Happy Birthday, Zac

Happy Birthday, Zac! Yes, Zac turned 26 today. He's mere decades from Death's door.

You can see all of Zac's craziness (for now anyway, before he finally lets me create a website for him) in various places. Artwork (and it's mighty tasty) here (MySpace: Eggs) and here (MySpace: Eggbert Ross and The Dellaments), and hear his music here (SoundClick: Eggs) and here (Audio Street: Eggs) and here (SoundClick: The Worker).

Greta made him the fabulous cake by the way.

Hooray for Judge John E. Jones III

Cooler heads have prevailed. Proof one can be conservative, a person of faith, and yet not insist imposing this on everybody else (unAmerican) or insisting that science acknowledge your superstitions beliefs.

Judge Jones is a George W. Bush appointee who has ruled that the (former) school board of Dover, PA's decision to impose the religious gerrymandering known as Intelligent Design is unconstitutional, violating the separation of church and state, a fundamental American principle.

Sony Über Alles

The EFF has an interesting post on just what Sony / BMG intends for its "customers". A rootkit installed on your computer isn't enough, it seems draconian EULAs are another part of their desire to demonstrate how completely out of touch they are:
www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004145.php

Those dystopian novels where corporations own their consumer slaves? The bitter sarcasm of Pohl and Kornbluth in "Merchants of Venus"? The Corporate Owner's society seen in "Snow Crash"? Well, the attitude is certainly very, very real, even if the legal and political reality lags behind-- for now.

Goodnight, Tim

Those of us who lived in Lawrence, KS any length of time knew Tim Griffith's face at Liberty Hall. His sometimes gruff demeanor inevitably slipped away to show a caring man with a big heart and a passion for doing things right. Tim was a big part of what made Liberty Hall someplace special. He was a vital part of what made Lawrence Lawrence. For all its (many) faults, Lawrence is a special place, a bit of green in a Red State Sea. Tim Griffith was an essential element of that Fiddler's Green and he'll be missed.

His passing certainly deserved to be big news in the Lawrence Journal World and for once they didn't disappoint. They also ran Cremation Society of Kansas and Missouri. Links to charitable donations are there as well as condolences left by Tim's family, friends and many, many admirers:

Timothy Alan Griffith's Obituary.

The curtains have closed on a long-running, fantastic show at Liberty Hall.
I hope nonetheless goes on, for Tim's sake.

Dream Oddities #3: Psychological Insights

Setting: Me, a Former Roommate and a Friend, on our way to a party from the apartment. I suppose we're all roommates now, though in the Waking World my Friend would not move back from where he is and I would rather french a rat than have any business ties with the Former Roommate ever again (and not just because he smelled bad).

So... FR and F and me, going to a party. Walking down a Carroll Gardens-type street than incongruously is lined with mini versions of Midtown Fifth Ave buildings. While waiting for them to catch-up, I'm looking at a building across the street. I hit it with a Mighty Hammer (it's shiny and has "Mighty Hammer" on it).

Goodnight, Rosa

Rosa Parks passed on. You can be sure she was at the front of that Celestial Bus with a golden ticket in hand.

BBC Obit

NY Times Obit

Naturally, Georgie didn't attend, though he found ways of looking concerned. Appearances are everything after all.

Perhaps Incurious George and the GOP's feelings are best summed up, as usual, by an almost-not-quite-a-joke article in The Onion.