http://www.chezlark.com Semi-Coherent Rantings of a Progressive Secular Humanist Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:17:36 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Still in flux. All is well; never fear. What have I been up to? This pretty much sums it up: http://www.chezlark.com/?p=974 I totally spaced on the fact that today (3.14) was Pi day, until Steven Colbert graciously reminded me of it. Via Wikipedia, check out this really trippy pi poster in celebration! http://www.chezlark.com/?p=973 Holy crap, this video is fantastic. Watch it immediately. Although, it does contain disturbing imagery from the war, so if that sort of thing bothers you, you should skip it. You must have audio turned on, though. Via, even though I'm a little grumpy with Shakes these days. Lots of pictures of the ... http://www.chezlark.com/?p=972 My life is in significant transition at the moment. I'm not sure what priority to assign to working on the blog. Please forgive the silence. http://www.chezlark.com/?p=971 This is the coolest thing I have seen since BumpTop: Via Bogle's Blog. http://www.chezlark.com/?p=970 Becky brings up an important point in a comment to the last post: As a regular reader of this blog, I wanted to respectfully ask you to please make a distinction between the U.S. government and the PEOPLE of the U.S. [...] Saying that the “U.S.” has no respect for the ... http://www.chezlark.com/?p=969 I'm on vacation out of the country. But seriously, people, these two paragraphs from this Associated Press article on the recent US Court of Appeals ruling upholding the Torture and Dungeons Act tells you everything you need to know about the US's respect for the rule of law: “The decision reaffirms ... http://www.chezlark.com/?p=968 Chez Lark is on hiatus; my life is in transition, and I am spending the next week in Mexico with my family. I should have some more material to post when I get back on 2/26. http://www.chezlark.com/?p=967 This sort of thing is exactly why my wife and I long ago vowed to utterly ignore Valentine's Day: Via Slog. http://www.chezlark.com/?p=966 A number of people are up in arms about this Snickers commercial that ran during the Super Bowl: If you haven't read about the controversy, stop and think about it for a moment. Is this ad: Heteronormative / homo-hostile because it depicts homophobia, or Homo-positive because it depicts homophobia negatively My money is actually ... http://www.chezlark.com/?p=965 Most videos on YouTube appear to be trash. I guess this makes it par for the course on the Internet. This one is kind of interesting though, if only because it seems deliberately intended as "art"? It's by Clemens Kogler, whom I would like to know more about, but whose website ... http://www.chezlark.com/?p=964 Did you catch this Superbowl ad for Chevy? On its surface, this looks like a gender-role-inverting spot. The "car wash" setup, of course, is usually used as an excuse to show barely-clothed models, as in this recent spot with Paris Hilton (barely SFW): ...so, the Chevy commercial is a playful inversion, right? I ... http://www.chezlark.com/?p=963 I've been staring at this for a little while now, and I'm not sure what to think. On one hand, I think it might be a brilliant piece of "political street theater". On the other hand, I think it may be futile. The Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance (which, confusingly, is ... http://www.chezlark.com/?p=962 Bill Gates is usually pretty dry, but his appearance on the Daily Show is quite compelling, I think: http://www.chezlark.com/?p=961 I know, I know, you're sick of hearing about how computers are free. But seriously: This is a 1TB drive. It's $400. I'm pretty sure that I started seeing "TB" in common use, in advertisements for storage, in just the past month or two. How long until measuring hard drives in GB ... http://www.chezlark.com/?p=960 Methinks a certain public servant could take a page from Teddy: The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering ... http://www.chezlark.com/?p=959 Here is a video of a meeting that certain soldiers were required to attend if they declared their intent to not re-enlist: I couldn't find a transcript of the presenters' pitch anywhere, so I transcribed most of their spiel: [Presenter #1] How many of you have an iron-clad, all-bills-paid, already-accepted-to-a-college-of-choice, place-to-live, everything-paid-off ... http://www.chezlark.com/?p=958 Why, civil war, of course: (Via Majikthise) http://www.chezlark.com/?p=957 I really like this comment on The Online Photographer, ostensibly about the idea of creating a subscription-based photography website, but really about the current state of affairs on the Web: We have created a monster and it is us. Software developers write programs and give the work away for free. Now no ... http://www.chezlark.com/?p=956 Perhaps you think this is obvious. But, on the off chance that some of you are not yet attuned to it, be aware: why do you suppose the phrase "giving aid and comfort to our enemies", or just "giving comfort to our enemies", comes up so often? After all, talking ... http://www.chezlark.com/?p=955