Yearly Archives: 2005

Homophobia in the News

Gay teenager forced by parents to go into a “sexual re-orientation” camp to “cure” him of his homosexuality. Nevermind that all licensed, legitimate psychological and psychiatric professionals say it isn’t possible to change sexual orientation because it isn’t a disease.
Read Salon’s four part expose on these “ex-gay” camps.
The New York Pizza Depot in Ann Arbor, Michigan is undergoing a boycott by a catholic group for displaying an rainbow flag sticker — a symbol of tolerance of diversity — in the window of their store. “I find the rainbow flag offensive because it is a symbol of the homosexual movement that, in my opinion, indicates a validation of the homosexual lifestyle, as opposed to a sign that indicates ‘openness’ to customers who are of the homosexual orientation” — said one of the boycotters.
In Washington, D.C., Rev. Willie Wilson, pastor of Union Temple Baptist Church, has been demonizing gay and lesbian people in his church sermons. “Sisters making more money than brothers and it’s creating problems in families… that’s one of the reasons many of our women are becoming lesbians” Wilson said.

Continue ReadingHomophobia in the News

Martha Stewart

  • Post author:
  • Post category:Television

Martha has just wrapped up filming of her “Apprentice” reality TV show, which will probably air in the fall. That makes me really sad, actually, and I think going for this kind of a show was a bad move on her part. It will cement her image in people’s minds as a wealthy executive, and that’s a Bad Thing, because people’s negative opinion about her is already based on that image.
People’s positive images of Martha center around her design and home improvement ideas, and that’s the direction she should have gone with this show. She should have done her own version of “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” or “Extreme Home Makeover” and picked people’s houses to rework with her considerable skills as a designer. It would make her more relatable on a personal level, and it would also highlight what she’s best at.
That would also tackle another major criticism of her work; that she’s out of touch with regular people’s needs and challenges. People say “sure she can do all that and have a perfect house; she has a staff of five hundred people.” If she showed people how they could accomplish what she’s able to do, on a resonable budget and within their own means, she could prove that criticism wrong.
And of course, she should start by redoing my house. Call me, Martha, I need help.

Continue ReadingMartha Stewart

Editor and Publisher’s take on Rove Scandal

  • Post author:
  • Post category:Politics

Reporter Malpractice, Texas Hold-em & the Plame Game. Exactly. That’s what I was trying to write, except that I couldn’t sort out my thoughts on it adequately.

When Bob Whitehouse dropped Plame’s identity on Miller, he immediately breached his contract with her. An agreement of confidentiality binds both parties, not just the reporter. When the source swears the journalist to secrecy, he/she incurs an obligation to behave ethically, as well. A reporter’s good faith oath isn’t a license of indenture, and it may not be played in bad faith to place a reporter in undue jeopardy. If Whitehouse breaks that trust, the reporter is no longer under any obligation whatsoever to protect his name.
Miller needed to step back and say “thanks Bob, but no thanks — you’re the story now.” Reporters are obligated to the truth, and allowing themselves to be pimped by those who would use them as tools against the truth is a crime against the profession and the society it serves. Protecting that which you are bound to expose is malpractice.

Continue ReadingEditor and Publisher’s take on Rove Scandal

Harry Potter book covers from different countries

  • Post author:
  • Post category:Books

The New York Times has a slideshow of the release of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince around the world, and when you view it, it becomes apparent that different countries have quite different book covers for the book.
The Australian cover is the one we found online the other day at a rumor site that had a leaked copy of that same image. It actually has some plot points in it.
We were surprised at our release gathering at Barnes and Noble — there were tons of people there, and lots pf people, both children and adults, who were dressed up. I snapped some photos of people who had cool shirts or fun costumes on; eventually I’ll put a photo page together.

Continue ReadingHarry Potter book covers from different countries

Indy Star’s InTouch “Blogs” Censorship

I recently posted a comment to an “blog” post on the Indy Star’s INTouch page, and they have refused to post the comment to the entry in question. Here’s the entry by Kevin Bain, regarding “attacking” Christians.
Unfortunately, I didn’t save a personal copy of my comments, but I promise, I was very tame. I basically pointed out that what he’s calling a “straw man” isn’t one at all, since there are actual Christians, like Eric Miller and Micah Clark who accurately fit his three point definition listed in the first paragraph.
I also pointed out that his “working definition” of Christianity is terrifying to those of us who aren’t Christians, because it indicated that he feels his religion should have dominion over “pretenders” like goverment, and by implication, over me. That doesn’t leave much room for my religion, does it?
They claim that they only moderate comments to prevent spamming, but my comment didn’t make it to the article. Since my comment didn’t clear inspection, feel free to post yourself if you get a chance.
Interestingly enough, the don’t seem to censor wildly reactionary right wing comments posted to some of the blog entries.

Continue ReadingIndy Star’s InTouch “Blogs” Censorship

I have glue in my hair

  • Post author:
  • Post category:Health

I had two health appointments last night and this morning: my follow-up sleep study to see how well I’m doing on my CPAP machine, and my follow-up cardiologist appointment to see how I’m doing after my surgery.

I didn’t manage to get all the glue washed out of my hair from the electrodes that were glued there for my sleep study last night. I had 16 of them attached to my head and face and other body parts. This time, though, I had fewer things to deal with; I had only one microphone glued to my neck rather than 2, and no breathing tubes, because I had the machine.

One of the things they mentioned, that I noticed, too; I have dreams again. I’m actually sleeping long enough to fall into REM sleep and have dreams, which I wasn’t doing before; their study showed I wasn’t getting any REM sleep at all. This had probably been going on for years actually, which you can tell if you look at the dreams section of my journal, where there’s a gap of about three years between dreams that I remember enough to write down. So the return of dreaming is a really Good Thing, as Martha would say.

The cardiologist’s appointment was really short and not much happened. I expected to have a electrocardiogram, but they didn’t do one. And Dr. Yee didn’t even realize I had the heart valve surgery; he had to take notes. He listened to my heart and said everything sounded good. I should be walking a mile a day, or biking, etc. I also should be able to lift whatever I normally lifted before surgery. I’m supposed to see him again in on October 17th at 9:00 am and they’ll do an electrocardiogram then, and then again once a year for the next several years to monitor how my heart is doing.

While I was in the waiting room, I was watching the health channel they have on TV — same one that I wrote about before, with the dog trained to detect a woman’s epileptic seizures before she had them, to warn her so she could prepare. Turns out the channel I was watching is Accent Health. Here’s a news article on the subject.

I made notes this time because the program today was on healthy eating; they said studies show that lycopene in tomatoes can reduce women’s risk of heart disease by 30% if you eat 1/4 cup of tomato sauce a day. I wonder how that translates to V-8 juice.

Continue ReadingI have glue in my hair

Choosing the right cookware

Stephanie and I have had several discussions lately about cookware, including one with her dad, who’s an engineer and who has tried cookware made from several different materials. Make Magazine posted this interesting article on cookware materials from an engineering perspective.
About halfway down the page are charts comparing the various materials. I didn’t have a chance to read through the comments.
I recently replaced my teflon-coated fry pan with a copper-bottom stainless steel one. I was worried about the scratches on the teflon coating.

Continue ReadingChoosing the right cookware

Refurbishing an Old Gas Grill

Master Flame 8000

Having just finished (or almost finished) this task, I’m infinitely qualified to give advice on the subject. So here’s a step-by-step guide on how to get the most out of an old gas grill:

1. Throw the old gas grill in the back of your truck.
2. Drive to the local landfill.
3. Give the attendant money to take the grill.
4. Drive to the store and buy a brand new gas grill.
5. Cook.

Trust me, you’ll spend far less money and HOURS less time this way, than if you do what I stupidly did and take the old one apart and repair it.

Don’t let my friends or family members fool you into trying to do it yourself, no matter how hard they try.

“It’s easy!” they say. “Just buy replacement parts and put them in!” They’re liars. I love them, but they’re god-damned liars, every one.

In the summer of 2003, I bought a burner to replace the old one. I bought the wrong size, of course, so I had to take it back and get a different size. I managed to remember to do that in the spring of 2004. I opened the burner and read the instructions. They were so complex that I didn’t bother to try to figure them out.

Then I realized that I also needed the ignition switch and grates, too. So the grill sat for another season until spring of 2005. I went to 4 different stores to find the ignition switch.

Replacing the burner was a BITCH. I’m not kidding. Taking the old one out almost kicked my ass and took 3 hours. And putting the new one in took me 4 hours, and the help of my friend Kathy to force the burner into place after I assembled it. The assembly was difficult because it was customizable for several different grills, and I had to measure and figure out which assembly went with mine, and follow unusable instructions to do it. It took an hour to replace the ignition switch, for the same reason.

I also had to replace the rock grate and the food grate. I went Target, Menards, Lowes, Kmart, and WalMart before I found the right size. I bought and returned 3 grates that I thought were right (yes, I measured) before I found the ones I needed. I found the rock grate at Walmart, and the food grate at Menards. Stephanie also found new grill knobs at Menards.

After all the running around, I spent about $80 on replacement parts for the old grill, and about 12 hours either buying parts, measuring the grill, or putting stuff in. (For less than $100, I could have had a new gas grill, and 3 years sooner.) Finally, I was done. Finally, we could eat. Maybe.

Today, I went to replace the empty propane tank with a full one. I went to a gas station nearby that carries them, but the lady behind the counter had no idea how to trade mine out. So I went to 7 other gas stations downtown. No propane. Maybe tomorrow I’ll finally be able to grill out.

Continue ReadingRefurbishing an Old Gas Grill