Sacred Right

(Just for clarification, while this post may mention ballot issues for specific states, it is neither about religion nor politics, but rather civil rights)
So I've been reading about issues on the CA. and AZ. ballots regarding gay marriage. In CA. 'they' want to overturn the recent allowance of gay marriage as well as legally nullify any recent same-sex marriages in the state.

In AZ. they have proposition 102 which would amend the AZ. Constitution to add that only marriage between a man and a woman could be legally valid and recognized in the state.

The argument that I most frequently read about in favor of these propositions is that (aside from the lack of practicing separation of church and state) marriage is a sacred right between a man and a woman and should not be extended to "alternative lifestyles".

I have a proposal that I think would help those people make their hetero-marriage sanctity even stronger. Ban divorce. If you enact a ban of divorce, it would be the ultimate commitment to showing me you hold marriage as a sacred right, and it would let me know you are serious when you say it is.

The sad truth is, half of all the supremely sacred heterosexual marriages in this country end in not-so-sacred divorces. Meanwhile, loving gay couples are not allowed to share the legal or spiritual benefits of marriage which many heterosexuals take for granted. This is not fair.

Lets pretend that gay marriage were allowed in the U.S. (like it is in most other countries). How would it hurt these opponents? I'm not going to murder them with my marriage license. I'm not going to rape them with my family health care option. Why do they care so much?

It baffles me.

Random Vitriol

My God Mediacom. You've been slowly raising my bill for several months (don't think I haven't noticed) and over the last 2 weeks your internet speed has become something akin to a dirty cat box. What the hell gives? And can I pretty please have more HD channels? I think the extra magical 15 dollars my bill has randomly gone up recently warrant at least that.

I think iTunes gets off on making me feel specialtarded. Would you really think setting it up so music put into a specific folder is automatically added to your iTunes music would be that difficult? Yeah, me either. But, after I spent 15 minutes trying, I gave up and went to File>Add File To Library. I am missing something blatantly obvious, right?

Take this poll.


I have a headache and I'm going to bed. LaAAAaaame.

Chevy Volt Toyota Prius

Take a look at this sleek and sexy piece of concept car unveiled a couple of years prior. This was the concept for the Chevy Volt, which promised to usher in a whole new era in electric car goodness.

Sexy aesthetics aside, the Volt promised to revolutionize the (mass produced) electric car by introducing a whole new set of rules for creating and using energy. You actually plug this one in for starters. The lithium ion battery delivers approximately 40 miles running only on that, which Chevy claims covers about 75% of commuters trips to and from work. After the battery is depleted, there is a small gas engine which does not drive the vehicle, but powers the electric engine.
Said engine will deliver somewhere in the vicinity of 300 miles on a tank of gas, and will average about 2 cents per gallon (Using $3.60 gas as a benchmark). Compared to the regular average for vehicles which is 12 cents, that seems pretty snazzy. Another interesting talking point is that it only sucks about as much energy from the grid as a refrigerator in a years time.
One thing that remains foggy is the price. Speculation puts it somewhere between 30 and 40 thousand bucks.
Now, the main reason I wanted to write about the Volt. I give you, the final production model unveiled this week:


Wait, what? I think if you told me this was the next refresh of the Toyota Prius, I'd buy it. I've nothing against the Prius, mind you, but this looks nary a shadow of its conceptual glory. What happened here? I know, I know. Concept cars always outshine their final production models, but this thing looks like a 3rd cousin of the concept car. Definitely not a direct offspring.


Eh. At any rate, look for them in 2010.

P.S. Heres a B.D.O.T.D. (Thats Blu-ray deal of the day) for those interested. Tower.com shows Iron Man as shipping within 12 hours when you order it. The movie is not set to be released on Blu-ray until September 30th. Tower has also been known to ship movies ahead of the scheduled release dates. I placed my order this morning. I'll let you know if it ships.

iVideo of iBubble

Tony, I know you asked about a picture, but as it turns out, glossy black plastic is hard to photograph:)

I have made this video instead:

iBlemish

I called the Apple iPhone number last week and they had me send in my iPhone. They replaced it with a new one which seems to be working, but has an ugly aesthetic flaw, a nice bubble looking thing molded into the back of the plastic backing next to the Apple logo. It's driving me nuts because I'm one of those people that freaks out when anything of mine gets a scratch or blemish. Oh well. I doubt they'd replace it again for this reason. I guess a working iPhone with an aesthetic flaw is better than a flawless one with buggy hardware/software, right?

Lipstick on a Pig

You dumbass, fucking silly Republicans. I have not been as interested and involved in politics as I have been in the last year, so you may need to clue me in here.
Is the whole professional victim thing a usual Republican tactic, or is this their newest trick?
I am referring to 2 news articles which have been making the rounds over the past few days.

Firstly, Obama, speaking about John McCain and his voting the same as Bush 90% of the time made a reference to a phrase we all know and have probably used, "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig.



To which the McSame camp began crying and screaming that this comment was a sexist remark somehow aimed at Sarah Palin. They called is outrageous and unprofessional and are demanding an apology. I don't know about you, but that comment in no way, shape, or form seemed aimed at Sarah Palin, and even if it had been, so what? The phrase is a commonly known and used phrase to symbolize false change, not promote sexism.

It gets better. John McCain back in October of last year used the same phrase in reference to Hillary Clinton's health care policies.



But WAIT. Its gets even BETTER!
Back in March of this year, Sarah Palin was asked what she thought about Hillary suggesting that she may have been treated differently as a female candidate. Here's what she had to say about it.



Oh, really? Mrs. Palin, I suggest you take your own advice and shut up about a comment Barack Obama made which had absolutely nothing to do with you in the first place.
I think this sexism claim by the Republican party is absolutely hilarious, especially when there's the video's of McCain and Palin to counter it plainly available for everyone to see. It seems to be they are trying to lure in undecided women voters who might feel the need to stand up for poor sister Palin, victim of sexism. I hope the women (and men) of this country can see through this ridiculous game the Republicans are playing. They also throw the sexism card out like a safety net any time anyone questions anything about Sarah Palin.

The second bit of Republicrap is involving Oprah.
Yes, she has clearly been a visible supporter of Barack Obama, but he's not been on her show since before announcing his candidacy for president.
Once he made the announcment public, Oprah stated she would not have any candidates or their VP's on her show until after the elections.
Well, because Sarah Palin is a woman, and because Oprah's key demographic is obviously women, a bunch of Republicans think Sarah Palin needs to be on the Oprah Winfrey show. Oprah has reminded everyone that she is not going to have Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Joe Biden, John McCain, Cindy McCain, or Sarah Palin on the show until after the elections. This has infuriated a section of Republican women and organizations enough to boycott Oprah's show for 'showing favoritism', when she clearly layed down the rules about not having any candidates on her show long before anyone outside of Alaska knew who Sarah Palin was.
They are trying to paint a picture that because she is a Barack Obama supporter, she is unwilling to have Sarah Palin on her show, clearly not paying attention to her rule stated above.

While there are a (very)few issues where I do side with the Republicans, on the vast majority of issues I do agree with the Democrats. I've lately been trying to keep an open mind about both the donkey and the elephant and not be one sided just for the sake of being on a side, but the displays above just make me feel like throwing up in my mouth a little.

Thinking About Proton Collision Gives Me A Large Hadron

Tony - Yeah, I read that the first test was only protons going one way.

I have been reading people's reactions to the news on abcnews.com's article about the powering up of the collider and how the world didn't end. It's interesting to hear people's intriguing thoughts, and also hear how retarded abstract some people's thinking is on the matter. Here are a few gems:

Most of the technology that we take for granted today is a result of people who have ideals and who are curious about the world around them. Lets not forget that they are responsible for dragging us out from the dark ages and allot of people are still mad about that because they see it as going against the will of god. Like what do they know what is the will of god. From some book written by a bunch of credulous goat herders. We would not be were we are if it were not for these evil scientists and their heretical blasphemous scientific endeavors. With out them there would be no space programs, industrial revolutions much less the military industrial complexes. We would still be burning witches and lamenting over our state of poverty. But hey those were the good ol days of old time religion.

Posted by:
redneckthinker 11:27 AM

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People are dying every day of cancer and AIDS and THIS is where we aim our focus?

Posted by:
Casabby2 11:02 AM

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So what are they trying to say, do I need to start paying my bills again?

Posted by:
BD2266H 10:53 AM

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I am amazed at why religion comes into play with this at all!!!It really shows that people who don't have science eduaction are afraid of things they don't know anything about, keep it up, its amazing.This isn't going to create a black hole, do you even know what that is? Its going to help explain nonelectromagneitc interactions for the standard model of particle physics. Maybe people are just offended that the Higgs Boson is nicknamed the "God Particle".

Posted by:
wastememphis 10:49 AM

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You people are missing the point. When the machine is really fired up it may swallow the planet...or we can just wait for Palin/McSame to do the same thing.

Posted by:
mych201 10:34 AM

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The farther we push forward into science, the more I'm convinced God is just some fat kid with an ant farm and a magnifying glass.

Posted by:
turtlemouth 9:17 AM

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I almost wish that it would've blown up and sucked up thousands of people into it. Then, maybe scientists would learn their lesson that spending $8 Billions dollars on a pretentious ego-stroking project would be better spent on the hungry and poor in our world. In fact, look how much NASA spends per year on sending their toys into space. That money could be better prioritized as well even if only to lower tax payer dollars.

Posted by:
fastrivers 8:46 AM

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fastrivers - The last of these "pretentious ego-stroking" accelerators resulted in the creation of the internet that you are now using as a medium to rip on these big "wastes" of tax dollars. Go back to your cave...

Posted by:
wolfmanman 9:03 AM

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duh ... of course it didn't work ... you can't recreate what God has done ... YES i'm one of those spiritual people that don't believe in this "stuff" (for lack of being able to use a more appropraite word) ...

Posted by:
lifesense08 8:40 AM

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What? The world did not end? What went wrong?

Posted by:
rustl28 8:20 AM

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Ooo! Ooo!! I've got a theory for the origin of the universe! It's really good! Check it out!...(clearing throat)...In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth...

Posted by:
musicman6500 8:19 AM

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Trying to recreate the start of the universe is impossible unless you are God. Big bang theory = zero, God = one. Nice try!

Posted by:
suzietip 7:25 AM

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It's a shame this wasn't done in the U.S. Again we fall down on the scientific front. Next we may very well have Palin/McCain (reverse order intentional)and we will truly be in the dark ages. Protons? Neutrons? gosh doesn't that go against the whole "from the rib of Adam" theory? Ahhh yes, isn't religion wonderful? To all the scientists out there, just say you are researching god, it will remove any barriers in place. That is how they sold television to the fanatics in Saudi Arabia. They told them that prayer could be broadcast. Too funny.

Posted by:
wirey-one 6:45 AM

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Some secrets of space are best left alone and not meant to be discovered.

Posted by:
thorin106 6:19 AM

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Kiss Your Candyass Goodbye

I guess the world will be ending in less than a day.
Thats right, the Large Hadron Collider goes online tomorrow. Oh noes!!
Can you believe they are actually receiving death threats from people afraid it will rip a hole in the fabric of space-time or open up an unstoppable black hole?

The most interesting thing I've read is that the LHC will be the first thing built by humans capable of creating time-travel. Therefore, when it is brought online, it will create the first jumping off point from future travelers to stop in and say hello. The theory says to expect visitors from the future shortly after starting up the machines. Causality be damned I guess. I hope none of the future visitors runs over their grandfather or anything.

Here's what I think will happen:
The Collider will be brought online and smash some particles together at 99.999% the speed of light. After which, some data about the event till be collected and analyzed, and we will learn more about the laws of physics and the creation of the universe.

But you know, black holes and such sound funner I guess.

Spore!

I didn't even realize Spore was out yet, but I just got an e-mail from EA games to remind me. How nice of them!
I think I might go pick it up today. I decided to look around on youtube at what some people have done with the creature creator, and sifting through all the penis and vagina creatures, I did find a few gems, like this creature, 'Rectal Exam'



Okay, this one owes is existence to the penis creatures who came before it, but I love the idea, and the title, 'Albino 2 legged elephant'