Son of Timatollah

Yes! We're going to Barrow!!

Labels: alaska, barrow

Mrs. Clinton makes it official. She's staying in with the expectation that someone will kill Obama. From the New York Post, here:

"We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don't understand it," she said, dismissing calls to drop out.

I hate to admit it that I thought it, but this is what came to me one day earlier this week as reason for her staying in: Waiting for someone to shoot Obama.

Questions remain: Are the Clinton's are sufficiently evil enough to get someone to do it or sufficiently competent to get away with it?

This might be the foot-in-mouth to nail-in-coffin moment for the Hillary campaign.

Labels: 2008, assassination, barack, clinton, election, hillary, kennedy, obama, presidential, rfk, robert

The Surrealist Complement Generator, here. Thanks to Tam.

Labels: complement, generator, surrealism, surrealist

Labels: andy, campbell, dixie, soup, warhol, winn

Next month, Mack and I go to Alaska, a trip we've wanted to make for a long time. The itinerary has just fallen into place, finally, today.

• Monday, 2 June: I fly to Anchorage, getting in late. We're using points to go first class. What a concept.


• Wednesday and Thursday, 4-5 June: I attend and present our ERAU team's UAS work at the CGAR meeting.


• Thursday, 5 June: Mack flies in, first class. I know, we're spoiling ourselves here.


• Friday, 6 June: We take the Alaska Railroad, north to just outside Denali National Park and Preserve. We'll spend one night outside the park at the Denali River Cabins. The same folks own the place we'll be staying within the park.


• Saturday-Tuesday, 7-10 June: We stay in the backcountry of the park at the Kantishna Roadhouse. Three days on the north side of Mount McKinley. Should be pretty cool. Besides hiking and wildlife observing, we hope to do one of the glacier landings with a "flightseeing" plane.


• Tuesday, 10 June: Take the train from Denali to Fairbanks.


• Tuesday-Thursday, 10-12 June: We'll be staying in Fairbanks, but hope to hit the Chena Hot Springs Resort for most of the day on Wednesday.


• Thursday, 12 June: This is still tentative, but the plan is to fly to Barrow from Fairbanks, spend the day there, then fly to Anchorage that night. We had wanted to stay in Barrow overnight, but you can't get a flight out until the evening, and we weren't quite sure what we'd make of two full days in Barrow. Still, I hope to put my toes in the Arctic Ocean.


• Thursday-Saturday, 12-14 June: Spend some time in and around Anchorage. Maybe take a day cruise or something.


• Saturday-Sunday, 14-15 June: Fly back to Florida, uh, first class. All those Northwest miles from when we lived in Memphis are finally paying off!
  

Labels: alaska, anchorage, barrow, denali, fairbanks, railroad, vacation

There is no persuasive basis for applying to statutes that classify persons on the basis of the suspect classification of sexual orientation a standard less rigorous than that applied to statutes that classify on the basis of the suspect classifications of gender, race, or religion. Because sexual orientation, like gender, race, or religion, is a characteristic that frequently has been the basis for biased and improperly stereotypical treatment and that generally bears no relation to an individual’s ability to perform or contribute to society, it is appropriate for courts to evaluate with great care and with considerable skepticism any statute that embodies such a classification. The strict scrutiny standard therefore is applicable to statutes that impose differential treatment on the basis of sexual orientation.

From yesterday's California Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage.

As the lawyers and legal analysts point out, this moves LGBT discrimination—well, LG discrimination, at least initially—into the realm of strict scrutiny and out of the domain of rational basis. The presumption, at least in California, is that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, is suspect.

Labels: california, gay, marriage

Congratulations to Californians, where today the California Supreme Court ruled today that preventing same-sex marriages was unconstitutional under the California constitution.

Do not be deceived by the religious right or their Republican operatives that this is appointed activist judges infringing on the will of the citizenry by usurping the role of the legislature: (1) It is entirely appropriate for citizens to seek redress through the courts; this is not "appointed activist judges." These judges have been subject to citizen re-approval through the common modified-Missouri-plan; and (2) The legislature of California has twice passed legislation making same-sex marriages legal, but the governator vetoed the laws both times, since the case the decision of which was announced today was already in the courts.

While in many ways I would love to live in California, for the time being I'll continue to work within Florida (a) to ensure that LGBT relationships are not denigrated by the Florida populace through the inane Amendment 2, and (b) to gain legal recognition of the rights that are mine, that are jointly Mack's and mine, by grace of having been born.

Wherever you are, GET WITH THE PROGRAM.

Labels: california, gay, gay marriage

Story here.

Only another 1000 Boing Boing posts until the self-proclaimed hip realize it.

Labels: steampunk

Labels: "iron man", batman

We're installing a solar-powered hot-water heating system. Should cost about $3800, but after the federal tax credit, state energy-conservation incentive, power-company incentive, and application of our two $600 government "stimulus" checks, we end up about $550 out of pocket. With a $30/month reduction in the power bill, that comes back in a less than two years.

The contractor is local—within five miles. Some of the system hardware is manufactured in-state in Jacksonville; the tank, in Tennessee.

Besides paying off debt, I can't see a much better use of our own money coming back from the federal government.

Labels: checkout, government, heater, hot, rebate, solar, tax, water