Michael Hanscom

Enthusiastic ambivert. Geeky, liberal, friendly, curious, hopepunk; trying to be a good person. (he/him)

Seattle Gay Pride Day 2003

by

Had an absolute blast out and about today at the Pride Day festivities. Gorgeous weather for a parade day — partly cloudy, so it was alternating warm sun and shade to let us cool off — and all sorts of fun people to watch. Watched the parade along Broadway, then wandered around the festival area at Volunteer Park.

Lots of fun — tons of pictures can be found in the photo gallery. Enjoy!

Katharine Hepburn dies

by

Katharine Hepburn, an icon of feminist strength and spirit who brought a chiseled beauty and patrician bearing to such films as “The Philadelphia Story” and “The African Queen,” died Sunday, her executor and town authorities said. She was 96.

Town authorities and the executor of Hepburn’s estate, Cynthia McFadden, said Hepburn died Sunday at 2:50 p.m. at her home in Old Saybrook. She had been in declining health in recent years.

During her 60-year career, she won a record four Academy Awards and was nominated 12 times, which stood as a record until Meryl Streep surpassed her nomination total in 2003. Her Oscars were for “Morning Glory,” 1933; “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” 1967; “A Lion in Winter,” 1968; and “On Golden Pond,” 1981.

Despite her success, Hepburn always felt she could have done more.

“I could have accomplished three times what I’ve accomplished,” she once said. “I haven’t realized my full potential. It’s disgusting.”

But, she said, “Life’s what’s important. Walking, houses, family. Birth and pain and joy — and then death. Acting’s just waiting for the custard pie. That’s all.”

A truly wonderful woman, who’ll definitely be missed.

(via Prairie)

Streaming update

by

Just a quick note that I’ve updated my ‘About DJ Wüdi’ page to replace the download links for my mixes with streaming audio links instead. Everything’s still there, just less chance of running afoul of rabid copyright lawyers (on the exceedingly rare chance that they should decide to pay any attention to my little corner of the ‘net).

Manuals?

by

Manuals? Have you actually purchased a Microsoft product in the last ten years? You don’t get any manuals. You get a “quick start” booklet and a cyanide capsule and that’s it.

— RatBastard, on /.

Glad I'm not a Republican

by

This was a comment posted on Free Republic’s snarky announcement of the MoveOn primary results:

You have to realize that this was an INTERNET poll and therefore those who participated in it had to be able to read. So if you take away the illiterate vote, which comprises about 50% of the democratic base, you get these skewed results.

— P-Marlowe, on Free Republic.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…

(indirectly via ‘Angry White Democrat’ in the comments to Daily Kos’ take on the results)

MoveOn primary results

by

I just got this in my e-mail box:

Dear MoveOn member,

The votes are counted, the exit polls are complete, and the results from the MoveOn primary are in. Over 300,000 MoveOn members have cast votes — a turnout bigger than the election turnout in many states — and news outlets from CBS to Reuters have covered the story as it unfolded this week.

The MoveOn primary has allowed hundreds of thousands of ordinary voters to speak at a time when usually only pundits, pollsters, and wealthy donors have influence. Now it’s time to put our money where our mouth is. The end of this month — June 30th — marks a key deadline for candidate fundraising: candidates will truly sink or swim based on whether they show that they can raise money.

Since no candidate received more than 50% of the vote, we’re encouraging everyone to support the candidate they voted for. That’s why we’ve attached a fundraising appeal from Howard Dean (the candidate who you voted for) below, and that’s why we strongly encourage you to give what you can — from \$20 to \$2,000 — TODAY.

You can give to Howard Dean’s campaign online right now at: http://www.deanforamerica.com/moveonfordean

So how did the candidates do? The statistics below are only a part of the picture: perhaps the most significant fact is that virtually all of the candidates would have the enthusiastic support of a majority of MoveOn members. Taking back the primary process for ordinary people is an important goal, but the vote made clear that we’re ready to defeat Bush no matter who the Democratic nominee is.

As a result of the primary, well over 100,000 people have joined a presidential campaign or contributed to one. We’re already building a movement to defeat Bush in 2004.

Here are the vote totals:

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

BRAUN 7021 2.21%
DEAN 139360 43.87%
EDWARDS 10146 3.19%
GRAHAM 7113 2.24%
KERRY 49973 15.73%
KUCINICH 76000 23.93%
GEPHARDT 7755 2.44%
LIEBERMAN 6095 1.92%
SHARPTON 1677 0.53%
OTHER 6121 1.93%
UNDECIDED 6378 2.01%
  317647 100.00%

The complete results, along with some analysis, are available on our website at: http://moveon.org/pac/primary/report.html

It’s been an amazing week for MoveOn.org PAC. Every Democratic presidential campaign has invested time and energy into the primary. The national news media have covered the process with gravity. Together, we’ve begun to shift the balance in how these choices get made — from wealthy benefactors and snarky pundits to ordinary, active citizens. Thank you.

Sincerely, –Carrie, Eli, Joan, Peter, Wes, and Zack The MoveOn Team June 27th, 2003

P.S. For links to all of the candidates’ donation pages, go to: http://www.moveon.org/pac/cands/

Very interesting — and congrats to Dean! 43% of the vote is certainly nothing to look down upon!

Dean’s statment on the results can be found here.

Seattle Solstice

by

Odd things about being a (fairly) recent Alaska transplant — this last weekend was summer solstice, and I didn’t even really notice. While I don’t think I’ll ever be moving back to Alaska, the summertimes really are some of what I miss. Seattle’s solstice (sunrise at 5:11am, sunset at 9:11pm) really pales in comparison to Anchorage’s (sunrise at 4:20am, sunset at 11:42pm)!

(Thanks to Lee LeFever for the link to the sunrise and sunset page!)