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Thursday, November 27 2003

David Life at the Commonwealth Club

Monday November 17th, I skipped my regular yoga class to listen to David Life, co-author of The Art of Yoga and co-creator of Jivamukti yoga speak at the Commonwealth Club.

Two interesting perspectives from the talk:
1 - Life stressed that yoga is much more than just the yoga poses you'll typically practice in classes in the U.S., and encompasses a belief system involving reincarnation, vegetarianism (perhaps veganism), causing as little disruption to other beings as possible, etc. More of a religion than an excercise routine.
2 - when asked about Bikram Choudry's attempts to license his brand of yoga and sue those who use his sequence of poses without making payment, Life said that Choudry's efforts - which seem non-yoga-like to a lot of people - are OK with him. His rationale is that in India, students have much more respect for and devotion to their teachers, and passing teachings down orally and by example works much better than it does in the U.S. In India (he says) a teacher can be fairly sure that students will teach yoga correctly to later students, without jettisoning what might seem superfluous to the student, but is actually a core part of that particular yoga practice (say, not eating meat). In the U.S./the West, he doesn't believe that yoga can maintain its purity without using Western-style tools; thus, tools like copyright and the law are necessary to be sure yoga is being taught correctly.

Looking around the room as he said this, you could see various looks of confusion, disagreement, disappointment, etc. on the audience members' (including my) faces. Thinking it over later, though, I can see his point...

Monday night, I danced with the devil...

... at the FreeBSD Bash at the DNA Lounge.

I'm the fella right behind the Daemon's left horn in this picture and his left elbow in that one.

Fun party, free Indian food (appetizers and dessert), good music, and I got a free pair of BSD boxer shorts and various other stuff. Now that I've finally been, I'll probably go back to the DNA Lounge at some point.

Thursday, November 20 2003

Philip K. Dick and Hollywood

Wired has a long article on Philip K. Dick, the success (and some (monetary) failures) Hollywood has had in making his stories into movies, and his kids who are reaping the benefits of his posthumous marketability:

"At a time when most 20th-century science fiction writers seem hopelessly dated, Dick gives us a vision of the future that captures the feel of our time. He didn't really care about robots or space travel, though they sometimes turn up in his stories. He wrote about ordinary Joes caught in a web of corporate domination and ubiquitous electronic media, of memory implants and mood dispensers and counterfeit worlds. This strikes a nerve."

Professional competitive eating: why the skinny guy won

Popular Science on how 145-pound Takero Kobayashi out-ate everyone else at the Coney Island hot-dog-eating contest:

"So how does a man roughly a third the size of Jarvis outeat him by half? Answer, at least in part: The size of the stomach at rest is inconsequential. All that matters is the stomach's ability to expand, to adapt itself to the amount of food being shoved down the esophagus. And as in any other competitive sport, stomach-stretching skills require training."

Sunday, November 16 2003

Molly Ivins: Call Me a Bush-Hater

Columnist Molly Ivins, on the "Bush-hater" meme, and amnesia regarding the actual hate (still being) directed at the Clintons:

"It is not necessary to hate George W. Bush to think he's a bad president. Grownups can do that, you know. You can decide someone's policies are a miserable failure without lying awake at night consumed with hatred.
"Poor Bush is in way over his head, and the country is in bad shape because of his stupid economic policies.
If that makes me a Bush-hater, then sign me up."

Tuesday, November 11 2003

New York Times on Electronic Voting Problems, Diebold, etc.

Mainstream coverage of problems with paperless, touchscreen voting systems continues to grow. At The New York Times:
Machine Politics in the Digital Age.

I've actually spent some time over the past few weeks calling Congresspeople from California, asking for their stands on HR 2239 (the Voter Confidence Act) on behalf of VerifiedVoting.org and offering information. If you're concerned about whether your vote is going to count in the next election, help by calling your elected officials.

Chagall Exhibit Breaks SFMOMA Records

According to SFGate, the recently closed Chagall exhibit was the most successful SFMOMA's done. I went, many months ago, with friends who are SFMOMA members; very educational and entertaining exhibit. Seeing so much of Chagall's work lined up, room after room, gives you the ability to recognize life-long themes that smaller exhibits don't reveal...

Nevertheless, I'll probably join the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts if I ever get around to getting a museum membership around here...

Sunday, November 9 2003

What Is the Meatrix?

Animated Matrix parody focusing on big-business factory farms.

Saturday, November 8 2003

Maher Arar on Being Deported By U.S. to Syria, Tortured for a Year

Al Jazeerah on what Maher Arar has to say about his ordeal: a Canadian citizen, considered a suspected terrorist because a suspected terrorist witnessed his rental lease in 1997, deported to Syria by the U.S., tortured for a year, finally back in Canada.

Joi Ito:

"So what does this mean for us? If we meet someone, we should not 'become friendly' with them until we are certain that they are not a suspected terrorist. What does this mean? We need to make sure they don't hang out with other suspected terrorists. So if you believe in six degrees, it's likely at some point you will be a suspected terrorist."

NPR Gets $200 Million From Joan Kroc

Joan Kroc, heiress to the McDonald's restaurant chain fortune, widow of Ray Kroc, left $200 million to NPR in her will. "During its most recent fiscal year, which ended in September, NPR had an operating budget of $103 million and broke even despite the cost of covering the war in Iraq." (Chronicle of Philanthropy also has an article on this, and her other, gifts.)

Which Wireless Companies Screw You Re: Number Portability

Gizmodo lists how much the various U.S. wireless companies are charging customers (whether said customers will switch or not) on a monthly basis for implementing number portability, as reported by their readers.

Tastes Like Chicken

Great humor magazine - Tastes Like Chicken. Went to their site initially for an interview with Michael Franti. LMAO at

1) an interview with Al Jourgensen of Ministry:

"R: In 1995 Texan pigs raided your studio, Waco-style. What the fuck was that like?
A: IT WAS RAPTUROUS; JOYOUS; THE HIGHLIGHT OF MY LIFE, TO BE HANDCUFFED NAKED ON THE FLOOR, WHILE SOME IGNORAMUS COP ATE ALL MY CHICKEN WINGS!"

"Could you hold a
Ninja in your arms
And console him after
An assassination attempt
On the czar of some foreign land
Has gone awry?
...And just let him cry?"

NPR on Flawed Electronic Voting Machines

This weekend, I've heard 2 different NPR programs deal with flawed electronic voting systems.

Exhibit 1: Whose Vote Counts? looks not only at the problems with electronic voting machines, but disenfranchisement of various sub-populations of the U.S. (non-English-speaking immigrants, those in poor neighborhoods, the disabled, etc.), and the laws barring felons from voting in many states (and procedures which ended up barring non-felons, with names "similar" to felons, from voting in Florida in 2000). Text transcript and audio available...

Exhibit 2: This American Life's current program (program 250; no direct link yet) covered the general disconnect between theory and practice in life. With regards to voting machines, the theory that modern computerized voting systems would eliminate problems, while in practice, they're making things worse in many cases.

NPR's also got info on a whole bunch of programs related to democracy in America; how it can go right, how it can go wrong.

Friday, November 7 2003

California Halting Certification of Diebold Voting Machines

Not all is going wrong with my state (yet):

"Marc Carrel, assistant secretary of state for policy and planning, told attendees Thursday at a panel on voting systems that California was halting the certification process for new voting machines manufactured by Diebold Election Systems.
"The reason, Carrel said, was that his office had recently received 'disconcerting information' that Diebold may have installed uncertified software on its touch-screen machines used in one county."

One more Halloween picture...

Wasn't sure how this one would come out; good thing I set the timer on the camera correctly...

Michael Moore on The Boondocks

Mr. Moore celebrates (and feigns surprise at the survival/continutation of) Aaron McGruder's daily skewering of race issues.

Wednesday, November 5 2003

Before you see Matrix Revolutions...

See chud.com's 1-page comic book recap of Matrix Reloaded.

Tuesday, November 4 2003

Neil Gaiman Interview at Slashdot

Nuff said. (Well, except for the complaint that he doesn't talk about MiracleMan.)

Monday, November 3 2003

CNN Reports on Election Machine Problems

Problems with touch-screen electronic voting machines haven't gotten much press, but now CNN.com has an article on the issue.

It's a shallow, undetailed article that fails to point out the times these guys have been caught screwing up already and the election shenanigans that have occured with their machines, but hey, it's there.

Halloween in the Castro, 2003

I've posted 122 pictures from the San Francisco's 2003 Halloween Party in the Castro. (Here's the official website.) Went with a coupla friends, taking the (very crowded) J Church from Glen Park; got off at 18th Street, and was herded through gates onto Castro Street.

Gates, cause this year (and probably next year) it was more of an official city event, with corporate sponsorship, more police presence, a requested donation to get in, and no booze allowed. Fun despite all four of these things, but I'm glad I was able to get to a SOMA warehouse party later for a less-structured affair...

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...