randomWalks

How to win at pinewood derby. Where was the Net when I was painting my car with my Mom’s nail polish? What the hell was I thinking?

What the Japanese are selling is nothing more than cabbage sprinkled with seasonings and artificial flavorings. This debate is not just about protecting our market share. We are trying to preserve our national heritage.

Working on Same Painting: Sorry I'm late.
Having a Breakthrough Day: That's all right. Time doesn't exist.

For the past four years, whenever Odenton resident Gwen Jones has found coins on the floor or sidewalk, she has put them in a pink piggy bank covered with polka-dotted pigs. Gwen says such saving is important because "you could get something if you save your money. . . . I could buy stuff from a bubble gum machine." Once, she took money out to buy some ice cream. Saving pennies allows Gwen to buy more than any individual pennies could buy. However, since piggy banks provide less-than-competitive interest rates, she isn't keeping up with inflation.

Even though Ralph Nader was not allowed to enter the debate floor, we managed to get him in the debate - if only sonically! You'll hear the three Presidential candidates debate issues from affirmative action, to the current Middle East crisis to universal healthcare. It's what we here at Democracy Now think democracy should sound like.

In last night’s debate, Bush reassured the American people that he has absolutely no idea what affirmative action is. If you think it’s got anything to do with quotas or with hiring less-than-qualified applicants then neither do you. Someone ought to send this info on pertinent Supreme Court decisions along to the Bush campaign for the governor’s edification. Yesterday’s New York Times carried an op-ed which examines a critical review of 200 scientific studies of affirmative action and concludes that the facts vindicate such policies. In fact, a Nobel Prize for Economics was awarded last week to an economist who developed methods of analysis which, among other things, demonstrated the effectiveness of affirmative action in integrating the textile industry. Little-known fact: the greatest beneficiary of affirmative action has been white women.

Void-of-course Moon charts for the year 2000, Eastern time. thanks, astrogirl.

USAT says that on who would better handle the Middle East crisis, Gore edges Bush 47-43 percent, but that when it comes to better handling the attack in Yemen on the U.S. destroyer Cole, it's Bush 46-41 percent. Somebody should tell the pollsters and the voters that the attack is part of the Middle East crisis.

I got my sexy Monkeyfist stickers in the mail this weekend. Thanks Kendall!

I just discovered that Slate has tons of political cartoons online.

Like Nader but hate Bush? Invisible Broadcast System breaks down the electoral college system to demonstrate that a vote for Nader is just a vote for Nader (and not a vote for Bush) if you vote in one of the many states in which the race is not at all close.

There’s a lot of good stuff over at Kestrel’s Nest right now. Don’t miss this photo of Al Gore explaining how to hypnotize chickens or this note about Bush’s policy on Africa.

Sure, we'll crack SDMI. *After* the record companies and any consumer-electronics companies gullible enough to do their bidding have sunk billions of dollars into hardware and business plans based on it. Hasta la vista, idiots!

2001: A Space Odyssey original cinematic program – somehow this is very important.

Last night the toilet talked. Tomorrow it may listen, and the day after it just might run a drug test.

The latest episode of Poynter.org’s Diversity Digest links to some good articles including a story on the increasing use of interracial people and families in marketing and one about the immigration of Mexicans to the rural American South.

The New York Times carries a pretty fascinating report on employing gender stereotypes to enhance the synthesized speech interfaces coming soon to a portal near you. I wonder when the researchers will determine that I want my kitchen appliances to talk to me in an old Black woman’s voice, my robot vacuum/duster to have a Spanish accent, and my math tutor to sound ever so slightly Asian.

Gardner: At the time, I honestly thought all these people were guilty. I did take offense at the way the dug raid was handled, because of the prejudicial statements made by the law officers, and by people being dragged in front of the camera in their underwear -- and some of the women were in their see-through nightgowns and pajamas. It was really disgraceful. There wouldn't be a white person in this community who was arrested and drug in front of the cameras like that. In fact, there was two white people that were arrested during the drug raid, but they were allowed to come in and bond out -- they weren't arrested that morning and dragged in front of the cameras. They seemed to have been treated different than the people of black skin, and the only reason I can ascertain is cause of their white skin -- because they were involved with the black community.

Goodman: I think it's important to note, Gary Gardner, that you're not exactly known as one who is sympathetic to the Black community.

Gardner: Well, that statement's not exactly right... I'm a person that sometimes uses language that went out 50 years ago. I don't know exactly how to put that.

Goodman: Let's just say you were warned about using certain "N" words on the program. (chuckles)

Gardner: (laughing) Heh, yes ma'am.

My point is simply that I doubt I’ll read kuro5hin for the same reason I hardly read slashdot these days – the homogenous readership of both sites is overwhelmingly ignorant of social issues and therefore, in my humble opinion, in the end any analysis they come up with of technology/culture news is so limited by a lack of any diversity of perspective as to be worthless. We can respectfully agree to disagree about which fast food chain has better french fries, but I will not respect any position which does not hold the liberation of those oppressed by shackles of greed to be priority number one.

Fuck kuro5hin. View source.

That was great listening this morning, nedlog, I’m glad you caught it. McChesney has his own site, from which I learned that he’s a Nader supporter and learned of an intriguing music newsletter which covers “culture and politics, funk and country, hiphop and heavy metal, racism and revolution, jazz and reggae, folk music and ska, censorship and the phony war on drugs”, Rock and Rap Confidential.

Sell by, use by, best by, better by, best if used by, enjoy or freeze by, best before, guaranteed fresh until...

If you publish online you should read Write the Web.

A beginner’s guide to malt liquor, mostly for Linus' amusement. thanks to babygrrl, who’s also down for the cause.