02/24/04 08:05 - ID#34108
f*ck BUSH
And then there's the Constitution itself: You can't just amend the Constitution directly against the Constitution. I just can't believe that we'd let someone do that, no matter who their daddy is.
Let's face it: GW hates gays, lesbians, transgendered, bisexuals, thinkers, critics, reporters, women, and people who think to much.
It's pitiful: GW gives fewer press conferences during his presidency than any other president in the 20th Century, and he hates homosexual/s/ity so bitterly that he must come out on television and tell us all about it. In fact, he has so much hate for same-sex marriage, and apparently it so hurts and endangers the president's own marriage, that he wants to make it a major issue for the next 9 months -- he wants America to finally elect him to office based on his hatred.
I feel neither hurt nor threatened by the issue of same-sex marriage. I feel extremely threatened by the chilling effect the Bush administration's rampant bullying, both at home and abroad.
Let's get together on a choice for 2004, because we'll all be hurting by 2008 if we don't get a regime change.
Permalink: f_ck_BUSH.html
Words: 276
Location: Buffalo, NY
02/23/04 11:49 - ID#34107
GamesFirst!
We seem to have made it through with minimal hassle. We serve about 250K readers per month, so we wanted it to be as smooth as possible. Now we begin the work of re-creating the monster in the image of a dynamic PHP and mySQL -based website. Whoo! Get on the PHP bandwagon!
With luck everything will be in place in time for our 10 year birthday. Wow. 10 years online...
Permalink: GamesFirst_.html
Words: 160
Location: Buffalo, NY
02/20/04 06:03 - ID#34106
UT2k4 Demo
Permalink: UT2k4_Demo.html
Words: 108
Location: Buffalo, NY
02/18/04 11:56 - ID#34105
clearvoice pushed me over the edge
Paul's built so many cool things into (e:s) here that I haven't had time to take full advantage of all of them. However, I had a disturbing experience when I noticed I could click on my user image. I did so, launching an audio message telling the user that the journal owner had not posted an audio file. It was that completely characteristic Clearvoice TTS.
I'm the kind of guy who hates robotic voices on answering machines and tries to humanize my own messaging systems. So I decided the time had come to upload an audio file. I'm trying to generate new material for another DJ FnW feat. CM album, so here's a wee sneak peek at some experimentation I've got going on... The quality on the journal sound file is kind of cruddy in order to get it in under the filesize limit. But I've posted a full CD quality version on my personal webspace. Click the link to download the MP3:
Permalink: clearvoice_pushed_me_over_the_edge.html
Words: 176
Location: Buffalo, NY
02/18/04 12:49 - ID#34104
wYrd :: No Witchcraft for the Deaf
Looks like Bush's Dept of Education has created a new list of television shows that will be barred from being captioned for the hearing impaired (apparently there's not much going on in education these days). Here's a link to the list:
Needless to say, the approved and disapproved lists reflect the far-right, rabidly Puritan values of the current administration. What can I even say about it? It's ludicrous mistreatment and abuse of a service intended to aid people. But apparently BushCo doesn't think the hearing impaired are smart enough to protect their children from the evils of The Amazing Spiderman... Needless to say, the National Association of the Deaf are upset about the whole thing (http://www.nad.org/openhouse/action/alerts/captioningcensorship/pr.html).
And not many folks are talking about this. The decisions went into effect last October. The effect is that groups applying for federal funds to caption television programming will not be eligible if they are captioning the disapproved shows. So no captions for "Gay Hollywood" or "Papparazzi Part 1: New York", which may or may not be so bad (many of the shows on both the approved and disapproved lists are probably better off not being watched by the general public, IMO), but it also means that poor little hearing impaired children won't be able to get their Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, or Samurai Jack fixes. It's classic class-oriented cultural eugenics. Cartoons and fantasy are bad for kids and might get them doing things like reading Harry Potter novels and sacrificing babies to Satan.
In the eyes of the right wing radicals, it's better to watch The Fountainhead (approved) or Amazing Animal Videos (also approved). But regardless of who is making the list, the whole endeavour is dumb. Why isn't everything captioned? Can't we pull that off? To cut any group out of the loop when it is so feasible to provide a modicum of accessibility is just treacherous. When making lists like this to fasttrack the meager distribution of a pathetic amount of funds is how the Department of Education spends its time, things must be really rough.
Permalink: wYrd_No_Witchcraft_for_the_Deaf.html
Words: 384
Location: Buffalo, NY
02/17/04 10:42 - ID#34103
Anyway, it's about a subculture of men who fetishize the HIV virus, and it's one of the most disturbing and sad things I've ever seen. But I was struck at the connections to web culture and web communities. The general trend of porn sites is to fetishize the repulsive -- in many ways it has been claimed that net.culture drives us to the fringe of acceptability and palatability. Sites like SnuffX (http://www.snuffx.com) and Stileproject (http://www.stileproject.com) have been longtime suppliers of images and movie files of mixed porn and snuff. I saw this as really connected to that sort of gruesome one-upmanship that goes on in these "backrooms" of the Internet. I think that once there's a whole group of people ingesting and commenting on these kinds of subjects, then it's inevitable that some kind of community would be formed. I've seen design sites where you could be shot for using a dropshadow. Or gaming sites that cater (unofficially) to very particular tastes. There are the meta-customs we see in all boards and forums, but each individual site has particular rules and traditions. In many ways, the phenomena described in "The Gift" reminded me of these odd, insular discussion groups.
Anyway, I was just really struck by how much the Web and websites were involved in building and maintaining the subculture covered in the documentary. I definitely recommend checking it out.
Permalink: .html
Words: 264
Location: Buffalo, NY
02/09/04 11:54 - ID#34102
keeping up is hard to do
Permalink: keeping_up_is_hard_to_do.html
Words: 27
Location: Buffalo, NY
01/09/04 11:43 - ID#34101
30 Days Across the Country
So until I come up with a better form of documentation, I suppose sporadic updates on Elmwood Strip will be the most detailed listings of what I've been doing. So far I've had no expenses today. No food, either. And not even a cup of coffee. I must be mad... Time to go get me some...
Permalink: 30_Days_Across_the_Country.html
Words: 221
Location: Buffalo, NY
12/06/03 04:52 - ID#34100
Xian Propaganda
Permalink: Xian_Propaganda.html
Words: 57
Location: Buffalo, NY
12/04/03 01:56 - ID#34099
Anti-Athiest Discrimination
I'm an atheist.I love being an atheist. I feel as good about being an atheist as most folks feel about being devoted to any religion, club, or team. Sometimes I even want to tell people about it, to prosyletize the joy of living in a godless world. But what's the point?
Still, it's sometimes made very clear just how on the outside we are. The holiday season brings it to the forefront. How will I raise my children to be proud of their atheism in the face of such cultural pressure to believe the lie? How do we celebrate the completion of a year, the bonding of a family, the accomplishments and hardships of a community without encouraging the destructive impulses of Christianity?
Public school funds can be diverted to counterproductive religious schools. Faith based organizations are being given more and more responsibility. In some states it is possible to be forced to sit through prayer before receiving state and federal assistance. The religious radicals of Christianity have led us into conflict over and over again; conflict within our western, American culture as well as conflict with other religious radicals. The past few years have exposed in bitterly clear ways the full effect of religious wrath and the numbing, dumbing effect of religion as the proverbial opiate of the masses.
Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas all refuse atheists the right to hold office according to clauses in their state constitutions. Massachusetts excludes non-Christians from equal protection under the law.
These are just a few examples of more gratuitous discrimination that many will dismiss as relics of old attitudes. But the attitude still very much exists. We're told to pray by the President often. Our crusades in the Middle East (the Administration's words; not mine) are a playing out of age-old religious differences, which were played out, in the first place, in service of dubious economic goals. Our Pledge of Allegiance... Our God Bless America... Our Shortsighted Ignorant Approach to Humanity...
Happy New Year
Permalink: Anti_Athiest_Discrimination.html
Words: 425
Location: Buffalo, NY
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