadly it was only an April Fool’s joke I missed but the thought is great. :) You can always see what day it is in Shire Reckoning in the sidebar.

2006.04.16

Georgian Wines

Who knew that Georgia, not the American state but the ex-Soviet republic, had a well regarded wine history? I didn’t, but their situation sounds really bad with fake wines claiming the Georgian label and ruining thier reputation.

I would love to try one of these Saperavi wines, which they don’t even call a red but a black wine. It sounds very similar to one of my favorite wines called Lenoir by Kaz Winery, a small boutique winery in Sonoma (which I’m glad Sunset finally covered after I told them about it time and time again). It looks like Lenoir isn’t available anymore. *sigh*

Does anyone know where I might find a good, genuine Saperavi in San Francisco? Any recommendations for a particular brand?

2006.04.16

Republic -> Oligarchy -> Dictatorship

I’m always scouring the web for new and intersting stories and articles on world building. Tonight I was reading this one on governments and noted this interesting passage about Republics. It notes a relationship between republics turning into oligarchies turning into Dictatorships.

The nation will begin as a Republic, but because of the great inequities in wealth and opportunity, certain families will wield great power, always electing whom they choose, turning the nation into an Oligarchy, run by these families. As the Oligarchy becomes corrupt, the military will intervene, overthrow the Oligarchy, and create a Dictatorship. At first, the Dictator may do well, but inevitably, he, too, becomes corrupt, and is overthrown in a great popular movement that recreates the Republic, beginning the cycle all over again.

I can’t help but think of the Bush family, the Kennedy family, the Tafts, and many more.

While America hasn’t turned into an oligarchy, I can’t help but wonder if it could. My instincts say no, but it would make for an interesting story (should someone choose to write it). Much food for thought…

2006.04.12

Apple Tips: Useful Keyboard Shortcuts

Here are three less-well-known keyboard shotcuts for MacOS 10.4.

10.4 has a built in dictionary based on the Oxford English Dictionary. It’s very useful, but even more useful with this trick. Hover the cursor over a word like mellifluous. Then hit Ctrl-Cmd-D. After a second to load up, the dictionary looks up the work and presents you with a definition. There is even a popup menu to pull up a thesaurus.

Taking screenshots is always useful. Cmd-Shift-3 will take a screenshot of your entire screen. Cmd-Shift-4 will change your cursor and allow you to select a specific portion of the screen; this is great for grabbing pictures. You can also hit Cmd-Shift-4 (then let go) and hit the Space Bar. This changes the cursor to a camera and you can get a screenshot of whatever window you want. This is great for documentation!

Finally, if you want to confuse someone, press the Ctrl-Option-Cmd-8 combination. This inverts the colors on the screen. Pressing the key combination again reverts the colors to normal.

2006.04.10

A Few Surf Pictures

I got pictures from Jerome from our trip yesterday. For good measure I also threw in pictures from the lessons three weeks ago from Ryoji’s camera (his wife took the pictures). Some of the thumbnails, which are auto-generated, aren’t very indicative of what the content is; in other words click on everything.

Here they are. Enjoy!

2006.04.09

Three Weeks of Surfing

I went surfing again today with Jerome, Redge and Ryoji. As they say, three times the charm and after the past two weeks of very difficult surf we had an awesome time with wave after wave. Ryoji was unstoppable; I didn’t think we were going to get him out of the water. Jerome brought his fancy water tight digital camera rig so I should have some pictures to post soon.

One interesting thing about this trip, too, was that there was a landslide along Highway One between Stinson and Bolinas. This meant a detour along Bolinas Ridge Road, which I’d never driven along. Talk about a nice drive. Green round hill tops, winding roads, redwood trees. I understand when it’s not foggy you can see for miles from up there. Personally I liked the fog, though. It added a mysterious mood to the scene. A highly recommended detour if anyone is ever in that area.