blobert

02:09 pm: Safe for four more years
Just a quick Huzzah! for Massachusetts' state legislature. Marriage equality is safe until 2012. The vote today was 5 votes short of the 50 votes needed to put a proposed constitutional ban on same-sex marriage onto the November 2008 ballot. The next opportunity to petition for a statewide ballot is the 2012 election.

My Magic 8 Ball remains silent on whether or not any future petition will pass the legislature. But I'm excited that marriage equality will remain safe for four more years. That's four more years' proof that society works just as well, if not better, with equality. Four more years of observing first-hand all the normality of same-sex marriage.

Oh, and for the bitch Joyce Durst who cried when this measure to place inequality onto the ballot failed, she describes herself best with her own words. "I'm sick...I'm sick."

Tags: gay

09:45 pm: The Enterprise to scale
Yeah, this is a really impersonal post. But it's a fun link to share. Here's the Enterprise D to scale with various landmarks. I actually think that, to be true to the images from the show, it should be bigger. When the Enterprise is in orbit, it's really big in comparison to the planet. There are many times when you can see a significant portion of the planet's circumference while the Enterprise orbits. So either I don't appreciate just how high the Enterprise orbits a planet, or the Enterprise is bigger than described.

Link found on Will Wheaton in Exile.

11:16 pm: Robbie's Madonna
Then came blobert to him, and said, Lord how oft shall my brother [,Robbie Williams, pander to his gay fans]..., and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven. Matt 18: 21-22

I wasn't really loving Robbie William's latest single, She's Madonna. I felt that the powers that be overlooked a much better track, We're the Pet Shop Boys, in choosing the next single. And I felt that, in writing the song, Robbie was shamelessly piggy-backing off the gays' insatiable consumption of everything Madonna, just to ensure a hit single. But then I saw the music video. ( Transvestite Robbie with silver nails and shoulder pads, upscaled by real drag queens! )

02:31 pm: I have one more vowel than I thought!
One of my favorite linguistic discussions concerning English vowel sounds concerns just how many distinct vowels there are. This topic became ever more interesting when I left Utah for New York and heard English speakers who made vowel sounds that I didn't. One point of difference between me and some (Eastern) friends is in the vowels of pairs such as "caught" and "cot". My claim (which had been reinforced by many professors and textbooks) is that my Utah English makes no distinction between these words; they are homophones. But some of my friends' English do make a difference (a very salient difference to my ears). Phonologists encode the differences between the vowels as the difference between /ɔ/ and /ɑ/. (I think that /ɔ/ goes with "caught" and /ɑ/ with "cot"???)

( But don't believe everything that the linguistic textbooks tell you! )

P.S. This investigation began because a relative asked me if there was a linguistic term for a phrase or word which is characteristic of an individual. Sadly I could not think of any such label. This relative commented that I say something that is very blobert. But I don't recall what it was...

Tags: linguistics

12:29 pm: Hello, my reader
I'm probably starting at ground zero on this blog, since I've been silent for so many months. Maybe with determination, cutting edge anecdotes and pithy commentary, I'll be able to work my way back to the high of ten hits a day. ;-)

But instead of making this a catch-up-with-blobert post, I'll save that for later. What urged me to find my way back to livejournal is the laughable politics of my refound home. Utah is on the verge of making all elective abortions illegal. ( No, I'm not kidding. )

Here's an even more sarcastic response, from a Utah woman.

Tags: politics

11:44 pm: bush ad
Okay, I'm just going to be honest and admit that I'm obsessing about the upcoming election, and this obsession is going to be reflected in my journal. I try to maintain a "balanced" journal, with some news, some politics, some personal stuff and some silly stuff. But if I go overboard in the political stuff in the coming weeks, please bear with me. I'll try to not get carried (too) away.

And with that introduction, I like ( this ad )

Tags: politics

08:14 pm: Happy Coming Out
Happy National Coming Out Day. I'm 6 years out, to the day. While I came out to my lesbian aunt a couple days before officially coming out (to get her input on what I should or shouldn't say when coming out to my mormon family), I still consider the day I told my non-gay family members to be my coming out "annual-versary".

I'm really glad I'm gay. It was the first thing that pushed me outside my comfort zone. ( Read more... )

In political news, John Hopkins researchers estimate that 600,000 Iraqi civilians have died, due to violence, since the 2003 invasion. (NYT, WSJ) One way to put this in perspective was suggested over at Daily Kos. Iraq's population is around 26 million. The United State's is around 300 million. If the same percentage of US civilians were killed, as the percentage of Iraqis killed in relation to the country's total population, that would equal 6.9 million dead, American civilians. Were that happening here, I can't imagine that "Stay the Course" rhetoric would get any sympathy.

Tags: gay

10:28 pm: TNG reviewed for what it is
Wil Wheaton just posted his latest Star Trek The Next Generation episode synopsis on TV Squad. It's The Last Outpost, when we meet the Ferengi. On his blog, Wil warns that the synopsis is long, and it is. But it's worth the time. His humorous critique of this ridiculous episode left me laughing out loud.

It's probably only really funny if the episode is fresh in your mind. Luckily every time I visit home, I find myself watching TNG and Deep Space Nine on Spike TV during the day, while my friends and family work. Okay...in all honesty, the episodes would be fresh in my mind even without catching them on Spike TV. I watched TNG reruns at 11:00 pm every weeknight until I moved to Ithaca. I have every episode memorized.

If you like Wil's review of "The Last Outpost", take a look at his (not as funny but still entertaining) review of The Naked Now.

Tags: silly

12:01 am: I guess I never really get over anything
While I was on my latest search for discounts at Best Buy, I found out that Coldplay's latest X&Y was also selling at $9.95. I'd listened to a single off that album, "The Hardest Part", many times on their myspace page and really liked it. So that together with the great reviews convinced me to buy it.

Now I've actively avoided Coldplay for the past two years. This avoidance went so far as to skip the last track on Brandy's Afrodisiac, "Should I Go" because that track samples the piano riff from Coldplay's "Clocks". Why this moratorium? Because of a boy.

( I invite you into my history. It's long. )

Tags: life

11:26 am: register to vote today
Gentle Unregistered readers, this is my more than friendly reminder that the deadline for voter registration in your state is fast approaching. It could be within days. A list of registration deadlines is here. If you need to register, all that's required is the internet (one down already!), a printer and a stamp. If you go here, then your registration counts you among the "Internet Freedom Voters", voters who care about net neutrality. If net neutrality goes, I'm sure my blog will take 5 minutes to load, and half of it will be censored. You don't want that, right?

And while you're politically minded, check out what the democrats are offering you this election, specifically check out their "Local" link under their "The Democratic Party" banner at the top. The republicans have had their chance to shape the country for the past 6 years. What type of reject, Play Doh mold were they using? Because nothing's turned out right. I believe the democrats have the better strategy for shaping america. Here's democrat Nancy Pelosi's promise for the first 100 hours as House Majority Leader, if we vote in a democratic House. I like it!

Tags: politics

04:39 pm: a thought to consider
"Foley" and "pedophile" are linked together in rhetoric from both political sides. When news of Foley's internet exchanges with teenage pages first hit the blogosphere, there was an interesting discussion sprinkled within the general condemnation, hosted over at DailyKos. (I really only skim that site. I find too many comments read like they were penned by socially inept, cursing weirdos.)

This interesting discussion questioned whether it's appropriate to label Mr. Foley as a pedophile. I won't bring up the age of consent question (which is 16 in quite a number of states), because I've read too many headlines illustrating that the age range for legal, heterosexual sex is often wider than the age range for legal, homosexual sex. If he's a pedophile merely because it was gay sex instead of straight sex, then the pedophile label is based in bigotry.

I don't think most people see it that way. Thus, I offer my readers a few thoughts on what is involved in labeling Mr. Foley a pedophile, thoughts which should be read merely as my thoughts on the label in general, using Mr. Foley as a specific example. In no way am I trying to absolve Mr. Foley of any wrong doing. ( Read more... )

Tags: linguistics

06:20 pm: interesting reading about Foley scandal
Okay, I mentioned that I didn't want to dwell again on gay issues, as I'm sounding like a broken record. But I can't stop consuming people's thoughts on former Representative Foley's email exchange with young pages. Outside of the who knew what and when (very important questions, which I hope will be addressed soon), I'm a little appalled at the amount of commentary on this scandal that involves bloggers' personal experiences being sexual harassed. I'm not appalled that they're sharing. I'm appalled at how many people were sexually harassed as non-adults by someone in authority. Between these victims directing their sympathetic rage and parents feeling empathetic rage, I imagine the political fallout will be messy.

And while this story provides fodder for news agencies and bloggers alike, one possible, positive outcome would be that more guardians and children discuss what was/wasn't/might have been/is/isn't/could be inappropriate behavior from an adult.

Tags: politics

06:47 pm: more gay news
It seems that the East coast just can't stop feeding me gay tidbits. Lately I can't avoid reading about the resignation of Mark Foley (Florida Republican) from the House of Representatives. From what I've gathered, Mr. Foley electronically conversed with male page(s) who had worked at the Capitol when they were 16, and these electronic conversations were sexually explicit. If you care to judge for yourself: a pdf link to one such explicit, Instant Messaging exchange.

I've had conversations with older gay men, where they keep sexualizing the conversation while I attempt to keep it on a friendly basis. In a first-time meeting, that's flirting. In subsequent conversations, that's creepy. Now I am well *ahem* into an adulthood. Despite my state-imposed maturity, the creepy conversations still made me uncomfortable, especially when these men were friend(ly acquaintance)s. Luckily these weren't men whom I had to humor for academic or professional reasons, but I did feel like I had to humor them as friends, at times. I can only imagine how an underaged underling feels in this situation. Luckily I got over that need to repeatedly humor unwanted advances as harmless. Good-bye so called "friends"!

I'm glad Mr. Foley resigned, and I hope that the powers that be will investigate if anyone knew about this behavior earlier and didn't take appropriate steps to both stop it and protect the pages.

Hopefully the gay headlines will slow, so I can find another genre to complain about soon. ;-)

Tags: gay, politics

01:55 pm: It's all a dream
Last night, I had one of those disturbing dreams that feels completely real, so you wake up convinced that the dream events actually happened. Luckily I soon realized it was a dream. I dreamt I was road tripping with my former roommate, not the Swede, but the ex-mormon. We stopped at his uncle's house to spend the night. But then the aunt caught this roommate making out with his boyfriend and kicked us out. We hadn't had dinner, so we stopped and got Subway and ate it on the road. After eating half my sandwich, I looked at it and said, "Is this turkey? Did I order turkey?" My friend: "Yes!" Me: "No! I've been vegetarian for so long, how could I eat this? How could I not realize I'd ordered turkey?" And then I started crying and had to pull over because I couldn't see to drive. Whew! The worst part about cheating on my diet in my dream is that I was eating processed, lunch-meat turkey. You think my imagination could cook up better quality meat to serve me.

And on the topic of dreams, a good dream come true is that Massachusetts will marry same-sex couples from Rhode Island. Because Rhode Island laws do not expressly prohibit gay marriage, Massachusetts has not cause to deny gays from marrying in Massachusetts. I don't know what the status of the couples will be when they return to Rhode Island, but I'm hoping that it gives the couples standing to ask Rhode Island to recognize their marriages.

Tags: dreams

12:56 pm: Don't attack lesbians
In a Wisconsin diner, a man attacks patrons who are discussing the upcoming amendement to the state constitution, which prohibits gay marriage. The assault was caught on the diner's surveillance camera.

Regardless of this man's unbridled hatred, I'm surprised he attacked this group of lesbians, and I'm surprised that he escaped unscathed. My time in Ithaca has taught me a deep respect for the lesbian. Unlike gay men, lesbians weren't institutionally fed to the mercies of homophobic adolescents insecure about their budding masculinity. Well, at least lesbians weren't thrown into the locker rooms and bathrooms with these animals, where administrative authority is moot and degrading threats run rampant. When a straight man attacks gays, he can hope that his assault will bring flashbacks to his victim of these "pranks" and cause his victim to revert to that powerless state.

But lesbians weren't so groomed. When straight men attack them, the attacker become the embodiment of the chauvinistic, homophobic, heteronormative threads in society. Heaven help that person in the face of angry lesbians. This attacker was lucky that these lesbians were cool headed and simply defended themselves. I would have expected them to cut him in self-defense. He's lucky that he's facing criminal proceedings with both his eyes.

Of course, I jest. I hate to hear people attacked for their speech, any speech. And I look forward to the book being thrown at the attacker. And, of course, I don't mean to suggest that lesbians and/or woman are any less threatened by their male, adolescent peers. It's all variations on a hegemonic theme.

Tags: gay, news

09:03 pm: spider in the shower
My bathroom window doesn't seal when it's closed. There's a small crack between the window and the window sill through which a determined and small creature could gain entrance into the bathroom. Or, a determined and big creature could just open the window and jump through. Well, the nights are cool enough that the heat kicks in. Anything that's close to the window in the night must think that the window crack was made just so that they can gain entrance into this unnaturally warm cave.

That must be why I found a spider in the shower this morning. And while I wish I could say that, because of my respect for life, I didn't smash it, the truth is that I didn't smash it because I'm afraid to get even that close to spiders. Instead I turned on my low-pressure shower and tried to use the shower's dribble to flush the spider down the drain. After I got it down the drain, I also abandoned my water-conservation ethics and let the tub run for a while to make sure that the spider wasn't hanging on just beneath the drain, only to crawl out and up my leg when I turned the shower back on.

What is it that's often repeated? Something about how you see the true man only under stress/fear/pain. I guess I'm an arachnophobic before either a pacifist or a conservationist. And above all of that, I'm nelly. I imagine my reaction was a lot like the clip under the fold, except I was naked. ;-) ( Read more... )

Tags: life

09:36 pm: Ms. Cleo a lesbian?
In case you haven't heard, Ms. Cleo, of the psychic hotline commercials, is a lesbian. She's got an interview in today's Advocate. You know, I really didn't get a gay vibe off of her. It doesn't really matter, anyway. I can't help but see this as a publicity stunt (her coming out in Advocate, not her being gay in general). Some advertising company is trying to push her face into everybody's eye. Don't be surprised if we start seeing her on late night television, offering her latest scam.

On another note, I'm actually excited about buying something tomorrow. I've put my consumer issues aside and will allow myself to buy both Scissor Sister's Ta-dah and Janet Jackson's 20 Y.O. in stores tomorrow. Not only am I putting my consumer issues aside, but I'm also putting my corporate issues aside and buying them at Best Buy. Best Buy discounts most big releases for the first days they're out, to boost interest/sale. I rationalize buying from a big-box business because most of the profits of record sales go to the evil, big-label record companies. So I'll just write off the entire purchase as casting pearls before swine and save meself money by buying it at the cheaper, Best Buy price.

Tags: gay, music

04:00 pm: A Brief History of Disbelief
Last night I chanced across an interesting BBC series "A Brief History of Disbelief" on google video. I watched only part one. It's a three-part documentary on the history of atheism, which includes discussions with historians, philosophers, anthropologists, scientists, authors and probably others. I hope to watch the rest soon.

They shared a quote from early works which question the existence of any god-like being, one such author being Epicurus (341-271 BCE). While his discussions on god were interesting, it's his discussion on death that I most enjoyed.

Why should I fear death? If I am, then death is not. If death is, I am not. Why should I fear that which cannot exist when I do?

I've often shared with hallstabo, over cheap but tasty red wine, my extreme fear of death. Considering a time when I will cease to be just gives me the willies. hallstabo doesn't share my fear and often reminded me that I won't exist, in my non-existent dead state, to experience the horror of non-existence. It's a fear I'll never have to face. I guess it just takes convoluted, hoity-toity syntax from a philosopher to get that point across to me.

( Some fun stuff in the news )

Tags: life, movies, politics

03:50 pm: The Poop on Spinach
There's a lovely opinion by one of my favorite vegans, OrangeCloud115, over at Daily Kos. It's titled The Poop on Spinach. As you've guessed, the opinion touches on the recent E. coli outbreak. What I found interesting is how this outbreak is symptomatic of a larger problem, ( and not the problem you might think. )

Rather than leave you in despair, head over to The Meatrix for an eerie parallel between the animal farming and the Matrix. Or, if you've had enough bagging on corporate farming, because pooping is natural and can't be harmful, then I'll let you escape over to your theme song. Warning of crass lyrics!

Please note that not only is my Mood icon infuriated, it also looks like it's pooping. A good fit for this post.

Tags: green

06:41 pm: Ikea looks out for ALL their customers.
You know, I don't think that I give Ikea their dues. Perhaps this is because I've never been inside one of their factory-sized stores. While I'm slightly wary of any store that boasts offering everything you need, (Dum, dum, dum, dum, WALMART!), I admit that my main reservation against Ikea is its suburban following. If soccer moms swear by it, then it's probably not for me.

That said, I didn't realize that Ikea's designer have my people in mind. ( Join me for a peek of this commercial. )

Tags: silly