Greed, Civil Disobedience, and Onlineness

I went to Harry Potter this weekend. It was great. Before the movie, we watched 10 minutes of slides advertising consessions, then ten minutes of television ads, then 10 minutes of previews. I’ve only been to the cinemas twice this year, and I’m not in the least bit disappointed. I highly recommend the local brew & views.

Maybe its that I’ve only gotten fed up with it recently, but it seems that our greed knows no end. Be it the Motion Picture Association of America, or McDonalds. Many of these companies are dabbling in this thing called the Internet. The RIAA and MPAA are doing it in a very self-destructive fashion, but they’ve got the law on their side.

McDonalds is advertising in the new online Sims game. There’s already virtual civil disobedience planned, including virtual protests. What a great idea. Like Blogger, it gives the voiceless masses a voice. A voice that no one listens to, and does nothing to change anything. It doesn’t seem that all the blogging has done any good except to placate ones selves.

I think I saw a quote on blogger’s site; “the revolution will be bloggerized”. There’s something to be said about the decentralization of information, but its hardly a revolution. These virtual protests and postings are clever, but they seem like shouting into a bottle. (a clear bottle, so that people can see, but still somewhat futile)

Fortunately I’ll be able to use Satellite Misters as an excuse to not post anything of substance or significance. Whew.

Painting & Brunch

Yesterday Michelle and I helped Scott & Sarah move in to a new place just south of us. Its quite a bit closer, and its a real house, so we’ll probably be over there more often. Biggest improvement on their new place: No speed bumps. Did I mention how much I hate speed bumps?

Scott and I painted two bedrooms last night, and we’re about to go back over and help paint the rest of the house. Michelle’s Father and Step-Mother dropped by, and we went to Marco’s Cafe for brunch. We all had great omlettes.

Satellite Mister

Alan invited me to be one of his satire troup of pseudo siblings. I’m quite excited. I’ll be able to share my misplaced dislike of jetsetters. The name of his site? SatelliteMisters.com

If you listen to public radio on the weekends, you’ll know what its about. I always turn if off and Michelle gets annoyed with me. She’s not that impressed by this new project of Alan’s. She doesn’t have much free time though.

Let it Burn, Part II

A long while ago I told Alan I’d write about “Letting it burn.” That was back when things could burn. Now things are so wet we’de be better off figuring out cold fusion for warmth. (hyperbole) I finished it up on the train this weekend. I was going through the ports of Tacoma and listening to the girl on her cell phone behind me, so I may have been a bit idealistic.

Anyway, its a long and poorly written piece. Click on the Comments link if you want to read it.
Continue reading Let it Burn, Part II

UN calls for end to Cuban Embargo

The UN voted overwhelmingly for the US to end its embargo against Cuba. A 173 to 3 vote signalled that the rest of the world thinks we need to end the embargo. Its about time. Maybe now that Mr. Helms is leaving office, we’ll finally get our heads out of our asses.

Maybe we’re just embarressed by Cuba. Look at the CIA World Fact Book:

Item Cuba United States
infant mortality 7.27 deaths/1,000 live births 6.69 deaths/1,000 live births
literacy 95.7% 97%
life expectancy 76.6 years 77.4 years
Govt. Type Communist state Federal Republic
GDP $25.5 billion $10.082 trillion
per capita GDP $2,300 $36,300

We’ve made friends with Russia and China. Why do we treat Cuba so poorly?

And Plunger Dog begat Chicken Poo

Yesterday Barley and I played with 4 great danes at the dog park. It was a lot of fun for Barley, and he almost knocked one over. He was really enjoying himself, but I think he was secretly envious of their stature. Maybe that’s what led him to eat an entire chicken carcass off the counter.

That’s right, while we were watching a movie, we heard a noise that sounded like Tigger’s cat door opening and closing. We got up to find that he had eaten an entire chicken carcass (Rotissiere) and was licking the plastic container across the floor.

Crap. Don’t feed your dogs chicken bones because they splinter. That’s the addage we both though of. Crap. We called Kathy, Michelle’s mother, Our Vet, and finally, the weekend emergency vet. The Vet said to feed him rice and watch him. As we were on the phone, he went back into the kitchen and was leaning on the counter licking up the bits he had missed. What a punk.

He’s got an iron gullet; he’s eaten a pair of Michelle’s eye glasses, rope, posters, sticks, the wand that lets you rotate the blades on mini-blinds…. lets hope he can pass this one too.

appendix

Idea for a bumpersticker: You need an SUV like you need an appendix.

The Yoda (Previa) made it back just fine. No damage done to the engine, and the new radiator and thermostat work great. The train ride up was fun, and the only two advantages that air travel has over train travel are:

  1. no cell phones
  2. speed

I highly recommend the route though. Its a nicer view than I-5 and you get to see a lot of Puget Sound.