Please sponsor me in the AIDS Ride:
Link log
8.12.2004
God I Love Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut, always one of my favorite writers, has another excellent essay in In These Times, I Love You, Madame Librarian
8.6.2004
Nuts! Bunghole
Here is yet another reason why LBJ is my favorite modern president (via)
Lemons! For Everyone!
Harper has a really well-written post up over at Lemons.
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[LEMONS]
5.25.2004
I Hate My Bike
I hate my bike. I hate cycling. I hate spending 20-30 hours a week straddling metal tubes and rubber tires. I hate lycra and chamois pads and pockets in the back of shirts. I hate tires and pumps and the SPD pedal system. I hate that I know what the SPD pedal system is. I hate that I have two pair of SPD-compatible shoes. I hate shaving my legs. I hate staying hydrated. I hate Clif bars, Balance bars, PowerBars, ProMax bars and Tiger Milk Bars.
I miss plain old bars, where they serve vodka and beer and everyone is pudgy and pale, rather than tan and lean.
Did I mention my farmer's tan? I'm extremely tan these days, as long as you look from the knee down or neck up. Even my arms are segmented, looking all Coppertone from my mid-bicep down to my wrists, where my hands become shockingly pale, only to show color again just past mid-digit. Gloves. I hate gloves.
When I decided, last Fall, that I was going to ride in the AIDS ride, I really had not thought it out too well. I just wanted to do something where I tested out my 31 year-old body. Put it through its paces to see how it reacted, all that. I had no idea what I was getting into. I had no idea how much time would be involved in getting ready. I had no idea how much money it would take to get ready. After all, I wasn't going to plunk down my hard-earned money for a bunch of gay-ass neon yellow bike clothes. No sir. Not me. "Give me cut-off dickies and a white cotton T-shirt and I'll be fine." That lasted until my first long ride-cum-chafing extravaganza. Today I look like Sheila Kelly in Singles, clattering around on hard-plastic shoes. Except I'm not at all attracted to that dude with the beard from 30-something. But I have shelled out hundreds of dollars on attire that, while comfy, makes me look like an uber-dork. Don't even get me started on BUTT'R.
Not that it hasn't been an amazing experience. Over the past few months, I've learned more about the greater Bay Area than I have in the previous six years. I know backroads and highways, flora and fauna. I've seen scores of hawks, elk, deer, even an eagle. I've peddled in redwoods, grasslands, beaches, and Oakland. It's been amazing.
But here's the thing. When I signed up for the AIDS ride, the AIDS part of it was incidental to me. That is, I knew it was raising money for people living with HIV and AIDS, but to me it was all about the ride--the 600 miles in six days. Yet as I've trained and raised money, I've also raised my own awareness of a horrifying disease. I have to admit, I had grown to think of AIDS as not being that big of a deal anymore--at least not in the United States, where everyone knows about condoms and we have drugs that keep people alive.
But as I got involved, I realized that I had been completely ignorant.
I had no idea how many people were living with HIV and AIDS. I had no idea that infection rates were on the rise in the USA. And more than anything else I was shocked at the stigma and blame that still surrounds this disease; the notion that this is a disease that people somehow deserve. That there still is a massive degree of discrimination against people with HIV and AIDS. That this disease, which has been with us for more than twenty years now, still entails a social death that precedes the physical one (to paraphrase the tear-jerker Philadelphia).
And were it merely about the ride, the 600 miles in six days, none of this would be worth it. Fuck it, I can find some other way to get in shape without giving up all my time and most of my money. But it isn't about me. It isn't about getting in shape. It's about a hideous disease for which we still have no cure, and no vaccine. It's about the massive degree of discrimination, ignorance, fear, misinformation, and hysteria that surrounds this same disease. And for those reasons, it's well worth it. All the time, all the money, all the sore muscles and stupid clothes; they're worth it.
And although I've already hit my fundraising minimum, I haven't done nearly enough yet. There are only a few days left for me to raise money before it's all over. So if you have not already, won't you consider making a donation? It's tax-deductible, and benefits the San Francisco AIDS Foundation--which puts on the event itself ensuring that your money goes towards helping people with HIV and AIDS, not overhead.
And as to my bike. I still love it, I do. (If you're reading this, I LOVE YOU BICYCLE, J/K LOL!!! OMG! U R HOTTT!!!)
But I am ready to retire the BUTT'R and bust out the Dickies. And really, aren't we all?
2 comments | +
5.24.2004
Wayne!
click to enlarge. found on FP.
3 comments | +
5.21.2004
Name That Band
Reading this nifty article by Nick Hornby in the New York Times, I was intrigued by the following passage:
The pop music critic of The Guardian recently reviewed a British band that reminded him — pleasantly, I should add — of "the hammering drum machine and guitar of controversial 80's trio Big Black and the murky noise of early Throbbing Gristle." I have no doubt whatsoever that the band he was writing about (a band with a name too confrontational and cutting-edge to be repeated here) will prove to be one of the most significant cultural forces of the decade, nor that it will produce music that forces us to confront the evil and horror that resides within us all.Fucking. Awesome.
So who's the band? Selfish Cunt. And here's the full review from the Guardian.
(special thanks to Andy for helping me track this down)
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5.19.2004
Gmail: Bye-Bye Terabyte
After a brief flirtation with a Terabyte of storage yesterday, my Gmail account is once again merely offering me a single Gig of storage. Whatever will I do? It appears that yesterday's Terabyte, which numerous users also reported Is may have just been an anomalous bug.
Oh well.
By the way, if you came here searching for a Gmail invite, I'm plum out. But Gmail Swap can hook you up
4 comments | +
5.17.2004
Who's Talking to Tigers From His Cafeteria Tray
This depresses the hell out of me. Ever since I saw the mountain lion, I've become hugely interested in America's big native cats. That which doesn't kill you makes you want to read shit about it. I think.
There was a great story in Harper's about the Eastern Cougar Network and others hoping to find something more Coelacanth than Sasquatch. In Florida, they're trying desperately to preserve the few panthers left. In the east you're lucky if you ever get the chance to see a cat in the wild. Hell, you're lucky here out West, but it happens. Maybe not in neighborhoods, granted. But those houses haven't always been there.
The thing is, have you been to Palo Alto? Have you? It's beautiful country. Nearly, but not completely, ruined by suburban sprawl. To one side, you have gorgeous rolling hills and seldom-traveled trails that wind their way through open spaces to the ocean. On the other, you have the 101. Somewhere between the two is Stanford.
Over the last several months, I've spent a lot of time in Palo Alto, both as a cyclist and covering Silly Valley stuff for Tech Daily. I was in Palo Alto today, in fact. Well, nearly. I was just getting on the 280, heading away back north to the City by the Fey, when I heard the news about the lion on the radio. What a shame. Chased up a tree by a labrador. Gunned down by a cop. That's no way to go.
Palo Alto could really use a few more mountain lions, if you ask me.
6 comments | +
5.14.2004
SF By the Numbers
San Francisco ranks 3rd among U.S. cities in terms of median household income and percent of people holding a bachelor's degree; 5th in percent of foreign born population; 10th in percent speaking a language other than English at home; 7th in average commute time (city only); 1st in median home value; 2nd in median rent; 63rd in percentage of veterans and percentage living below the povery level (out of 69).
Now I feel poor, and overcharged on rent.
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5.13.2004
Lynndie England, Meet Breaker Morant
If you encounter any Boers
You really must not loot 'em!
And if you wish to leave these shores,
For pity's sake, DON'T SHOOT 'EM!! -- Harry "Breaker" Morant
At the turn of the last century, England was struggling with Empire, and engaged in a vicious war of occupation in South Africa with the Boers. The roots of the Boer War date back to the discovery of gold in the Transvaal in 1886, when British settlers began moving into this Boer area en masse. By 1899, war erupted between the British and the Boers. It was an ugly guerilla affair. Lord Kitchener was brought in from India to crush the Boers, and he subsequently introduced a scorched earth policy, burning crops and slaughtering livestock across the Transvaal. He also introduced the world to concentration camps, where British rounded up the Boer population to prevent them from supplying Boer commandos1. As with all such camps, disease and death were daily companions. It was, in many respects, the first modern war, a precursor to both World Wars, Vietnam, and the Soviet war in Afghanistan.
British troops--city boys--were ill-prepared to fight in the bush2. As a result, England relied heavily on irregular units of Australian horsemen--carbineers--to take the fight to the Boer Commandos. These Bushveldt Carbineers essentially fought commando style, spending weeks living rough in the bush on horseback, guerilla fighting. They were highly effective.
Harry "Breaker" Morant--an Aussie version of a cowboy poet--led such a squad of carbineers in South Africa. Among other things, the Bushveldt Carbineers took a take-no-prisoners approach to fighting Boers. This policy, the carbineers claimed and much evidence supports, came to directly from their English superiors. It flowed down the chain of command, so they thought, from Kitchener himself. Nothing was in writing.
But back home in England, the public grew increasingly outraged by the atrocities going on in South Africa, and an anti-war movement began in earnest. Meanwhile, the Boers were refusing to negotiate, largely due to what they saw as criminal behavior on the side of the British. Something had to be done. Enter Breaker Morant.
Morant and his men executed Boer prisoners, a clear war crime. They were subsequently prosecuted, and all but one of the Australian troops were executed by a firing squad. In their defense, they claimed to only be following orders. Kitchener testified that no such orders existed3. But nothing was clear-cut. There was no clear policy. It was nebulous.
The saga is well-documented in the classic book Scapegoats of the Empire by Lt. George Witton, the only Australian not be executed in the affair. His book was subsequently made into the film Breaker Morant. Witton made the case that the seven Bushveldt Carbineers--four English and three Australian--were made to pay for the sins of an entire empire. Made to pay for a vague policy that originated at the top, yet was executed by people at the bottom.
The Breaker Morant story bears a striking resemblance to the current Abu Ghraib fiasco. I can't excuse what guards at Abu Ghraib did. They carried out sick, shocking acts that are should be prosecuted for the war crimes that they are. But are the guards of Abu Ghraib the new scapegoats of our American Empire?
I believe in the military, and that the overwhelming majority of our soldiers are good, idealistic, people who genuinely want to create a safer world for Americans, and a more democratic, socially responsible one for Iraqis. Too often, however, throughout history the flow of responsibility mirrors the flow of policy: from top down. They should have an inverse relationship. Privates should not be made to pay for the mistakes of those who create the policies they carry out, be those policies clear or implied. As we move forward with Abu Ghraib, we should remember Breaker Morant as an instructive, as well as cautionary, tale.
notes:
1. The word "commando" dates back to these Boer fighting units.
2. The lack of bush skills exhibited by his troops so alarmed Baden Powell, hero of the seige at Mafeking, that he came back home and established the Boy Scouts.
3. New scholarship, as well as several historical examples, indicates that he lied.
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5.11.2004
The I Must Have Been Mistaken Index
site:whitehouse.gov make-no-mistake -- 233
site:whitehouse.gov at-the-end-of-the-day -- 107
site:whitehouse.gov enemies-of-freedom -- 109
site:whitehouse.gov +weapons-of-mass-destruction +saddam -- 790
site:whitehouse.gov weapons-of-mass-destruction-related-program-activities -- 1
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5.10.2004
Are You in a Vacuum of Denial?
David Brock has a great story in Salon on the triumph of the right wing media:
When I say this, in a more respectful way, to folks outside the right wing, I usually get either of two responses. Those who receive their news from the New York Times and National Public Radio give me blank stares. They are living in a rarefied media culture -- one that prizes accuracy, fairness, and civility -- that is no longer representative of the media as a whole. Those who have heard snippets of Rush Limbaugh's radio show, have caught a glimpse of Bill O'Reilly's temper tantrums on the FOX News Channel, or occasionally peruse the editorials in the Wall Street Journal think I'm a Cassandra. They view this media as self-discrediting and therefore irrelevant. They are living in a vacuum of denial.
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5.4.2004
Rob Writes:
If you live in LA, come on out to Chinatown this Saturday, May 8, to watch this new (= fresh and hotttt) group of guys with whom I am drumming. The band, still awaiting final approval from the Gov't of the name Humannequine, is an electrified trio. There’s even a Keytar. Yes, Keytar. My band mates are Damon and Octavius. Yes, my name sounds silly next to theirs: Damon, Octavius (and Rob! Hiya!).
We play this weekend as part of DATAAGE, a show featuring digital / synth and electronic inspired music. There are some very cool bands on the bill, including Peachcake and Totally Radd. It should be pretty fun. Our set is 30 minutes, so as not to interfere with your Saturday Night bowling league.
First show jitters aside, I'm lucky and excited to be playing with these guys.
COME OUT! WATCH ! DRINK! DANCE!
INFO
DATAAGE / leftfield electronics
Saturday May 8
Starts @ 9 -- FREE before 10pm, after 10pm just $3.
We play @ 10
@ Quon Brothers Jazz Club
943 Sun Mun Way - (ped. Street between Broadway and Hill)
Look for 933 Broadway = there's a parking lot there. Sun Mun Way is a pedestrian path behind Broadway.
Map
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