Payday means indulging in one of Japan's ridiculously overpriced, yet tasty, steaks.

If I thought about what this was in US$, I'd have never had it. But it's in yen. That's my rationalization and I'm sticking to it.

From 2009-09-22

I like Sen. Al Franken?

Yes, apparently, because this is kind of cool.

The Washington Independent » Al Franken Reads the 4th Amendment to Justice Department Official:

"Noting that he received a copy of the Constitution when he was sworn in as a senator, he proceeded to read it to Kris, emphasizing this part: “no Warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

“That’s pretty explicit language,” noted Franken, asking Kris how the “roving wiretap” provision of the Patriot Act can meet that requirement if it doesn’t require the government to name its target.

Kris looked flustered and mumbled that “this is surreal,” apparently referring to having to respond to Franken’s question."

I did not, but the answer is "yes."

texts from last night:

"(781): did you seriously just ask me if there is such thing as a sophisticated batman shirt?"

Marriage is tricksy.

texts from last night:

"(931): so today I found out that she used to be a he....
(1-931): are you gonna get a divorce?"

Points for cleverness, resourcefulness...

texts from last night:

"(702): what made you think it was a good idea to trust the girl that hides tequila in her backpack?"

Kinda true.

texts from last night:

"(802): My social work teacher just told our class about her bicurios adventures in college
(516): is she hot?
(802): She is now"

Clever.

Drugs, the foundations of Western Civilization.

Dissident Voice : Drugs and Social Progress Since the Greeks:

"...a brief overview of the evidence that the ancient Greeks and Romans were both aware and tolerant of the use of psychoactive substances: opiates, cannabis and other plant-based drugs, while they simultaneously warned of the dangers of “poisoning” (what we would refer to as overdose) and prescribed precautionary remedies for it. In fact, according to Hillman, the only aspect of drug use that was criminal in these societies was the intentional poisoning of another person with a drug.

Hillman is mostly interested in presenting his case from a civil libertarian standpoint; since our own imperfect understanding of civil liberties is largely derived from Classical society via the Enlightenment, he wonders how we can have descended to a position so much less enlightened in this regard than our primitive forebears in the ancient world.

But in his defense of Greek and Roman recreational drug use, Hillman barely touches on what is to me, the heart of the matter: drugs may have stimulated the very visions and insights that gave early poets and philosophers levels of understanding that Western civilization has built on ever since, while systematically purging the parts of those understandings that didn’t gibe with any practice not useful to refining social control and/or increasing the production of profit. Hillman does make note of the pre-Socratics, chief among them Pythagoras and Empedocles, for whom mysticism and rigorous investigation of the natural world were no contradiction. He says: “the roots of Western philosophy reach deep into the fertile soil of the human imagination, where shamanism, divination, and narcotic experiences have held sway for thousands of years.” While this idea alone could easily be the subject of a book, Hillman is more interested in documenting classical references to drug use than to linking it to the production of important concepts and archetypes, from mathematics to theology..."

"...the hottest thing in real estate in the United States is gated communities for the wealthy and prisons for the poor."

YouTube - Travel as a Political Act #14: Mind the Gap

"Even if you're motivated only by greed, you don't want to be filthy rich in a desperately poor world... you don't want to live behind designer fortifications... it's coming our way... the hottest thing in real estate in the United States is gated communities for the wealthy and prisons for the poor. That's the symptom of a society that has to take a hard look at things..."

Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion are just about perfect together.

YouTube - Dr Horrible on the Emmys

Well played.

texts from last night:

"(386): after he passed out we removed everything electronic from his room, stuck in some old books and an ancient typewriter from goodwill. for 20 min. we had him convinced he'd drunk himself backward in time."

Since Dr. Horrible [and Harold and Kumar] I have a new appreciation for Neil Patrick Harris.

YouTube - Neil Patrick Harris Discusses Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs Movie

"Timothy Leary's final regrets" - good stuff.

Via - Dedroidify: Timothy Leary's final regrets

Whoo Hoo, I say. A sequel to Dr. Horrible.

TV Guide Magazine | News | Dollhouse Boss Breaks Good Horrible News:

"There will be a second Dr. Horrible Sing-Along Blog, Joss Whedon said in a Thursday conference call with reporters to promote Dollhouse. The main question, he says, is whether he does it “on a shoe string again” or goes bigger budget and “invites other people into the process.” Either way, he promises that it won’t affect the storyline."

Original DVD available here.

Trailer


Act 1, Part 1

For my own mental health and sanity, I've culled my political blog reading to one: Radley Balko's The Agitator. Here's why.

The Agitator » Blog Archive » On “Respecting the Office”:

"I can’t remember if it was a Capitol Hill staffer or a former staffer who was then working for the Poker Players Alliance, but a guy came up afterward and complimented me on my testimony. He said he’d never heard someone be so direct with Congress while giving testimony. I responded that I’d never really bought into the sanctimony of Congress—the idea that congressmen by default deserve reverence because they hold a political office.

That apparently went too far. The guy was offended, even though he was on my side on the poker issue. He said something to the effect of, “But you have to respect the office and the institution.”

I don’t see why. Members of Congress sure as hell don’t respect the office or the institution. They regularly pass laws that aren’t authorized by the Constitution. And that’s just the stuff they do proudly. Never mind the corruption, exempting themselves from the laws they pass, pork spending, and . . . the list goes on.

I don’t agree with Sen. Jim Webb on much when it comes to economic policy. But the guy became a hero in my book when he refused to shake then-President George W. Bush’s hand at a White House ceremony a few years ago. Bush had sent Webb’s son off to fight in what Webb thought was a feeble excuse for a war. If anything, a politician who uses his power to achieve ignoble ends ought to be held in higher contempt than the rest of us. He certainly isn’t entitled to genuflection simply by virtue of his position."

Raleigh, North Carolina Win.

Overheard in the Office | Why the Company Lacks Diversity: Explained:

"Boss: The black one is almost 88% bigger, but the yellow one is more efficient.
Coworker: Let's just stick with the white ones, it's simple and we know how they work.

Raleigh, North Carolina"

"To put it simply, you can’t buy things to recapture the beauty of the past."

Well said, worth remembering. Via The Simple Dollar » Nostalgia

I understand the appeal of Italy now.

And I'm not even a wine drinker.

Rick Steves' Travel as a Political Act Blog:

"In Italy, they love their expensive red wine — but they also love their simple, fill-‘er-up-at-the-gas-station wine. Italians get their table wine cheap at filling stations like this."

Area Code 910, God Bless You.

texts from last night:

"(910): so just incase you wake up on the couch wondering how you got there--you came home at 7am, put ice in a cup--then you proceeded to put the cup in the microwave and melt it because you 'wanted water'. you then, fell down the stairs while saying 'you don't know me' then crawled to the couch."

Japanese Child Win - This is Adorable.

Japanese TV loves to put kids in "situations" and watch what transpires. Here, a shop owner's two boys are left in charge of the store and are confronted with what to do with a foreign customer. Too cute.

Via Foreigners only eat chocolate | Japan Probe