monday brain scrapings

Scraping out the brain again, here's what I found:

I scored 100% on the Atari Quiz at mental_floss. Go me.

Some company called Schmap wants to use one of my pictures from Montreal in one of their travel guides. They say that they don't pay for the pictures, because they give the guides away. However, they say that the guides are "ad supported" so clearly they're making money off of them. While I'm normally inclined to decline unless they're willing to negotiate payment, I'm considering granting them permission to use the picture, just because I think the whole thing is kind of cool. What do you think? UPDATE: I'm doing it. Lots of you have said that it's been a good experience for you, so why not?

My headache is back. It's getting really, really old.

I found a ton of awesome links at io9 when I was catching up on Bloglines yesterday: LOLCthluhu, Blade Runner concept art, and a satellite view of people evacuating Chad. Not that my opinion matters, but I'm really happy and relieved that io9 continues to be such a fantastic resource, instead of a pile of Gawkeresque gossip and crap. Who else would dare ask if J.J Abrams is a genius or a hack? Come on, you know you've been wondering. For the record, my jury is still out.

I follow Barack Obama on Twitter. His latest tweet: In Columbus,MS & wondering how somebody who's in second place is offering the vice presidency to the person who's in first place. Vote Tues! I love that Barack's twitter stream has the same "voice" as all the other people I follow. Now, if he was only at SXSW, he could join the Rashomon that I've been enjoying from my friends who are there.

"Saying that Hillary has Executive Branch experience is like saying Yoko Ono was a Beatle." Zing! For the record, Hillary Clinton is a monster who will say or do anything to win an election. No, I won't be resigning from anything because I said that.

Boingboing linked to an awesome flowchart that starts with D&D and ends (sometimes) with girls. It's a humorous look at Gary Gygax's legacy and maps out just how much he affected the lives of geeks everywhere.

Andy Warhol is one of my favorite Bowie songs.

So it turns out that there's been a massive, illegal, warrantless domestic spying operation going on in the US for years. How can anyone with two firing neurons and an understanding of the Constitution continue to stand up and support Bush and Cheney? Clinton was impeached for so much less. Nixon resigned over less. The Democratic leadership in Congress is worthless. Totally worthless.

Reader E just e-mailed me that on the commentary track for Futurama, they said that Professor Farnsworth's clone, Cubert, was inspired by Wesley Crusher. That's good news, everyone!

There was a mini-WWdN Austin meet-up at the Jonathan Coulton show on Friday.

The Grateful Dead pack for Rock Band is outstanding. I picked up my fake guitar for the first time since I started playing fake drums exclusively so I could play Franklin's Tower. (Boy do I suck at fake guitar these days.)

I heard from Monte Cook and Matt Forbeck that part of my post remembering Gary Gygax was read at his service this weekend. I'm honored, and at a complete loss for words.

I watched Fast Food Nation last night. I thought it was a great movie, and I'm astonished that it didn't do better in its theatrical release. Fun fact: I kept looking at Ashley Johnson through the whole movie -- not just because she's adorable, but because I kept feeling like I'd seen her somewhere else, and couldn't place it. I looked her up on IMDB when the movie was over, and felt like a total moron: I felt like I'd seen her before because we've worked together on Ben 10. Twice. Durr.

Comments

[Wil]

Jimbeaux: Hatred really isn't the right word. Disgust would be more appropriate. I reserve my hatred for Bush and his entire administration.

I'll restate what I wrote at Propeller, in a story where it was clear that her campaign had used pretty despicable race-baiting in Ohio:

"I'm a Democrat, and I've never been a big fan of Hillary Clinton's. The whole "triangulation" thing really turns me off, and is counterproductive to the longterm success of issues that are important to me, and much of the Democratic base.

However, during this campaign, I've watched several debates, including the one in Los Angeles, and Senator Clinton earned a lot of respect from me. She was poised, she was respectful, and she and Senator Obama debated *issues* instead of making ad-hominem attacks and repeating talking points.

Then, as it became clear that Democratic voters, hungry for change, continued to vote for Senator Obama, Senator Clinton resorted to the delivering the same kind of despicable, desperate, dishonest attacks that she's been the recipient of for so many years. This is just the latest example. It's hurting our party, and it's disgusting. Whatever respect she earned from me is gone, and will never come back."

[Wil]

Hey! I double-posted on my own blog.

FTW!

[Celtic Mama]

Wil, that's exactly what ended up turning me off of Hillary. I was firmly in her camp, but the last few weeks her campaign has degraded into nothing more than mean, nasty, dirty politics. Randi Rhodes actually came out on Friday for Obama because she was sick of giving Hillary the benefit of the doubt. Rather than saying "Hey, we were smeared by dirty politics and I'm determined not to do that to someone else" Hillary played the game and went there. This is hurting the party and it's sad. Why is she doing McCain's job for him?

[Topaz]

Har. I figured you'd get a kick out of posting twice on your own blog. You so funny.

I don't care for Hillary because she seems too...what's the word?...calculated. Too polished. Too mechanical. Obama seems more real or human or something.

Wil, I wish you could write for mental_floss. That would rock!

What's causing your headaches, by the way? Does the doctor have an explanation? It does suck to have a continuous headache. I am frowning on your behalf.

[angie k]

Wil, I completely agree about Hillary. I went into the entire Obama vs. Clinton thing with an open mind and I still was undecided after the Texas debate. But after her attitude at the Ohio debate and her subsequent ads and comments I got completely turned off from her. She reminds me of some bosses I've had and I thought they were ineffectual leaders, too, who would rather resort to name calling and division than actually bolster people. I went Obama because while he's a politician, too, he's handled himself with class. I *want* him to be my president versus I'd *tolerate* her being my president.

I don't hate her, but everything about her kind of disgusts me right now.

[David]

I think it's worth noting that the article Wil linked to goes to some length to discuss how the program described is at least argued to NOT break the law, because the content of the email/text message/whatever is not read without a warrant. Instead, it is the metadata (which, presumably, is not protected by an expectation of privacy) that is analyzed and if a suspicious pattern emerges, then warrants are sought.

I don't want to start a flame war; it just seems to me that if the Administration has successfully parsed out a legal loophole within which they can lawfully operate this program, then it's simply not illegal until Congress makes it so (presumbaly over the President's veto). Which ain't happening anytime soon. Wil may find it horribly immoral of our government to perform this activity, but based on what I've seen so far, unlawful it's not.

[Jimbeaux]

Wil,

About the "race baiting" issue, you can choose to believe what you want - but I see that ad as either a simple mistake or a common non-race-related video trick.

If you want another side of the story, try this link:
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/did_clinton_darken_obamas_skin.html

[SAL9000]

Uh, just imagine how upset you'd be about the things you'll never know about.

And how upset will you be should McCain win in November???

Man - You're settin' yerself up for some major disappointments over things you have ZERO control over.

[hooRah]

Wil,

I adore io9 also and hope it doesn't become just another Gawker trend. And for the record, JJ Abrahms has been dead to me since the abomination that was Alias season 3. Good Gravy that was horrible; the slogan for that season was "Drink More, Think Less" for a myriad of reasons.

With regards to politics, I'm very tired of making excuses for my leadership and as someone upthread said "tolerating" them. Even if it turns out poorly, I'd love to vote for the person who evokes hope and promise for the future. Instead of just plain settling for "business as usual".

That's Obama.

[Mike Schwab]

If you are interested in similar movies, http://www.kingcorn.net/ was Standing Room Only when it played in Springfield, IL http://www.thereisaway.us/2008/01/king_size_interest_in_king_cor.html .

And Super Size Me (100 Minutes) is a free download from http://freedocumentaries.org/film.php?id=98 and has several other food documentaries.

Last year the http://www.dittybops.com/ did a organic food farm tour instead of bicycling across america like in 2006.

[slag]

First glimpse at the title of this post registered as "monkey brain scrapings".

I don't know Hillary well enough to call her a monster exactly, but I've definitely done my share of despising her campaign strategery. Including one of her latest disses of Obama's 2002 Iraq War speech. We need to get this primary over with asap so that McCain will actually have a challenge this election.

[Andrew]

Ashley Johnson also had a small but pivotal role in Tim McCanlies' first movie, "Dancer, Texas Pop. 81" -- one of the best movies I have ever seen. In fact, McCanlies is batting 3-3 with me so far.

[Merbrat]

(ahem) Speaking of Cthluhu and Gygax in the same post...
you'd miss this if you didn't go into the ramblings.
http://tinyurl.com/243soq
Dork Tower tribute poster and a Cthluhu Wedding Cake. (hey, angiek!)

-Barb (Merbrat)
Proud to be the JoCo link in Wil's Brain Scraping.

[BZArcher]

Oddly enough, I got a flickrmail while reading this post from the Schmap guys asking to use some of the pictures from my last trip to Toronto. After the feedback here, I'm telling them yes, too. :D

Don't feel too bad about Ms. Johnson - I've had problems recognizing people I work with (and talk to daily) outside of work all of the time, to the point of being startled by one of them walking up to me in a grocery store and asking me a question!

[SeanB]

RE: J.J. Abrams, watch his 2007 TED speech (if you haven't already.) While I don't like all the stuff he does, the majority is definitely pretty interesting.

RE: Hillary. Honestly, I'm more of a Obama supporter, not primarily because of the issues, but because he's electable. Yes, I know, that's a terrible way to vote, but I look at it like this: do we really want another 4 years of Republican "leadership"? Hillary is a polarizing figure to the Republican party, and just WATCH how fast the conservatives get motivated to vote against her. Why does it seem that Democrats are oblivious to a far-reaching party-strategy, and instead focused on just the individual candidates' strategy?

[Ryan Waddell]

I think the reason that Fast Food Nation did so poorly in theatrical release is because nobody KNEW it was in theatres. I didn't see a single ad for it. I think I saw a poster for it once. Maybe.

[Zarate]

Um... why can't I find a link to the WHOLE flowchart? Am I being stupid?

[Steve]

I'm continually confused on the whole Hillary/Obama debate. Yes, the tactics to which she has stooped in some cases have been regrettable but really par for the course in American politics. However, hypothetically--I'm not going to say that this is the case--if the best person for the job employs the worst tactics, I'm not going to vote for the less qualified person. That's just daft. The "I just like his eyes" thing is exactly why people continued to vote for Bush.

If people would simply say, "I like Obama's stand on the issues better." I would have no problem with Obama supporters. But Obama is not something new, he is not the next thing in politics, he is the culmination of American politics. He has more teflon than Reagan and is slicker than Bill. He is the epitome of the flashy image, the cult of personality.

War in Iraq? He has voted exactly the same as Hillary while he has been in office. Revolutionary Guard? Didn't show up for the vote. Chief Justice Roberts? Voted against because of presidential aspirations (he planned to vote for him). Lobbyist donations? No. Donations from said Lobbyists' wives? Yes...and the employees of consulting firms that aren't "technically" lobbying firms. Race baiting? Maybe. Gay-baiting? Yes...in South Carolina. K-Street connections? Lots. Bi-partisan legislation? Yeah, on no brainer non-proliferation agreements we don't have any intention of abiding by. This is not repeat of Carter--a true outsider.

I've often heard the claim that Obama can make up for only 3 years of national experience (Kennedy had 14) by hiring the right people. But the right people are Washington insiders. His Chief of Staff is a long time insider (out of Daschle's office). His economic advisors are all former Bill Clinton advisors. How is this new? And with only 3 years experience, how will he know when to tell them "yes" and when to tell them "no"? BTW, where is the legislation in Congress that is indicative of his new direction?

Now, while Bill was in office, we often heard that Hillary was behind the scenes. Now that she is running, she has no experience. Which is it?

I could go on but there seems to be little point. The truth of the matter is that we needed someone better than anything we ended up with. Par for the course. Neither is truly liberal or progressive no matter how you dice it (look at Political Compass to see how right of center almost every candidate actually is).

Feel better, Wil. Peace out, y'all.

BTW, I saw The Pogues last night at the 9:30 Club in DC...woot Shane McGowan still has it...somehow).

[Merbrat]

I found the link down in the comments:
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/03/09/opinion/09opart.large.gif
ew...here:
http://tinyurl.com/2dvlmu

[David]

Zarate -- click the link to the original NY Times article (below), then click on "enlarge this image" on the left.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/opinion/09rogers.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin

[Compania Hill]

You like online quizzes? Try this one:

Candy Bar Identification
http://food.aol.com/play-with-your-food/candy-bar-id-quiz

[Jaded Empath]

"So it turns out that there's been a massive, illegal, warrantless domestic spying operation going on in the US for years. "

No offense, mate, but you're only catching on to this in the *21st* century? ;)

Fashion me an Oliver Stone tin-skullcap™ if you want, but I doubt that ANY US administration had gone without secret illegal intel-gathering on its electorate...hmm - makes me wonder if R.M.Nixon resigned to *stop*investigation* - maybe to limit the revelations of ALL that was going on? :S

ANYWAY, Canada is hoping for 'President McCain' - finally there would be a PotUS we could relate to. :D
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCain_Foods_Limited

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma4NvYbzTQQ&feature=related

^_^

[Thane9]

The whole Hillary thing has been bothering me for ages. I just don't know how a career politician, and self-declared expert in Washington, can claim to be an advocate for even a shred of change.

Can Obama really bring transparency to the federal government? Can he really affect any real change? I'm actually doubtful. BUT, if anyone can it's him. So he has my vote, until the day he reveals himself as just another dirty politician. Until then, as long sa he stays above boards, I'll support him in any way possible.

[Javafreek]

Read "Legacy of Ashes" by Tim Weiner. It's a history of the CIA. The stuff Bush is doing now is tame compared to the stuff the CIA has been doing for the last 60 years.

[YodaOnCrack]

Found your log through the Ficlets link - loved your inclusion of the Atari Quiz... Thanks for posting that. Great blog too, Wil.