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Tuesday, September 30 2003

September Charity of the Month: Free the Slaves

"Free the Slaves is a non-profit organization working to end slavery worldwide." They are working to end slavery around the world by raising people's and policy-makers' awareness of the international slave trade; promoting slave-free goods; and working with local organizations to end the conditions that allow slavery to exist.

You can read more about the organization, the 27 million people currently enslaved across the globe, and how to help stop it, at their website or at a recent feature on the topic from National Geographic.

Monday, September 29 2003

Mixing Church, Money, and State

The Bush administration announced on September 22nd that religious organizations can receive "federal grants for social programs sponsored by churches and religious organizations."

"The most controversial change allows religiously affiliated federal contractors to discriminate against job applicants of other faiths....

"The respected Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found in a nationwide poll that while Americans generally support funding for faith-based social services, 80 percent would deny tax money to religious charities that discriminate against job applicants of other faiths...

"In another project supported by the compassion fund (and run by the born-again Christian and convicted Watergate felon Charles Colson), Iowa prisoners gain access to television, computers and private bathrooms if they participate in Bible study and 'Christian counseling.'"

Sunday, September 28 2003

John Kerry on Republican T-Shirts

Kerry hopes that pictures of offensive (well, racist, homophobic, and violent) T-shirts that were on sale at the latest College Republicans National Convention will motivate liberals to action. Messages printed on the Republicans' T-shirts included:

"No Muslims, No Terrorism"
"The Clinton Legacy" - picture of the World Trade Center exploding
"Who's the Daddy? Who Cares?" - pictures of Rosie O'Donnell and her partner
"Bring Back the Blacklist" - picture of Spike Lee

Saturday, September 27 2003

Tom the Dancing Bug

The return of Harvey Richards, Lawyer for Children, as he defends kids against RIAA lawsuits - "I cite the doctrine of Finders Keepers!"

A 2002 interview with Ruben Bolling.

And Bolling's strip from right after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack: "Terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center, Killing Thousands."

IEEE back to the drawing board on electronic voting standards

Following a short campaign by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (and others), the flawed Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE) standard proposal for electronic voting machines was defeated.

"Critics pointed out that one of the most glaring problems with the draft was its failure to require, or even recommend a mechanism to allow a true manual recount or auditing of votes. Some voting machine companies already offer one such mechanism, known as a voter-verifiable paper audit trail...

"This week, the Science Application International Corporation (SAIC) released a report that confirmed earlier concerns about Maryland's Diebold voting system. Maryland officials hired the private security firm in response to a July 2003 report critical of the Diebold system by researchers at Johns Hopkins University and Rice University. The SAIC report generally reinforced and expanded upon the security flaws discovered by the university researchers, concluding that the Diebold voting system was 'at a high risk of compromise.'"

Friday, September 26 2003

And in sexual news...

(No, we're not talking about my sex life.)

The Red-Headed Slut has renounced promiscuity:

"the last few years i've been reckless in so many ways that are not only unfulfilling and a waste of time, but are potentially dangerous to myself and others. i've abused food. i've abused alcohol. i've abused money. and now i abuse sex. f*cking instant gratification. things like an explosive orgasm or consuming a box of decadent cookies may make me happy in the moment but they do not contribute to my 'happiness'."

"Truth be told, I'm lonely. I have a good single life and I've always been comfortable on my own, but I want a partner. MY partner. I'm tired of being the understanding mistress to men who go home to their wives. I'm frustrated by my male friends griping about their frigid girlfriends yet still slipping rings onto their fingers."

"It always amazes me how much people are willing to experiment sexually outside their relationships, yet how tame and puritanical they are at home with their partners. Many of my patients have, by their own account, domestic sex lives devoid of excitement and eroticism, yet are consumed and aroused by a richly imaginative sexual life beyond domesticity – affairs, pornography, prostitutes, cybersex, or feverish daydreams. Having denied themselves freedom and freedom of imagination in their relationships, they go outside, to reimagine themselves with dangerous strangers."

Thursday, September 25 2003

ACLU on: JetBlue Privacy Breach, Secret Service Stifling Dissent

What's the ACLU doing for you these days?

1 - in response to JetBlue's disclosure of personal passenger data to Department of Defense contractor Torch Concepts, the ACLU is helping JetBlue passengers, through an online form, request from the government any info it may have that was disclosed in connection with the JetBlue privacy breach.

2 - in response to the Secret Service's stifling of constitutionally-protected free speech by protesters against President Bush, the ACLU is filing a lawsuit against the Secret Service.

Tuesday, September 23 2003

More on Election Fraud Through Electronic Voting

Farhad Manjoo interviews Bev Harris at Salon.com about the poor security of electronic voting machines, and the need for a verifiable audit trail in voting systems. Harris also casts some indirect doubts on the legitimacy of Georgia's 2002 elections.

If you're a California voter and more concerned about the electronic voting machines in use across the state than the mechanical ones, you can contact Secretary of State Kevin Shelley's office at:

California Secretary of State
1500 11th Street
Sacramento, California 95814
(916) 657-2166
Voter Fraud Hotline: 800 345-8683
Elections@ss.ca.gov

Let's Just Be Friends

Recent Since You Asked:

Q: "...Then it happens, it always happens. Maybe there's too much beer involved; maybe, as in the latest case, there's too little electricity -- whatever. He makes his move. It doesn't matter whether I end up making out with him or I say something along the lines of I'd rather preserve our friendship, because right then, the friendship is over. It never turns into that romantic-comedy mushy romance of my lifetime crap. Either I call too much after that because I still think we're friends or, horror of horrors, I might be hoping that there was more to this than a one-night stand and he thinks I'm being clingy or he gets clingy or I hurt his ego or whatever. It never works out; we never can remain friends...."

A: "Ah, yes, how well I know the non-mating dance of the fake guy friend..."

Immediate Effects From Getting On/Off a Low-Calorie Diet - in Fruit Flies

According to a recent study, going on a low-calorie diet has almost-immediate positive effects on longevity, and going off of it has almost-immediate negative effects (in fruit flies):

"In a detailed demographic analysis of life and death among 7,492 fruit flies, published today in Science magazine, Dr. Partridge and her colleagues discovered that the protective effect of dieting snaps into place within 48 hours, whether the diet starts early in life or late. Flies that dieted for the first time in middle age were the same as flies that had been dieting their whole lives. But the effect can be lost just as quickly. Flies that dieted their entire lives and then switched, as adults, to eating their fill were the same two days later as flies that had never dieted."

Arianna Huffington, on the Cyber Attack

Point 1: The Special Interest Brothel. A Flash movie depicting the other major candidates in G-strings servicing various special interests, and Arianna coming in to clean out the cathouse.

Point 2: according to BoingBoing, she's got a Friendster profile with 500 (501?) friends linked.

Monday, September 22 2003

Carol Moseley Braun

Carol Moseley Braun declares her candidacy for the Presidency of the United States. She's been endorsed so far by the National Organization for Women and the National Women's Political Caucus. Her campaign website.

May You Live in Interesting Times

MetaFilter links and talk about the supposed Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times." Apparently, the evidence suggests that this is not an old Chinese curse, and the phrase was popularized only in the 20th century. And not in China.

Sunday, September 21 2003

Name Your Baby the Google Way

Net-Powered Naming - David Brittan on using Google Images to help in choosing a name for your newborn. The theory: the pictures that Google Images serves up for your kid's name reflect what people think of people with that name.

Hmmmm.....

Result 3 for Ed:


Result 3 for Edward:


Result 10 for Edouard:


Result 3 for Eddie:


Result 2 for Edgar:

Saturday, September 20 2003

Al Franken's Supply-Side Jesus

Looks like beliefnet.com has reprinted the Supply-Side Jesus comic strips from Al Franken's Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them:

"No, James. Leprosy is a matter of personal responsibility. If people knew I was healing lepers, there would be no incentive to avoid leprosy."

Wednesday, September 17 2003

Some fancy tugboat pilotin'

New to me: pictures of a tugboat captain saving his vessel from destruction through some mighty fancy maneuverin'.

Burning Man Pictures

At Planet Margot, some nice pictures from Burning Man 2002 and Burning Man 2003. Only minimal nudity.

Monday, September 15 2003

Soccer, Berkeley-style

Anarchists vs. communists in a soccer game in North Berkeley:

"And what were the teams going to do after the game?

'Celebrate the hopeful demise of the U.S. government,' he said."

Saturday, September 13 2003

Greg Palast on Cynthia McKinney

Greg Palast, liberal muckraker (which I mean in the nicest way possible) on the whole Cynthia-McKinney-says-Bush-knew-911-would-happen-thing:

"It's a complex but important story, one the Congresswoman thought deserved investigation: the money-poisoning of America's foreign policy. It is NOT NOT NOT about Bush having specific knowledge of a September 11 al-Queda attack and deliberately withholding the info. I know, because I wrote two of the stories McKinney cited - and I discussed them with her in detail.

...

I spoke with McKinney by phone and via e-mail. 'What did you mean?' She absolutely denied the wild interpretation put on her words. That's not a small matter. Nowhere did our press hounds say, 'Some accuse McKinney of saying ... but she denies it.' No, the black-ink lynch mob had tied the noose and would not be satisfied until McKinney's political career hung from the poplar tree."

DeanLink

Wow. The Dean campaign is using a Friendster-like system to connect its supporters with each other. I'm impressed by their creativity and audacity, but have to wonder how effective this will be. I also have to wonder what old-school politicians, pollsters, reporters, etc. are thinking as they see Dean build a fundamentally different way to win political office.

Friday, September 12 2003

Allah be praised, now we have democracy!

I'm not sure what to think of "the War Nerd":

"What the Hell did you think was gonna happen? The Iraqis were gonna fall in love with an occupying army? 'Oh thank you for blowing up our power plants and water supply! Allah be praised, now we have democracy!'

"We were so sure the Iraqis would rise up once we landed. That’s one feature you’ll find in every bad military plan ever devised: '...and then the people will rise up.' That was how Bay of Pigs was supposed to go: 'We'll land a few hundred men, and then the Cubans will rise up.' Which they didn't, naturally. Every time a lieutenant in some African hellhole talks a half dozen of his barrack drinking buddies into staging a coup he uses the same line: '...and then the people will rise up to help us.' Cut to him and his friends hanging from the nearest lamppost.

...

"Truth is, this occupation isn't going that badly. We're losing a man a day, more or less. That's not bad. That's just the way these things go. The British used to lose a few dozen men a day when they ran the world."

Wednesday, September 10 2003

Power to the Peaceful Video Clips

They're generally not very good quality, because my digital camera's primarily built to take still pictures, but I've put up some 30-second clips from Power to the Peaceful 2003.

If you've never had the chance to see Spearhead in concert, take the next opportunity. And definitely buy their latest album. They give great shows; and, judging from the crowd at Golden Gate Park, their fans are some of the nicest and most positive people on the planet.

Also impressive: Keller Williams, a one-man acoustic band who, through a little technical wizardry, managed to "play" at least 3 or 4 different instruments at once. The guy behind me at the concert kept yelling out what I thought was "KILLER!!!" as Keller was setting up; I only figured it out when I saw the set list at the end of the concert.

Also worth checking out: Lyrics Born, a San Francisco-based rapper/singer. Nice combo-reggae-rap sound.

And, of course, Saul Williams did some great spoken word... (great enough that I was inspired to buy his most recent book.)

Tuesday, September 9 2003

Dukakis in '88!

Not remembering who Governor Michael Dukakis' running mate in 1988 was (Senator Lloyd Bentsen), I found a brief interview with him at Awesome80s.com from January 2001.

"Nevertheless, 1988 was winnable. Unfortunately, I made a serious mistake in attempting to ignore the Bush attack campaign. It’s clear from what happened to me that you simply can’t do that. You have to have a first rate, well thought out strategy for dealing with the other guy’s attacks, and no Democrat will make that mistake again after 1988."

[...]

"I believe our biggest domestic challenge is to ensure that all Americans, not just the wealthy, share in our economic good fortune in all respects. Our major international challenge is to provide the kind of leadership in cooperation with the international community that will increasingly rule out force as a means of settling differences between and among nations. That is a huge challenge, and I believe a great one for today’s younger generation."

Monday, September 8 2003

Stealth Disco

Stealth disco. Y'know. Disco. Stealthily. If you've worked in an office, you've probably done it or had it done to you. Right?

Sunday, September 7 2003

Power to the Peaceful 2003

Saturday, September 7, I went to see Spearhead's/Michael Franti's free concert/festival, Power to the Peaceful, in Golden Gate Park. It was my first visit to the park (aside from bus rides going through it) despite having lived in San Francisco for almost 3 years; and my first time seeing Spearhead in a long time.

I took many photos and posted them to my photo section (yes, I've now got a photo section - look to the right, scroll down). I got a few 30-second movies with my digital camera, too, but they're not up; they, and comments on the festival, should be up later this week.

And check out Spearhead's own website.

Food Porn

Friend Anand has started a blog, chronicling his cooking (and sometimes restaurant) adventures.

Older, and possibly to be discontinued: The Julie/Julia Project - "365 days. 536 recipes. One girl and a crappy outer borough kitchen." Over the past year, Julie's cooked all the recipes in Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" and blogged the process and results.

Thursday, September 4 2003

September 11th scandals, 2 years later

Item 1, "The toxic fallout of 9/11":

"For months after the attacks, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency insisted that the dust contained few contaminants and posed little health risk to anyone but those caught in the initial plume from the towers' collapse. 'Everything we've tested for, which includes asbestos, lead, and volatile organic compounds, have been below any level of concern for the general public health,' Christine Todd Whitman, then the Bush administration's EPA chief, told PBS 'NewsHour' in April 2002...But Deutsche Bank's owners, curious to know the extent of their liability and to properly evaluate the potential danger to their own employees, privately conducted their own extensive tests. The findings: Astronomical levels of asbestos and a long list of toxic ingredients that pose a significant risk of cancer, birth defects, nerve damage and other ominous health problems."

Item 2, White House Approved Departure of Saudis After Sept. 11, Ex-Aide Says":

"Top White House officials personally approved the evacuation of dozens of influential Saudis, including relatives of Osama bin Laden, from the United States in the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks when most flights were still grounded, a former White House adviser said today."

Tuesday, September 2 2003

Amusing Arianna vs. Arnold Animation

Arianna in her hybrid vs. Arnold in his Hummer, on the votearianna.com site.

Mac geeks on marriage vs. G5s

Dealmac forum: "g5 or marriage"?

The question: "I would really like to buy a G5, but my girlfriend also seems to want to get married...Given both are pretty expensive what do you think I should do?"

Sample answers:

"Traditionally the brides parents usually provided the groom with a dowry. This is a time honred tradition that the brides parents used to use to convince the groom to take their daughter off their hands. Remind your future in-laws of this and subtly remind them that a G5 would be a perfect dowry."

"If you're serious, then the g5. Spare her the pain of being married to such a shallow a-hole."

"Remember a woman is only a woman but a G5 is the fastest computer on a desktop."

About this site

This is the personal web site for Edward (Ed) Piou. Consisting mainly of a blog (operational since 1999) and various photos.

Some online projects I'm working on

Politics

Charity, Non-profits...

A while ago, I decided to put my money where my mind is on a (roughly) monthly basis and give to:

Photos

Public events documented through pictures...