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Weblog: February 2004

Wednesday, February 25 2004

It's Black History Month. Do You Know Where Your Black History Is?

Since 1991, Charles Isbell has maintained This Week in Black History - a fairly comprehensive calendar of black history events. (Yes, since 1991 - pre-web, he used to post it to the soc.culture.african.american newsgroup, back when the Net was - different.)

Also worth a look, his old hip hop reviews. Nothing new there since 1998, but if you want some entertaining and well-written looks at pre-millenium rap, take a look.

AL00667: Brief Candidate for Earth Impact by Asteroid

Fascinating little discussion of what happened January 13-14th when data put out by the Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research, combined with observations from elsewhere, suggested a newly-discovered celestial body would hit the Earth within 2 days, and the 6-hour scramble for more accurate data and predictions regarding AL00667. Sound and fury.
(The object was small enough that it wouldn't wipe out civilization if it hit, but big enough to possibly still cause damage...)

Tuesday, February 24 2004

Guide to Snowflakes

Physician Kenneth G. Libbrecht at CalTech has a beautiful and informative site on snowflakes. Close-up pics of snowflakes, seconds after they fall from the sky.
Classifying Snowflakes:

"In 1951 the International Commission on Snow and Ice produced a fairly simple and widely used classification system for solid precipitation [1]. This system defines the seven principal snow crystal types as plates, stellar crystals, columns, needles, spatial dendrites, capped columns, and irregular forms. To these are added three additional types of frozen precipitation: graupel, ice pellets, and hail..."

Monday, February 23 2004

Stay Human

Bought 10 used CDs for $50 at Streetlight Records this weekend. Very good bargain bin.

Stay Human by Michael Franti and Spearhead: I had this album years ago, but lost it in a rental car along with a bunch of others. A concept album, set at a community radio station on the eve of the execution of Sister Fatima, a political activist framed for a murder she didn't commit. Hip-hop/soul/"alternative." Spearhead is the best band on the face of the planet right now. Really. Really.

everybody else is doing it, so why can't we? by The Cranberries: Dreams, Linger, and 10 other sweet little songs. Wait 10 years, and music gets a lot cheaper.

OK by Talvin Singh: electronica album, less South Asian-influenced than I expected, but still good shtuff.

lovesong single by The Cure: bought for the two tracks not available on other albums, "2 Late" and "Fear of Ghosts." Worth it for serious Cure fans, otherwise, skip it.

WYSIWYG by Chumbawamba: "The politics of the twenty first century will be the dispossessed against the Disneys. There's a duty to confront and challenge the transnational companies putting profit before people..." From the people who brought you Tubthumping.

Boulevard by St Germain: trippy airy electronica thingy.

Even Closer by Goapele: Bay Area-based soul singer, beautiful voice, beautiful songs, definitely worth a listen.

Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise by Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise: "He had spent several years in Detroit by 1994, performing occasionally on the street just to be heard, when guitarist Michael Nehra, bassist Andrew Nehra, and drummer Jeff Fowlkes (formerly in the Detroit band Second Self) overheard Bradley through an open window while rehearsing for a new project. After listening to Bradley sing for an hour, they invited him up to the studio to record several acoustic songs, then invited him to become their vocalist."

Jealousy by keoki: more techno, a good 2 CDs if you're into that kind of thing (I am)

On How Life Is by Macy Gray: another fine set o' throaty songs. Wait 5 years, and music gets much cheaper.

Sunday, February 22 2004

Helping Out With Gay Weddings

DontAmend.com: "Stop the Constitutional Amendment to Ban Same-Sex Marriage."

Flowers for Al and Don: "Basically, people are generously sending flowers to random gay couples waiting in line to get married in San Francisco. This is a brilliant idea, but I immediately recognized a problem. The flower shops apparently charge about US $45 to deliver these flowers... Hence, Flowers for Al and Don. I'm using a PayPal account to collect money, with which I'll buy bouquets in bulk for the couples in line. You can donate as much or little as you please, and I pledge that every cent (minus the PayPal fees) that I receive will go to this project."

Gay Weddings

Legal Battle Looms:

"At 11:06 a.m., two icons of the lesbian movement, Del Martin, 83, and Phyllis Lyon, 79, exchanged wedding vows, kissed and embraced. Mabel Teng, the city's assessor-recorder, officiated over the ceremony, inserting the phrase 'spouse for life' in place of 'husband' and 'wife.'
"Lyon, who will celebrate her 51st anniversary with Martin on Saturday, Valentine's Day, got a call Wednesday from Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, asking her if she'd be willing to take the plunge."

"Here in San Francisco, we have a mayor that stood up and said what should be obvious: The state constitution says you can't discriminate based on sexual orientation, so preventing same-sex couples from being married is illegal. And on February 12, San Francisco started performing same-sex marriages in City Hall."

"In the new poll, 35 percent supported legalizing gay marriage and 53 percent were opposed; in the earlier poll, 48 percent supported legalizing gay marriages, while 43 percent were opposed...Also, 60 percent of those polled supported Vermont-style civil unions for same-sex couples, a 7-point decrease from an earlier poll."

"When people talk about 'gay marriage,' they miss the point. This isn't about gay marriage. It's about marriage. It's about family. It's about love. It isn't about religion. It's about civil marriage licenses - available to atheists as well as believers. These family values are not options for a happy and stable life. They are necessities."

"My reason for not supporting gay marriage -- and I think there's a difference between opposing and not supporting, in this case -- is that it seems like a step that would trigger a backlash that would a) quite possibly prevent the adoption even of civil unions and b) provide a tool for conservatives to win elections and thus prevent or turn back various other progressive reforms that are no less important than this one. (Of course, this hybrid reasoning has all manner of uncomfortable echoes from the middle decades of the 20th century.)"

"'Our civilized society and legal system is based upon a respect for and adherence to the rule of law,' Schwarzenegger wrote in a letter to Lockyer. 'The City and County of San Francisco's unfortunate choice to disregard state law and grant marriage certificates to gay couples directly undermines this fundamental guarantee.'"

"Dozens of gay and lesbian couples arrived in this rural town Friday to get married after a county clerk announced she would grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples, but the offer was soon revoked."

"Their list of grievances is long, but right now social conservatives are mad over what many consider the president's failure to strongly condemn illegal homosexual 'marriages' being performed in San Francisco under the authority of Mayor Gavin Newsom.
"Top religious rights activists have been burning up the telephone lines, sharing what one privately called their 'apoplexy' over Mr. Bush's failure to act decisively on the issue, although he has said he would support a constitutional amendment if necessary to ban same-sex 'marriages.'"

"The 'discrimination' inherent in the legal institution of marriage is relatively minor. Single people are 'discriminated against' by the benefits granted to married couples. Those who prefer to live with multiple lovers are also 'discriminated against' by the institution of marriage. So, too, are same-sex couples 'discriminated against' by marriage. Each of these groups is now demanding redress from this 'discrimination.' Such redress will spell the end of marriage."

"We are in the process of gathering ONE MILLION NAMES on a petition that we will submit to Congress and the President in support of the Federal Marriage Amendment. An amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress and a majority vote of three-fourths of the state legislatures (38 states) with no governors' signatures required.

"On the broadcast of the Christian television program 'The 700 Club,' Falwell made the following statement:
"'I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.''...
"But in a phone call to CNN, Falwell said that only the hijackers and terrorists were responsible for the deadly attacks."

Friday, February 20 2004

Techs Unite!

The Communications Worker of America, AFL-CIO, in conjunction with other orgs, has launched TechsUnite.org - essentially a site meant to empower the average tech worker. Talk of starting unions, news about offshoring of jobs, etc.

Check out their Frogger-style online game, The Tech Worker Challenge. ("Are you a US citizen? You're fired! Your employer just canned everyone in your department...")

Thursday, February 19 2004

Top Couple Argument: Money

Or that's what they say.
Nice feature about how one (non-traditional) couple dealt with their different money-handling styles, job ups and downs, financial booms and busts.

Tuesday, February 17 2004

Two Bruce Schneier Essays on Security and Terrorism

Worth reading: IDs and the illusion of security and Slouching toward Big Brother. His message: there's a trade-off between security and convenience (and between security against Threat A and security against Threat B). And due to fear of terrorist attacks from abroad, we're foolishly ignoring the things we're losing - freedoms, as well as safety from more dangerous domestic threats.

Guilt, Responsibility, Desire, January Charity of the Month: Amnesty International

(A little late.)

"Somewhere between the commute home from work, picking up the dry cleaning and baking cookies for the kids' school party, most people forget to save the world.
"It's not that they don't want to -- there's always that pang of guilt passing by the unfortunate mass huddled under a the filthy blanket sleeping on a steaming subway grate..."

"AI's vision is of a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards."

Philosophy Talk

Interesting new program on San Francisco public radio (KALW): Philosophy Talk, a 1-hour weekly show covering some interesting philosophy topic, generally with an interesting guest philosopher joining the hosts Ken Taylor and John Perry of Stanford U. Past episodes are available in Real Audio format, covering topics like immortality, whether race exists, Bush's preemptive war doctine, etc.
One of their neat weekly bits is dealing with one listener's "conundrum" - giving a quick answer to some philosophical question from daily life.
Q: Should I give money to homeless people I see on the street, not knowing what they'll use it for?
A: The only really valid reason to give the money is to show the recipient (or others) that you care about their plight (which is a fine motivation). If you want to help solve the homeless problem, there are better ways to do it (including, possibly, giving the person a lot more money to really get them off the street).
Q: I want to become a U.S. citizen, but I don't believe in God, and the oath to become a U.S. citizen ends with "so help me God." How can it be right to take the oath?
A: Interpret those 4 words to just mean "I really mean what I'm pledging here," because that's what it is really supposed to mean. If you feel a need, tell the people who witness the oath that you don't believe in God, but are just saying the words to emphasize your seriousness in becoming a citizen.

Tuesday, February 10 2004

Philipp von Boeselager, Last Living Member of German Assassination Plot Against Hitler

Last of approximately 100 German military men from World War II who tried to kill Hitler in 1944:

"Boeselager and his brother Georg belonged to a group of plotters around Colonel Henning von Tresckow on the Eastern Front, who used his access to senior officers to try to recruit them for his idea. Several planned attacks failed before 1944.
"Boeselager, who worked in an explosives team, was charged with organizing a bomb for July 20: 'One day, my brother called and said: 'They want explosives' -- I knew exactly what for.'"

Friday, February 6 2004

Separate Cinema: History of Black Film

The Separate Cinema Archive:

"Founded in 1976, the Separate Cinema Archive® has, for over two decades, been the only source dedicated to the art and fascinating history of the African-Americans in film. The archive of over 25,000 posters, lobby cards, stills and assorted ephemera spans the past century of important and historic black cinema"

Thursday, February 5 2004

Vote, damnit!

Working Assets has a page where you can register to vote, or update your registration.

If you're in California, you can fill out a form here to get a pre-filled voter registration card sent to you. Register early; to vote in the March 2nd primary, you need to be registered by February 17th.

And congress.org (not a governmental organization) has a site where people from across the country can download voter registration forms.

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...