Fluorescent Dreams Wax Cylinders

9:44 - Happy Canada Day!

For my readers in the Great White North, happy Canada Day!

18:28 - Coming out as... what?

Happy Pride Weekend!

The Bay Area Bisexual Network invited bisexuals to march with them in the Pride Parade.

I joined them. Happily! Joyfully!

As you can guess, the bisexual group and the polyamorous group are close cousins. The polyamorous group was float #91; the bisexual group was float #92.

Cool! The poly people are good folk, and I knew some of them.

For the Pride Parade, every vehicle needs four "wheel monitors": one person walking with each wheel, to make sure that no one gets under the wheel. I had taken the training, so I volunteered to be a wheel monitor.

At the start of the parade, all four wheels for the Bisexual group were covered, so I joined the group holding the banner. I joked to Dillo, the fellow next to me, "Do I qualify as out of the closet now?"

Happiness!

I walked about a third of the parade route, holding the banner with one hand and waving to people with my other hand, and having a wonderful time, until I was asked to take over as a wheel monitor...

...for the poly group ahead of us.

I switched off to that group, but I had a little problem. Though I'm very close to two wonderful people other than misseli... I'm not poly.

I marched another third of the parade before I could swap off with someone else, to be a wheel monitor for the bisexual group.

But -- there are hundreds and hundreds of photos and video of me marching and outing myself with a group I'm not part of. Oh, well.

Take care, all...

21:25 - The Crowdsource Tarot...

The Crowdsource Tarot.

Eighty-seven card ideas from eighty-seven different people...

Made a well-balanced and creative deck.

It's a lot of fun to read into what these random cards say; the tarot is one of my favorite ways to explore my subconscious.

14:50 - QOTD: On the Iranian elections...

The Iranian government explaining that the Iranian elections are mostly fair:

“Statistics provided by the candidates, who claim more than 100 percent of those eligible have cast their ballot in 80 to 170 cities are not accurate — the incident has happened in only 50 cities,” Mr. Kadkhodaei said.

11:35 - Ten Steps to making an Excellent Gay Movie

Ten Steps to making an Excellent Gay Movie

Forget the phrase "Gay" in his title. neo_prodigy writes ten steps that can apply to almost any artistic endeavor.

And eight of his ten points boil down to one clear, simple truth:

Tell the story, and stay far away from cliches.

It's a well-written essay, period.

11:57 - Updates on the situation in Iran...

Dear all,
Here are some sites keeping a close eye on the situation in Iran:

Western News:
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/16/latest-updates-on-irans-disputed-election/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8103577.stm

Pro-Mousavi:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mousavi1388 (photos from the protests)
http://twitter.com/mousavi1388 (In English and Farsi)
http://www.youtube.com/user/Mousavi1388

Iran & Diaspora
http://www.presstv.ir/region.aspx?section=3510201
http://www.payvand.com/news/
http://www.iran-daily.com/1388/3425/html/

Link collections
http://www.parstimes.com/news/

11:29 - Stoooooopid television!

Stoopid television. I've been hearing how Digital Television comes today. If we got our stations through the air, instead of through cable, and we didn't get a converter, all stations would go away.

I never got a converter. We get our stations through the air.

And I was hoping to be free, free, FREE of endless reruns of Law and Order, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, Law and Order: Tax Fraud, Law and Order: Highway Patrol, and Law and Order: Postal Police. Hah!

So, I turned on the television, and...

...grumble... It worked.

What had gone wrong with my plan? What could have possibly gone wrong?

Eli mentioned something about "DirecTV". Could that have anything to do with it?

Current Mood: silly

19:13 - Congratulations to Sweden's Pirate Party!

Sweden's Pirate Party gets a member in the European Parliament

The Pirate Party's founding principles are:

The Pirate Party wants to fundamentally reform copyright law, get rid of the patent system, and ensure that citizens' rights to privacy are respected. With this agenda, and only this, we are making a bid for representation in the European and Swedish parliaments.

18:46

Some people argue that cursive handwriting is a dying art. *shrug* That's not important.

But I learned today that alphabetizing is another dying art.

I wanted to look up the restaurant La Piñata Guzmán in the Verizon Yellow Pages. Where do you think that it's under?

Poll #1412629 Verizon Yellow Pages
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Where would you find La Piñata Guzmán?

15:35 - Six down, Forty-four to go...

N.H. governor signs gay marriage bill

Congratulations to the people of New Hampshire!

11:12 - On the upholding of Proposititon 8...

Supreme Court Rejects Challenges to Prop. 8, but Finds Existing Marriages of Same-Sex Couples Valid (7 pages)

The Supreme Court Decision (185 pages)

Yes, I'm disappointed. Six opinions for maintaining Proposition 8, one dissent. I'll read the decision tonight, when I have time.

Can a fifty-percent-plus-one majority can take away the rights of a fifty-percent-minus-one minority in California?

Take care, all.

Important note: Taken from the first summary:

Petitioners also contend that Proposition 8 should be considered a constitutional revision because it conflicts with a fundamental constitutional principle that protects a minority group from having its constitutional rights diminished in any respect by majority vote. The majority opinion explains there is no authority to support the claim that in California a majority of voters may not adopt through the initiative process a measure that diminishes a state constitutional right, even if that right has been interpreted and applied in a judicial decision. The opinion cites many amendments to the California Constitution, adopted through the initiative process by majority vote in response to court decisions, that have had just such an effect.

Although a number of other state constitutions contain provisions that preclude using the initiative power to amend specified provisions of those constitutions, the majority opinion emphasizes that the California Constitution contains no comparable limitation. Because there is no express restriction on the initiative power, and consistent with past California holdings, the majority opinion concludes that the California Constitution does not restrict the people’s right to use the initiative to modify preexisting constitutional rights through the approval of Proposition 8.

12:53

Dear all,

misseli graduated yesterday from Santa Clara University. She got her J. D. (law degree)! All that remains is for her to pass the bar.

*evilgrin* I want to show off one particular picture, and pose a question to see if anyone recognizes it...

Eli with Professor Armstrong So... where did this professor's cap come from?

19:02 - A lousy lunch...

The city I live in, Newark, CA, is very roughly one-third European-American, one-third Latino, and one-third Asian-American.

For lunch today, I tried a restaurant new to me, called HK Noodles. It was a "Chinese dive" -- six tables, and a simple kitchen. The kind of place that would fry up inexpensive meat and vegetables, then throw it over rice or noodles.

I considered the name of the restaurant as I read the menu, and I ordered what I expected to be a good dish... the Hong Kong-style wonton soup with noodles.

The waitress tried to dissuade me from ordering it, pushing me back toward the part of the menu with everything in English.

The owner told me, "No refunds!"

I stuck with my order, not knowing what to expect, except that it would involve noodles and something wrapped in noodle.

Ten minutes later, my order arrived, and I quickly saw why we round-eyes weren't fond of that dish. Especially for $5.

I worried that it would involve something offal. It didn't.

I was hoping that it would involve something unusual. It didn't.

I got what I expected least from a Chinese restaurant: exactly and precisely what I had ordered... and nothing more. A bowl of mediocre noodles, and four simple wontons with shrimp and pork. Nothing else. Not even a single leaf of bok choi, or parsley floating on top. Nothing.

I would cook this meal when I was ten years old. (Yes, I was a late bloomer. Bite me.)

It was worth it to shock the owner, by eating every bit of the meal he tried to dissuade me from. (Though I needed soya sauce and vinegar to make up for the flavorless broth.)

Ah, well. Sometimes, what's hidden is far less interesting than the search for what's hidden. And if they hadn't actively tried to dissuade me from it, I would have no story.

Take care, all.

13:58 - Left Coast Live

Left Coast Live was a very well-advertised, brand new music festival in San Jose, California. They roped off a block of Downtown San Jose; they brought in about eighty live bands for a flat fee of $20. Left Coast Live was a huge flop -- okay, I'll be nice. Uhmmm.... vastly under-appreciated?

All of the pictures were from the two main stages, the headliner bands.

( Ten pictures and commentary under the cut. Why you should not be a musician today. )

Take care, all.

22:44

She didn't pass.

(I will not explain further, and comments are off.)

13:55 - Five down, forty-five to go.

Maine to allow same-sex marriage

Congratulations, Maine!

9:33 - Swine Flu, an update...

First and foremost, make sure that you get information about swine flu from the most reliable source that you can. There's a LOT of misinformation out there. I use the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Second, I had thought that the swine flu might be less deadly than we first thought: that the early deaths might be due to an underprepared Mexican health system. The CDC has confirmed the first death from swine flu in the United States.

Third, love each other, OK?

Take care, all.

16:15 - Arlen Spectre..

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) has changed to Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA).

*shrug*

He was a moderate on the Republicans' side. Now he's a moderate on the Democrats' side.

Since he now likely to lead an Appropriations subcommittee or two (that he wouldn't have lead as a Republican), his changing parties might move the Senate slightly to the right.

In my opinion, this is less important than whether Al Franken or Norm Coleman become Minnesota's 2008 senator: that election determines whether a new voice enters the Senate.

What do you think?

14:33 - Swine Flu and forbidding travel...

Dear all,
You've probably heard that a new strand of swine flu started in Mexico. You may have also heard about the 1917 influenza epidemic, which killed more people than all of World War I.

Blog posts in the United States are coming in, with a simple idea:

1. Swine flu started in Mexico.
2. If we close the border between Mexico and the United States, then we prevent infection in the United States.

Here's the problem... the disease been confirmed in five of the United States: California, Kansas, New York City, Ohio, and Texas. According to the New York Times, it has been confirmed in Nova Scotia, and possible cases have been found in New Zealand, Hong Kong, and Spain.

So, I give you a few questions:
1. What do you think about closing the borders -- and which borders would you close?
2. Where do you live?
3. What other solutions do you have for swine flu?

I want to hear your answers -- but I post mine after the lj-cut.

( My answers appear here. )
Even though I've been out of health care for more than a year, I'll be watching for swine flu.

Take care, all.

UPDATE: While you wait for the end of the world, enjoy the game Pandemic 2.

10:41 - Four down, forty-six to go.

Vermont becomes Fourth State to Legalize Gay Marriage

One quote from the article made me tear up:

Mr. Dostis said he and Mr. Kletecka will celebrate their 25th year together in September.

"Is that a proposal?" Mr. Kletecka asked.

"Yeah," Mr. Dostis replied. "Twenty-five years together, I think it's time we finally got married."