It abounds.

Overheard in New York | Oh Yeah? Then How'd I Get That Job in Biotech?:

"Thug #1: Yo, I can't wait for Obama to win the election, yo! He gonna make white people illegal!
Thug #2 (stopping dead in his tracks): You one ignorant muthafucka, ain't you?

--The Village"

Because archery is important.

For Dad Snider.

The third in an [apparently] ongoing series of photos found around the 'net.

The wife suckered me into setting up a MySpace, but I refuse to be dragged into Facebook.

I'm barely social in real life, why would I need online social networking?

#106 Facebook « Stuff White People Like:

"Social Networking sites have been embraced by white people since their inception...

However, it is important to remember that the “where” is often as important as the “who” when it comes to social networking. As noted in earlier posts, white people are obsessed with being in the right neighborhood and the Internet is no exception.

In the early days, white people joined a social networking service called Friendster where they could connect with old friends and make new ones. Eventually, white people started to notice more and more of their friends on MySpace, so they closed their Friendster accounts and migrated to the new service...

For a brief period of time, MySpace was the site where everyone kept their profile and managed their friendships. But soon, the service began to attract fake profiles, the wrong kind of white people, and struggling musicians. In real world terms, these three developments would be equivalent to a check cashing store, a TGIFridays, and a housing project. All which strike fear in the hearts of white people.

White people were nervous but had nowhere else to go. Then Facebook came along and offered advanced privacy settings, closed networks, and a clean interface. In respective real world terms, these features are analogous to an apartment or house with a security system/doorman, an alumni dinner, and a homeowners association that protects the aesthetics of the neighborhood...

If you plan on befriending white people, it is essential that you join them in the digital suburbs and open a Facebook account immediately..."

"Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper on the High Costs of the Drug War."

All these guys "find Jesus" once they stop being cops. Just like all the retired military generals who suddenly find their nuts and disagree with the administration once their retirements are safe. But still, better to "come to Jesus" late than never, and Stamper is trying to do effective lobbying to change things for the better. Still, a little frustrating.

reason.tv - Videos > Former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper on the High Costs of the Drug War:

"Norm Stamper is a cop who saw it all during his 34 years on active duty. As police of Seattle from 1994 through 2000, he was in charge during violent World Trade Organization protests in the Emerald City.

Stamper, who holds a Ph.D. in leadership and human behavior from United States International University, has emerged as one of the most thoughtful and outspoken critics of the war on drugs, which he believes causes untold misery, undermines effective law enforcement, and doesn't begin to pass any sort of cost-benefit analysis. As important, the libertarian Stamper believes that the drug war—and other wars on the behaviors on consenting adults—does great violence to the idea that we own our bodies.



Stamper is the author of the Breaking Rank: A Top Cop's Exposé of the Dark Side of American Policing (2005) and now works with Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), a nonprofit created by former cops to 'reduce the multitude of unintended harmful consequences resulting from fighting the war on drugs and to lessen the incidence of death, disease, crime, and addiction by ultimately ending drug prohibition.'"

One more from Jay Smooth, on why you might be wrong, but you ain't crazy.

This one speaks to me. :)

ill doctrine: a hip-hop video blog

"How to tell people they sound racist."

Some smooth and effective rhetorical jiu-jitsu.

Via radio DJ Jay Smooth, of radio WBAI, NY, ill doctrine and the Hip Hop Music Blog.



The kicker is if you happen to believe people are the sum of what they do, and not some etheric substance or essence within... but yeah, to get your point across, totally do it this way.

Found via The Angry Black Woman:

"Gacked from Pam Noles, who gacked from Angry Asian Man, both of whom you should gack this from because it’s just well done; pass it on"

"Yes We Can" - The George Carlin Remix.

This is absolutely brilliant.

"The War on Drugs in 100 Seconds."

Doesn't say it all, but it damn well says enough.

Ah, relationships.

Renegade Evolution: Pornography & Misogyny:

"...Robert Jensen once stated in one of his articles that if men could be men, and human, and forget all about masculinity and the world would be a better place. I know a lot of men who would disagree with that, and are sick of being told that. They are tired of feeling as if women (and men apparently) look down upon them for liking things like physical sports, or being competitive, or hard sex. They are tired of being told they need to be more in touch with their emotions, or female sides. They are annoyed that in the modern era of political correctness that looking at a woman and finding her attractive and that being noticed can get them fired. They are insulted that they were raised to open a door for a lady and now when they do so, they get yelled at. They are tired feeling emasculated and looked down upon and insulted merely for having testicles."

Yeah.

Overheard in the Office | One Day I'm Going to Crochet That on a Little Pillow:

"Bar girl: So you haven't picked up in a year?
Bouncer: Look, it has to be right. I can pick up a girl, ball-gag her and fuck her in the ass, but sometimes I want to cuddle too.

Bar
Melbourne
Australia"

Words well worth remembering.

Our Lady of Perpetual Meanderings - a random conversation got me thinking:

"I have control over how I present myself.

I have no control over how others present me.

I have control over how much I allow people to color my experience of another, but it takes vigilance and self-awareness.

if I truly accept that I have no control of how others portray me, I will stop giving energy (in the form of caring about it) to that.

if energy follows focus, I will therefore stop feeding how others portray me and its importance will diminish."

Catholicism continues to be fucked/Why I love teaching in Japan.

Priests unable to make standard human contact with kids due to their history almost makes sense, till you place it in the context of a nation obsessed with and paranoid about pedophilia/scaremongering [looking right at you, Dateline] and where parents freak at any kinds of physical contact from teachers or even fellow students.

Thank god I teach in Japan, where wrestling, roughhousing, horseplay and generally acting like playful human beings and kids doesn't rate a second look. Hell, I even break the kids on occasion.

Newsflash, human beings are fancy monkey primates, and touch/grooming/playfulness and contact is part of who we are. When kids and people don't get that, that's when they turn all dysfunctional and unhealthy.

New rules for priests / No more piggyback rides, hugging, tickling. And that goes for the kids, too:

"The Archdiocese of Cincinnati has issued a detailed list of inappropriate behaviors for priests, saying they should not kiss, tickle or wrestle children. The archdiocese's Decree on Child Protection also prohibits bear hugs, lap-sitting and piggyback rides. But it says priests may still shake children's hands, pat them on the back and give high-fives. — Associated Press

# The archdiocese of Boston, notorious in the past decade as the most pedophilic and scandal-plagued of all, having currently paid out over $136 million to more than 1,000 victims of sexual abuse, has quietly issued strict new guidelines for all its remaining pastors.

The Decree on Creepy Overlong Stares states that, in the rare instances when a Boston-area priest must look straight into the eyes of a child, said pastor must first don a pair of specially designed sunglasses, the lenses of which have been coated in a compound harvested from the sweat glands of ascetic eunuchs who live deep in the Catacombs of Agony just beneath Vatican City. The active ingredient of the special compound reportedly dims the bright light of a child's tantalizing innocence, thus making the youth appear just as old and soiled and sinful as, well, everyone else.

# Taking a cue from Mormon tradition, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has issued a new Dictum on Appropriate Underclothing, which now commands that all its priests must wear, as a means to "thwart all untoward urges," an elaborate tight-fitting leather harness system involving multiple snaps, metal rings, nickel-plated buckles and "cool whippy things."

When informed by a reporter that this kind of rigging is actually considered a delightful sadomasochistic sexual fetish favored in the Castro District of San Francisco and also in many Senate chambers and much of rural Texas, a representative of the archdiocese replied, "Bzzbzzbzz! What's that? I'm sorry, you're breaking up. I must be in a tunnel or something. Can you call back later?" as much giggling was heard in the background...

# In an unusual move, the New York Archdiocese, famous for recently publishing an anti-pedophile coloring book for children in which smiling priests are depicted as being blocked from coming anywhere near totally cute altar boys by teams of female angels who presumably have said priest's naughty bits in a vice, has officially barred all tantalizing sexual beings from coming within a six-block radius of church property during the priests' most vulnerable hours.

This period, known as the "Dark Hour of the Multiple Heavy Sighs," normally falls somewhere after supper but just before "America's Next Top Model," and is apparently a time when many priests can be found alone in the back of the church, flipping through back issues of Martha Stewart Living and cruising MySpace as they question their life choices and wonder what it would've been like to have followed their original dream of moving to Costa Rica and opening a vegan cafe/pot farm and dating young beautiful surfer boys with long wavy hair who just so happen to look, not at all ironically, exactly like Jesus..."

When did I become conservative? [Or, this totally makes sense to me.]

Open ANWR Already!: The case for drilling—and more energy production - Reason Magazine:

"...Most accounts promote the views of extreme environmentalists to make the issue appear so hopeless that we must instead "change our way of life" rather than tap into proven oil reserves. In July, CNN repeatedly reported that offshore drilling would take "seven to 10 years" to get into production. Yet Brazil's Petrobras expects its new finds in extraordinarily deep waters to already be producing 100,000 barrels per day in just two years. What is wrong with American oil companies that they would take so long?

In fact, the world oil shortage is political, not geological. In the U.S., the government prohibits drilling offshore. In Nigeria, civil strife has shut down major production. In Libya and Iran, Washington effectively blockaded and isolated the nations for years to inhibit new production. In Iraq, of course, the U.S. destroyed much of the infrastructure since the first Gulf war in 1991 and then blockaded reconstruction. In nations such as Russia and Mexico nationalism and corruption curtail increased production.

Outside of developed Western countries, the single largest reason for oil "shortages" is government incompetence and ownership of the subsoil rights so that landowners don't benefit from oil discoveries...

ANWR could become the fastest way to generate hundreds of billions of dollars of new oil. But laws need to be changed to fast track the leasing (there are 11 litigation choke points) and to create special courts to expedite environmental issues, as recently proposed by Rep. Michele Bachman (R-Minn.). Under current laws, it could indeed take 10 years to produce oil, compared to two or three years for the actual drilling and pumping. Additionally, leasing is done slowly, thanks to laws written when oil was plentiful...

...Meanwhile, Washington has become paralyzed by dysfunctional government. France and China can build nuclear electric plants in just years; in the U.S. it takes a decade. Brazil will bring offshore oil online in 24 months, while for U.S. companies it takes 10 years. New refineries are virtually illegal to build. New electricity-generating plants using coal are now unable to obtain financing because of environment constraints.

This is destroying the value of the dollar and wrecking our balance of trade, making oil prohibitively expensive, and sending hundreds of billions of dollars to foreign lands—many of whom are no friends of America. No wonder 80 percent of Americans think their nation is on the wrong track. Washington needs to declare a national emergency program to produce energy. The reasons we don't are political, not technical. Indeed, new natural gas discoveries have knocked U.S. prices down by about 30 percent."

Biking home from work the other day, a crab scurried across the road in front of me.

We're only a couple miles from the beach, but I hadn't ever seen that before. Snakes, on occasion, but never a crab.

Crab Animal Symbolism:

"...Crabs cast off their shells for new ones, and this is where the rebirth/cycling association plays its part.

The protective animal symbolism is evident in the hard, spiny exo-skeleton found with these creatures.

When the crab crawls into our consciousness we're reminded of the cyclical nature in our lives and what protection we may need for the path on which we embark.

...As an animal totem, the crab's ambulation is noteworthy. Never taking a direct (forward, or head-on) route, the crab makes its way on land with a sideways tap-dance. This is a reminder that not all paths are direct and not all ways will be forthcoming in their meaning. When you are moving in a certain direction, and you feel a bit misguided, call upon the travel-savvy crab. She will guide you in an unorthodox way - taking lesser known paths of least resistance and bring you to clarity."

It's all made up.

So why are they making it up? Fear mongering or stupidity? Is it evil or just dumbness?

Hit & Run > The U.S. Is Already a Majority-Minority Nation - Reason Magazine:

"The New York Times reports that "ethnic and racial minorities will comprise a majority of the nation's population in a little more than a generation." But ethnic and racial minorities already comprise a majority of the nation's population. The current U.S. population is about 300 million. There are roughly 46 million Hispanic Americans, 40 million African Americans, 35 million Irish Americans, 16 million Italian Americans, 15 million Asian Americans, 10 million Polish Americans, 3 million Greek Americans, and 3 million Russian Americans. That's a majority right there, and I've left out a bunch of ethnic groups.

What the Times really means, of course, is that "Americans who identify themselves as Hispanic, black, Asian, American Indian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander will together outnumber non-Hispanic whites." We've become so accustomed to this arbitrary definition of "ethnic and racial minorities" that it's easy to lose sight of how bizarre it is. Is there a single objective criterion that unites these particular ethnic and racial minorities while distinguishing them from all the excluded groups? Is there any rational reason why a descendant of Spaniards, say, should count as a real minority, whether or not his ancestors spent time in Latin America, while a descendant of Italians does not? What is it, exactly, that makes Indians more ethnic than Albanians?

While some Americans view the arrival of the milestone heralded by the Times with horror, others see it as a sign of progress. I'd say obsessing about it one way or another indicates a lack of progress."

My take? This - Bulworth (1998) - Memorable quotes:

"All we need is a voluntary, free-spirited, open-ended program of procreative racial deconstruction. Everybody just gotta keep fuckin' everybody 'til they're all the same color."

A world of caramel mocha latte people! Forward!

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."*

Overheard in New York | Is It Fair That White People Monopolize All the Irony? Discuss:

"Guy #1: Can't believe there are so many cops out.
Guy #2: It's probably because of the 4th of July, you know, security threats, terrorism.
Drunk girl (shouts, pumps fist in the air): Oh yeah, terrorism!
Guy #2: Can you not do that 10 feet from those cops?!
Drunk girl: What, who cares? I'm white. It's ironic!

--W. 43rd & Broadway"

*Yes, Princess Bride.

Honestly America, WTF?

Man whose US immigration notice was sent to the wrong address is detained with untreated spinal cancer until he dies, denied access to his wife and children - Boing Boing:

"A Hong Kong computer programmer who had legally resided in the US for 15 years (since he was 17) and fathered two American children went for his final green card interview and was locked up, detained until he died of cancer that the DHS refused to treat him for. He had overstayed a visa (the DHS sent a key notice to the wrong address), and this prompted the DHS to lock him away and demand that he waive all right to immigration appeal and be immediately deported. In detention, his complaints of excruciating back pain were treated as fakery, and he was dragged around in shackles after he lost the ability to walk, taken on long, bumpy drives while official demanded that he drop his immigration appeals. The jailers who caused his death were private contractors with fat deals with the DHS to lock up immigration detainees."

It's true.

see more pwn and owned pictures

"All you need to do is change the caption."

And, of course, believe the people telling you the tale.

We're all so dumb.

Errol Morris on "Photography as a Weapon" - Boing Boing:

"Documentary film maker Errol Morris has a fascinating piece in the New York Times about 'Photography as a Weapon.' In it, he interviews Hany Farid, a Dartmouth professor and expert on digital photographic fraud.

Errol Morris: [D]octored photographs are the least of our worries. If you want to trick someone with a photograph, there are lots of easy ways to do it. You don’t need Photoshop. You don’t need sophisticated digital photo-manipulation. You don’t need a computer. All you need to do is change the caption.


The photographs presented by Colin Powell at the United Nations in 2003 provide several examples. Photographs that were used to justify a war. And yet, the actual photographs are low-res, muddy aerial surveillance photographs of buildings and vehicles on the ground in Iraq. I’m not an aerial intelligence expert. I could be looking at anything. It is the labels, the captions, and the surrounding text that turn the images from one thing into another."

Barry Allen weeps.*

Forensic science is badly in need of reform. Here are some suggestions. - By Radley Balko and Roger Koppl - Slate Magazine:

"Last week, the state of Mississippi terminated its 20-year relationship with medical examiner Dr. Steven Hayne. Hayne has come under fire from fellow medical examiners, criminal justice groups like the Innocence Project, and one of the authors of this article for his impossible workload, sloppy procedures, and questionable court testimony. In the early 1990s, Hayne and his frequent collaborator, now-disgraced forensic odontologist Dr. Michael West, helped secure murder convictions for Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks, both later proven innocent through DNA testing. The two were released from prison earlier this year.

...Courts have also missed plenty of mistakes from well-intentioned, conscientious scientists, too. In fact, these may be even more common—and harder to catch. Studies show that crime lab fiber, paint, and body fluid analyses, for example, may consistently have error rates of 10 percent or higher. The error rate in fingerprint analysis is possibly between 1 percent and 4 percent. And bite mark evidence is notoriously unreliable though still widely used.

...reforms are needed... A scientist whose job performance is evaluated by a senior official in the district attorney or state attorney general's office may feel subtle pressure to return results that produce convictions. In cases in which district attorneys' offices contract work out to private labs, the labs may feel pressure—even if it's not explicit (though sometimes it is)—to produce favorable results in order to continue the relationship.

Cognitive bias can be even subtler. For some experts, merely knowing the details of a crime or discussing it with police or prosecutors beforehand can introduce significant bias to a lab technician's analysis.

A research team led by Seton Hall law professor Michael Risinger published a study in the January 2002 California Law Review identifying five stages of scientific analysis in which bias can affect even the most professional expert's opinion. The study was careful to note that these biases were unintentional and not the result of outright fraud. But according to the study, cognitive bias can factor into the ways in which a scientist observes the initial data, records that data, and makes calculations and also how he remembers and reinterprets his notes when preparing for trial—a problem that looms larger as time elapses between the lab work and trial testimony.

Most jurors aren't aware of any of these biases; in fact, most give enormous weight to expert witnesses. Even out-and-out frauds like West and Shaibani can persuade jurors if they're presented in court as reputable experts, appear likeable, and can testify with conviction. A study of the first 86 DNA exonerations garnered by the Innocence Project estimated that faulty forensic science played a role in more than 50 percent of the wrongful convictions. While it's obviously not possible to completely eradicate bias and scientific error from the courtroom, a few simple and relatively inexpensive reforms could go a long way toward reducing it..."

You can click over for the reforms suggested, which seem reasonable and level headed, ensuring that they will never come to pass.

*Barry Allen is the silver age Flash, who recently returned after being killed off in the comics 23 years ago [ain't comics grand?] ...In his day job he was a police/forensic scientist, 44 years before CSI made it cool. I'm a geek. Shut it.

What's your economic type?

There is a quiz for everything. Wonky politico-econo quiz. I seem to be a middle of the road type, which is good, since I jack-all about economics.

"Your dominant economic type: Rubinomics (Strong)."

Liberal Neo-Classical Economics (Rubinomics)

Liberal Neo-Classical Economics (Rubinomics) holds that capital accumulation drives growth, and that the most important role for government is to spur more savings and investment by reducing the budget deficit and encouraging low and moderate income individuals to save more. It holds that markets generally get it right, but that government intervention is warranted to bring about fairer economic outcomes. But markets only get it right if they get the right price signals, so Rubinomics focuses on making sure that there are as few distortions to price signals as possible, including by favoring a simpler tax code with fewer deductions, and more progressivity.

Take the test here.

Trifecta.

Overheard Everywhere | ...Go to Med School?:

"20-something girl on cell: I'm sunburnt, drunk, and Asian, so why not? Why not?

The Wildcat Lounge
Santa Barbara, California"

Olympic Judo - South Korea's Min-Ho Choi's run to the gold medal.

That last throw to win the gold is pretty freaking beastly.

Training 129.

PT - Single arm DB snatch 25x10 40x10 52.5x5/6, Chins 5/4/3/2/1/2, Pushups 3x10, Push press 50x12 70x10 90x6, SLDL 90x10, Calf rs BWx50, Neck nods all dirx40, Shrugs 105x30

Diet - 2 lg coffees w/equal, cream - 2 shakes w/6 eggs, inst coffee, peanut butter, equal, cream - grnd beef w/cheese, mayo - 2L water

This kinda thing never happens to me.

To my detriment, clearly.

Clare County man finds naked college student in driveway - The Saginaw News Online - Michigan Newspaper - MLive.com:

"A 65-year-old Clare County man is wondering which was more strange -- to find a naked college student in his driveway at 11 p.m. Tuesday or the fact that his wife didn't question him when he walked into their house with her.

Ernest E. Kramer, who lives on Oak Park, said he went outside to unplug some decorative lights when he heard a female voice from the darkness say, 'Mister, I'm lost, can I use your phone?'

'There was only a bug light on, so I told her to come to the house,' Kramer said. 'I couldn't see that well, I thought she was wearing shorts and a pink blouse.

'When we got to the front door I turned and looked at her and said, 'Oh my God, you got nothing on.' So I took off my T-shirt and gave it to her.

'My wife never batted an eye when I walked in the house without a shirt on -- and with a drunk girl wearing my shirt.'"

Know your limitations.

It's that last bit that pays it off.

Overheard Everywhere | Think of Yourself As Spencer, from The Hills:

"Guy to another: Dude, she's way out of your league. She's in the Majors and you're a tee-ball coach with questionable photos on your computer.

Shout-out: eavesdropdc.blogspot.com"

Alan Tudyk interviews Nathan Fillion.

Too funny.

Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog on DVD and iTunes » Alan Tudyk asks about Dr Horrible:

"Alan Tudyk filled in for Leonard Maltin as host for “Secret’s Out” this week and interviewed Nathan Fillion. They talk about some of Nathan’s movies as well as Dr Horrible’s Sing Along Blog."

Outing Riley Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story Knocked Up Hearts in Atlantis

Sigh.

Balloon Juice:

BEIJING - AUGUST 10: President of the United States, George W. Bush holds up the American Flag the wrong way before wife Laura Bush instructs him to turn it around at the swimming arena at the National Aquatics Center during day 2 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 10, 2008 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Our long national nightmare is almost over."

Training 128.

Nutrition - 3 shakes w/9 eggs, peanut butter, inst coffee, cream, water, equal - 1.7L water - 2 cups coffee w/equal, cream

PT - 30m Rutten MMA wkout/thai boxing 2m rounds

Today the vending machine said "hi," talked about the weather, and wished me a good day.

I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.

Gotta love Japan.

Yeah, they look a little strange, but they're awesome.

Being able to actually feel the ground as you walk, and not having to worry about hot concrete or ripping your feet up, is pretty damn cool

Vibram FiveFingers.

Vibram FiveFingers::

"Remember going barefoot as a child? It’s the way you first discovered and conquered your world—without the constraint of shoes. Or the sense of duty you acquired later on.

Now you can experience that same physical and visceral sensation in Vibram FiveFingers—the only footwear to offer the exhilarating joy of going barefoot with the protection and sure-footed grip of a Vibram® sole.

FiveFingers footwear connects you to the earth and your surroundings in a way that is simply not possible in conventional shoes. It puts you in touch with the earth beneath your feet and liberates you to move in a more natural, healthy way. FiveFingers stimulate the muscles in your feet and lower legs to build strength and improve range of motion. Our customers report an increased sense of balance, greater agility, and visibly improved posture."

Cute, with a side of OCD.

The wife's weekend.

Training 113-127.

Actually, that's non-training, to be honest. 2 weeks of travel [yay Thailand], and then recovery/catching up from travel [boo Thailand], plus just being lazy... so, 2 weeks of nothing. Well, I definitely can't use the "overtraining" excuse. Back at it later today.

Thailand - The Final Addendum [Probably.]

[Also known as totally stealing pics from Cindi.]

But, honestly, I thought this at least required interneting - "My Precious!"


The ladies are sassy.


Couple-y type photos.