Awesome

Via gizmodo.com

Those crazy Danes have outdone themselves.  This interactive exhibit of a 1000 year old rune stone is awesome.  I wish we could have things like this everywhere.

 

Bacon?

I'm not sure how I feel about this video of how bacon is made. Thanks, gizmodo, for your CES distraction post...

Is that Mike Rowe?

We were talking about infomercials the other day and then I came home and saw this on consumerist.com - The Wunder Boner!

Is that Mike Rowe's voice?

Another reason Japan is totally awesome

R2D2 is coming for you - but first, some dancing

I'm gonna kick his...

Marriage and the Bible

Newsweek nails it.
The cover story is by religion editor Lisa Miller. She asks to take religious conservatives at their word and look towards the bible for definition of marriage. It turns out (not surprisingly) that traditional biblical marriage meant that men could have as many wives (or concubines) as they wanted, especially if one or more wives couldn't produce children.
I particularly like that she breaks modern American marriage into its two distinct parts: religious and civil. I also like this passage, quoted in its entirety:

• If the bible doesn't give abundant examples of traditional marriage, then what are the gay-marriage opponents really exercised about? Well, homosexuality, of course—specifically sex between men. Sex between women has never, even in biblical times, raised as much ire. In its entry on "Homosexual Practices," the Anchor Bible Dictionary notes that nowhere in the Bible do its authors refer to sex between women, "possibly because it did not result in true physical 'union' (by male entry)." The Bible does condemn gay male sex in a handful of passages. Twice Leviticus refers to sex between men as "an abomination" (King James version), but these are throwaway lines in a peculiar text given over to codes for living in the ancient Jewish world, a text that devotes verse after verse to treatments for leprosy, cleanliness rituals for menstruating women and the correct way to sacrifice a goat—or a lamb or a turtle dove. Most of us no longer heed Leviticus on haircuts or blood sacrifices; our modern understanding of the world has surpassed its prescriptions. Why would we regard its condemnation of homosexuality with more seriousness than we regard its advice, which is far lengthier, on the best price to pay for a slave?

She points out my biggest beef with the fervently holier-than-thou religious conservatives which is that they pick and choose the parts of the bible they like and leave all the rest out. Much has been said by anonymous internet emailers regarding the questions asked of the evil Dr. Laura: shrimp cocktails, daughters into slavery, and all the rest. My mother and I had this discussion years ago (which is when she stopped asking me about going to church) and it helped her understand how silly some of it is. Here 's a question to ponder: is it really possible to bring a pair of every animal onto an ark? If so, wouldn't it mean that Noah was the first man to discover North America, Australia and Antarctica (my sincere apologies to the native peoples of those continents, some who had been living there for thousands of years before Noah was supposed to have lived)?
Of course, this is just a silly post regarding religious zealots, not some honest effort to engage others in philosophical discourse.
Read the article. It's pretty good. Too bad it came out after Prop 8 passed.
Hat tip to dailykos and jem6x's diary that got me started.

Oh, Noland.

I read this Portland food blog regularly.
An apple pie with a bacon lattice top? Too much. Here in Portland? I'm there.

Funny or Die: Prop 8 - The Musical

Gay marriage will save the economy. Praise Jesus.

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Speechless

Umm, uhhhh...

Don't mess with Tex-Mex Cheerleaders

via deadspin.com:

Andress v. Chapin - "EL PASO, Texas, Nov. 12 (UPI) -- Parents of students on the dance team at a Texas high school allege members of a rival team prepared a gift of baked goods laced with rat poison and bleach." - UPI

I'm so proud.

Dan Savage Saddlebacks Stephen Colbert

Bittersweet

Last night we took a big step.
With Obama, it was a big, sweet step forward. A step towards more progressive politics, a reduction (though not elimination) of the race barrier, and a new face for American politics (literally and figuratively).
Increasing Democratic control of the government (House and Senate) was also a big step. It will be easier to enact good legislation.

The bitter part is that discrimination won, too. Prop 8 in California, which codified discrimination into the state constitution and took away established rights to marry for same-sex couples, passed. Other ballot measures that redefined marriage as the union of one man and one woman also passed in other states (Arizona) and civil unions were made unconstitutional in Florida.

Once again hatred and bigotry has denied American citizens their birthright. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness doesn't mean the same thing to all Americans.

Evolution of a republican mayor

Futurama: Bender's Game

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.....



Also, is there a future for Futurama?

Cautiously optimistic

That's what I am right now. I expect that Barack Obama will become the next President of the United States, but I thought Kerry would win so what do I know. The polls look good. Now let's just sit and wait.
Our ballots have been turned in. For those of you that don't know, Oregon is the only state where we vote by mail. We don't have election day polling places, touch screen voting machines, or hour-long waiting lines. I actually voted in front of my computer, taking each ballot measure for a ride around the intertubes, checking and double checking what various progressive sites/blogs had to say about the repercussions of each one. That scares the hell out of the Republican Party, I know. Informed electorate. Yikes.
Here are my feelings about the state of the race so eloquently written by someone else.
Thanks Bill in Portland Maine!

Closing Appeals

Dear America,
Mine.
Mine mine mine.
Me Me Me Me Me Me Me!
Mine mine mine mine mine. Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine!
In conclusion: Fear fear fear fear. Very scary fear!
Sincerely,
The Republican Party

P.S. If you liked Joseph McCarthy, you'll love us!


Dear America,
We.
Us. We. Together. Americans. United States.
Hope compassion equality inclusiveness competence.
Brains common sense community respect hard work accountability.
Action change responsibility. More viewpoints, smarter solutions.
In conclusion: Yes we can.
Sincerely,
The Democratic Party.

P.S. Vote.

Word.

Political rant

Those of you who have known me for sometime know that I am a proud liberal. Those of you who have known me since my adolescent days remember something different.

In college, I regularly introduced myself as "the most liberal republican you'll ever meet." My social leanings were liberal but my fiscal leanings were decidedly conservative. Or so I thought.

You see, I was duped by the message machine. I honestly believed that Ronnie Reagan really was "the Great Communicator" and was tough, strong, and principled. That's what the message said and so that is what I believed.

When George HW Bush ran against Michael Dukakis, I believed the machine again when they said Dukakis was too liberal to be trusted, and then Mike got into that tank and all was lost. I even have a picture of my dorm room and right there on the wall is a bumper sticker for George. Terrifying.

It wasn't until I actually started to think about politics that I realized that I was a sucker. A jive turkey. It is a great disappointment to think back and know that the first time I voted in a presidential election I voted for pappy Bush; but even worse knowing that if I had been of voting age, I would have voted for Ronald Reagan in 1984. Shocking.

These days I am a down the ballot Democrat. I wish the party were more liberal, but we must take baby steps. More democrats first, better democrats second. We can't afford more conservative judges on the supreme court. Not even one more.

I find it hard to believe there are still undecided voters out there. I'd love to write about them, but I'll let a professional do it instead. Word.
Ladies and gentlemen, David Sedaris.

Breaking News

First Openly Gay Racehorse To Compete Sunday

Our house

For those of you who have not been over yet, our challenge with this house is parking during parties.
About 4 cars can fit in the driveway. So, some of you may have to park in the darker blue area just north of the house next to Johnson Creek. It's only a short walk up the hill and around the corner. There is also an unpaved dead-end side street with no sidewalks (I know, it sounds so appealing) on the opposite side of the street from our house (in the lighter blue). I'd call that one "last resort" kind of parking.


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You had me at "awesome-teen"