January 2010 Archives
I'm signing off of Facebook and Twitter for a while until the iHysteria settles down. Apparently there's some new Apple product release that Mac/Apple/iTurd fans are hyperventilating about. Please STFU about such things, it bores us.
Oh, speaking of iProducts, somebody wrote another cell phone etiquette list that no one will pay attention to, and somebody came up with a new term: the iPhone effect. That's when one iPhone user pulls out his noisome device, then the rest in the group pull out theirs too effectively ending all eye contact and socialization.
Yep, that's about how it goes in any DC social situation. Manners mavens are even starting to suggest that people not look up or perform a information searches during phone conversations or social settings due to the inevitable cascade of rudeness and antisocial behavior that follows. Comments (30) on my rant about iPhones, gays and Grindr make me think that this problem is concentrated in DC due to extreme techism/wonkiness, and perhaps moreso in my personal peer group. Last week I attended a party where only 1 of 20 people were fixated on his handheld device, as opposed to 50% of my peer group at any given time.
This week Dawkins raises a good point about hypocritical Christians disapproving of Pat Robertson's comments soon after the Haiti earthquake. Scathing! It is a fine rant as rants go.
Would you rather have rats in your walls, ceiling cat staring at you through a hole in the drywall, or a lesbian judge listening to your calls from the attic?
The New Gay is hosting another Homo/Sonic party featuring regular DJs Zack and Michael, and special returning guest Natty Boom (of the Anthology of Booty) for a night of ass-shaking, booby swinging, indie, goth, electro, retro, disco, booty pop and beyond. Their parties are coed, trans-inclusive and straight friendly. It's on Friday, January 29 @ The Black Cat, 1811 14th St, NW 9:30 p.m. – 3:00 a.m. All Ages, $10.
But I'm conflicted yet again because OMG DJ TM TM will be spinning at Apex for their Winterland event at the same time as Homo/Sonic. What to do? A "Princess Appearance" will suffice.
Are you using reusable grocery bags more than you normally would due to DC's new 5-cent bag tax? Apparently it's working to reduce plastic bag consumption. Personally, I need those bags for the lunch I pack, so I've been running out a lot lately. I guess I'll have to get more from the Anacostia River.
I did hear about the prisoner in Wisconsin who was barred from playing Dungeons and Dragons out of concern that the game promotes the formations of gangs. But the judge has the entymology all wrong. D&D doesn't promote the formation of gangs, it promotes the formation of parties. Duh.
We've been having some odd warm hurricane-like weather lately, and when the rain broke for a bit I went outside of work to test my new camera. Since this summer I've been keeping an eye out on the strange egg sacs shown below, and for the longest time I believed that baby Republicans might emerge from the cocoons:
But reliable sources tell me that these are eggs sacs from a golden orb spider. The hole on the side indicates it has hatched. I do remember seeing the adult orb spiders in the summer in the field adjacent to the fence where I photographed the egg sacs.
In addition to the field and woods near my workplace you can also see an empty NOAA "green" building in Riverdale, Maryland, near completion. The National Center for Weather and Climate Prediction (also reported to occupy the building is NOAA's Satellite and Information Service, Air Resources Laboratory and the National Center's for Environmental Prediction) will relocate from NOAA's Suitland and Silver Spring sites. This is a 10 acre site and part of the University of Maryland M-Square development. But apparently the contracts or something have been in contention for some time. The building has been empty for months.
Congrats to Betty for winning the 2010 Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award.
It's been another insane busy week, but I just wanted to report that today I established telephone contact with TJ who is "on the ground," and it appears that he is in good health.
OMG I just read that the dude who owns everything on Fire Island is selling everything to some twink. Fire Island is DOOMED!
Hate me if you will, but I think newly elected Kennedy replacement Scott Brown is kinda hot, then and now. I think the Democrats need to grow a pair of cojones and deliver what they promise instead of offering watered down wimp-ass compromises. And the Repubs need to be less crazy. What we now have in Washington is a crazy eunuch making pissy legislation.
The incredible crystal caverns of Cueva de los Cristales - I can't believe these caverns are real! Visit The Iron Ammonite for more on this amazing natural wonder.
Florida home to "diverse array" of non-native wildlife, including this 6' monitor lizard living at Air Reserve base.
The Safeway I occasionally get my groceries at has been shut down due to a vermin problem (probably rats). Eeeew! Please keep your garbage lids on tight, and don't leave trash out on the curb.
Caprica debuts this Friday on SciFy. I'm not sure if I'll catch it but lemme know how it goes.
I think I am going to buy a Nikon CoolPix P90 soon.
I had a nice hike today on the Maryland side of Great Falls, which is on the Potomac upstream from DC. The weather offered a nice break from our genuinely wintry weather, it was with good company, and the hike was a great workout too:
It's been a busy week at work as apparently we're trying to finish and start up everything now that we've returned to work from the holidays. Next time remind me to take a generous holiday break so I don't try to fool myself into finishing too many things while everyone else is away.
I hosted a friend from out of town this weekend so I missed a lot of the Mid-Atlantic Leather activities. That's OK because I was thinking about pulling back a bit anyway. Tomorrow I may try to stop by a fundraiser for a neighborhood leader in my old 'hood, who is trying to offset some legal fees incurred when he tried to get some positive things done in the neighborhood against the will of a long-time grandstander. Apparently it is better to use up city administrative time and police presence than to work for positive change in some neighborhoods.
Congrats to 'Glee' for winning a Golden Globe last night. I can't wait for more of the show when it starts up again in the spring. Here's a nice candid photo of one of the actors from the show, Matt Morrison.
I hope you all had as much fun on New Year's Eve as I did:
I think it's time for another screening of Xanadu.
"A story about a girl who makes dreams come true."
Xanadu Megamix. Another non-O.N-J megamix.
Electric Light Orchestra + Don Bluth animation (pre- or post-Dragon's Lair?)
Thanks to Brettie for the incredibly obscure image of the album cover that's the front for O.N-J's character in the film.
Where on earth did you find that?
My blog entry about gays and Grindr got picked up by SameSame.com.au, a gay and lesbian Australia news site. I'm flattered, and it is producing some healthy discussion, mostly about the general use of such devices in person-to-person social settings. Again, it's not about the application or the iPhone, it's about when it's appropriate to use such things. But I think people are learning, albeit slower than I'd like them to.
But the negative karmic backlash has been brutal. Since December there's been a massive comment SPAM attack to this blog and I've had to report and delete dozens of marketing SPAM attempts daily. It's pretty time consuming. Sorry if your comment might have gotten blocked in the storm, but I think I've been pretty careful weeding out the fake comments. But they're getting smarter and sometimes I have to go directly into the comment editing window to see if it's legit or not.
Then today I arrived at work to find my PC was gone, and learned that it's producing it's own viral crap. It's currently under quarantine but fortunately I have an irritating handheld device that allows me to check work e-mail and a backup laptop. Sometimes it's useful to be the emergency guy with a convenient set of deliberate backup devices.
And some time after the New Year rolled in, or perhaps due to the bitter winds that have been blowing so hard, our on-demand water heater has been on the fritz. Sometimes it produces a minute of hot water, other times a bit more, but usually it's ice cold (12-degrees to be exact, according to the device's readout screen). And the landlord is away on travel on the other side of the planet, so I've been showering at work and at the gym. But I got in touch with him and will be calling some kind of repairman tomorrow.
Anyway, my troubles are small compared to that of gays in Uganda. If you haven't read the tardy story in the New York Times or on other blogs, there is a proposed bill in the African country of Uganda that would legislate the execution of gays in that country. It's horrible, and apparently the idea had it's origins from evangelical missionaries, ex-gay conversion specialists and even our own elected officials. I guess if they're not having success in the U.S., they take their idea of God's Will to other countries. In this case their ideas have gotten out of hand, but that's what can happen if you actively proselytize hateful ideas. Sometimes people like those ideas and go with it. So it just goes to show that these American evangelicals won't ever stop until we're dead, legally. Sorry if the blog coverage on these issues gets you down, but its reality and these bloggers are doing a great service to us in keeping an eye out on these things.
In lighter news, here's a trailer for Beardo: The Movie. It's about people with beards. The original En Vouge has reunited! Night of 1,000 Stevies will celebrate it's 20th anniversary, and I'm gonna go this time. And President Obama has appointed the first transgender woman to a federal government position, and she has quite a resume. But look at the comments in the article and you will see we have a long way to go with awareness and protection for the trangendered as well.
Our water heater was going haywire last night and this morning, so I had to crawl up into the attic to check on what was wrong. It eventually fixed itself, but while I was up there I went through the roof portal to snap a few shots of what you can see from my roof. My camera is dying, so some of the photos didn't turn out well.
Here is the United States Capitol building:
The Washington Monument:
National Cathedral:
And Howard University Hospital:
I'm just a few blocks south of Howard University Hospital, and can hear ambulances coming and going all day and night. But I've gotten used to it and sleep fairly well.
I am thinking of getting the Canon SX20 IS. Any thoughts on that or recommendations for other cameras? Zoom and macro is important to me so I can get cool close-ups of bugs or pics of birds from far away.
Apparently 2009 sucked for a lot of people. Not for me. It was certainly better than 2008, with the completion or solutions of many things in my life, including finishing my graduate degree and moving to a much nicer home and neighborhood. I saw some great concerts, including Donna Summer and Kylie Minogue, both in New York City. There were some good trips in there including several outdoors outings in West Virginia, discovering Kansas City, and a nice summer visit back home to Wisconsin. Here's a recap of the year:
Visiting the CDC in Atlanta, OMGObama, snowboarding in West Virginia, dealing with being unemployed, H1N1 Swine Flu, Celtic Festival of Southern Maryland, gay gardens, Montana Sean visits, hiking in West Virginia, birdwatching in May, preparing to move, Pride Weekend, Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus, Wisconsin visit, Donna Summer & Fire Island, beating on my block, Shenandoah weekend, I move to a nice place, Kiawah Island in South Carolina, kicktards, Kylie Minogue concert in NYC, Equality March, gays and Grindr, Las Vegas and the Valley of Fire, me as Obi-Wan Kenobi, I buy a DROID, 40th birthday plan, banned in 2010, Snopocalypse, Kansas City work trip.
Baby New Year laughs:
