Not mine, but good enough to repost:
Skifree!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
MacGuyver vs. the Nanobots
A mixture of horseradish and hydrogen peroxide melts nanobots? That's just silly.
"Grey Goo" never struck me as a particularly interesting apocalypse, so I'm glad that it has been downgraded from Armageddon to 'sci-fi episode of Mr Wizard.'
"Grey Goo" never struck me as a particularly interesting apocalypse, so I'm glad that it has been downgraded from Armageddon to 'sci-fi episode of Mr Wizard.'
Monday, November 24, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Liberté, Égalité, etc.
Pictures from today's NYC Marriage Equality protest
The Sun Gods smile upon gay marriage:
The Sun Gods smile upon gay marriage:
Friday, November 14, 2008
Bonzo
Thanks to this list of "things you might not know about Barack Obama," I learned that the President-elect not only collects comic books, but also that he once had a pet ape. Her name was Tata, and was his childhood pet in Indonesia. I think that this sounds like the premise for an awesomely terrible '80's comedy about the President and his ape.
The movie starts during the first week of a new President's term (probably played by an old white guy who looks like Reagan, because this is the '80's). Everyone is still settling in at the White House, when a large, mysterious package arrives! The bomb squad and the Secret Service play Keystone Kops for a while before they figure it out--It's not a bomb! It's the president's childhood pet and companion, Tata the ape!
Of course, the ape becomes the White House pet, instead of the more traditional dog or cat. At one point, a comically square foreign official, probably from England, is staying over in the Lincoln Bedroom. Tata steals his pants and wears them down the hall, forcing the official to chase after her. He ends up in a meeting full of Important People wearing his silly patterned boxers. Later, Tata gives him a hug, so its all OK.
For about 30 seconds, an actual politician makes a cameo appearance, and shakes the ape's hand. In the real world, he fires his PR guys.
And you have the requisite villain--probably a mean, over-serious staffer, who thinks Tata should go. But of course the President and the children of the nation love Tata, so she stays.
Zany hijinks, tiresome banana jokes, and an ape giving the finger ensue. In the end, the ape saves the day in some bizarre, convoluted fashion that wouldn't even make sense if you went back and watched it again.
It's a straight to home video classic!
The movie starts during the first week of a new President's term (probably played by an old white guy who looks like Reagan, because this is the '80's). Everyone is still settling in at the White House, when a large, mysterious package arrives! The bomb squad and the Secret Service play Keystone Kops for a while before they figure it out--It's not a bomb! It's the president's childhood pet and companion, Tata the ape!
Of course, the ape becomes the White House pet, instead of the more traditional dog or cat. At one point, a comically square foreign official, probably from England, is staying over in the Lincoln Bedroom. Tata steals his pants and wears them down the hall, forcing the official to chase after her. He ends up in a meeting full of Important People wearing his silly patterned boxers. Later, Tata gives him a hug, so its all OK.
For about 30 seconds, an actual politician makes a cameo appearance, and shakes the ape's hand. In the real world, he fires his PR guys.
And you have the requisite villain--probably a mean, over-serious staffer, who thinks Tata should go. But of course the President and the children of the nation love Tata, so she stays.
Zany hijinks, tiresome banana jokes, and an ape giving the finger ensue. In the end, the ape saves the day in some bizarre, convoluted fashion that wouldn't even make sense if you went back and watched it again.
It's a straight to home video classic!
Thursday, November 13, 2008
The end of social conservatism
One persistent dream of the right has been to leverage conservative social views among Latinos into support for Republican candidates and causes going forward. Looking over the exit polls from California, it seems like this is going to remain a dream.
California had two ballot initiatives on hot button social issues this year--a gay marriage ban (Prop 8) and the less well known Prop 4, which would have required that minors receive parental notifications for abortions. On both of these propositions, the headline Latino category held slim majorities voting 'yes.'
The headline number is deceiving, however. As I mentioned in the previous post, there was an enormous age gap on gay marriage. While age 30+ Californians opposed gay marriage, the under 30's voted strongly against the ban. This pattern held up across racial categories, with 18-29 year old Latinos voting strongly in favor of gay marriage. Almost 60% of young Latinos voted pro-marriage equality.
This pattern held up on the abortion initiative, as well. Over 30's held more conservative views (with the odd exception of 50-64 year olds), while young voters voted heavily against abortion restrictions. Again, more liberal social views were found among young voters across racial categories. Fully two thirds--66%--of 18-29 year old Latinos voted against stricter regulations on abortions. This was almost identical to the vote in the white 18-29 category, 68% of whom voted pro-choice.
So much for conservative Catholic Latinos providing a future base for social conservatism. If these views remain even remotely stable as our generation grows up, the James Dobsons of this world are finished. Good riddance.
California had two ballot initiatives on hot button social issues this year--a gay marriage ban (Prop 8) and the less well known Prop 4, which would have required that minors receive parental notifications for abortions. On both of these propositions, the headline Latino category held slim majorities voting 'yes.'
The headline number is deceiving, however. As I mentioned in the previous post, there was an enormous age gap on gay marriage. While age 30+ Californians opposed gay marriage, the under 30's voted strongly against the ban. This pattern held up across racial categories, with 18-29 year old Latinos voting strongly in favor of gay marriage. Almost 60% of young Latinos voted pro-marriage equality.
This pattern held up on the abortion initiative, as well. Over 30's held more conservative views (with the odd exception of 50-64 year olds), while young voters voted heavily against abortion restrictions. Again, more liberal social views were found among young voters across racial categories. Fully two thirds--66%--of 18-29 year old Latinos voted against stricter regulations on abortions. This was almost identical to the vote in the white 18-29 category, 68% of whom voted pro-choice.
So much for conservative Catholic Latinos providing a future base for social conservatism. If these views remain even remotely stable as our generation grows up, the James Dobsons of this world are finished. Good riddance.
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