05
2008
A Bitter-Sweet Night for the US
Last night, Barack Obama was elected President with more than double the electoral votes than rival John McCain. Personally, I am thrilled because I think Obama’s policies, attitude, and ethics are exactly what this country needs right now. I consider it simply a (significant) bonus that he is also the first African-American elected President, breaking barriers that many thought would take much longer to overcome.
But it was also a sad night for the United States.
Arizona banned gay marriage with 56% in favor.
Arkansas banned gay couples (and any other unwed couple) from adopting children with 57% in favor.
California banned gay marriage with 52% in favor.
Florida banned gay marriage with 62% in favor.
There were no other states with similar issues on the ballot.
This is a significant step back for the country; how can we call ourselves civilized when we’re still not upholding equal rights for all. There is no logical reason to ban homosexual marriages. None.
The reasons cited by the strongest advocates stem from religious beliefs and beliefs from conservative upbringing. Many think that allowing homosexual marriages would change what a traditional marriage is - that between a man and a woman.
They’re right; marriage has been traditionally between a man and a woman. But so what?
Until 1865, slaves were traditionally commonplace in the US. Until 1870, voting was traditionally done by just white people. Until 1920, voting was traditionally done by just men. And until the Civil Rights Act of 1964, schools, businesses, and a large amount of other public places were traditionally segregated.
I could go on.
Just because something is done for a while does not mean it is right. All of the above-mentioned traditions were only traditions until the United States matured enough to realize how ridiculous they were.
Homosexuals are simply another minority group in the United States, with differences from heterosexuals no more significant than the differences between whites and African-Americans. How long does this drag out before people realize this? (They will realize it, I assure you.)
I’d really appreciate it if the highly-religious and conservative Americans who see some ridiculous problem with homosexual marriage would stop trying to make policy out of (ignorant) belief. What business is it of theirs anyway?
So while I celebrate Obama’s entrance to the White House in 75 days, I can’t help but feel sick knowing that there is still so much wrong with this country. I cringe when I think about the children of those who were responsible for the passing of the new laws; they’ll be brought up thinking that everyone different from them is wrong.
I just hope alternative fuels aren’t banned since automobiles have traditionally used internal combustion engines…
09
2008
An Authentic High Holiday Service
Spend some time at a synagogue in the past couple weeks? Here are some things you can likely identify with:
- The room you sat in consisted of a dozen or so rows of permanent seats, followed by folding chairs that appear to be comfortable, but rarely are. These seats typically straddle a division of rooms, often marked by a folded up wall.
- You were sitting near one or more of the following people:
- The guy that reads the responsive reading at his own, faster pace
- The older man whose hairs cause his nose-breathing to whistle
- The woman whose perfume is ridiculously overdone
- The know-it-all who chants/reads every part of the service
- The high schooler who “had to go to the bathroom” at least five times during the two-hour service
- The annoying child. You know who they are…
- You know how many bricks are on the wall, how many slats on the blinds, etc.
- While one hand was turning pages, your other hand was held at the last page of the service.
- You were thankful that it was not Shabbat and, therefore, nothing in red had to be included.
- On at least one occasion, the person called to the Torah for an aliyah started to read the “after the reading” prayer before the reading, or just altogether read it incorrectly.
- There were quiet oohs and aahs after “tekiyah gedola” on the shofar while the Rabbi smirked in content for providing this excitment.
- Paper bags were handed out to fill with food for the hungry, as well as ensure that you had to handle plenty of food while fasting.
- You became excited when the Torah was carried around the room so that you could check out everyone else in the sanctuary behind you.
- You pretended to be happy to see a handful of people, only to turn to those next to you and gossip about them after they left.
- The cello solo lasted eight-and-a-half minutes. You timed it.
- You got your annual dose of the word “xenophobia”.
- The tune to several of the songs you know have changed since last year.
- You wished you had an excuse to not be able to stand for the standing parts like the elderly congregants.
Happy New Year!
25
2008
Laugh Out Loud Videos
The title speaks for itself, but let me introduce them separately…
I had heard the Sugarhill Gang’s song “Apache” before, but never realized that something had come before. Well, not only is there an older song with the same theme, it has a hilarious video. The keyboardist alone makes it worth it.
Similarly, the song from the beginning of Dumb and Dumber is certainly recognized by many, but I hadn’t seen the video for “Boom Shack-a-Lack” until recently. I’m not sure why I think it’s so funny; perhaps because it’s a bit awkward, but I’ll let you judge. If you’re up for a challenge, try reading the lyrics along with it and seeing if you can figure out how exactly those words are being sung. I don’t buy it.
[Embedding is disabled, so click here]
And finally, coaster fans may enjoy this a little more than non fans, but it is still a corny late-80s music video for a song written about a roller coaster.
23
2008
Colbert Guest Joins In Fun
Last week, Stephen Colbert interviewed GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz about the new Chevy Volt. Besides being an interesting subject, I was very happy to see that Lutz joined in on the humor.
Meanwhile, the Volt is an interesting concept; I’m curious to see how it turns out.
20
2008
24
I just finished season one of 24, and it certainly lived up to the hype. I saw the last season, so I had an idea of what I was in for, but the first was significantly better.
And it got me thinking how well they pulled off the real-time thing. Further, it made me think of how many shows could not pull it if. For example, another favorite of mine: House. “Stay tuned next week as House and his team wait for the lab results”. I’m not sure it’d rank as one of the more popular shows around with that aspect.
It goes for most shows (just think of your favorite if it was done in real-time), and I suppose that’s what made 24 such a hit when it came out. It took this new concept, ran with it, and made it work incredibly well.
In any case, I highly recommend it to everyone.
31
2008
Pet Peeve #4
Naming a group of your friends.
One step further: putting that name in your AIM profile proceeded or followed by words of affection or the phrase “for life”.
Examples (based on no specific instances):
“Love my 211 Crew”
“[insert Spring Break location here] Girls 4eva”
They know who they are. They know you like them. Why should anyone else care?
26
2008
Swaying the Market
Want to affect the market for a day? It’s easy, just report something going on.
Becoming more and more interested in the market, I’ve been watching it on a daily basis. In general, I’ve found that most stocks move up and down together. Clearly a lot more can be written on what’s wrong with that statement (because of stocks that follow the economic cycle and stocks that are independent of economic cycles, for example), but we can agree that there are always trends that the majority of stocks follow on a given day.
But what causes these short-term trends? In short, reports.
Today is probably not the best day to use as an example because there were several “conflicting” reports (meaning some positive, some negative), but let’s take a look at one of them.
There was a report today that said that consumer confidence was been better-than-expected in July. (The ‘expecting’ is done by Wall Street analysts.) Alright, so it’s one of hundreds of reports that have come out in the past few months; it can’t single-handedly change what traders think of the economy and the value of stocks, right? Wrong.
Traders are the most pendant group of people I have ever seen. It’s like the state of the economy and predicting its future is based on only the most recent report issued. Good report, stocks go up; bad report, stocks go down.
What about putting it in perspective? What about looking at the general trend of the reports and anticipating what is going to happen with the economy? That just doesn’t happen.
For some reason, whenever I get worked up about this, I picture a fat guy sitting in his chair with a stained wife-beater shirt eating a turkey leg. He is watching the news and he hears a positive report about consumer spending; he picks up his cell phone, calls someone and just says “buy buy buy”. Then, two minutes later, he hears a negative report about the value of the dollar on the news, picks up his phone, and says “sell sell sell”.
I just don’t get it. What am I missing?
19
2008
Best of Boston
A restaurant that Amanda and I frequent is Woody’s, just outside Northeastern’s campus. One of the last few times we were there, they filmed some footage for the Best of Boston award they were receiving. I guess we looked happy enough for them to include in the video:
16
2008
More Memories
Someone on the State Radio forums just posted a link to this. Turns out, it was filmed at my first State Radio show! The song is “Right Me Up”.
[February 18, 2005 - Old Town Hall, Andover, MA]
26
2008
Austin Powers Memories
I’m watching Austin Powers right now for the first time in a while. I can’t believe it’s been eleven years since it came out and I was so into it. There are so many great lines I had completely forgotten about.
“There you are!”
“Well, hey, do I know you?”
“No, but that’s where you are, you’re there!”
“In Japan, men come first and women come second.”
“Or sometimes not at all!”
“How dare you break wind before me?”
“I’m sorry, baby; I didn’t know it was your turn.”
I’m getting so many more jokes now than I did before, as well as the Cold War reference. I’m also enjoying the TV version of the movie where Alotta Fagina’s name is Alotta Cleavage (pronounced in the movie “clea-va-jay”), Austin’s “Swedish-made penis enlargement pump” is just a “Swedish-made enlargement pump”, and Austin just keeps repeating “do I make you randy?” rather than using the word “horny” on TV.
