monkey see, monkey do serves as a personal blog and creative outlet for
david evans.
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queen rania of jordan apes david letterman in this introduction to her youtube channel — make sure you get all the way through the laugh track to her number one reason.
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is it just me, or does the first relatively agreed upon photograph of an extra-terrestrial planet look uncomfortably like sauron? this is hubble’s picture of the planet “fomalhaut b”, or rather mostly a dust ring around the planet unseen in the center.
ok, have to post this before the election is too distant a memory: yet another example of how theater groups armed with cheap video equipment, computers, and video sharing web sites can create an instant hit.
now les mis is still under copyright protection i believe, since it was scored in 1980. can we change the copyright fair use guidelines now? i’d really like to see more things like this, and i seriously doubt copyright protection was intended to prevent creative uses like this.
that was my favorite guerilla obama ad before the election, and you know, i think it still works after the election. this however, dates me, if you’re not familiar with the original video you should watch that first.
it was hard to get to sleep after the election results. not because of my personal excitement as much as the city erupting in spontaneous fireworks. literally! cars drove here and there honking… people yelling and hollering… it took awhile for them to all get drunk and pass out on the sidewalks.
i think portland leans pretty darn left, but i’ve never seen such an outpouring. people were giddy, and still love is in the air. i think we might agree the election swung left because a fair number of people were mad as hell, and weren’t going to take it anymore. of course, only ’slightly’ more than 50% of the country ever elects a president. if you’re among the slightly less than 50% this time and not so happy about the election result, i’m sorry. it will just flip back and forth like that. if you’re someone who votes for one of the < 1% candidates, cudos for voting your conscience instead of participating in the perennial run-off. personally i would prefer to see the electoral system scrapped and a true popular vote instead; even though i tend to vote with a major party i’m not happy with only getting a run-off election each time. i’d rather have open primaries and get to participate in either side of each run-off instead of only getting a say in one half of each run-off.
i’m getting really excited about the possibility of a cabinet level chief technology officer (CTO) appointment and the weight that is given to technology development as a result. any suggestions you would like to make to the america CTO? fiber everywhere? copyright enforcement changes? rethinking the post office? universal ID cards versus privacy? is the internet the next nationalized interstate highway, like korea?
from contemplating my last two posts about proposition eight, i’m remembering today my own journey toward tolerance and then onto support and it is making me teary. so i thought i would share some of my personal story in brief, below the fold.
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even though i’m not gay, i take this issue deeply to heart and think the ban on same-sex marriage is unjust discrimination. in the same way, i’m not an ethnic minority but i feel discrimination — implicit or systemic — based on race is something to expunge. as a former irish catholic, and now buddhist, my ancestors fought for equality both in terms of class and religious freedom in this country. let me not forget that my privilege and opportunity is in part because of their struggle for equality and to be viewed not by their culture, standing, or religious views. and same-sex marriage is no different.
i said yesterday that views on same-sex marriage are changing. here’s a graph of views by age, that i found on the uncommonliberty blog and is based on a 2004 study by the university of michigan’s center for political studies.
one could argue that young people just haven’t made up their mind yet, but i believe this demonstrates a shift in view about same-sex marriage and that it’s just a matter of time before bans on same-sex marriage laws are repealed and constitutional amendments are annulled. in my opinion this will reverse a timeless discrimination whose time has come.
on this topic, i also recommend a couple blog posts from last year by the wisdom of repugnance blog including would you like to have your daughter marry a negro? and what’s in a name? where c.t. pope discusses emotions versus reason in social and bioethical issues. the first post, however, notes how the “welfare of children” argument was used forty years ago in defense of banning interracial marriage. for example, the assistant attorney general of florida at that time, james mahorner, argued to the u.s. supreme court that anti-miscegenation laws would protect the mulatto child from a psychological disadvantage by discouraging mulatto children altogether. pope argues that what really was at issue was creating a sense of unity by separating another group in contrast, and interracial marriages undermined that desire to divide us from them. the context is different with same-sex marriage but i suspect pope’s argument would also apply to that issue. but i am also now contemplating his final conclusion - that change around anti-miscegenation laws did not solely come from arguing the illogic of it but from society adjusting their irrational response. i suspect the same is occurring with homosexuality, but if proposition 8 passes it merely says that the process will take some more time.
update: the absentee ballots are not likely to reverse the expected outcome on this measure.
update: keith olbermann spoke out on this very topic at msnbc on nov 10th, now on youtube, worth watching.
i’m addicted to watching the polls and betting sites this election. i have never been so engaged and obsessed with an election. i voted early. tomorrow i’ll probably take part of the day off just to watch the exit polls. it’s driving me crazy.
but one issue local to california has long reaching effects across the country, and i’d ask you to consider supporting this or calling any family or friends you have in california to talk about it. it is the proposition to make same-sex marriage unconstitutional in california. it amazes me that the california legislature takes a 2/3rds vote to change the constitution, but a proposition only needs 1/2 to do the same.
this proposition is neck and neck and out-of-state funds are pouring into both sides. i’m strongly against the proposition — i feel it is as discriminating as segregation was in the south only fifty years ago. and for the very same reasons why segregation is considered immoral now, we should all view discrimination against same-sex couples just as immoral and unconstitutional.
but we’re at the turning point of that general sentiment. the younger generation feels overwhelmingly as i do and the older generation not as much. you could say it is only a matter of time before this country swings in support of same-sex marriage permanently. why wait. let us collectively make that move now. the discrimination needs to stop.
the rand corporation released a study today linking teen pregnancy with what kind of television teens watch. but really, aren’t we just finding correlation between how horny the teens are and what else they like? so here’s my second video blog entry and what i think about questionable studies like these.