10.30.03
California Fires from space
A friend sent me this picture of the California forest fires as taken from a satelite. Click on the picture for a larger version. Pretty amazing.
10.26.03
Geekroar.com gets new server!
Today Geekroar.com was rebuilt on a new server. Dozens of configuration files were updated to accommodate the new setup and the new server. The new server will allow for a number of improvements, mostly enabling the rebuilding of Geekroar’s sister site PWASOH.com. If you notice a dead link or other bug I may have missed please leave a comment on the site so I can fix it.
10.13.03
I miss you Daria
On my drive into work on Thursday morning I tuned my radio to the local radio station KNRK to listen to Daria’s local entertainment guide only to find neither of Daria nor her co-host Gustav on the air. I checked in from time to time hoping to hear what might be going on, another of the jocks was spinning records and audibly upset. Later in the day I did something I hardly ever do, tuned to KNRK for the evening show hoping to catch some news. The reason I never turn to that station in the evenings is the evening jock, Marconi, is revolting. What I got was the idiotic, misogynistic Marconi bragging about how Daria and Gustav had just been fired and he had been given the morning spot. The news so upset me that I felt sick for the rest of the day.
There are two reasons why this had such an impact:
#1. I like Gustav and I love Daria. I am not big on commercial radio; the KNRK morning show was actually the only commercial radio station I would listen to. The rest of my listening time in the car or hanging out around the house goes to NPR or the local public classical station. Daria and Gustav are different though; they are amusing, lively, fun to listen to and most importantly really great people. Both G&D are people I could relate to, people who were not afraid to just be themselves, have some fun and enjoy a good laugh with others. Daria, in specific has an incredible charisma that is irresistible. If you live in Portland you probably know her. I first ran across Daria when channel flipping past the WB back when she used to do their weather reports. I don’t think I have EVER watched the Warner Brothers network, but I for a while I would click into it at the top of the hour just to see what new wackiness Daria was up to. It was clear that they had abandoned her in a studio without so much as a cameraman to read the day’s weather and rather than let that get her down she knew how to just roll with it and have fun. I still remember one evening when she was using Elvis dolls to represent cold and warm weather fronts… That night I stayed up checking in every half an hour to see what else she would have Elvis do. When I found her on the morning radio (once again just clicking through to on my way to another station) I was immediately hooked. I actually changed my commute time so I would be in the car at 7:10 when her daily entertainment guides would start. I do take solace in knowing that Daria has such overwhelming charisma and star quality that it will not take long before she is on the air again, in TV, radio, back on the stage or who knows what medium. Here is hoping that whatever her next venue is, it includes Portland.
#2: I hate Marconi… as in despise, loathe. I understand the commercial appeal of shock radio. Act like a brute on the air, get people upset, upset people talk about you and you end up making bank. This guy however is not only offensive he is utterly uninteresting. This asshole spends his time talking about screwing ‘bitches and hoes’ and generally being as base and loathsome as possible. Marconi shows no signs of having any respect for anyone, including himself, and especially not for women. I could go on but he honestly does not deserve the attention.
On Friday and again yesterday I was sad driving in and knowing that I will not have Gustav and Daria to keep me company in the mornings anymore. I wish I had some way of knowing how G&D are holding up. I read on Mystical Chicken’s web site that Gustav got the goodbye kiss on his Birthday. He deserves better than that, they both do. I guess all I can do is keep my ears peeled for Daria’s next appearance, and until then:
I miss you Daria!
10.03.03
Schwarzenegger the Misogynist
For anyone wondering what I meant when I called Schwarzenegger a Misogynist in the rant The Lion’s Den: The Failure of Democracy, I offer this selection of quotes and articles:
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“When you see a blonde with great tits and a great ass, you say to yourself, ‘Hey, she must be stupid or must have nothing else to offer’, which maybe is the case many times.” July, 2003 Esquire Magazine interview.
Read the rest of this entry »
10.01.03
The Failure of Democracy
I have been thinking a lot about the Democratic system of free elections recently, mostly wondering how a self-serving individual like George W. Bush managed to become president of our nation, and what it will take to replace him with someone that demonstrates some degree of decency. If you believe the line that ‘$87 Billion is required to rebuild Iraq’ then you are simply not paying a lot of attention. Those $87 Billion are pure pork barrel funds for Halliburton, Bush and Cheney’s little conglomerate of cronies. I guess I can see how this level of corruption can fly, the whole system is corrupt and beyond most people’s reach, however there is another gross failure of democracy happening this week that defies comprehension: California is going into a governor recall vote and Arnold Schwarzenegger is the leading candidate.
Stop and think about that for a minute, I mean really think about what is wrong with this. Arnold has refused all but one debate invitations (the one he accepted was formatted so the candidates received a questions list days ahead of time) because he knows that he is too ignorant and incompetent to be able to intelligently answer any campaign questions. Arnold has no political experience, and in the few public appearances he has made he has demonstrated a lack of political understanding. He has shown over many occasions that he is a misogynist with little regard for anyone who is not part of the white male ruling elite. The campaign manager for Arnold’s campaign is the one who managed Pete Wilson’s campaign (if you do not know Pete Wilson’s history go do a search on his name, he is one of the scariest human beings elected to office in recent history). It is not hard to realize that Arnold is little more than a puppet-spoke person for some rather scary conservative individuals who would rather stay behind the scenes and pull his strings. So I ask again, why is he the most popular candidate? The answer is: Because he is charismatic, has made some fun and exciting movies and the voting masses are too damned ignorant and easily manipulated. Do any of the people who have said they will vote for him really believe he will make a good governor? I seriously doubt it. People’s votes are determined more by how attractive they find a candidate than by the candidate’s abilities or aptitude for the job. As the Disposable Heroes of Hiphopracy said in the song ‘Satanic Reverses’ this is a world where “straight teeth in your mouth are more important than the words that come out of it”.
So I am left with the question: Does the democratic system work? Is the concept of letting the masses vote for the individual that most appeal to them flawed by nature or is it a solid concept that is not well implemented? How good a system of governance do we really have that allows an outrage like this to happen? We will have to wait until October Fifth to see what the outcome of the California recall vote is, but no matter what happens the results of the last presidential election an the current state of the California recall vote have significantly shaken my trust of democracy.