Thursday, July 31, 2008

Wake Up, America; Oil Is NOT the Answer

The recent negative ad campaigns run by McCain in Colorado (and I assume the rest of the United States) point out that Obama would prefer to keep "relying on foreign oil" rather than drill in Alaska and off the shore of California. They say that as if it's a bad thing, and people are buying into the idea because the McCain camp is emphasizing "foreign oil." The thing that should be stressed about the whole "oil argument" should be getting away from oil altogether. Obama doesn't feel we need to drill in Alaska and California (thank god), because he's willing to look at realistic and viable alternative energy sources for the near future.

We don't need more oil, people.

The problem is that until oil is completely unaffordable, no one will realistically start considering the alternatives. "Putting off until tomorrow" has become the American way! Until it's so bad that it actually causes people's lives to be disrupted (in a more drastic way than choosing a closer family vacation spot), the average American will not demand the change (regarding energy) that we so badly need.

Until people really can't fill up at the pump, nothing will change.

Yes gas is four times what it was ten years ago, but it's still not stopping people from buying and driving cars that only get 25 miles to the gallon (as if that's a great and efficient number) or less.

Another crazy thing to consider, and I don't understand why every single American isn't OUTRAGED by this, is that last week Exxon hit an all time profit high. They are making, get this, $90,000 a minute! (as reported this morning by The New York Times) For the second quarter, income rose 14%, to $11.68 billion.

The richest regime in the world is not going to let their empire dwindle and fade; they are going to do everything in their power to make America believe that we can't live without oil. They are going to fight for continued dependence upon the thing that is making them incredibly rich. Their massive amounts of money give them immense power, enough power to successfully deceive an entire nation! And the people are allowing it by buying into this incredibly nonsensical idea that we can't live without oil.

The people of the United States are being duped into the idea that it would be better to continue to find and use oil, all the while making a very few very rich, instead of simply moving to another (renewable) source (and *bonus* doing what's better for the planet in the process).

Why can't people see that even if we "got more oil," it's only postponing a major, major problem? It's still going to run out. Whether it's us or our kids, somebody's got to address the situation, and it's incredibly disappointing that the majority is willing to pawn this HUGE problem off on our children.

Even more disappointing is that there's a giant constituent out there (hopefully not the majority) that is willing to say, "Yes, this is how we believe and this is how we want the country run, by rich men who are willing to pawn these, admittedly rectifiable, major problems off on our children so we can have one more decade to rape the earth and be "rich."

Sadder still is that a large portion of those people think they are doing "what God wants" by voting for this regime... but that's another story.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Tron 2 Leaked Trailer: You Have No Idea How Excited This Makes Me

Quite some time ago (years), there were Tron 2 rumors. It's been so long that I had given up hope. Then what do I see via Gizmodo via Filmstalker today? Somebody done stole 'em self a little piece of joy from Comic Con. It's obviously "sneaky" footage (shame on you blessed stealer, wherever you are), but it definitely gives you an idea of things to come.

Jeff Bridges looks oh-so-cool (I'm soooo happy they didn't try to find someone else), and the new bikes with the old feel are awesome.

The picture gets closer, thus better, the further along you go, so don't give up on the shoddy video early.

Friday, July 25, 2008

FOX Gets Served by Nas for Being a Racist Network

Nas, Stephen Colbert, and 620,127 members of MoveOn.org called out FOX for being racist bastards. Here's how it went down (as quoted from an e-mail blast by MoveOn.org):

Dear MoveOn member,

Big news! Your petition signature telling FOX to stop their racist smears against the Obamas had a really exciting day on Wednesday. Here's what happened:

1:00 p.m. Your signature was printed off at a New York City Kinko's along with 620,126 others—filling 19 big boxes.

2:00 p.m. The signatures were piled in front of FOX's national headquarters at 6th Avenue and 48th Street.

3:15 p.m. Hip hop star Nas (whose new album had just risen to #1 on the Billboard charts hours earlier) joined over 100 activists and delivered the petitions to FOX on behalf of ColorOfChange, MoveOn, and Brave New Films.

3:30 p.m. FOX refused to accept the petitions. (Sometimes, the truth hurts.)

4:00 p.m.—9:00 p.m. News of FOX's racism and the star-studded petition delivery made its way around the world—with stories in Rolling Stone, Billboard, USA Today, Associated Press, Reuters, India Express, Huffington Post, MTV, OpenLeft, and over 200 other places.

11:30 p.m. Stephen Colbert welcomed Nas as his guest on the Colbert Report and dedicated over half of his show to FOX's racism. The boxes containing our signatures were stacked prominently on Colbert's set in place of his normal interview table and chairs—and he conducted the entire interview surrounded by petitions! Then, Nas performed his new song "Sly Fox," which is all about FOX's racism.

12:00 a.m. Several MoveOn staffers, jaws dropped open, got on the phone and engaged in several rounds of, "Wow!" :)

Since then, the news has kept spreading around the world. You sent a message to FOX, and that message was very much received!

And the fight's not over. Together, we've denied FOX the legitimacy that would come by hosting Democratic presidential debates, and we got a company to stop advertising on Bill O'Reilly. This week's delivery made an impact, and we'll continue to push back together against FOX's racism and their smears against Obama.

But for now, enjoy the video of Wednesday's petition delivery—led by our friends at ColorOfChange—and the video of Colbert. Both videos are at this link:

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3980&id=13330-2926195-3n0xffx&t=4

Thanks for all you do.

–Adam G., Laura, Ilyse, Justin, and the rest of the team

Thursday, July 24, 2008

It's Starting: McCain Shows Signs of Senility (or Stupidity?)

As McCain continues to try and convince America that Obama is inexperienced and ignorant when it comes to Iraq and foreign affairs, he proves in a live interview (sort of --and this part is even more appalling) that he is in fact the one who cannot recall, or does not know the time line of the Iraq war.

More appalling (and important, I suppose) is that CBS actually changed their interview with McCain and omitted his erroneous statements regarding the Iraq war.

As reported by MSNBC (edited for YouTube by the JedReport):



ps Is anyone else as sick as I am of McCain running on an energy platform?! Razing the forest and drilling in Alaska and off the coast of California is not an energy plan, it's a continuation of the Bush administration's rape of the ecosystem for personal gain and profit. Who is buying this crap?! (I know who they are, I am just baffled and angered by their ability to ignore reality).

Monday, July 21, 2008

Gone Fishin' (or rather, back from)

It's been a while since I've posted, and that's because I've been deep in the woods of Canada, where the Walleye and Pike are huge and the mosquitos are even bigger. I'm not necessarily a big "fishing guy," but the trip is one that my brothers and I have been talking about for more than a decade, so when the planets and stars finally aligned, I was all in.

We headed up to an area that my mom's side of the family has been going to for more than half a century. About two and a half hours past Sault Ste. Marie up the Royal Canadian Highway 17 (The Trans Canada Highway), there's a logging town called Dubreuilville (surprisingly, they've got a pretty snazzy website for such a small town). The town sign says "900," but I'd be surprised, especially since the lumber mill shut down about two weeks before we got there. I guess the lack of housing demand in the US has really taken its toll on the lumber industry. I'd say nearly 40% of the houses in Dubreuilville were for sale. It was pretty sad. I can't imagine that the town will exist if the mill doesn't open back up. They were just finishing up a HUGE addition to the town school (easily as big as many High Schools here in the states). It looked really pricey. So weird that it will simply be an empty building in the middle of nowhere if that one business (the mill) shuts down.

But on the bright side (eh?), I guess it was nice that the mill wasn't running as far as fishing goes (it was much quieter than normal, I'm told).

Here are some highlights from the trip:

Hey, look! I'm actually catchin' fish!


Bear!


This is the old campground where my grandfather, et al, used to stay. Somebody burned down the original cabin, but this one's pretty old as well. It's beautiful, but what you can't see are the swarms of mosquitos. At one point Drew and I looked over at uncle Petie, and he had at least 14 hunkered down and sucking blood just on his one upper arm. Seriously crazy.


Sunset on the lake.


Drewbie with his Pike whopper
(it took second place to Mikey's slightly larger Pike).


That's Mikey getting ready to put the smack down on some fish. He's a bad-ass with a filet knife. Even the y-bone on a Pike poses no problem for this mighty ichthyobutcher.


Moose! I've never seen one with black body like this. Very cool.


That's my fish there, but he just looked so happy holding it.


More bears... but not quite as spectacular when they're at the dump. At one point, there were eight, and one was a HUGE mama bear. They get mad when you poke them with a stick.


The view from the breakfast table (ever been someplace really beautiful?).

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Last Night's Lack of WiFi vs. Tonight's Abundance of Fun

So anyone who tried to tune in last night was met with an annoying blank stare. Turns out The Meadowlark's WiFi was down. Bummer. Apologies. I taped the show, so hopefully we can get some of that footage up on YouTube soon.

Tonight, there will definitely be WiFi, so we'll try it again. Drangefest starts around 5p, but I don't imagine we'll play until later... I may just let the set up run, so feel free to check in anytime between 6p and 9p. You might just get a glimpse of the Drangefest Cornhole Championships!

I'll post highlights at a later date.

Rock.

The links again are UStream.tv and the window below.


Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Dan Beahm streaming live at 9pm Mountain Time!

Howdy, all. We understand The Meadowlark has wi-fi, so we'll be streaming the show tonight! Tune in by either coming back to this post and clicking below, or by finding us on UStream.tv.

You will have the joy of hearing/seeing the cello stylings of Talia Dicker. We've got some new songs to play, so it should be a good show!

Hope to see you tonight, even if you live fa', fa' away!

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

More Problems With Thunderbird (suggestions)

I have several domains set up with one master domain at my host (Bluehost). I often check mail securely through Bluehost's shared SSL, therefore the certificate does not match my domain name(s).

Each time I do this, I most "OK" the error message many times (for each e-mail address) in Thunderbird. Why can't Thunderbird remember that I've ok'd this connection (many, many times)?

In addition, if you get sidetracked and aren't there to (nearly) immediately click "ok" to the errors, the servers time out and you have to restart Thunderbird to get it to run smoothly again.

So, to recap, Thunderbird should remember if an SSL has been OK'd or associated with a particular address.

Thanks.

Wanted is an Awful Movie: don't go see it

We went to see Wanted last night.

I would say I'm a pretty big fan of action/adventure movies. But I left the theater extremely disappointed by those involved in this movie. I wish I had my $19.50 back, so I didn't have to feel like I had supported what was being conveyed. I just feel dirty, nay, soiled now.

I couldn't believe the glorification of guns and violence in this motion picture (I can't bring myself to call it a "film"). Not only that, but at the end (not a spoiler) the lead character actually makes a call for people to take control of their lives... by shooting anyone that gets in their way, it would seem. If you've been beaten down, go out and "grow a pair" by shooting everyone. I can't get that perceived message out of my head, especially when thinking about how a teenager (or adult mentally stunted at that age) would see this movie.

I'm not often this bothered by the "shoot 'em up" style. I love movies like Equilibrium (minus the puppy scene), Pulp Fiction, True Romance, things in the vein of Aeon Flux, etc., etc... So it's not that I'm just blanket against movies with shooting (even copious amounts of shooting).

But Wanted glorified it in such a way that I was appalled. They definitely did their fair share of ripping off Fight Club (to a fault). However, even though Fight Club was chock full of graphic violence and anti-establishment sentiment, it felt different. I'm not against challenging norms. I'm not against thinking for yourself. But Wanted just really felt like it was saying, "If you've got problems, young high school lad, find yourself some cool guns and go shoot all those stuffed shirts and phonies that make your life miserable."

I think film makers have a huge responsibility to the masses for which they create entertainment. Those who made Wanted shirked that responsibility big time. Zero redeeming qualities to the story. OK graphics and action, some things we hadn't seen before, but "tricks" that are vastly overshadowed by a horrible glorification of empty violence.

That's my $.02.

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