More evidence

Giant, alienish, unspeakably freaky ocean beast. "Squid" and "elbow" are two words that have no right being used together.

And now I'm glad again to be up on a mountain in the middle of the desert.

Congratulations?

Uh, good job Camden? Or good job New Orleans, you're number one? Or...something?

Some post-post-season Phillies love

Here is the best 6-minute documentary about the Phillie Phanatic's hot dog gun that I have ever seen.

Beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

It's just getting harder and harder to avoid mocking the people who were diehard, obsessive Obama supporters during the election. So far he's got a staff and cabinet full of Washington-game-playing centrists. He's gonna appoint Clinton as Secretary of State, which is A) about two steps away from just picking a republican and B) astonishingly retarded, because she has five more years in Senate than Obama himself, which compared to people who've had real careers - and no, being someone's wife does not count - that's absolutely nothing.

So basically, Obama is proving himself to be (shockingly) another politician who's concerned first and foremost with whatever the hell drives idiotic centrists who shout lots of great, bold ideas about Change and Hope until they get elected, and then promptly forget about all of that, surround themselves with moderates who don't give a damn about Change and Hope.

Ten bucks says that by a few months into his term, when people start really complaining that they were lied to, he'll spout even more bullshit about how progress takes time and we need to keep those who disagree close to us and not alienate them and so on.

Oh, America. For a day or two, I truly did hope you'd changed, but that was just foolish on my part.

Deep, dark confession

The movie that arrived today is Wall-E, and if being totally in love with an ugly little CGI robot is wrong, then I do not ever, ever want to be right.

Anti-gay dopes at it *again*...

Okay, so nothing can really bring me down today, because I got an error in my attendance record for a class fixed without a problem, and it was baked potato day in the cafeteria, and it's Friday, and I got a DVD I ordered that makes me very happy, so nyah nyah.

But they're trying:

TAMPA — Seeking to capitalize on statewide passage of a gay marriage ban, a leading antigay-rights activist is setting his sights on same-sex domestic partnership benefits.

David Caton, executive director of the Florida Family Association, says he will seek a change to the Hillsborough County Charter in 2010 to pre-emptively ban same-sex benefits for county employees.

Really? Not only can same-sex couples not get married, but we want to prevent any recognition whatsoever? Because we just don't like them?

In addition to passage of Amendment 2, Caton said he probably would not be pursuing the matter at this time if not for the election of openly gay County Commissioner Kevin Beckner, who won office Nov. 4. He cited strong turnout at Beckner's swearing-in Tuesday as evidence that his supporters will press him to pursue a gay-rights agenda.

Dear Florida,

Please go die.

Sincerely,
Sane people everywhere.

No one likes Bush

Grrrrrr...

Democrats: STOP DOING STUPID THINGS LIKE THIS!

WASHINGTON — Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, the Democrat-turned-independent from Connecticut, was allowed to keep his chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on Tuesday despite his support for Senator John McCain in the presidential campaign.

Look, Mr. Lieberman has made it perfectly clear that he does not particularly like the Democratic party. In 2006 he decided that since he lost the Democratic primary he would create his own party just to stay in office. He has spent the past year campaigning for John McCain! Seriously, that's about as big of a "Screw you!" as you can get without involving some form of physical weaponry.

He's not any sort of asset to the Democratic party. LET HIM GO. This is why the Dems can never actually do anything - they're too focused on being nice and not offending people and finding compromise. We are not at a point where we need moderation and centrism; we're at a point where we need liberal leaders (oooh, yeah, I said liberal, not progressive!) to stand up and say that they will not put up with this crap anymore. Obama is right - we do need change, but we're not going to get change by being spineless and sitting in the middle of the road.

The far right, especially the religious freaks, are not afraid to say and do controversial things and be assholes. We need to learn a lesson from them and fight fire with fire. Stop pandering, stop compromising, and tell that asshole Lieberman he's not a Democrat, he stopped being a democrat in 2006 (when he gave the least classy concession speech ever), and he is not a friend to the Democratic Party.

Godspeed, Endeavour

From CNN:

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Florida (CNN) -- Riding a brilliant tower of flame into the night sky, the space shuttle Endeavour left Earth on Friday, carrying seven astronauts on a 15-day mission to the international space station.
...
The shuttle is also bringing Thanksgiving dinner, with irradiated turkey, candied yams, stuffing and dessert, because it won't be returning to Earth until November 29.

The food might not be just like Mom cooks it (mmm, radiation), but those guys are going to have the best view that anyone has ever had from their Thanksgiving day table.

Hooray Science!

Hey, we've got some new planets!

And a shuttle launch tonight!

Good week for non-terrestrial stuff.

Summum

This ongoing case simply reinforces my deeply-held belief that religion - any and all religion - is freakin' weird.

Also, just keep your religious symbols to yourself, no one else gives a damn about your stone tablets or your pyramids or your crosses or your menorahs or whateverthehells you worship or feel represented by or live your life by or whatever. Seriously: no one cares. You keep your religiosity within your home and church and mind - and stop bogging down the courts with your stupid lawsuits - and I'll keep my atheism to myself and we can all be friends.

Though I'll still think you're weird, all of you.

Watch this

Random political thought of the day

I really can't wait until Obama gets into office. While there's a miniscule, minute, not-quite-technically-impossible chance that he'll follow through on his promises, I'm personally looking forward to the nearly-inevitable staggering disappointment that all the idiots who held him up as totally unlike other politicians will express.

Because he, a power-hungry man, is going to surround himself with other power-hungry people, ones who have been in the Washington game for much longer. And I bet you anything that the e-mails and such will trickle off, campaign promises will go unfilled, and so on. And there are going to be thousands of people, almost all of them within my age group, who will be absolutely shocked when it turns out that Obama, first and foremost, a politician with his own personal agenda.

Done!

So I took the GRE today, and my scores are heartily...meh. But it's done! And I don't ever have to take it again! Ever!

Fun fact: that was the first exam, let alone standardized exam, I've taken in years, which I think was part of why I was so nervous about it. Since I started at St. John's it's been all about understanding the concepts, asking questions, and discussing them. The GRE, by and large, is about knowing Latin and Greek roots and square roots and filling in bubbles.

Bonus fun fact: You are allowed 30 minutes for the instructions on how to use the computer you take the exam on. Included in this are seven screens worth of a tutorial on how to use a computer mouse. Seriously, if you need elaborate, detailed instructions on how to use a computer mouse...you're probably not going to do terribly well in postgraduate education.

So anyway, that's done, which means I no longer have "study for the GRE" as my default free-time filler. I started a book I've been eagerly waiting to get into about the religious beliefs of the Founding Fathers (Ben Franklin is currently duking it out with one Mr. Washington to win my heart). Then I found myself thinking... "Man, I wish there was another presidential debate coming up."

....

So, uh, either I have to hope that Bush keeps doing things (so I have something to read compulsively about), or I need to endure two and a half months of an absolute drought of meaningful domestic political news. Once more, the lesser of two evils wins. I vote we tie Bush up and lock him in a closet until 1/20!

In which Obama stubbornly refuses to start to piss me off...

WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union commends the Obama-Biden Transition team for including sexual orientation and gender identity in its non-discrimination policy as it prepares to assume power in January. Although President Bill Clinton signed Executive Order 11478, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, there are no explicit federal protections from gender identity bias in government hiring.

Hmm.

Okay, I will grant that the Bush administration, plus the CA/AZ/AR anti-gay ballot measures have set the bar for "not an asshole" unbelievably low, but...pretty much Obama's first act as Prez-to-be (hiring people) has gotten the ACLU's official stamp of approval.

Seriously, Mr. Obama - a lot of us have gotten pretty used to being angry and bitter about politics. You're kind of overwhelming, because - well, obviously it's way to early to call, but there's maybe a chance you're going to continue not being an asshole, even though you already were elected.

Keep it up, and we'll get used to it, I promise.

The good and the bad

The bad things about the election:

1. Gay marriage bans in California, Arizona, and Florida. Using democracy to limit the rights of others just seems so deeply wrong.
2. Banning gay couples from adopting in Arkansas. Because the only thing we hate more than those fags are those damn kids that need a home.

The good things about the election:

1. John McCain did not win.
2. Colorado voters basically pissed on the idea of decreeing that life starts at conception.
3. An initiative in Oregon to limit foreign-language teaching for immigrant children also failed. Because depriving kids of the best education we can possibly offer is probably not the path to success.
   
4. As is so often the case, the Onion says it best:

Kobe Bryant Scores 25 In Holy Shit We Elected A Black President

LOS ANGELES—Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant had a typically solid performance from the field last night, scoring 25 points to propel his team to a holy shit, it's hard to believe these words are even gracing this page, but on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008, the American people elected a black man to the office of the President of the United States.

Words really can't describe how…or what, or…. Wow.

Bryant, who got off to a slow start early, but managed to find his touch late in the third, incredible. A black president for a nation whose entire history has been haunted by the specter of slavery and plagued by racism since before its inception. That this happened in our lifetime is remarkable; that it happened within 50 years of a time when segregation was still considered an acceptable institution is astonishing. Absolutely astonishing. This is an achievement on par with the moon landing.

So, some harm was done, but a lot of good was also done. As much as I try to be bitter and cynical - it doesn't always come easy, you know - I can't help but keep feeling a true sense of awe at Obama's victory. And as much as I may like to hold on to that cynicism, there is some hope to be found in this. If a middle-class black dude named Barack Hussein Obama can win the popular vote in a presidential election, maybe it is possible that, within my lifetime, we'll see full equality for all citizens.

Good job, America

Wow.

This is the first presidential election that has not left me feeling vaguely disgusted, and it's the first election that has left me feeling happy.

Maybe, just maybe, I might even be feeling a little bit of pride in this country.

Well done, my fellow citizens.

Hmmm...

In the past 12 hours or so, I have been reminded to vote tomorrow by five different emails, two signs on the bulletin board in the dorm, one phone call, and one text message.

I get the impression that people would like me to go out and vote tomorrow, preferably for this Obama dude.

In related news, I am excited to actually going and voting in person. I am also excited to see how it ends and PLEASE LET IT END. But that means I'm going to change my start page back to Google from FiveThirtyEight.com, and will need to find some other political issue du jour to fixate compulsively on.