Via Weblogsky, we find this article from one of the architects of the Dean campaign’s internet systems. It’s interesting reading, but I agree with Lebowsky that the single coolest thing on it is this image:

Tom DeLay booed out of a meeting with Fort Bend teachers.

I’m ‘blogging this because the real media doesn’t seem to want to cover it, and because I know it will delight at least two of my regular readers.

I just learned that this ‘blog and this ‘blog were written by someone I knew a long time ago, but didn’t do a very good job of keeping in touch with. Despite the fact that her life story is written on the same server as this very ‘blog. Like two data streams passing in the night, one might say.

I’d be overjoyed at the prospect of finding Mary’s ‘blogs, if it weren’t for the fact that, well, it’s kinda too late.

I mostly remember three things about Mary: Going to IHOP with Jim and David and Mary after we went to the Ale House for the very first time, and the obvious thing that was happening between two members of the expedition… Springtime on the Ale House patio with that group of people, laughing about stupid shit, getting more than mildly tipsy, with Mary regretting that she was spending her off-time at work, and…

That time we were in the car, three of us guys and Mary, listening to Crowded House, and Neil Finn sang that high note… “When tomorrow comes/We may not be here at all/Without your whispers and MOOOOOAAAAAANNNNNNSS….” Mary said, “I’d date a guy who could sing that note,” and like stupid boys we all sang it at the same time, just to see if we could do it. I like to think I hit the note the best, but obviously that wasn’t all she had in mind.

And because it’s not all that inappropriate, and in many ways completely appropriate, here it is. Click to listen. ‘Whispers and Moans,’ Crowded House

Wiley Wiggins has a blog.

(E-I-E-I-O.)

If you say ‘Wiley who?’ then you should go find out.

You’re planning on reading MarcoPolo’s latest ‘blog entry, aren’t ye? (Note that it contains this sentence: “I stay the night in a beachfront palapa, under a brilliant clear sky, and the photonic song of a billion galaxies.”)

I’m quite happy to see the same-sex marriages happening in Mass. It gives me a lot of hope that before long the obvious will become obvious to everyone: That same-sex marriages should be no more or less legal than different-sex ones in the eyes of the law.

The main confusion I see comes from failing to realize that there are two levels on which this thing exists. One is the legal argument, and the other is the cultural and religious one.

The cultural and religious one is pretty obvious. The argument is that it’s always been thus, that gays can’t be married because they’re gay, or because they can’t have kids, or because being gay is a sin, or any of a number of other such arguments. Those arguments are interesting from the perspective of understanding people’s cultural realities, but they don’t seem all that persuasive to me. They don’t tell me why it is that gays shouldn’t be allowed to get a marriage license from the state; they only tell me that gays shouldn’t get marriage licenses from the state.

In terms of the law, however, the constitution of the US has an equal protection clause, which means that all laws apply equally to all persons. So if gay marriages are marriages, then the government should license them just like other marriages. So it becomes an argument of definition: What is a marriage, in terms of the law? If you argue that marriages are only between a man and a woman, then the argument goes back to that cultural argument that simply re-states the premise. And there are plenty of examples, as well, of marriages of convenience and marriages which end up in divorce. Are these marriages any more or less ‘real’ than gay marriages?

So round and round it goes. The cultural argument against defines gay marriage as an oxymoron. This informs the definition of ‘marriage,’ which means that gays who are in committed long-term relationships can’t get married, because of an argument of definition. If it’s true that their relationship actually is marriage, then their constitutional rights to equal protection are being violated by the various state laws.

I think that, ultimately, what will change this controversy around is when people realize that allowing gay marriage licenses won’t in any way diminish from anyone else’s marriage. Does the fact that Britney Spears got married for 45 minutes in Las Vegas change the fact that my parents have been married for 40+ years? No. So would it matter if two other people, who happened to be of the same sex, got married?

I’d say no, it wouldn’t.

The real answer, of course, is that the government not be in the business of sanctioning marriage. But it’s a little late for that.

I’m currently on hour 19 of being awake. It’s interesting to watch my body react to itself the way it does. It’s in the habit of being asleep right now.

There’s a sort of chill that happens, and I find my posture worse than usual. A tension in my head, a tiny bit of dizziness if I turn too quickly, and it feels like my eyelids are ten feet thick.

I’m doing this because I’ve had backwards days and nights for a little while now, and I want to push it around to where I have more human-being oriented hours. I don’t know why it’s all that important, other than I missed out on a work party some friends of mine had because I was asleep.

Altering my sleep schedule also makes me feel much better, in the medium-term. The rest of my existence is so completely monotone (by design), that stressing my body by screwing around with the circadians is one of the few things that lends newness to the experience. It’s really strange, but when I get 12 hours of sleep one night, and 3 the next, my body might feel groggy, but my mind is glad to have a new circumstance.

Also, the dreams are kewl.

Adopt-A-Bat

How to write a 6000 word pulp novel.

Kat: Check it out!

Earthlings: Ugly Bags Of Mostly Water, a documentary about people who speak Klingon.

There’s a BBC article about it, and look who it mentions:

KLI members featured in the film include Dr d’Armond Speers, a linguist who spoke only in Klingon to his son until age three and a half, and Rich Yampbell, composer of Klingon national anthem taHaj wo.

If you go to the film web site, there are trailers with people we know in them.

‘We’ being me and Kat. If any of the rest of you folks know who I’m talking about, then you should speak up, because, well… You should. In English.

And no, I don’t speak Klingon and have no desire to learn.

I just watched ‘Tapeheads‘ again, and it’s such a fun movie. It’s underground, it’s fairy-tale, it’s got great music, and it’s got Tim Robbins and John Cusak. And it’s got chicken and waffles. And a Devo song sung in Swedish. And Jello Biafra. And conservative politicians into deviant sex and handing cigarettes out to children.