I'm outraged, you should be too.

And not just because I've been pretty much un-wacky lately. Lots of outrage to go around. I promise, the wacky will come eventually. But first...


Senator Inouye, Chairman of the Appropriations committee, may remove the Franken Amendment from the latest bill.
I hope I don't have to tell you how bad this would be. Apparently the defense contractors have been lobbyin hard. We, as citizens, need to lobby harder. Make a big, big noise, people. Contact Senator Inouye, contact the members of the appropriations committee. 

Here's what I wrote. 


Senator Inouye,
May I remind you that your duty is to the American people, not to Defense Contractors? I am seriously disturbed that you would even consider removing or watering down the Franken Amendment to the Appropriations Bill. I could rant long and hard here, but someone else has already boiled down how I feel much better than I ever could, to wit:
"If, to protect Haliburton, you have to side against rape victims, you might want to rethink your allegiances." - Jon Stewart

I may not be in your Senate district, but as the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, you serve a wider group of constituents than just those in Hawaii. Removing this amendment would be bad for women, bad for workers, and bad for America.

Sincerely,
<>

Twitter, Trending Topics, and Information Manipulation.

So today there was a bit of a tempest on Twitter. You may or may not have noticed, a lot of it depended on who's in your follow list, and whether or not you pay any attention to the trending topics list on the side of the page. Let's start with a short time line so that some things can be put into perspective.

This morning: A reverend with a large church and a lot of young followers posted the old "No God, No Peace, Know God, Know Peace." It gets retweeted alot, but due to the way that trending topics are created, it showed up on the list as "No God".

Mid afternoon: No God shows up on the trending topics side, and is pretty immediately grabbed by atheists and non-religionists and run with.

Evening: No God becomes the number one trending topic, with a huge chunk of the hits having no positive reference to any deity. Clearly this upsets some people because ...

All of a sudden, No God went from being #1 on the trending topics to not being there at all. Whatsoever.  It was just gone. But manually searching for it (along with other trending topics) showed that it was stil getting more hits than any other topic on the TT list.

Night: The 'Know God' trending topic starts rising up. Many a fundie starts cheering at their side 'winning' (and probably still are) but those in the know (or who simply understand how to look at links) see that the Know God TT link now brings up both Know God and No God mentions. Research showed that at no time, did the words Know God show up more often than No God.
Don't believe me?
Click here.
The point at which the 'No God' TT was taken off the list is pretty damn obvious.

"So what? You can still search for it!" you might say, but see.. I'm an Information Professional and the thing is that I know that that is really kind of a crock. Some people say that he who controls the money controls the world. Some that it's whoever controls the weapons. But the real answer to who controls the world is.. the one who controls the information. Because if you control the information, you control what people know, you control how they see and react to the world, and that in the end controls the world as e know it.

In our internet driven world, one of the most effective and insidious ways to control information is by controlling search terms. We use them every day without thinking about them, and the average joe on the street doesn't even realize how what they are finding is being controlled. A couple of recent examples-
A health database that was in part funded by the US government made 'abortion' a stop word. This means that if someone went to this database and entered abortion as a search term... they got back no results. Nothing would say that there were results that were legitimately available, you would just see that there were no articles that matched your search term. Luckily this change was caught and a cafuffle was made by librarians and other information professionals, and the database returned 'abortion' to the search terms.
Recently Amazon caused quite an uproar (amusingly, on Twitter) over the re-organizing of a number of books in their catalog so that they would not show in sales rankings.. and since sales rankings are a primary way that search results are displayed, the end result was that books about homosexuality from an anti-glbt view showed first, while those that were pro- or even just tolerant showed further down the list if at all.
In the end, other than giving a group that already has a culturally-based feeling of superiority yet more reason to crow and puff, this Twitter issue isn't going to do much. But what has to continue from here is the awareness as to what's going on, and why, and how. Because if you never know something is there, then it isn't. A lot can be hidden in the spaces you don't see.

A more educated look at Google Wave.

I've been on it what, a week now? Still liking it quite a lot, though not getting a whole lot o actual work or movement done.. which I'll cover in some of my comments I'm sure.
 1) I need to be able to trash Waves. My inbox/etc. are now full of zombie waves that I want nothing to do with (many because all i wanted to do was take a look at them and then moved on) but I can't really get rid of. Yes, I've muted them, and yes, I've put them in the trash, but they are still there. This annoys me to no end.
 2) Public previews without joining. Just sayin'.
 3) The ability to click and drag blips if you put them in the wrong place rather than having to delete and start a new one.
 4) The ability to 'protect' blips so that they can't be edited or deleted.
 5) the search function still needs to be better.
 6) There's a bug in moving waves to folders. I tend to be able to move most of them to folders and off of my inbox.. but some just won't go no matter what.
 7) Invitation protocol seriously needs to change. I understand that Google is trying to be fair, but right now the testing of Wave is not being done with anything like the desired scenario. People need more of their own close friends/work groups on, not a bunch of strangers or somewhat distant contacts.

The Wall Of Shame

My Senator, Al Franken, recently proposed an amendment to a bill, this was the amendment.

Sec. 8104. (a) None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used for any existing or new Federal contract if the contractor or a subcontractor at any tier requires that an employee or independent contractor, as a condition of employment, sign a contract that mandates that the employee or independent contractor performing work under the contract or subcontract resolve through arbitration any claim under title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or any tort related to or arising out of sexual assault or harassment, including assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment, or negligent hiring, supervision, or retention. 

To put it in common English, this amendment restricts the government from using funds from this bill to pay contracts with companies that have, as part of their employment requirements, a restriction that employees may not sue if they are raped, sexually assaulted or harassed on the job.

You might ask why such a thing would be necessary. Which means you've probably not heard of Jamie Leigh Jones. Ms. Jones was 20 years old when she went to Iraq to work for KBR, a former subsidiary for Haliburton. While she was there, she was gang raped by her fellow employees and KBR locked her up in a shipping container for 24 hours when she tried to report it, and she was only released when the U.S. Embassy got involved. When she tried to prosecute, she found that KBR had managed to 'lose' important parts of her rape kit. When she tried to sue, she found that her contract included a requirement that she submit to arbitration even in the case of rape and assault.

Other women have come forward with similar reports.

So Senator Al Franken (btw? I will never get tired of typing those words) put forth an amendment to a bill to make sure that this sort of thing doesn't happen again. It seems like a slam dunk, right?  And in the end it was. It won by a wide margin. Sixty something to 30.


"Wait." you might be saying "30 people voted against a measure that keeps the government from making contracts with abusive employers who cover up rape?"
Why yes. Yes, they did. 30 state senators voted against this amendment.
Each and every one of them a Republican. Here's the list!
Alexander (R-TN)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeMint (R-SC)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Gregg (R-NH)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johanns (R-NE)
Kyl (R-AZ)
McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Wicker (R-MS)

Defenses of these votes stated by these Senators included such things as "This is a political attack against Haliburton." (odd, KBR is no longer a subsidiary of Haliburton, and at any rate, how can you make a political attack against a private company) and that it amounts to restricting what private companies can have in their contract (no, no it does  not. it restricts whether the government will accept such things from companies that they pay with our tax dollars).


The Daily Show of course said it best.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Rape-Nuts
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Ron Paul Interview

I am a very bad kitty mommy.

Our new kitten, Ifrit, is being a bit of a monster lately. He has pretty much shredded my husband's legs from the knee down, etc. He has also taken to attacking the insides of my thighs as I'm sitting with my laptop. Today, Operation Control was put into effect. Every time he starts acting up, He gets picked up and plopped into his carrier for ten minutes.
I've done it three times in the last hour, but he is now snuggled up quietly and purring at my side. I hold out some hope. Next plan will be softpaws tips on his claws.

The insanity of the fundies.

I keep an eye on 'the enemy' by reading certain fundamentalist websites and web forums. It's both a hoot for me and manages to keep me up to date on what the wingnut conservatives are thinking. I am often amused by things, for instance the fact that for the last several weeks, the fundies have been complaining that Obama has not been going to church. Like, incessantly. How terrible and awful it is that he doesn't go to church, how they'd feel so much better about him if he just went to church.
So this weekend? Obama went to church.
And today? What a crock that he went to church. He isn't really a christian and this just proves it. Chruch means nothing. Him going to church was just pandering, etc. etc.
And they wonder why he doesn't bother releasing his long form birth certificate? There is no point arguing with irrational people.

Effing. Snow.

So today was the second day of snow, and for much of the day (until at least mid afternoon) there was actually visible snow on the ground though, thankfully, not on the pavement. Sure, snow is pretty and all, and I should be okay with wintery weather due to hey, choosing to live in Minnesota.
But it is only mid-October, people. The trees are still mostly green!! It's wrong, wrong and insane!
It does however keep the work pretty quiet, which is kind of a blessing because I work with the public, and it can get a little crazy.
I also came up with an idea for a cookbook. No, I'm not sharing it.

This should happen more often.

Apparently some days ago, a couple of drunken yahoo's in Swansea, Wales decided that it was just the sort of night to attack people weaker than them. People who were different. People who might be easily intimidated.
So they attacked a pair of transvestites who were walking down the street together.
Bad move.
Bad, bad move.
Because you see, the transvestites were actually cage fighters,  dressed up for a stag party (bachelor party) in dresses and heels. Cage fighters who proceeded to give the asshats a swift but thorough beatdown and then wander off in their high heels with nary a scratch on them and only a dropped clutch purse to retrieve. And it was, being the UK and a busy urban street, all caught on CCTV for the world to see.
The only way that this could have been better would be if the transvestites had just been regular old transvestites. Still, perhaps these idiots will think twice before picking on those they consider weird. Perhaps other idiots will also give it a second thought (one can hope). My big hope actually is for the cage fighters. I hope they have been given a good glimpse of the sort of things that people in the GLBT community have to deal with all the time, and perhaps it will make them more likely to defend others. Maybe they'll even teach a "self defense in heels" course?

Google Wave: First thoughts.

Some thoughts, put here mostly for my own returning to in the days to come.
I just got my Google Wave invite today, having been nominated about a week ago. I hopped on immediately and dug right in. So far, I'm enjoying it for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that at the moment it resembles in spirit (if not in nature) nothing so much as those heady pre spam-bot days of USENET. Except with more cats. And bacon.
And I have just given far too much hint as to my age.
That said, there are improvements to be made. Please note that I am using Wave on Firefox (attempt was made with Safari, and swiftly run away from) on my MacBook (so, no Chrome) with a high speed connection.
1) There is an archive button, why can't I have a trash button? While dragging Wave to the trash seems to be easier, actually clicking on it and then clicking trash would be far, far easier.
2) Public conversations: Right now they're the lifeblood of Google Wave, and it's a very kludgy process to get them started. There needs to not only be a button to do this with (hey, maybe a 'format wave' button right from the start?) but also a selection of different kinds of public, such as open to contacts only, open to members of certain google groups, open to people with certain tags on their profiles. Or hey, how about groups that are title/description only and you have to click a button to be invited?
3) Private blips: Right now you can only private blip a contact. But if you're in a public wave, that person you want to private blip might not be a contact. Private blips should be available with anyone, unless someone has private blips blocked. Say that five times why don't you?
4) Tags: It is not immediately apparent that the way one normally does tags on most other sites (with commas between the tags) is not the way one does them on Google Wave. I actually like how Wave does it better, but I screwed up a tag before I figured that out. And there was no way to delete the tag. Whoops.
5) Searching. This must be improved. Even knowing the title of a public Wave I could not find it by using straight keyword. Talk to some librarians, Google.
6) Threads need to be more clearly delineated. It gets hard very quickly to tell which thread a reply is in. Perhaps box threads, or make it easier to collapse them within a wave.
7) There needs to be a chat bot or window. The threaded conversations are great but everyone is typing all over the Wave. A chat extension of some sort that then gets saved to the wave would be ideal, especially for the 'social' Waves.

Why women need purses.

Or "I do not understand how men can get by without purses."

Recently I was reading an incredibly sweet article about men holding purses for their sick wives in oncology wards, and the sort of things that a woman should look for in a man right from the start. This is not a blog post about that.

This is a blog post about purses. Because one of the comments in the article was "why would a woman take a purse to a treatment anyway?" cause that's some crazy thing only dumb chicks do, right? I am always surprised at the 'mystery of purses' among men and, honestly, among women who are not in the habit of carrying them. It's not about having some super shiny accessory (I suppose for some it is). I don't own a purse that cost me more than $70. I do like when the purse I wear goes along with my clothing style or the season, but not so much that I change purses more than say, once a month. Currently I cycle between three purses, a cute red patterned leather one, a dressy gold one in the shape of a fan, and my current black leather.

It's about getting through the day. There are things I need with me, and even though when I'm dressed casually I have pockets in which I could carry some of my needs, this would not be nearly sufficient even in Winter when I have the extra pockets of a coat. Perhaps it will be easier to explain if I go through the daily contents of my purse:
Keys - My keychain includes a carabiner, car key, garage key, house key, work key,  and bike lock key. (also a small Lord of the Rings dangly). I need all of these things every day, and have no pocket outside of jacket pockets that could fit them, let alone attractively.
Wallet - There is no pocket I could fit my wallet in, and cutting things down into their parts (money, change, cards, receipts, coupons) would likely take up all my available pockets in a very disorganized manner. When I use my dress purse, the wallet does get nixed, but 3 cards and cash go into a pocket in the purse.
Cell Phone - I've tried carrying this in a pocket before. In any pocket close to the body (pants) buttons get pressed and things become annoying. In any pocket on an outer garment, I end up not getting calls due to not hearing the phone or feeling it vibrate, and a tendency to have to pat myself down to find it when it does ring. It has to go in the purse.
Pain Killers - a small bottle, for emergency use for myself or others.
Brush - Goes without saying. I suppose if I had very short hair I wouldn't need this.
Granola bar - Just in case, for myself or others.
First Aid Kit - V. small, with tweezers, antibacterial wipes, bandaids, etc.
Sewing Kit - Likewise small, thread, needles, tiny pair of scissors.
Leatherman's tool - For those "If only I had an awl." moments (it has happened).
Magnifying Glass/Light - Size of a stack of 3 credit cards. Allows me to read menus with my wonky eyesight.
Flashlight - Larger LED flashlight, very bright for both reading and/or emergency car repair, key search, what have you.
Measuring tape - You wouldn't believe how often this has come in handy, especially when out furniture shopping.
Wet wipes - quick cleaning, etc.  Three 1 piece packs taken from restaurants.
Soap leaves - for when the public bathroom is out of soap.
Eyeglass cleaning cloth - a must for any geek.
Hand lotion - a tiny container, the size of about seven quarters.
Makeup Bag - Granted, not a necessity for some, but for me it is. A selection of lipsticks, glosses, powders, and the like for touchups while out or when suddenly faced with "Hey, let's go dancing after work!" (what, it could happen!) When using the dress purse, this is narrowed down to one lipstick and the powder.
Tissues - Well, that's because right now I have a cold, but I try to keep one or two in there all the time.
Cough drops - Threeish, for strangers or myself.
Feminine Products - Because mother nature is a bitch who does not care about your schedule.
Pen  -  Somewhere, in the bottom, I swear.
USB drive - Carrying items that I need to shuffle back and forth from work to home, etc, as well as a labelled "Emergency" .txt file on it that includes my name and address, allergies, sensitivities, health info, doctor's number, and health insurance number. Just in case.

On top of these, I occasionally include something else, like a small notepad for shopping, a book or DS lite or PSP if I'm going to be waiting somewhere, a camera if something neat might come up, etc.

So, granted, I could do without a lot of these items I suppose, though I would curse and shake a fist if I didn't have one when I needed it, and every single thing in that purse has come in handy at one time or another (if only to prove that I was prepared for something). When I'm down to just the cards/cash/lipstick/powder I feel more than a little exposed, and it's only for occasions where I won't be gone long. But a huge chunk of those things are items that I actually pretty much do need on a daily basis, and which I could not possibly (let alone attractively) stow in my pockets.

I asked my husband last night as he grabbed his keys and wallet as we were going out the door how he got by with carrying so little. His answer?

"Because I know if I need something it's in your purse."

Aaaaaaaaah.

Mustache twirling Scrooge.

So do you think that someone in your acquaintance is a real douchenozzle? Perhaps a complete asshat? Well, perhaps you do, but no matter how bad that person is, they probably can't hold a candle to this guy.
He doesn't like public libraries, he doesn't like puppies, and he really doesn't like little kids. Oh yeah, or poor people.
He needs a serious visit from three angry ghosts.
On the other hand, Sydney Sabbagha is my new hero, because at the age of 11 she got up and spoke up against this grown man's asshattery. Go Sydney! I hope that you become a librarian someday.

Waiting for Google Wave

I am a complete addict for new shiny techy geeky things, I'll cop to that. Because this Summer was fairly busy I didn't really notice the bruhaha over Google Wave until a couple of days before the invitations were sent out. When I saw it I was full of squee, and applied, but knew there was little hope.
And then lo and behold a friend of mine got one of the invites ("I've got a golden tiiiiicket") and was not so immured to my begging and pleading as to say no, so he nominated me.
That noise you hear? That's the sound of crickets.
I haven't gotten the invite, nor have most people who have been nominated from everything I can figure out. Contrary to popular belief, I do know that at least one person got a nominated invite, as above mentioned friend nominated his SO and she got an invite right off.
I understand why Google is taking it's time with getting invites out. However I think that it would have behooved them to go about it a somewhat different way, for instance give out 20,000 original invitations with say 5 real and actual invitations to give out directly. They would have gotten less dev people and coders, but they would have gotten people using Wave the way it's intended right off the bat. As it is, my friend has not really been able to explore Wave because no one he knows (other than his SO, with whom 'turning the head and talking' is a much better communication tool) is on Wave.

Spelling!

People, what is going on with education in this country? Not today, but for the last fifty years or so? Why do I ask? Because in the last week I have been approached by people ranging in age from 19 to approximately mid 50's to give them correct spellings of words (a small part of my job). Words such as:
Friend
Host
Please
Person
Room.

I shudder to think about the many words they are clearly not asking for spelling help with.

Purses...

I think they put drugs in the handles.
That is the only possible excuse for me having just bought a new purse yesterday and yet looking at purses even now.
Drugged handles.
'sgottabe.

Ranty McRantersons

Yeah, so this is going to be a rant. An angry rant.
You've been warned. It can't be all fun and games and amusing snark.

Roman Effing Polanski

Or more precisely, his apologists. Because frankly if you personally have any doubts about what he did and whether he should be finally sentenced and this whole thing made to be over, I really don't have much to say to you.

But the folks who've signed the petition for his freedom? The ones who are trying to defend his actions? Oh the anger. Oh the overwhelming disgust. Oh the flames coming out of the sides of my head.
There is no amount of success, no amount of money, no amount of artistic ability that makes crime, and running away from the punishment for that crime, okay.

"But he's such a great artist." they say.
"He's such a good friend!"
"He hasn't done anything else bad!"
"He's been through so much."
"But it's been yeaaaars since it happened, can't we just forgive and forget?"

How are any of these an excuse, or any sort of reason, that wipes clean a slate that consists of "admitting to having sex with a 13 year old girl." and beyond that "drugging and intoxicating said girl, and raping and sodomizing her while she continued to say no." Oh yeah, and after admitting it, turning around and leaving the country before he could be sentenced.
Also, I hate the apologists for being 'hollywood elite' because in too many minds, that means 'liberals' so I'm seeing a lot of noise in the conservative blogosphere/etc. that now liberals are okay with child rape. Uh. No. If they would bother (but they won't) to check say Jezebel or say, Salon or any number of non-h-wood blogs, they would find that huge gaping wodges of liberals think that Polanski must accept and serve his sentence, should have years ago. and is a complete asshat.
There is no excuse for supporting a rapist who plead guilty and then ran away from being sentenced. None. The ability to blind oneself to the faults of one's friends and coworkers may be a lovely human quality, but when it stretches to this sort of delusional state it just is neither good nor healthy. When our friends and loved ones do bad things, yes, we should continue to love and support them. But sometimes, support also means saying honestly, bluntly, and with great sincerity "You did something wrong, and you need to deal with it like an adult."

Bafflement Chronicles: Part 1

A continuing series of things that baffle and bemuse me.


Footless Tights. 

Now, I sort of understand plain old leggings, and own a couple of pair (used for layering under clothes during winter or exercising in the home). But tights and even footless nylons? i.e. "Items one wears with skirts, but are not substantial enough to wear on their own."? These, I do not grasp the use of.
Most of them, especially the more popular "Spanx" ones (and the knock offs) are usually of the following description. They generally start at the waist with a fairly firm control top, and then become sheer about mid-thigh, then there's another non-sheer 'cuff' around mid-calf where they end. Nude colors, or they come in black and patterned black. That being the case:

1. So you can't wear them with a skirt, unless they are longer than the mid calf. Unless you wear them with boots that are over the mid calf. 
2. You can wear them with pants, but then what's the point of having them sheer or patterned?
3. and in either case... you end up having bare feet, so you either go bare footed or you have to wear socks anyway. Why not just have plain old footed tights?

The only thing I can think they're really useful for is the "below mid thigh skirt with above the mid calf boots" look, and how often does one wear that, and then still, why not full-lenth tights so that you don't' have to wear socks too? 
A friend informs that they are sometimes used for roller derby, but surely that does not explain how they have become so very endemic in the stores (to the point that at some places, I can't find regular hose, just these footless things).

Seriously LB? Seriously?!

So, I'm flicking through sites doing some shopping, and since I have a $20 off coupon for Lane Bryant, I figure I'll wander on over to their site. Click on New Items, see what is to be seen.
Jebus forking cripes.
Who the hell designs these clothes? Who? All I can tell for sure about them is that, clearly, they hate fat women with a passion. Possibly all women.
The evidence:

Knickers. It's a pair of goddamn knickers.
Seriously. For fall. WTF?
High waisted, straps on the hems, knickers.
But that's not all, oh no. No no no.

 

Jodhpur. Leggings.
Yes, you can get the ruffly shirt too.
Because nothing looks better on a fat chick than high waisted, super tight, skin color leggings?
With inner thigh pads?
Smell the hatred, ladies.
Tally effing ho!

In case the horsey life isn't for you, you can always decide that you have just been waiting for the Stevie Nicks look alike contest.
Or, you know, you had a table runner you decided to throw around your waist when someone was knocking at the door and caught you pantsless.
I would love to see this baby in a house full of cats.

This is a vest that would flatter no one. Not even a really small woman. It's.. shapeless and covers too much and has no real shape. What shape it might have is masked by the plaid pattern. It's just. Ugh. Ugh.

Whaaaaaa? When did we go from white privilege horsie/hippie tweedy awful to.. to this?
Shapeless polyester disco queen. With a belt around what will be on most wearers the widest part of the body.
And I don't even wanna think of the view you'll get into those arms when you raise your hands.
This is just.. just.. gah.

I hate this with the fire of a thousand burning suns.
Muddy horrid ugly mess with absolutely nothing going for it.
Why? Why? WHY!?!??!?!