More conservative hijinks

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Two things pointed out to me in the comments for my last post that, while likely to increase your blood pressure, are worth knowing about:

From Shelley: Human Events Online: Ten Bills to Battle Judicial Activism — a list of ten bills that have been introduced by conservatives in order to gain more control over our judicial system. HR 3920 is only one example of what’s going on.

From Todd: Tenn. County Officials Seek to Ban Gays — Tennessee’s Rhea county, already notorious for annually celebrating the conviction of John T. Snopes for daring to teach evolutionism in school (even though that decision was later overturned by the state’s Supreme Court), is asking for Tennessee’s criminal code to be updated to allow the county to charge homosexuals with “crimes against nature.”

“We need to keep them out of here,” said Commissioner J.C. Fugate, who introduced the motion.

HR 3920 – Good God, no!

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This makes me sick to my stomach.

On March 9th, Representative Ron Lewis (KY) introduced bill HR 3920 to Congress (co-sponsored by Reps. Howard Coble [NC], Mac Collins [GA], Jim DeMint [SC], John Doolittle [CA], Terry Everett [AL], Trent Franks [AZ], Virgil Goode, Jr. [VA], Joel Hefley [CO], Jack Kingston [GA], Joseph Pitts [PA], and Richard Pombo [CA]), titled the “Congressional Accountability for Judicial Activism Act of 2004”.

The official title gives a better idea of the intent of the bill, though: “To allow Congress to reverse the judgments of the United States Supreme Court.”

Excuse me?

No.

No, no, no, a thousand times no.

Make all the laws you want, Congress, but it’s up to the Supreme Court to decide the constitutionality of those laws, and trying to make an end-run around that process…well, doesn’t that essentially render the checks-and-balances system rather impotent?

Ugh.

Though, as Prairie pointed out while we were talking about this…if Congress passes the bill, then the Supreme Court declares it unconstitutional…then Congress overturns their ruling? That’s where my brain starts to hurt.

This better go nowhere, and go nowhere fast.

(via Phil)

iTunes: “Negasonic Teenage Warhead” by Monster Magnet from the album S.F.W. (1994, 4:59).

Lego porn!

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And I thought I got creative with my Legos…

Hidden in a miniature Washington, D.C., at Legoland California, among thousands of characters living frozen lives, a businessman moons a presidential motorcade.

Nearby, in a Lego replica of New York City, a man does his laundry in the nude. And at a New England harbor, beneath an overturned rowboat, two pairs of legs tangle suggestively.

Such adult-themed vignettes, played out in tiny plastic bricks, are a secret diversion at the Carlsbad theme park, where “master builders” make a sport of putting risque scenes into G-rated landscapes.

Tab A into slot B, indeed.

iTunes: “Ride the Bullet (1991)” by Army of Lovers from the album Army of Lovers (1991, 3:45).

Go Tony!

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Good news from the frozen north — Democratic Senatorial candidate Tony Knowles has issued a statement strongly in favor of gay rights issues.

Tony Knowles was proud this week to receive the endorsement of the Human Right’s Campaign, America’s largest gay organization. Personal freedoms are so important to me, to Alaskans and to the future of American democracy that I consider this to be a fundamental issue of my campaign, along with jobs, education, health care and national security, Knowles said.

…I’m against a federal constitutional amendment on marriage – or any U.S. constitutional amendment that limits rights. Amending our Constitution should be done to grant rights, not take them away.

…I am against government intrusion into our bedrooms; into our reading habits, our medical records and our personal lives. We need judges and politicians who respect our personal liberties, who will protect our freedoms and who will enforce our rights.

(via Atrios and Kos)

Iraq on the Record

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This rocks: Iraq on the Record, a report and associated online database presenting the results of an investigation of the misleading statements, falsehoods, and outright lies presented to the American public during the runup to the Iraq war, as comissioned by Representative Henry A. Waxman.

The Iraq on the Record Report, prepared at the request of Rep. Henry A. Waxman, is a comprehensive examination of the statements made by the five Administration officials most responsible for providing public information and shaping public opinion on Iraq: President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Colin Powell, and National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice.

[The] database identifies 237 specific misleading statements about the threat posed by Iraq made by these five officials in 125 public appearances in the time leading up to and after the commencement of hostilities in Iraq.

Have fun, kids.

(via Atrios)

Yesterday’s Trek, today’s tech

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In the 23rd century universe of “Star Trek,” people talked to each other using wireless personal communicators, had easy access to a vast database of information and spent hours gazing at a big wall-mounted video screen.

On 21st century Earth, that future is already here.

Fun little article, though somehow I’m very _un_surprised that so many of today’s electronics are designed by geeks that grew up on Star Trek. Seems only natural to me.

Now all we need is warp drive and the transporter…

(via Jacqueline)

Music and personality

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Interesting article in the Seattle PI looking at how your the content and organization of your music collection can give indications of your personality type.

Groundbreaking research has found that a person’s record collection may help predict which of five personality categories he or she belongs to.

Music preference also may reveal individual traits such as political ideology, intelligence and physical attractiveness.

Similarly, how that music is organized — alphabetized on shelves, separated by genre or scattered on the floor — is a reflection of personality, another study shows.

…The studies indicate a music collection and how it’s organized may tell where an owner fits in a group of personality categories called the “Big Five”: extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability and openness.

Things like this never really seem that accurate to me…the psychoanalytical equivalent of Tarot cards, so to speak. No matter what system or tastes you have, someone is going to be able to read something into it that is going to seem right on first blush. Still, it’s interesting to ponder.

I do have to wonder what they’d think of my collection, though.

Organizationally…well, at the moment, I’m a mess. My CD collection has gone through three distinct phases over the years, and is on its way to a fourth…

Phase One: Pre-DJ years. Alphabetical on shelves by artist, with each artist’s collection (if I had more than one album) in order by release date.

Phase Two: The DJ years. Separated into two collections. Albums that I wasn’t likely to use at whatever club I was at were at home, organized as above. Albums in the “DJ set” were packed into portable cases, sorted first by genre, then alphabetically, then by release date. Initially they were packed in their jewel cases, but over the years I worked on moving them into Case Logic CD sleeves to save space and allow me to take more along at a time.

Phase Three: The current mess. There is no organization at all. When I packed everything up to move to Seattle a few years ago, I just tossed my collection into boxes and cases in whatever order I grabbed them in, the “home set” completely out of order, the “DJ set” still in their travel cases. As I’ve been importing my entire collection into my computer, I’ve just been randomly grabbing cases out of the packing boxes, ripping them into the computer, putting the CD booklet into the CD sleeve, trashing the tray liner and jewel case, and tossing the CD sleeves into a box to be sorted out later. In other words, it’s a complete mess.

Phase Four: It’ll happen eventually…. Once everything is in the ‘puter and I’ve got all the CDs moved out of their jewel cases and into CD sleeves, I’ll find a good case to store the discs themselves in, and I’ll probably go back to the alphabetical sorting scheme, without bothering to sort by genre this time. It’ll be a while before that happens, though.

And as for what the music itself might say about me…I almost shudder to think what conclusions they might draw!

Dad brought me up on a lot of old blues, rock and roll, and folk. Mom added the classical element. I sang for years with the Alaska Children’s Choir, which gave me an appreciation of vocal classical and modern music. Interest and involvement in theater (along with the choir concerts) led me to a lot of Broadway musicals (and Jesus Christ Superstar is, has been, and always will be my all-time favorite modern rock opera…though Chess [the original pre-show album, at least, as I’ve yet to see any on-stage production] frequently gives it a run for its money). A distinct lack of interest in pop music led me into the alternative/gothic/industrial genres. DJ’ing got me into a lot of electronica and dance music (and led me back into pop, though I try to be picky about what pop I like). Various friends and girlfriends let me discover that, while I still have no great appreciation for the sappy ballads, there’s a lot of really good upbeat country music out there that is quite listenable. While hip-hop and rap are hardly genres I’ve explored over the years, I have found quite a bit over the years that I do enjoy (and thanks to a roommate emptying his collection during a move, I can boast a nearly-complete Public Enemy collection). My brother has introduced me to a lot of really good jazz and bluegrass during his years playing both upright and electric bass.

In other words, with the single exception of “smooth jazz” (which — sorry Tim ;) — I cannot listen to without gritting my teeth and wanting to do disturbingly violent things to the people who inflict such an empty, pointless, music-less pablum upon my ears…it really is the only genre I’ve found that I absolutely cannot stand), there’s probably not a single genre that isn’t represented by at least a few albums in my collection.

There’s more than one reason I named this site Eclecticism, after all.

(via Your Local Goddess)

iTunes: “I, Zombie (Europe in the Raw)” by White Zombie from the album Supersexy Swingin’ Sounds (1996, 3:57).

Size Matters

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This is actually fairly amusing now that I stop to think about it, but I think I’ve finally figured out why, no matter how good they are or how many features today’s pocket-size digital cameras have, I still can’t ever stop lusting after the bigger, fancier (more expensive) cameras that are out there.

When I was a kid, I had one of the little, flat, Kodak 110 film cameras. Simple, portable, took decent pictures, and was cheap enough to entrust to a kid without having to worry about it too much. Meanwhile, dad had a nice SLR of some kind. When dad’s camera eventually died, I’d spend hours playing with it, and even looked into getting it repaired at one point when I was in high school (though at that time, the repairs were far out of my budget).

When I graduated from high school, I got a camera as a present from my grandparents. While it wasn’t an SLR, it was the film equivalent of today’s high-end digital cameras — it could work quite well as a point-and-shoot style, but it also had a number of more manual controls, a good zoom lens, and had the size, heft, and weight of what I associated with a “real” camera. That camera lasted me for a good few years, until it disappeared (along with a few other belongings of mine) when I had to kick out a roommate.

Now, of course, that distinction between small “kid” cameras and large “adult” cameras is firmly ingrained in my head. I see people like Cory Doctorow geeking out about their ultra-tiny cameras, and while I know that they’re quite right, and these are damn cool cameras, and they’re worth every penny…I just can’t get over feeling like they’re toys. It’s silly, stupid, and outmoded thinking…and I’m stuck with it.

Well, not entirely stuck. At least I recognize my problem (that’s one of the twelve steps, right?). And if all goes well, come payday, I’ll be getting a tiny (but very full-featured) camera of my very own.

It’s a start, right?

iTunes: “Justify My Love (Hip Hop)” by Madonna from the album Justify My Love (1990, 6:35).

Narrowing the field

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Another camera post, feel free to ignore it if you’re not interested. Mainly, I’m in the midst of reading reviews, researching, and price-checking, and want to keep all the links I’ve been using at my fingertips when I actually get to a point of plunking down money.

Incidentally, if you live in Seattle and happen to stop by Cameras West, try to avoid dealing with Russ, one of the salesmen there. I went in there to see if I could take a hands-on look at some of the cameras I’ve been considering, and he came across as abrupt, smarmy, and somewhat condescending — I got the definite impression that he saw me less as a customer out to compare different cameras, and more as some random shmoe with money to burn who wanted a “cool camera” and might be an easy mark. He also had the most incredible fake “smile” I’ve ever seen on a salesman — he managed to pull all the facial muscles into roughly the right spots, but there was obviously nothing real about it. He also pushes Fujifilm cameras really strongly — not that there’s anything wrong with those, but that’s apparently all he bothers trying to sell.

Amusingly enough, I found out later from a co-worker (Rebecca, at Kit’s Cameras in the Westlake Center, who was far friendlier, far more helpful, willing to point out various pros and cons to the cameras, and all around a much better salesperson…not to mention really cute!) that he used to be a used-car salesman. Somehow, I wasn’t surprised at all…

Anyway, on to the cameras…

First off, as I’ve mentioned before, the lowest-cost (and therefore most likely) option is pretty solidly decided.

Canon PowerShot A80

Now for the “if I can find a way to afford it, I’d love to blow a wad on one of these” SLR-like cameras.

Fujifilm FinePix s7000

Nikon Coolpix 5700

Konica Minolta DiMAGE A1

  • Manufacturer’s site: [Konica Minolta | DiMAGE A1]
  • Basic features: 5MP, 7x optical zoom, variable-angle LCD and EVF, anti-shake mechanism.
  • Reviews:
  • Pros: Mid-range price for high-end features. Reviews indicate that Minolta’s claims regarding the anti-shake system to be spot on. Camera can automatically switch between the LCD and the EVF by sensing when the eye is close to the EVF, or simply leave the LCD off and only turn the EVF on when the eye comes close. Long battery life.
  • Cons: Off-center tripod mount. Somewhat noisy night shots. May have been discontinued (though still available for purchase) in favor of the new A2.
  • Lowest price found: \$459

Konica Minolta DiMAGE A2

  • Manufacturer’s site: [Konica Minolta | DiMAGE A2]
  • Basic features: 8MP, 7x optical zoom, variable-angle LCD and EVF, anti-shake mechanism.
  • Reviews:
    • Steve’s Digicams: Minolta DiMAGE A2 (first-look only, not a full review)
    • This is a fairly new camera, reviews are either not out or very hard to find so far.
  • Pros: All of the pros of the A1, plus insanely high resolution, and it’s supposed to be much faster at all operations than the A1.
  • Cons: Off-center tripod mount. New, still pretty pricey (essentially out of my realistic ability, but I can dream…)
  • Lowest price found: \$699