Friday, October 31, 2008

They're just mad cuz Black people are better at EVERYTHING

Angry racist Spaniards take out thier inferiority complex on Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton subject of racist abuse ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix
The ugly head of Spanish racism has returned to blight Lewis Hamilton's world championship challenge in Brazil.


By Kevin Garside and Simon Arron
Last Updated: 5:25PM GMT 31 Oct 2008




Thousands have targeted Hamilton on a voodoo style website, taunting him about the colour of his skin in a vile campaign that reprised the abuse he received at the start of the year in Barcelona.

More than 16,000 racist messages using terms like "nigger" and "half-breed" have been posted on a Spanish website.

It encourages visitors to leave imaginary nails for Hamilton on a computer mock-up of the Interlagos racetrack. Spanish fans of Hamilton's rival, Fernando Alonso, are believed to be behind the outrage. One, calling himself David, left a message saying: "---- you -------. Monkey."

Another, dubbed Hamilton a conguito – a type of chocolate sweet with racist overtones – and wrote: "Conguito, you are going to die."

One left a nail out near the finishing line on lap 12. Other messages read: "Half-breed, kill yourself in your car," and "I hope you run over your dad in the first pit stop, Hamilton."

Formula One's ruling body, the FIA, who launched an anti-racism campaign following the abuse that Hamilton received at the hands of fans with
blacked-out faces during the Barcelona test in February, condemned the latest attack.

A spokesman said: "Discrimination and prejudice have no place in sport and society. Everybody in our sport will join us in condemning these abusive, hateful comments."

A spokesman for Hamilton's team, McLaren, said: "McLaren was one of the earliest supporters of the FIA's 'Every Race' campaign. We echo the position of the FIA in response to this latest episode."

Hamilton was booed and racially abused as he tested a new car in Barcelona in February. England's footballers were subjected to racist chants during a friendly against Spain at Real Madrid's Bernabeu Stadium in 2004. Sections of the Spanish crowd made monkey chants when Ashley Cole, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Jermaine Jenas touched the ball.

The same year former Spanish coach Luis Aragones was fined more than £2,000 for making racist remarks about Arsenal player Thierry Henry.

From Telegraph.co.uk

Soulja Boy gets Supermanned



Last week in Atlanta, I got to interview Soulja Boy Tell Em. I found out just how young he really is. He was one of about ten rappers I interviewed in one day for my BET show, The Black Carpet. I decided it'd be fun to give all the rappers part of the Proust questionnaire. I thought it'd be a way to get beyond image and into who they really are. Most of the guys gave good, thoughtful, intelligent, sensitive answers. I asked Juelz Santana, “How would you like to die?” He said, "Loved."
Then came Soulja Boy Tell Em. I asked him, “What historical figure do you most hate?” He was stumped. I said, "Others have said Hitler, bin Laden, the slave masters..." He said, "Oh wait! Hold up! Shout out to the slave masters! Without them we'd still be in Africa."
My jaw, at this point, was on the ground."We wouldn't be here," he continued, having no idea how far in it he'd stepped, "to get this ice and tattoos."
Wow. Never mind that diamonds come from Africa. Never mind that there were many generations of pain in between leaving Africa and getting diamonds. Never mind that the long-term cataclysmic effects of subtracting about tens of millions of young, strong people from Africa over the course of a couple of centuries is a large part of the reason why Africa now appears so distasteful to you. Never mind all that, Soulja Boy. You put country first.


Rare dragon-like reptile found breeding in New Zealand for the first time in 200 years


By Daily Mail ReporterLast updated at 9:27 AM on 31st October 2008

A rare dragon-like reptile with lineage dating back to the dinosaur age has been found nesting on the New Zealand mainland for the first time in about 200 years, officials said.
Four leathery, white eggs from an indigenous tuatara, which once roused fears of extinction, were discovered today by staff at the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary in Wellington, conservation manager Rouen Epson said.
'The nest was uncovered by accident and is the first concrete proof we have that our tuatara are breeding,' Epson said.

Rare: Tuatara are the last descendants of a species that walked the earth with the dinosaurs 225 million years ago
'It suggests that there may be other nests in the sanctuary we don't know of.'
Tuatara, dragon-like reptiles that grow to up to 32 inches (80 centimeters), are the last descendants of a species that walked the earth with the dinosaurs 225 million years ago, zoologists say.
They have unique characteristics, such as two rows of top teeth closing over one row at the bottom.
They also have a pronounced 'third eye' on the top of their skull. This white patch of light-sensitive skin - called its parietal eye - slowly disappears as they mature.
A native species to New Zealand, tuatara were nearly extinct on the country's three main islands by the late 1700s due to the introduction of predators such as rats.

Hope: The discovery of the four rare eggs is 'concrete proof' that the tuatara are breeding and suggests there are more nests undiscovered in the sanctuary
They still live in the wild on 32 small offshore islands cleared of predators.
A population of 70 tuatara was established at the Karori Sanctuary in 2005. Another 130 were released in the sanctuary in 2007.
The sanctuary, a 620-acre (250-hectare) wilderness minutes from downtown Wellington, was established to breed native birds, insects and other creatures securely behind a predator-proof fence.
Empson said that the four eggs - the size of pingpong balls - are likely the first of a larger number because the average nest contains around ten eggs.
The eggs were immediately covered up again to avoid disturbing incubation.
If all goes well, juvenile tuatara could hatch any time between now and March, Empson said.

the GRE is such bullshit

First of all its a glorified vocab test. Which is fine, except I don't really know how this measures a person's aptitutde, and I HATE bullshit. I know that the test is a BIG bullshit meter. And when you take it you get the impression that you're getting a snow job. But that's not even my issue today...
WHY is it SO hard to retrieve any information?
First of all you have to pay $12 more dollars on a $140 test just to hear your scores. WTF.
Then, as if I kept the test date and registration number stored somewhere useful like my BlackBerry, I need that to listen in the first place. And if I don't have these things I'm SOL. But if I don't report that last test to my schools (even though I have a second pending...) they'll get mad. So I called the place where I took the test, but they don't answer. I called the GRE hotline, but it's looping about it can't talk to me cuz my SSN is NOT enough information. Why do I have to do this again? All this and i PAID for it. OMG I better find this stupid piece of paper with my scores on it. I wish I had cared a little bit more the last time I looked at it.


just venting.

Monday, October 27, 2008

IF YOU DON'T MAKE THIS AN ISSUE YOUR VOTE WON'T COUNT!

W. Virginia Gives E-Voting VP an Award While Machines Malfunction
By Kim Zetter EmailOctober 27, 2008 | 2:19:04 PMCategories: E-Voting, Election '08

Betty_ireland_2 A day after West Virginia secretary of state Betty Ireland held a press conference to address vote-switching problems with touchscreen voting machines made by Election Systems & Software, she presented an award of merit to an ES&S vice president, who had abruptly and mysteriously left the company in May after 11 years of service, according to the Charleston Gazette.

Gary Greenhalgh, as ES&S's vice president of sales, helped the company win a $17-million contract to supply machines to West Virginia in 2005 and was the company's point person for dealing with election officials until he left ES&S.

Last week, Ireland gave him a Medallion Award from the National Association of Secretaries of State at a special ceremony. The award came the same week that voters in several West Virginia counties reported that ES&S's iVotronic touchscreen machines were flipping their votes from Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to Republican rival John McCain. Ireland addressed the problem by directing the 34 West Virginia counties that use the touchscreen machines to re-calibrate them each morning during early voting and on election day.

At the ceremony honoring Greenhalgh, Ireland said the Medallion Award was given to people who have "established a very distinctive record in areas including responsible citizenship, voter registration, use of technology and service to local elected officials and county government."

Ireland seemed less satisfied with Greenhalgh's record two years ago, when she filed a formal complaint against ES&S with the federal Election Assistance Commission, the body that oversees federal testing and certification of voting machines. She called for an audit of the company's contractual performance.

The complaint charged ES&S with failing to program and deliver voting machines to county officials in time for testing before that year's May primary, forcing some counties to fall back to paper ballots. ES&S failed to provide accessible voting machines to counties by the time early voting in the primary began, despite promises that the machines would be supplied months earlier. That delay put the state in violation of a federal law that required every voting precinct in the country to have at least one accessible voting machine for disabled voters by January 1, 2006 elections.

"I am more than upset that our county clerks and their staffs and the county commissions had to withstand stress and anxiety over the broken promises and delays ES&S put them through," Ireland said in a press release (.pdf) at the time. "The county election officials are to be commended for their valor and hard work above and beyond the call of duty."

She also said in the statement that "ES&S was chosen to provide West Virginia's voting machines partly based on its local connection, its past service in the state, and its knowledge of West Virginia election deadlines and procedures. Unfortunately, we now feel ES&S let West Virginia down."

The "local connection" refers in part to Greenhalgh, who lives in West Virginia with his wife.

Greenhalgh has been the source of specific frustration in Kanawha County, West Virginia, where he and the company are accused of repeatedly missing deadlines and making mistakes on voting materials.

Threat Level obtained a series of letters and faxes (.pdf) the county's commissioners sent to Greenhalgh in 2006 complaining about repeated delays, broken promises and poor equipment. In one fax to Greenhalgh, Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper complained that a printer ES&S provided for the county's central tabulation system must have come from a "Cracker Jacks" box.

The county uses optical-scan machines made by ES&S as well as its AutoMark system for disabled voters. The AutoMark provides a touchscreen, Braille keyboard and audio feed for voters and produces a paper ballot that is scanned through an optical reader.

Greenhalgh is a former Federal Election Commission official and was largely responsible for creating the voting system standards that were developed in the 1980s that were used for testing and certifying Diebold and ES&S voting systems, as well as others, for two decades.

In the late 1970's, long before he went to work for ES&S, Greenhalgh helped organize election officials to lobby Congress to amend the Federal Election Campaign Act to establish the standards. He personally pushed the amendment into conference in the Senate and then hired the person who wrote the standards, Bob Naegele. He did this, ironically, to address problems that election officials were having with voting machine vendors who would sell their machines to states then fail to provide adequate customer service afterward or go out of business.

Neither Greenhalgh nor ES&S responded to a call for comment from Threat Level, but in 2004 I interviewed Greenhalgh about the voting system standards and he explained the motivation for establishing them.

"A number of us got together and said that we need to come up with baseline national standards that everyone needs to meet so that we don't have election officials victimized by these small companies that didn't have any real interest in staying in the business and making things work correctly," he said.

With regard to Greenhalgh's recent departure from ES&S, the Charleston Gazette reports that neither Greenhalgh nor ES&S would discuss the reason for his leaving the company. His wife, Jane Greenhalgh, is now project director for ES&S in West Virginia, but when the Gazette asked him whether his wife worked for ES&S, Greenhalgh replied, "I have no idea" and refused to answer any questions.

Reminiscent of the complaints against her husband, Jane Greenhalgh received her own complaint from Kanawha County this month after officials discovered that an ES&S sub-contractor had misprogrammed voting machine PCMCIA cards ahead of a state Supreme Court race. The programming error would have caused the machines to mis-record votes when a voter opted to vote a straight Republican ticket, but chose one Democratic candidate in the Supreme Court race. The state had to have the PCMCIA cards re-programmed quickly to keep Democratic votes from being discarded.

In a fax (.doc) sent from Commission president Kent Carper to Jane Greenhalgh about a week before her husband received his award, Carper wrote that he continued to be "amazed at the lack of attention on the part of ES&S, not only to Kanawha County, but the entire State of West Virginia."

Carper writes that the change in leadership that occurred when Jane Greenhalgh replaced her husband as ES&S's representative in West Virginia "has not improved the lack of commitment made by ES&S to this State."

Carper told Threat Level, "When you spend the kind of tax dollars that we spent on these machines, you shouldn't have programming errors the day before early voting starts. You shouldn't have cards fail."

For his part, Gary Greenhalgh didn't completely leave the ES&S fold after he left the company in May. According to the Charleston Gazette, he now works as a regional account manager for Casto & Harris, Inc., the subcontractor that misprogrammed the PCMCIA cards in the Supreme Court race. It's not known who was responsible for calibrating the touchscreen machines that were flipping votes last week.

Casto & Harris did not respond to a call for comment.

Ireland's office did not respond to a call for comment, but the secretary of state is expected to hold a press conference Monday afternoon to address issues about the election and ES&S.

UPDATE: Greenhalgh has now responded to the message I left him this morning. He says the Charleston Gazette got it wrong and he does not work for Casto & Harris. He had been talking with the company recently about going to work for it, but decided he wanted out of the election business entirely. He's now looking to get back into the federal government and has interviewed for a congressional staff position as well as a position with the U.S. Census Bureau.

Greenhalgh also said that he and ES&S parted on amicable terms and he left the company only because he felt he'd accomplished all he wanted to after eleven years.

As for the award that Ireland gave him on behalf of the National Association of Secretaries of State, he said it was a belated award for the work he did in 1979 to convince Congress to create voting system standards.

Barack & Curtis: Manhood, Power & Respect

Friday, October 24, 2008

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Carl Sagan on DNA

It's this kind of stuff that made me a scientist



thanks Sagan

Napoleon Dolemite

ass on an ass

Vote for Democrats.
even Palin agrees that the Republican party isn't worth voting for... look at her scarf...

$55 from here to LA?! GIVE ME MY BULLET TRAIN!

Dude. Seriously. $55 to LA... AND it's only 2.5 hours. I probably won't even be living in CA by the time this is finished but I want it. Vote for it dammit!!!!



Fate of America's First Bullet Train Rests With California Voters
By Dave Demerjian

High-speed rail advocates in California have long dreamed of the day when bullet trains would revolutionize transportation, and they're counting on voters to pony up nearly $10 billion to bankroll what would be the nation's first true high-speed rail line.
Proponents have been pushing high-speed rail for 25 years and always fallen short. But they say a confluence of events -- rising fuel prices, gridlocked roads, jammed airports and concern about global warming -- present the best chance yet to bring bullet trains to America. "We have a perfect storm ... those four factors make a perfect case for high-speed rail," Ron Diridion of the state's High Speed Rail Authority, recently told the San Francisco Chronicle.
We've heard this before. There once was talk of a bullet train between Los Angeles and San Diego, and of a line linking L.A. and Las Vegas. Both were shot down. Will things be any different this time, and will America finally follow Europe and Japan in embracing high-speed rail? If it does, it will require changing how we live and how our cities grow.
Proposition 1A would authorize $9.95 billion in bonds to finance the first phase of an 800-mile high-speed rail line that would connect the San Francisco Bay Area with Los Angeles. Several transportation, environmental and business groups say it would offer a faster, cheaper and greener travel while easing the strain on California's notoriously backed-up highways and airports. Trains would make the 400-mile run between the two cities at about 220 mph (considerably faster than the 150 mph top speed attained by the Acela Express linking Washington, D.C. with Boston). The trip would take about 2 1/2 hours and cost riders $55, according to the High Speed Rail Authority.
The project is expected to cost $32 billion, with extensions to San Diego and Sacramento adding another $10 billion. State officials are banking on taxpayers, Uncle Sam and private investors sharing the costs equally. Construction could begin as early as 2011 and trains might be running by 2020. Advocates claim the largest public works project in state history would create as many as 160,000 construction jobs and spur 400,000 more jobs once the system is up and running.
Some opponents warn the final tab could be closer to $80 billion. Regardless of the final cost, taxpayer advocates and the California Chamber of Commerce argue California can't afford it. Repaying the $9.95 billion bond issue over 30 years would cost $19.4 billion, with annual payments hitting $647 million. That's a lot of coin for a state that already spends 6.1-percent of its budget on debt service. Opponents also say final tab might be closer to $80 billion. Even some rail advocates and transportation experts say the current proposal would never work.
"It's technologically impossible to do what the High Speed Rail Authority claims can be done, for any amount of money," Prof. James Moore, director of the transportation engineering program at the University of Southern California, told the Los Angeles Times. "When it comes to predicting the actual cost of systems like this, I just say a zillion and leave it at that."
Voters may be leery of spending any money, given the state of the economy, the collapse of Wall Street and California's budget deficit. And then there's the fact a Metrolink commuter train crashed in L.A. last month, killing 25 people. That could make the high-speed line a tough sell.
Of course, it isn't enough to simply build a high-speed rail line. As the Chronicle notes this morning, if bullet trains are going to work here like they do in Europe and Japan, California -- and, by extension, America -- must develop and live in denser cities while expanding public transportation. "It's a lifestyle change we're talking about," Noriyuki Shikata of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs says. "It affects how people lead their lives."
It remains to be seen whether people are pony up for high-speed rail, let alone make the changes that might be needed to ensure its success, but polls show the proposition passing by a slim margin.
Post updated 11:45 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. PST.
Image by California High Speed Rail Authority.

Monday, October 20, 2008

i can has internets fame!



LOLcat art show space announcedGreat news!
The first-ever LOLcat art show I am curating in tangent with Icanhascheezburger.com has a home!
The show opens on Thursday October 23rd, 2008 - 7-9:30pm - at Varnish Fine Art (77 Natoma Street, San Francisco).
For more info: www.thelolarts.com


you eated my cheezburger.

=( Dolemite died

You can probably vote EARLY and avoid any voter FRAUD

However, the information about voting early is a little difficult to find. Especially if you're not an internet adept, or if you have a terrible SOS website (Washington, blech!).
So, to help people out, I dug through the SOS websites for all of the battleground states and a few of the big blue states (where people could definitely vote early and then volunteer). Below, I have listed by state
The state's SOS website
The states policies for early/absentee voting
The dates when you can vote early
A basic "how to", with links to needed documents and voting locations.
Important notes about the information:In a lot of states there is no "early" voting, but there is absentee voting. In some of these states, you must "qualify" for absentee voting. Don't be discouraged. Volunteering on election day is a perfectly legitimate reason to vote absentee.Also, in these states, even though there is no "early voting" option, there is a quick way to vote early. You can vote absentee in person by filing out the absentee application in the polling office and then immediately voting. Good deal!
Before we get to the info, I would like to mention two quick things. First, in order to vote early, you must first be registered. Please go to voteforchange.com to make sure that your registration is correct and up-to-date. The deadline for registration is fast approaching. Please encourage your friends/acquaintances/anyone you know to do so as well. Nothing is worse that getting to your polling place and being unable to vote. Second, please encourage those same people to vote early, and possibly do some volunteering work on election day.
Californiawww.ss.ca.gov/elections/elections.htmCalifornia has early voting and mail-in voting. In California anyone can vote early.Voting Window: County dependentHow to:
You can vote early in person at any of your county voting locations. Times and dates vary (and are not posted yet in some cases) by county. You can find your specific county information here.
Anyone can apply for a mail-in ballot. Vote by mail = absentee voting. Fill out the vote by mail application found here and mail it to your local county elections office, info found here. Starting October 7th, they will begin to mail ballots to the address at which you are registered to vote. You can then mail in your ballot.
Coloradowww.elections.colorado.gov/Default.aspxColorado has early voting and mail-in voting. In Colorado anyone can vote early.Voting Window: October 20th-October 31st (in person) or now- November 3rd (vote by mail)How to:
You can vote early in person by going to any of your valid county voting locations. To find times and locations for your county, you should check your local county website found here
Anyone can apply for a mail-in ballot. Vote by mail = absentee voting. Fill out the vote by mail application. I can't link directly to the application. Go here and open the "Mail-in ballot Application" link and mail it to your local county elections office, info found here. They will mail ballots to the address at which you are registered to vote. You can then mail in your ballot.
Floridahttp://election.dos.state.fl.us/Florida has early voting and mail-in voting. In Florida anyone can vote early.Voting Window: October 20th-November 1stst (in person) or now- Nov 4th (vote by mail)How to:
You can vote early in person by going to any of your valid county voting locations. Locations and voting hours vary by county, check with your Supervisor of Elections website which can be found here
Anyone can apply for a mail-in ballot. Vote by mail = absentee voting. You must request your vote by mail application directly from you Supervisor of elections found here . A registered voter may request an absentee ballot by telephone, mail, email, fax, or in person, to be mailed to or picked by the voter. They will mail ballots to the address at which you are registered to vote. You can then mail in your ballot.
Georgiahttp://sos.georgia.gov/...Georgia has early voting and absentee voting. In Georgia anyone can vote early.Voting Window: October 27th-October 31stst (in person) or now-November 4th (absentee voting)How to:
To vote early, you must go to an advance voting office, and fill out an application. You will then be issued a ballot that must be filled out and cast while you are in the office. Locations and times are county dependent and can be found here.
Anyone can apply for an absentee ballot. You must fill out the application here . You can then either
i) Fill it out at one of your country registrar offices, information found here, and vote immediately.ii) Or fill it out and mail it in to your county here .They will mail ballots to the address at which you are registered to vote. You can then mail in your ballot.
Illinoiswww.elections.il.gov/Illinois has early voting and mail-in voting. In Illinois anyone can vote early.Voting Window: October 14th-October 30th (in person) or now- November 4th (vote by mail)How to:
You can vote early in person by going to any of the early voting centers across the state. I cannot find any information on the locations yet. You should seek information from your county websites found here
Anyone can apply for an absentee ballot. The applications can be found at your local county clerks office found here. You can then either
i) Fill it out at one of your country registrar offices and vote immediately. This can be done from September 30th – November 3rd.ii) Or fill it out and mail it in to your county clerk's office.They will mail ballots to the address at which you are registered to vote. You can then mail in your ballot. This can be done from September 30th – October 30th.
Indianahttp://www.in.gov/...Indiana has absentee in person voting and absentee mail-in voting. In Indiana anyone can vote early.Voting Window: October 6th-November 3rd (in person) or now- November 3rd (vote by mail)How to:
All registered voters in Indiana are eligible to vote absentee-in-person at the county election board office. To do so, you must fill out an application to vote absentee in person (weird, eh?) found here and bring it to your local county clerk's office (found in the same link) where you will be able to vote.
To vote absentee by mail, you must check off one of the reasons why you cannot make it to the polls. You must fill out the application found here and return it (mailed, faxed, or hand delivered) to your local county election board (found in the same link) by October 27th. They will mail ballots to the address at which you are registered to vote. You can then mail in your ballot.
Iowawww.sos.state.ia.us/index.htmIowa has absentee in person voting and absentee mail-in voting. You must qualify to vote absentee.An absentee ballot can be requested for one of these reasons:-When, during the time the polls are open on Election Day, the voter expects to be absent from the precinct in which he/she is a registered voter.-When, through illness or physical disability, the voter expects to be prevented from going to the polls and voting on Election Day.-When the voter expects to be unable to go to the polls and vote on Election DayVoting Window: September 25th - ??How To:
Any qualified voter may vote early in person by completing the absentee ballot application, found here, at his County Auditor’s Office. Office locations can be found here here.
Or you can fill out the form and mail it to the County Auditor's Office. They will mail ballots to the address at which you are registered to vote. You can then mail in your ballot.
Mainewww.maine.gov/cgi-bin/online/AbsenteeBallot/index.pl
Michiganwww.michigan.gov/sos/0,1607,7-127-1633---,00.htmThere is absentee voting in Michigan.To qualify for absentee voting you must be:-Age 60 or older-Unable to vote without assistance at the polls-Expecting to be out of town on election day (eg VOLUNTEERING!)-There are a few other optionsVoting Window: now-November 4thHow to:
You can request an absentee ballot by filling in the form found here. . This should then be mailed to your local clerk's office found here. It must arrive by October 31st. They will mail you a ballot which you must then return to vote.
Minnesotawww.sos.state.mn.us/home/index.asp?page=4Minnesota has absentee voting in-person and by mail.Voting Window: October 6th-??How to:
If you complete the absentee voter application at a state registrar's office, you can then immediately vote at the same office. Registrar locations here. They should have copies at the registrar's office, but you can still look at/print out an online copy here.
Or you can fill out the application and mail it to the state registrar's office. They will send you a ballot which you must then return to vote.
Missouriwww.sos.mo.gov/elections/s_default.asp?id=votingMissouri has absentee voting by mail and in person. In order to be able to vote absentee, one must fulfill one of various criteria such as: Absence on Election Day from the jurisdiction of the election authority in which such voter is registered to vote (due to, say, volunteering).Voting Window: In person now-Nov. 3rd. Absentee ballot requests by mail must be received by October 30th.How to:
If you complete the absentee voter application at a county clerk's office, you can then immediately vote at the same office. Information on locations here. They should have copies at the registrar's office, but you can still look at/print out an online copy here.
Or you can fill out the application and mail it to the state registrar's office. They will send you a ballot which you must then return to vote.
NOTE: Voters requesting an absentee ballot by mail who have registered by mail and have not voted in person are required to submit a copy of their personal identification unless they provided a copy with their registration application.
Montanahttp://sos.mt.gov/...In Montana absentee voting = early voting. Anyone can vote absentee.Voting Window: absentee in-person now-September 25th by-mail now-November 3rd*I am little perplexed by the voting window here, and would suggest you call the free voting hotline to confirm the dates 1-888-884-VOTE (8683)How to:
If you complete the absentee voter application at a state registrar's office, you can then immediately vote at the same office. Registrar locations here. They should have copies at the registrar's office, but you can still look at/print out an online copy here.
Or you can mail the form to your local registrar's office and they will send you a ballot.
Nevadahttp://sos.state.nv.us/...Nevada has early voting and absentee voting options available to any person.Voting Window: Early voting is October 18th to October 31st. Absentee voting now-November 4th.How to:
Voters can vote at any location in their respective county where early voting is offered. Hours and locations vary from county to county. You can check with your local county website here.
Any registered voter may request to vote by mail. To request an absentee ballot, you must complete and submit an absentee ballot request form, which may be obtained from your local county election official. You can find county information here. The absentee ballot request must be submitted by October 28th. They will then send you a ballot which you must submit by election day.
New Hampshirehttp://www.sos.nh.gov/...New Hampshire has absentee voting. You must qualify to be able to vote absentee, by (for example) being out of the county on election day volunteering.Voting Window: October 3rd -November 3rd.How to:
You must complete the absentee ballot application found here and return it to your town or city clerk, locations found here. I could not tell if there is the possibility to fill out the form at the clerk's office and vote at the same time. You might want to call to inquire.
New Jerseywww.njelections.orgNew Jersey has absentee voting in-person and by-mail for any voter.Voting Window: now-November 3rdHow to:
If you complete the absentee voter application at a county clerk's office, you can then immediately vote at the same office. County Clerk's office locations here. They should have copies at the clerks's office, but you can still look at/print out an online copy here.
Or you can mail the form to your local registrar's office and they will send you a ballot. You must submit the application by October 27th.
New Mexicohttp://www.sos.state.nm.us/...New Mexico has early voting and absentee voting available to all voters.Voting Window: Early voting October 6th-November 1st. Absentee voting now-Nov 4thHow to:
You may go to your county clerk's office to vote early County clerk locations found here here.
Early voting begins on October 18th at alternate sites. Call your county clerk for locations, contact information here . Alternate sites for early voting are open from 12:00 Noon until 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The sites are open from 10:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. on Saturdays. They are closed on Sunday and Monday.
Any registered voter may request to vote by mail. To request an absentee ballot, you must complete and submit an absent ballotee request form, found here. Then mail your request to your county clerk. Find your county clerk here. The absentee ballot request must be submitted by October 31st. They will then send you a ballot which you must submit by election day.
New Yorkhttp://www.elections.state.ny.us/New York has absentee voting in-person and by mail. You must qualify to vote absentee in New York, by (for example) being "unavoidably absent from your county on Election Day" while volunteering.Voting Window: In person October 5th – November 3rd.How to:
If you complete the absentee voter application at your county board of elections, you can then immediately vote at the same location. Board of election locations here. They should have copies at the board of election's office, but you can still look at/print out an online copy here.
Or you can fill out the application and mail it to the county board of elections. The application must be received by October 28th. They will send you a ballot which you must then return to vote.
North Carolinahttp://www.sboe.state.nc.us/Any registered voter may vote early in person with "One Stop Early Voting." Any registered voter may vote early by mail.Voting Window: Early voting October 16th-October 31st. Absentee by mail now – November 3rd.How to:
To use this process, a citizen must (1) go to a One-Stop Voting Site in the county of residence during the One Stop Absentee Voting period, (2) fill out a voter registration application, and (3) provide proof of residency by showing the elections official an appropriate form of identification with the citizen’s current name and current address. To find your local one-stop voting location, contact your county board of elections here.
Any registered North Carolina voter can request an absentee ballot from his/her respective county board of elections prior to the last Tuesday before the election. County board of election information can be found here.
*A handwritten absentee ballot request must include:Name of voterResidential Address of voterMailing Address of voter (if different from residential address)Date of Birth of voterSignature of voter or near relative (indicate relationship with voter)I suspect there is a standard form somewhere.
Ohiohttp://www.sos.state.oh.us/...Ohio has absentee in-person and by-mail voting available to all voters.Voting Window: September 30th – November 3rd.How to:
If you complete the absentee voter application at your county board of elections, you can then immediately vote at the same location. Board of election locations here.
They should have copies at the board's office, but you can still look at/print out an online copy here.SPECIAL NOTE: Voter registration goes until October 6th. From September 30th – October 6th you can register to vote and vote early all at once!
Or you can fill out the application and mail it to the county board of elections. The application must be received by October 31st. They will send you a ballot which you must then return to vote.
Pennsylvaniahttp://www.dos.state.pa.us/...Pennsylvania has absentee by mail. You must qualify to vote absentee in Pennsylvania, by (for example) "expecting to be absent election day" while volunteering. I was not able to determine if there is absentee voting in person.Voting Window: now – November 3rd.How to:
An application for absentee ballot, found here must be filled out and returned to your County Election Offices by October 28th . County Election Office locations found here. They will send you a ballot which you must then return to vote.
Texas:
Offical Site
Early Voting in person-
Early voting in person may be easier than you think. You don't have to stand in long lines on Election Day. Registered voters may vote early at a location convenient to them within their political subdivision. Early voting in person generally starts 17 days before each election and ends 4 days before each election.
Early Voting by mail-
You may vote early by mail if you are:
* going to be away from your county on Election Day and during early voting;* sick or disabled;* 65 years of age or older on Election Day; or* confined in jail, but eligible to vote.
Virgina:www.sbe.virginia.gov/cms/Index.htmlVirginia has in-person and by-mail absentee voting. You must qualify to vote absentee, by (for example) "being absent from the county or city" due to volunteering.Voting Window: September 20th-November 1stHow to:
If you complete the absentee voter application at a state registrar's office, you can then immediately vote at the same office. Registrar locations here.
They should have copies at the registrar's office, but you can still look at/print out an online copy here.
Or you can fill out the form and mail it to your local registrar's office. They will then mail you a ballot.
Washingtonhttp://www.secstate.wa.gov/...In Washington any registered voter may vote early by mail.Voting Window: October 15th to November 4thHow to:
An absentee ballot may be requested from the voter's County Auditor's Office by phone, mail, fax, electronically, or in person. Absentee ballots are available 20 days before each election. Contact information for each County Auditor's Office is available here. Absentee ballots must be postmarked or delivered to the county election officer on or before Election Day
Wisconsinhttp://elections.state.wi.us/Wisconsin has in-person and by-mail absentee voting. Any registered voter may request an absentee ballot.Voting window: now-November 3rd.How to:
If you complete the absentee voter application at your municipal clerk's office, you can then immediately vote at the same office. Clerk's office locations here.
They should have copies at the clerk's office, but you can still look at/print out an online copy here.
Or you can fill out the form and mail it to your local registrar's office. The request must be received by October 30th. They will then mail you a ballot.



***vote early, vote often.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

oh i'm pretty sure i CAN get you to stfu... heh

flavor tripping hipsters!



being that I'm half hipster, I wanna go to the next one.

cuz only on sesame street


James Earl Jones


Richard Pryor

Friday, October 17, 2008

stopping to see the plants








okra
cannibus sativa
bolinas
bamboo
red maple

obama being awesome (ly funny)

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Neal Hefti, Jazz Musician and Composer of the Batman Theme, Dies

by Jon Azpiri | October 15, 2008 at 09:39 am

Musician Neal Hefti died in Los Angeles at the age of 85. An accomplished trumpet player and composer, Hefti is best-known for having written the theme song to the hit 1960s TV series "Batman".

The catchy song was a Top 40 hit and won a Grammy Award in 1966 for best instrumental theme. Although the theme featured a simple chord progression and the lyrics contained just one word, Hefti struggled writing the song.

It was, Hefti later said, the hardest piece of music he ever wrote.

"I tore up a lot of paper," he told Jon Burlingame, author of "TV's Biggest Hits," a 1996 book on television themes. "It did not come easy to me. . . . I just sweated over that thing, more so than any other single piece of music I ever wrote. I was never satisfied with it."

"Batman," he said, "was not a comedy. This was about unreal people. Batman and Robin were both very, very serious. The bad guys would be chasing them, and they would come to a stop at a red light, you know. They wouldn't break the law even to save their own lives. So there was a grimness and a self-righteousness about all this."

Hefti said it took him "the better part of a month" to come up with the theme.

"I was almost going to call them and say, I can't do it," he said. "But I never walk out on projects, so I sort of forced myself to finish."

Hefti's "musical solution to a combined dramatic and comedic problem," Burlingame wrote in his book, "was perfect: bass guitar, low brass and percussion to create a driving rhythm, while an eight-voice chorus sings 'Batman!' in harmony with the trumpets. It was part serious, part silly: just like the series."
Source: latimes.com

In addition, Hefti composed music for films such as "Harlow" (which featured “Girl Talk,” one of his best-known songs), "How to Murder Your Wife," "Barefoot in the Park," and “The Odd Couple,” which was later used in the 1970s TV series.

Prior to working in Hollywood, Hefti was an accomplished jazz trumpeter and arranger, having worked with the likes Woody Herman, Frank Sinatra, and Count Basie. Hefti's song "Lil' Darlin'" is considered a jazz standard, having been recorded by Basie and dozens of other jazz artists.

Poverty in Haiti Spawns Child Slavery

Russian Military building strength & ties with Venezuela

part 1


part 2

Earthquake Simulation

Although this is effin SCARY, I do like how Oakland is the center of the world.

McCain Gets knocked off Youtube because of the very law he opposed

Remember "The Fair Use Act"?
Yeah the one that if you oppose it you call anyone who does a mash up a pirate?
The same law that McCain wanted to stifle because he felt that using anyone's media without thier permission was against the law? Well The Fair Use Act claims that if you meet 4 requirements you should be able to use the media;
1. You are not using it for profit (not violating copyright laws)
2. Must be factual
3. the extent of the use of the material and
4. impact will be reviewed


McCain posted a video in July called "Can't take my eyes off of you" (a video about the internets' obsession with Obama) with the song as the background music for satire, and The Warner Music Group posted a take down notice for McCains video for copyright violation. Now McCain is claiming the Fair Use Act, that he should be able to use the song (and the various clips) without permission because it falls inthe categories listed. That's kinda ironic dontcha think?

I think it's awesome that he got blocked from Youtube. We would have flagged it anyway, but not the point. If you vote against our bill you shouldn't be able to use it.

So anyway my message to McCain is this: this is what happens when you run dirty campaign. We hate you and your racist followers. We'll go to everyone of your events with Obama shirts on and out chant you and post it on yourtube with our camera phones. We'll boo your friends at hockey games and embarass you on a global scale. We will boo you off the Youtube stage. And don't be fooled old man, the Youtube stage is the biggest most important stage in the world.



citation

Bonobo Monkey's and Social Intelligence

palin as president dot com

its hilarious

palinaspresident.com

thanks khari

Feeling Lucky? The Odds of a President Palin
Unlikely" events happen every day, but we're not good at factoring them into decisions. Normally we disregard events if the odds are less than 50-50--unless the result is extreme, such as a plane crash or hitting the lotto, when we often treat it as far more probable than it really is.

As a result, there's a disconnect in the current dialogue about the odds of Alaska Governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin becoming President if the Republicans win November's election.

People being people, her detractors view that prospect with such alarm that they may overstate the chances of its actually happening, while her supporters tend to view it as both acceptable and unlikely.

Political passions aside (and without wishing any ill on John McCain), how likely is it, really?

One way to look at is simple: Of the 42 Presidents, nine were VPs who succeeded to office unexpectedly. But that doesn't address the question for several reasons, including that some of those Presidents served multiple terms, and that factors such as scandal and assassination are too random to forecast from previous examples.

The most neutral analysis is based on simple math, the same sort that life insurance companies use to calculate premiums. And although actuaries can argue about all sorts of factors that would change the basic mortality table calculations (cancer history vs. high quality health care), the Social Security Administration's statistics would tell you that the odds of McCain dying in the next four years are about 1 chance in 6 or 7.

That may seem to put the event into the "safely disregard" category. But, to remind you how much that reaction depends on the potential result, think about whether you'd be willing to pull the trigger in just one round of Russian Roulette. Your odds of a very bad day are about the same as those of an early end to a McCain first term.

To put the question into a more helpful context, let's look at everyday events that have about the same odds as soon swearing in President Palin:

-Kobe Bryant hitting two consecutive three-point attempts.

-On your next try, pulling a red M&M out of the bag.

-A rainy day in El Paso or San Diego. (A first-term President Palin would be twice as likely as a rainy day in Los Angeles.)

-That you will be delayed on two consecutive flights into Newark Airport.

-Escaping jail in Monopoly by rolling a double.

-That your birthday falls on a Wednesday.

-That, during a full inning of a Major League Baseball game, one of the teams hits a home run.

-That a hurricane hits Louisiana in any given year.

-That a flipped coin comes up heads three times in a row.

-That the next car you see will be black. A first term presidential funeral is more likely than the next car you see being blue, red, green or brown; it is only less likely than the next one being silver or white.

-That any three consecutive traffic lights you hit will all be red.

Speaking of red, if the country does go that way again, a first term Alaskan President is more probable than you are of catching the flu next winter or sharing a Zodiac sign with a stranger. It is also:

-Three times more likely than being dealt a 21 in Blackjack.

-Four times as likely as the next car you see being a convertible.

-Five times as likely as a woman having twins.

-Seven times more likely than meeting someone with green eyes.

-Eight times more likely than being waited on by a redhead.

Lastly, one unlikely-but-common analogy is particularly arresting. If the Republicans win, the odds of a first term President Palin would be about three times greater than the odds of a middle-aged man being left handed (the trait recedes in the population with age). Both candidates are.

Bob Rice

Bob Rice is the author of Three Moves Ahead: What Chess Can Teach You About Business, and the former C.E.O. of a tech start-up. He now runs merchant bank Tangent Capital, which he founded in 2005.

Photo by Max Whittaker/Getty Images.

Colin Powell to Endorse Obama


Lawrence O'DonnellPosted October 15, 2008 09:22 AM (EST)
The Huffington Post
When Colin Powell turns off his TV after the final presidential debate, he will have learned everything he is going to learn about the candidates vying to succeed his former boss, George W. Bush. Powell has made it clear that he has been thinking about an endorsement for a long time but wanted to hear more from the candidates before making his choice. It now seems beyond doubt that Colin Powell will endorse Barack Obama and thereby hammer the final nail in the coffin of the Republican campaign to hold onto the White House.

The recent ugliness of the McCain-Palin rally audiences cannot be lost on Colin Powell. And Powell is not one to ignore a 14 point lead in a New York Times poll. But most important for Powell and the press will be his explicit rejection of the Bush-McCain approach to Iraq, Iran and the rest of the world.

Powell's endorsement will be perfectly timed to dominate a news cycle or two. It will give Obama the one thing he still needs more of--credibility as Commander-In-Chief. And Sarah Palin's speechwriters will be hard pressed to come up with a condescending quip about it.

Friday, October 10, 2008

it smells like october

Maybe it’s just because I drink too much coffee. They say that it clears your pallet so that you can smell the next thing, but I tend to think that I just have a very good nose. It smells like October. That crisp Autumn smell that forms everywhere when the heat leaves but the sun hasn’t. The smell of dried leaves and pumpkin spice. The smell before the fires, that crisp scent before an earthquake. That’s October in Oakland.

Maybe that’s why I can always place it, though April has a particular smell here too, light rain and cherry blossom, it’s just nothing like October. October is strong yet light, and hits you like a brick when you walk outside to go to work. A fair warning that winter will be here soon and possibly bad news. It’s the kind of overtaking feeling that reminds me of when I was little and my mom used to take me and my little brother to warehouse parties where they’d have hundreds of pumpkins for all the kids of the partying parents to carve. Loud music and good times. Or waking up to the whole house shaking and realizing that the most devastating earthquake you’ve ever experienced just floored the freeway down the street from you. October offers you the type of sky that turns orange in the evening and eerily reminds you of the time you woke up and it was that color with little black embers floating through the air for weeks because half of your city was on fire. It smells like trick or treating with your neighbors and endless nights of candy. Cozy hoodies and arguments over baking either pumpkin or sweet potato pie.

Being born in April makes October the halfway point of my year marked by the anticipation of Thanksgiving and Christmas, and the fresh end of Ramadaan. In no way do I look forward to rainy season, but all year I wait to get together with my friends and celebrate our fresh harvest of greenery and run around in corn fields scaring each other.

Just some random thoughts of what crossed my mind when I walked outside this morning and smelled that it was clearly October.

US Debt clock runs out of digits

From BBC news

Until last month, the clock had enough digits to measure US debt levels
The US government's debts have ballooned so badly the National Debt Clock in New York has run out of digits to record the spiralling figure.
The digital counter marks the national debt level, but when that passed the $10 trillion point last month, the sign could not display the full amount.
The board was erected to highlight the $2.7 trillion level of debt in 1989.
The clock's owners say two more zeros will be added, allowing the clock to record a quadrillion dollars of debt.
Douglas Durst, son of the late Seymour Durst - the clock's inventor - hopes to replace the Manhattan clock with its lengthier replacement early next year.
For the time being, the Times Square counter's electronic dollar sign has been replaced with the extra digit required.
For its part, the digital dollar symbol has been supplanted by a cheaper version - perhaps a sign of the times for the American economy.
Some economists believe the $700bn bail-out plan for ailing US financial institutions could send the national debt level to $11 trillion.

Daddy Yankee takes on new role as debate moderator


Fri Oct 10, 2008 11:28 AM EDTentertainment, people, puerto-rico, daddy-yankeeAssociated PressSAN JUAN — Tom Brokaw, Jim Lehrer, Gwen Ifill — and Daddy Yankee?

The 31-year-old reggaeton star shed his trademark sunglasses to help moderate a televised debate Thursday among candidates for governor of Puerto Rico, in an effort to lure young voters to the polls Nov. 4.

The artist, whose real name is Ramon Ayala, read questions submitted through social-networking Web sites such as Facebook and MySpace, but went off-script at the end of the debate.

Best known for his song "Gasolina," Daddy Yankee already has delved into national politics by endorsing Republica Sen. John McCain for president as "a fighter for the Hispanic community." Residents of this U.S. Caribbean territory, however, cannot vote in the presidential election.

© 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Zeitgeist: Addendum

explaining the monetary system (and if you watched the first one, you'll know ho wdeep the rabbit hole will go on this one)

betcha can't eat just one


Sadly I ruined my friends life by telling him that MSG is found in almost ALL processed foods (along with aspartame and citric acid). Both aspartame and MSG attack neurons and cause significant nerve damage, and block signaling pathways. And among ALL that, they're addictive. That's why "Nothing satisfies like Fritos" and why you "... can't eat just one."


Just food for thought since I was rudely reminded of this fact after the massive headache i just received after eating a hand full of someone else's chilli cheese fritos.


I think I feel my brain shrinking.


it's time for some trees











What the financial bailout is paying for (actual invoices)

So we ALL knew we were getting fucked in this financial bailout plan, bur seriously, a $444,000 party. If I had just recieved $700 + biollion I'd party too. c/o the smoking gun, here are copies of the invoices that AIG put in AFTER the crisis.

the US is in LAST place for paid family leave

And yet it is the birthplace of the femenist movement. How is this possible. And yes, ONLY Obama is talking about this issue, while McCain/Palin are still talking about Roe Vs. Wade.

part 1


part 2


I also love how it was Al Jazeera that covered this story and NOT American television

Monday, October 6, 2008

label of choice

Google takes you picture, then sues you for taking thiers. WTF

The Register
Street View operatives object to being snapped
Edinburgh spycar crews fear 'reprisals'

By Lester Haines •

Posted in Bootnotes, 16th September 2008 15:02 GMT

Edinburgh's Evening News has discovered that, when it comes to personal privacy, Google's Street View is a strictly one-way thoroughfare.

The paper was alerted yesterday that several examples of the Orwellian spycar fleet were being prepared for action at a disused garage site in Drum Brae South. It duly dispatched a snapper to record the action, but when he "began to capture the teams setting up the roof-mounted cameras, he was threatened with legal action".

Photographer Ian Georgeson explained: "I was standing on public ground taking photos of the cars when one of the drivers came over and said that they didn't want us to print their faces. He said if I used any shots of him they would sue us, because they were concerned about reprisals.

"He admitted they were a bit concerned about the way people would react to the cameras, but said they would be in Edinburgh for a couple of months at least trying to map the city."

Guy Herbert of UK civil liberties group No2ID told the Evening News: "That is an extraordinary situation, but it does seem to be the case that while large organisations, traditionally the police or councils, are happy to photograph the public, they are less keen on being photographed themselves.

"It would be interesting to see just what legal grounds they think they have to stop their picture being used that wouldn't also apply to the pictures they are taking, and I think they would be on pretty treacherous ground."

A spokesgooglette said the search monolith had "no problem with the cars being photographed, but admitted it did not want staff to be hindered in any way".

She concluded: "We are happy for people to take pictures of the cars - they are clearly identified as working for Google. We would not want our staff to be in any way stopped from doing their job, however."

Well, we're glad Google has no objection to people snapping its sinister black Opels, because here are the 110 or so sightings to date on El Reg's splendid Spot-the-Street-View Web 0.2 mashup:

If you're gonna go there, how bout your reverend...

It's only fair game to talk about a guy that promotes that people and dinasaurs coexisted, that God will build you a pipeline and, well just watch her home videos of church. They're on youtube.

Palin Goes Against McCain In Bringing Up Wright
6, 2008 09:42 AM
suggesting that Barack Obama's relationship with Rev. Jeremiah Wright is a legitimate campaign issue, Sarah Palin appears to have sunk below the standard espoused by John McCain himself earlier this year.

In an interview with neoconservative columnist Bill Kristol, Palin said: "To tell you the truth, Bill, I don't know why that association isn't discussed more, because those were appalling things that that pastor had said about our great country, and to have sat in the pews for 20 years and listened to that -- with, I don't know, a sense of condoning it, I guess, because he didn't get up and leave -- to me, that does say something about character. But, you know, I guess that would be a John McCain call on whether he wants to bring that up."

But the fact is, McCain has already made his call on whether he wants to "bring that up" fairly clear. Beyond deciding not to do so himself, he offered some implicit criticism for anyone else who would.

In March, after being given the opportunity by Fox News' Sean Hannity to hit his opponent on Wright, McCain refused.



"I think that when people support you, it doesn't mean you support everything they say. Obviously, those statements are things none of us would associate ourselves with," McCain said.

After Hannity listed more potential reasons to make Wright an issue, McCain drew a deep breath and decided not to go there. "I do know Sen. Obama, he does not share those views."

In April, after the North Carolina Republican Party uncorked an attack ad linking Obama and Wright in April, McCain asked that they put it back in the box. While candidates often distance themselves from the tougher party-issued ads, McCain went further than that. As the Associated Press reported at the time:

"We asked them not to run it," McCain told reporters on his campaign bus in Kentucky Wednesday. "I'm sending them an e-mail as we speak asking them to take it down.
"I don't know why they do it. Obviously, I don't control them, but I'm making it very clear, as I have a couple of times in the past, that there's no place for that kind of campaigning, and the American people don't want it," McCain said.

McCain said the ad was described to him: "I didn't see it, and I hope that I don't see it."


Does McCain now think the American people want a discussion of Wright from his running mate? The Huffington Post has asked a McCain campaign spokesperson for an update on the candidate's thinking.

Friday, October 3, 2008

I hate that my blog is turning into a palin hater blog, but one more...

So I was at dinner last night, and though I've known for a while, people actually think Palin is hot, in a quote "sexy librarian kind of way." The guy sitting next to me said he would do her as she paraded across the tv that was strung up to the ceiling and I just looked at him and told him I'm sorry his standards were so low.

He continued to defend his position that she was a milf, and that he didn't really want to hear her talk (not helping against my argument, in fact it strengthened my argument that the standards were low) and only one other person out of the 15 seated agreed with him. But that was the problem, that was 13% of us. Which could be like 13% of undecided voters will vote for her just cuz she's "hot" (now yes I just arbitrarily assigned our stats to the nation, AND none of us are undecided - completely prO-bama, but still, and conversly I have NO problem with people voting for Obama because he's hot, mostly because at least he's smart and it helps my party).

But Palin, really? See I get turned off by morons. You could look like Pharrell or Lewis Hamilton, and if you open your mouth and say something like your foreign policy experience was established because Putin landed in the same airport as you, you're a fucking moron and all of a sudden not so hot. If you think that Cheney's worst act was "a duck hunting accident" I'll think you didn't graduate 6th grade and when you grow up and learn to be able to name at least ONE newspaper I might consider your opinion in the future, but right now you're irrelevent and I'll ask you to please stop talking and go back to the place where they told you dinosaurs and people coexisted. And if you tell me that the system is going to support victims of rape and incest while they bring babies to term and put those kids into another system that's already overcrowded with kids who haven't been adopted yet, I probably won't speak to you again because you're a lost cause to humanity and you make ALL human beings look like a subspecies to the cow. And can i reiterate... you FUCKING MORON.
*sigh* I feel better now.


Maybe cuz i'm just not into the older white 6 kid having hockey moms who pick names like Track and Bristol, but seriously, if you vote for her (let alone do her), your standards ARE low.

I'm having trouble with this whole HIV is 100 years old thing

It's just that well, I'm a microbiologist in San Francisco (the CENTER of HIV study and dynamics) and had all kinds of university classes on the topic, no I am no expert but I do know a few things. One we already know a lot of this, though this article is still spreading around the internet liek the virus itself, and this is one of those no shit moments that a geneticist and can look at and be like ummm yeah by technicality the virus HAS to have old DNA. It had to have come from somewhere, and the tests are NOT so sensitive that they can pinpoint between decades (1900 as opposed to 1940).
just a thought.

***

HIV dates back to around 1900, study shows
Genetic analysis of tissue specimen recently discovered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo leads researchers to believe the virus that causes AIDS has been present for more than a century.
By Mary Engel, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer October 2, 2008
A genetic analysis of a biopsy sample recently discovered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has led researchers to conclude that the virus that causes AIDS has existed in human populations for more than a century, according to a study released Wednesday.The study, led by evolutionary biologist Michael Worobey of the University of Arizona in Tucson, puts the date of origin at around 1900, which is 30 years earlier than previous analyses.

HIV-1, the most common form of the virus, is known to have originated in chimpanzees because of close genetic similarities to a simian virus. It now infects an estimated 33 million people worldwide.But figuring out when the virus jumped species and became established in humans has been difficult. The first cases in the U.S. were recognized in 1981, and the oldest evidence of the virus is a 1959 blood sample taken from a man who lived in what was then the Belgian Congo. To find the point of origin, the scientists relied on a well-recognized genetic technique to determine the mutation rates of different sub-types of the virus. With a known rate of mutation, researchers could then, in essence, run the clock backward to find the point where the different sub-types were the same. That common ancestor would represent the first appearance of the virus in humans before it mutated.

"The HIV virus evolves incredibly quickly," said geneticist Bette Korber of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, who did an analysis in 2000. "Those mutations get passed on to the next individual. So we have that evolutionary pace to enable a look backward."Korber's analysis compared the 1959 blood sample and modern samples. She traced their common ancestor to roughly 1931.The new analysis, published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, added lymph node tissue from a woman who died in 1960 in the Belgian Congo. The tissue specimen was one of more than 800 preserved in ice-cube-size blocks of paraffin at the University of Kinshasa.The researchers compared that sample with modern strains to determine its mutation rate. Then they matched that rate with the 1959 sample, tracing their common ancestor to between 1884 and 1924."I've been trying to track down old samples like this for quite a few years now," Worobey said. "As soon as you have that one other sequence from that same time period, it really snaps the whole evolutionary picture into sharp focus."The researchers surmised that the creation of colonial cities around the turn of the century was the catalyst that allowed the virus to take hold.Dr. Steven M. Wolinsky, a co-author of the study, said that colonial cities meant not just more potential hosts for viruses living in closer quarters, but also prostitution and other high-risk behaviors for transmitting the virus."Urbanization was probably the main trigger," said Wolinsky, an infectious diseases specialist at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago.

Jim Moore, an anthropologist at UC San Diego who was not associated with the study, said the fact that the virus could have spread unnoticed for decades is no surprise, given the mortality rates in Africa during the colonial period."The conditions then were horrendous in terms of how Africans were treated," he said. "People dying of AIDS would have been part of the background." mary.engel@latimes.com