I need to follow up on this…

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Mostly, I’m tossing this up here to remind myself to do something about it, and soon…

djwudi: I need to go back someday — partly to visit, and partly to track down some CDs from a band I discovered while I was there :)
sillium: :)
sillium: what’s the name of that band you mentioned?
djwudi: Poems for Laila
djwudi: based out of Berlin, I think
sillium: i think so to
sillium: ttoo
sillium: too
djwudi: I picked up two of their albums while I was there, but the tapes died years ago
sillium: damn
djwudi: managed to find a bunch of their stuff online a while ago, but I’d rather have the actual CDs
djwudi: and there’s only a couple that I can get through Amazon
sillium: and you can’t buy’em online these days?
djwudi: not all of the ones I want, sillium
djwudi: they’ve got five (?) albums and a few EPs out…I can only track down two, maybe three online so far
sillium: write me a flickr-message with the album names you can’t get and I’ll see what I can do for you if you want
djwudi: oooh – that would so rock, sillium :D
djwudi: i’ll get back to you on that soon – thanks!
sillium: yeah, do that.

Yay!

iTunes “Hold On (Love to a Razorblade)” by Poems for Laila from the album Katamandu (1992, 4:16).

Voting at 16 in WA’s future?

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All stereotypes aside, not all teenagers are solely interested in video games and bad music. Some of them are interested in video games, bad music (I kid, I kid…) — and voting. Here in Washington, the local chapter of the National Youth Rights Association is working on lowering the state’s voting age to 16.

Our country is founded on the concept of no taxation without representation,” 17-year-old Heather Kelley told the House Government Operations and Accountability Committee. “Eighty percent of teens work, yet we have no say on how those taxes are being spent.”

For Olympia High School student Kelley, as well as fellow Olympia seniors Kehlen Sachet and Jason Puz, also 17, what began as a class project last fall has gained enough momentum to become a bill in the Legislature.

[…]

In Washington, the students’ arguments caught the attention of Rep. Sam Hunt, D-Olympia. He ended up sponsoring the bill after the students visited his office a couple of months ago.

“They gave a reasoned, well-researched presentation on why they thought it was a good idea,” Hunt said.

The state constitution would have to be amended to change the voting age. Amending the constitution requires two-thirds approval from both houses of the Legislature before the issue heads to voters.

At the federal level, the U.S. Constitution originally defined the voting age as 21, among a slew of other qualifications. The passage of the 26th Amendment in 1971 lowered the age to 18.

States are prohibited from raising the age, but there are no restrictions on lowering it, according to the state’s Office of Program Research.

Nifty! I certainly don’t have any issues with this — if they’re actually interested enough to participate and vote, I see no reason why they shouldn’t be able to.

iTunes “Something Fast” by Sisters of Mercy, The from the album Vision Thing (1990, 4:37).

Conventions…or the lack thereof

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I’m often amused at just how off my timing seems to be. I just found out about Cascadia Con, what looks to be a major Science Fiction convention taking place here in Seattle later this year. From what I’ve been able to figure out while fighting my way through their website (which, I’m sorry to say, is horrid), whenever the WorldCon (World Si-Fi Convention) is held outside of America, there is a US-based NASFiC (North American Sci-Fi Convention) — and they’ll be right here in Seattle this year.

The downside, however, is that the convention is scheduled for the first four days in September — which is exactly when Prairie and I are planning to be busy moving into our new apartment, wherever that ends up being. This will probably involve renting a truck, schlepping all of her stuff into town from Ellensburg and all of my stuff from my apartment to the new one, getting it all set up, unpacked, arranged…all that fun but very time-consuming work.

Ah, well — I’ve made it almost 32 years without going to something like this, I’m sure I can make it a few more until the next one rolls around. But I reserve the right to whine about it for a moment. ;)

Additionally, while looking at their site, I did stumble across a link to Sakura-Con, an Anime festival that’s going on here in Seattle this weekend. I’m hardly the biggest Anime fan out there, but what little I’ve seen I’ve generally liked — however, while I’m sure there might be a number of photo opportunities there, I’m not sure it’d be worth the $30 one-day fee to wander around on my own for a few hours.

One of these days I’ll actually manage to hit one of these things, I swear!

iTunes “Walk Away Satisfied (Hot Tracks)” by Zino feat. Edwards, Jayne from the album Hot Tracks 15th Anniversary Collectors Edition (1997, 5:52).

My most popular Flickr photos

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My most popular photos on Flickr:

Top ten by # of views Top ten by # of favorites Top ten by # of comments
Steve Jobs is Willy Wonka. Or something.
5516 views

Mom, me, Anchorage International Airport, Anchorage, AK
864 views

Seattle Weblogger's Meetup, Seattle, WA
821 views

Ducks
622 views

Broadway QFC, Jason Webley Grocery Invasion, Seattle, WA
614 views

Broadway QFC, Jason Webley Grocery Invasion, Seattle, WA
601 views

Cinerama Marquee, Seattle, WA
554 views

My Desktop
535 views

Jason Webley leaves us
467 views

International Fountain, Bumbershoot 2004
454 views

 Satellite view of the line to view Pope John Paul II laying in state.
9 favorites

Punk Love I - Innocence
5 favorites

Post Alley, Seattle, WA
3 favorites

Steve Jobs is Willy Wonka. Or something.
3 favorites

Punk Love II - Jealousy
2 favorites

Turtles, Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle
2 favorites

Arboretum, Seattle, WA
2 favorites

Marriage Equality march and rally, SCCC, Seattle, WA
2 favorites

Jensonia Fire, Seattle, WA
1 favorite

Bagpipes, Bumbershoot 2004, Seattle, WA
1 favorite

 Satellite view of the line to view Pope John Paul II laying in state.
9 comments

My walk to work
5 comments

Doc Ock costume, Emerald City ComiCon, Seattle, WA
4 comments

Steve Jobs is Willy Wonka. Or something.
4 comments

Arboretum, Seattle, WA
4 comments

Snowstorm, Seattle, WA
3 comments

Seattle, WA
3 comments

Memphis, TN
3 comments

Punk Love I - Innocence
3 comments

Sunset over Puget Sound, Bellingham, WA
3 comments

Daylight Saving Time getting longer?

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Our brilliant government at work yet again. While debating amendments for an energy bill, two alternatives were proposed to help reduce US oil consumption. The result? No new regulations to actually reduce oil usage, but how about extending Daylight Saving time by two months instead?

A House committee voted on Wednesday to expand U.S. daylight-saving time by two months to help reduce energy consumption, but rejected a plan to shave total U.S. oil demand by 1 million barrels a day.

Both proposals were offered as amendments to be tacked on to a broad energy bill that was debated by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

The panel agreed in a voice vote to move the start of daylight-saving time in the United States — which occurs when clocks are turned forward by one hour — one month earlier to the first Sunday in March. The end of daylight time would be moved back one month to the last Sunday in November.

[…]

The committee voted down, 39 to 12, a separate amendment to require the federal government to find a way to cut U.S. oil demand by 1 million barrels a day by 2013. The amendment offered by Democrat Henry Waxman of California aimed to reduce imports of crude oil.

Lawmakers with automakers in their districts led the fight to defeat Waxman’s proposal, arguing it was backdoor way to require U.S. mini-vans, sport utility vehicles and pick-up trucks to improve their fuel efficiency.

Oh, the horror! My god, can you imagine what this world would come to if we actually had to improve the fuel efficiency of our cars and trucks? The environment would improve and oil profits would drop — it would be a disaster of unmitigated proportions!

Ugh. Idiots.

Instead, we’ll just muck around with our clocks to make summer seem longer…kinda. Resonsibility’s overrated anyway. Why actually do something when you can procrastinate and ignore the problem?

iTunes “Bitch” by Pigface from the album Easy Listening… (2002, 3:10).

Limerick for a Swan

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When I dropped into the #flickr channel today on lunch, the denizens were tossing around limericks for the various regulars. Cygnoir hadn’t been graced with one yet, so I managed to come up with the following:

Cygnoir’s on a poetry kick
but finding a rhyme for her nick
isn’t easy to do
so I hope when I’m through
she’ll laugh ‘staid of aiming a kick!

Not bad for coming right off the top of my head. :)

Just a hint, really

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So Assemblage 23 is playing at the Vogue tonight, and I’ve been tossing around whether or not I want to go — balancing the desire to see a decent band with the fact that it’s on a Wednesday night.

So what’s the first track that iTunes chooses at random when I turn it on after getting home from work?

Assemblage 23 ‘Divide’.

Sometimes I think this computer knows me far too well.

Update: No matter how well my ‘puter thinks it knows me, I’m still feeling the effects of my neighbor keeping me up until around 3am on Sunday night/Monday morning. 8:40 in the evening, I’m yawning, and my eyes are drooping. No mid-week concertgoing for this boy…at least, not this week.

iTunes “Divide” by Assemblage 23 from the album Failure (2001, 6:01).

Memory Maps

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As far as memes go, this is one of the best I’ve seen yet. After discovering Google Maps‘ new satellite-view option, Matt Haughey took a screenshot of his childhood neighborhood and used Flickr‘s annotation feature to mark it up with memories of his growing years. This inspired the memorymap tag and the Memory Maps group — and I’ve added four Memory Maps covering my younger years.

South Muldoon, Anchorage, Alaska This first one is an overview of the South Muldoon Road area, where the majority of my growing years were spent. Covers two neighborhoods, two houses, and two elementary schools.

Susitna Elementary, Anchorage, Alaska The second shot zooms in a bit on one of the two neighborhoods, and covers from first through third grade. We actually moved to the other neighborhood in the middle of my third grade year, but parents kept me at the same school to finish out that year as it was still within easy driving distance. Not quite as many memories on this one as on the next, as I was much younger then.

Chugach Foothills, Anchorage, Alaska Shot number three covers everything from fourth grade until I moved out of my parents’ house after high school graduation. Lots of memories buried in this one — friends houses, play spaces…make sure to check out all the notes on the photo for some fun stories.

Bartlett High School, Anchorage, Alaska For the last in the series, we move a few miles north to my high school (the best six years of my life! Um…wait…nevermind…). Without being able to zoom into classroom-view resolution (which isn’t likely to happen, as it would involve ripping off the roof of the school), I’ve done the best I could to point out pertinent bits.

Fun to do. Not a bad way to revisit the old stomping grounds, either, since I can do it from the comfort of my apartment here in Seattle! ;)

iTunes “Thorns (Distant Vocals)” by :Wumpscut: from the album Born Again (1998, 5:50).

Living in a Theocracy

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How in the world can people justify going to war to free people from religious oppression, and at the same time, condone and encourage religious oppression here at home?

Here’s an outrage for you. There’s a growing movement among pharmacists and even doctors to refuse to provide legal and necessary health services.

Let’s start with pharmacists. In at least 10 states, they have refused to fill prescriptions for birth control, citing moral and religious beliefs. In so doing, they have incited a nationwide outcry by women (and their men) who rely on such basic medical services.

…Some pharmacists “just say no” to filling the prescriptions. Others don’t offer these women alternative locations where they can get them filled. A few zealous pharmacists have actually gone off the deep end and refused to return the prescriptions to the women for whom they were written. That’s obstruction — someone who is licensed by the state to provide a medical service (to wit, the pharmacist) has instead barred a customer from obtaining that service.

I’ve been seeing more and more stories about this lately, and find it absolutely outrageous. How much longer before the extreme right-wing pushes too far?

Hopefully, not much.

iTunes “Flesh ‘n Blood” by Oingo Boingo from the album Best o’ Boingo (1989, 4:09).