This got sent around our neighborhood website a while back, but I never had the chance to check it out until recently. It’s aerial maps of Indianapolis that you can zoom in on and move around, similar to map quest. The cool thing is, on the 2003 maps, I can zoom in and see the roof of my house, and my old Geo Metro in the backyard.
And I went to all the trouble to draw a map like this for parties and such. I could have just captured a picture of my actual house.
Darren collects strange and funny technical document illustrations in this online gallery. Funny.
I took Thursday, Friday and Monday off as vacation days. I was at home the whole time, but I didn’t blog anything because I spent most of the time working on stuff around the house. Mostly a bunch of small projects designed to make things more convenient. The shelf in the dining room closet was barely hanging on the wall, and the pole under it to hang hangers and coats on was attached to the shelf by wire coat hangers. Stupid slumlord that used to own my house. Sadly it has been that way for the two and a half years that I owned the house. So I fixed that and the bar in the office closet as well. Just a bunch of small stuff like that.
Also I rehung my flag pole outside my second story window, and bought a new rainbow flag. So there, flag stealers.
I know there’s been a bunch of stuff in the news that I would normally comment on, but I haven’t had time.
Boycott for Equality is calling for gay and lesbian people to drop out of the United States economy on October 8th to demonstrate that we are vital and important members of our communities with significant economic presence. There are three elements to the boycott: No Work, No Purchases and No Cell Phones.
In New York, the people from Shut It Down are calling on New Yorkers to make life difficult for Republican convention goers on September 1 by calling in sick to work, especially for cast members of Broadway shows, and people in service industries like restaurant and retail sales.
Shut it down has a great logo:
I haven’t answered Belicove’s Four for Friday in quite a while, so I thought I’d catch up.
Q1: If you were a lawyer, would you agree to represent deposed Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein? What if you were a doctor or psychologist… would you agree to treat him?
Even terrible people need legal representation and basic health care, and if I were in one of those positions, I would consider it my responsibility to take on the task of aiding George W. Bush. Oh, wait, you said Saddam Hussein. Well, same thing.
Q2: Have you ever taken an IQ Test? If so, what did you think of your score?
Yes, I took several different IQ tests in college for a psychology class and the scores were averaged together to get a median score. My understanding is that this helps eliminate some of the bias inherent in individual tests. I was shocked when I got the results because the score was much higher than I ever imagined it would be. I was operating on the assumption that I was just fairly average because that’s what people had told me all my life.
Q3: Do you truly enjoy life or do you mostly endure what gets tossed your way in the hopes that it’ll soon get better?
A little of both, every day.
Q4: When you get home from work, do you keep your work clothes on or do you immediately change into something else?
It depends on whether I wore something uncomfortable that day, and on whether I’m planning a household project that could damage my clothes.
Q1: What, if anything, never fails to give you the shivers?
Any scary movie — I don’t watch horror flicks at all.
Q2: Earlier this week, mega test-prep company Peterson’s announced that it is starting what it calls a ‘testing laboratory’ to see whether students gain any edge on exams from their choice of pre-test meal, the hue of their clothes, boxers or briefs, certain test day rituals, etc. When it comes to taking tests, interviewing for jobs, or other monumental situations, do you have a routine or superstition related to your chances for success?
I like to get a good night’s sleep, but that’s about it.
Q3: Do you feel like political conventions in the US have lost their appeal? Do you think we’ll ever see a convention where the presidential and vice presidential candidates are not known going into the convention? Did you watch any of the Democratic Convention? Will you make a point of watching the Republican event August 31 thru September 2?
I think that the media is responsible for killing the interest in political conventions by only covering small portions of the events. I did watch the Democratic Convention; what I didn’t catch on TV I saw online. I don’t think I’ll watch the Repugnicans, unless I feel like throwing up.
Q4: What’s you favorite board game of all time?
Clue.
Q1: None of us, I’m imagining, deliberately chooses to park our car in a handicapped-designated parking spot (unless, of course, we have the right to do so), right? With that thought in mind, have you ever used (or do you deliberately use) the handicapped-designated stall in a private venue/office building or public bathroom? Do you think it’s wrong or inappropriate for non-handicapped people to use handicapped-designated bathroom stalls?
This is a ridiculous question. Of course there’s nothing wrong with non-handicapped people using the handicapped stall. There’s a huge difference between waiting three minutes to use a bathroom stall and waiting an hour or more for someone to return to their car. Nine times out of ten, there’s not a handicapped person in the bathroom anyway. If there were, I’d let them go first and then use the stall after them.
Q2: Do you belong to any professionals membership-based organizations (like a trade association or a professional society)? How about community-based organizations like the PTA or a homeowners association? What about informal social groups like a book or movie club? If not, is there a group you’d like to be a part of, or a group you’d like to start yourself, but just haven’t joined or been motivated to do so as of yet?
Herron-Morton Neighborhood Association. Co-worker’s Book Club. Women’s Book Club. Rich Monkey Investment Club. German CD Exchange. Professional Women’s Dinner Group. Girl’s Game Night Group. Six different e-mail mailing lists.
Q3: Have you ever posed nude for an art class? If so, what was that like. If not, what would it take to get you do it? On the flipside of this question… have you ever been in an art class where you had to sketch a scene which was based on a nude model being present in the room? If so, what was that like? Did it make you uncomfortable?
Never done it, never been in a class. I’m not all that interested in sketching the human body, so I doubt it will come up.
Q4: Lance Armstrong is expected to win a record sixth straight Tour De France bicycle race this weekend. Where, in your mind at least, does Armstrong’s achievements rank him? Is he the greatest athlete ever or just the greatest bicycle racer ever, or do you feel he’s neither or something else?
I honestly don’t care much.
In an effort to take credit for combating terror and to duck criticism about the latest round of years-old terror warnings, the Bush Administration leaked the name of Al-Qaeda mole Mohammad Naeem Noor Khan who was cooperating with Pakistani authorities in a sting operation against Al-Qaeda that has since gone sour because of the leak. The information was given to the New York Times by a White House official.
MSNBC reported Monday that the early exposure of Khan not only ended the sting that Pakistani intelligence was conducting, but it also forced Britain’s intelligence service to move faster than it wanted to last Tuesday to apprehend terror suspects in England that had been e-mailed by Khan. Five other suspects were able to escape before British authorities could arrest them.
Way to go guys. Dumbasses.
Tom Coburn is also George W. Bush’s head of the presidential AIDS commission. Compare and contrast quotes of his with Adolf Hitler:
“The gay community has infiltrated the very centers of power in every area across this country, and they wield extreme power. … That agenda is the greatest threat to our freedom that we face today. Why do you think we see the rationalization for abortion and multiple sexual partners? That’s a gay agenda.'” — Tom Coburn, republican US Senate candidate from Oklahoma. Source: Salon Magazine
His [The Jew’s] power is the power of money, which multiplies in his hands effortlessly and endlessly through interest, and which forces peoples under the most dangerous of yokes. Its golden glitter, so attractive in the beginning, conceals the ultimately tragic consequences. Everything men strive after as a higher goal, be it religion, socialism, democracy, is to the Jew only means to an end, the way to satisfy his lust for gold and domination. In his effects and consequences he is like a racial tuberculosis of the nations. — Adolf Hitler, First Antisemitic Writing
This Modern World has a great post on an upcoming Bush campaign strategy… they have a push by the Office of Homeland Security to make September “National Preparedness Month” which will include a month-long calendar of events on preparing citizens for terrorist attacks.
The problem with this is that some of the events they have planned for “National Preparedness” are occurring only in swing states where the election is still up for grabs and where Bush is polling low.
Hey, Tom Ridge, your panties are showing.
In other news, for some swing states where Bush is polling low, the FBI is predicting that Terrorists are going to attack using Limousines.
Giant monkeys everywhere are crying.
In other Obituary news, Rick James died this past weekend at the age of 56. However, the autopsy didn’t reveal a cause of death.
From in front of my house, for the second time. I’m pretty pissed about it. However, my name is etched onto the pole, and the flag is super-glued to the pole, so whoever has it, if they stole it to put outside their house, won’t be able to display it without me finding it.
I suspect since it has happened twice now, though, that the thief is someone homophobic who doesn’t want the flag displayed. I’m trying to figure out the best way to put a massive flag on my house without anyone being able to do anything. I’m thinking curtains in the front window upstairs, actually. Hmmm.