Guardian of the Non Sequitur

Spring’s a Sprung

bshirley — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 00:25:17 +0000

Despite some of our late spring cool blasts that have dropped our weather into the 50s at points through April, spring has arrived in Houston. It was a fabulously beautiful day today, and this weekend is packed to the brim with events.

Saturday

There was one major event on saturday that I’ll be missing. It’s a crawfish boil at a friend’s house in the Northern Heights (above 20th street). I love crawfish, and it’s an easy bike, but my social calendar was already booked when it showed up. Also being missed, there’s a Day of Derby going on at Houston Indoor Sports.

Kolache Benefit for Victims of West (FB)

This one has popped up late to the list, but it’s close enough to the house to bike to and it’s kolaches for breakfast! Revival Market (White Oak and Heights Blvd., 8am+) 50% of proceeds to victims of the explosion in West.

Beads for Beasts Happy Hour (FB)

I’ll be cycling to the Re:HAB bar on Houston Avenue. The event goes from 4-9pm. Benefitting the Friends for Life no kill animal shelter. From 4-6pm there will be pups to play with. (Not adoptable at the gathering, just for loving on.) For a $10+ donation you’ll get BBQ, happy hour prices, and if you’re early maybe a cup cake. I’ll be there from about 4-6pm, other things on the schedule. I have to drop off the bike and get ready for the next one.

It Was 20 Years Ago Today (FB)

The Catastrophic Theater is celebrating Jason Nodler and Tamarie Cooper producing their play In the Under Thunderloo in 1993 (which I actually saw). This 1990s-attire “gala” has some hot raffle packages that you can buy tickets for and don’t need to be present to win. The party’s at Last Concert Cafe and goes from 8pm-midnight. It seems we have VIP tickets, so we’ll be getting there an hour before the main party starts for some special drinks and foods. I recently saw Catastrophic’s production of Waiting for Godot, and it was really good!

Sunday

After getting to sleep as late as I want, I’ll be heading to three different gatherings all on my bicycle this time.

Crawfish for Art! (FB)

This is a fundraiser for Houston CORE & London BRC to support their construction of a giant cockroach to burn this summer at Burning Man. For $20 (pre-sale) or $25 (at the door), you get all you can eat crawfish. Lots of other fundraising fun going on including a raffle. The party will be from 1-4pm at West Alabama Ice House.

Unbreakable Threads Documentary Kickstarter Fundraiser (FB)

My good friend Stig will be involved in the documentary Unbreakable Threads about same sex couples raising children. This is the kickoff of their Kickstarted campaign. It sounds like this production is getting some buzz behind it.

TNT Craft Beer Bottle Share & Game Night (FB)

And to finish off the special events weekend, two great tastes that taste great together: beer and board games. Since I’ll be on my bike, I had one of the friendly organizers stop by my place and pick up some of my board games and a magnum of 2010 Anchor Christmas beer. This even is taking place at a friend of their’s business (Texas Real Estate & Co.) near the corner of Washington Avenue and Sawyer. Going from 5-9pm it should be a great time; I’ll likely get to introduce some of my board games to others. The $20-$25 event fee is going to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Then a short bike ride to Onion Creek after that for my usual neighborhood gathering.

Monday

After a weekend full of fundraisers, I’ll be going to a new salon i’ve been invited to. There will be a few people I know, but mostly extended acquaintances. It should be very interesting and fun! Something entirely for me, to cleans the palette.

Tuesday

To extend the fundraising theme, there’s a happy hour for a great organization a scant mile from my house.

Spring Mixer @ Lucky’s Pub in Houston (FB)

This $15+ happy hour at the recently ownership changed bar at the corner of Houston Avenue and White Oak should be a great time for a great cause: Jane’s Due Process.

The Spring. She is busy.

It’s interesting to note that all of these events have Facebook invitations. You don’t have to be active on Facebook, but if you want to be social in your community, you really need to have an account. Also interesting, two of these events are managing/selling their pre-sale tickets via Eventbrite.com – seems very convenient. I’ll definitely ask how it worked for those involved.

Marriage Equality is a No Brainer

bshirley — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 15:09:06 +0000

Today there are two very important cases being discussed at the US Supreme Court. Whether the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), passed under President Clinton is constitutional. It’s not, and Clinton has publicly said as much recently. And whether California’s Prop 8, which bans gay marriage, is discriminatory with be discussed as well.

It has long been my contention that the discussion of marriage equality for non heterosexual couples is largely hindered my nomenclature. The meaning of the word marriage is doing (at least) double duty. I propose we retire the word and replace it with two others: r-marriage and g-marriage. Or minimally, footnote our discussions to clarify what it is we are saying when we say “marriage”.

For millennia there has been r-marriage. Marriage within a religious context. It is sacred, and for many it is a bond before god that will not be broken until the death of one of the members.

For several hundred years we’ve been living under law that attempts to separate church and state. Despite that we have legally defined g-marriage, Government Marriage. This is something that requires government documents, and government fees, and when the relationship is terminated more government fees and documents, and perhaps facilitation by government judges.

There are hundreds of other rights conferred to people who are g-married. These rights have nothing to do with religion; they could mostly be boiled down to fiscal issues. These are the rights that are under debate.

No one is trying to change anything regarding r-marriage. Churches will not be forced to marry anyone they believe is unworthy before god to be married. No one!

I question whether the government should even acknowledge marriage. I would abolish it. But that’s a radical point of view. As mentioned, there are hundreds of laws referencing these 2-person bondings. Removing the g-marriage concept would effect all these historical laws. Indeed I wonder if the limit of the relationship to 2 people will continue in the distant future.

But there is no doubt the laws conferred by our secular legal system should not be confined by the moral codes of any religion. Accordingly, there is absolutely no reason to restrict g-marriage on r-marriage’s standards. Any two people should be able to marry under the eyes of our government, and under the eyes (or not) of any god they espouse.

When you hear people arguing about this issue, try to mentally flag when they’re using the word to mean one thing or the other.

One Unwanted Gun Gone is a Good Thing

bshirley — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 22:49:52 +0000

The back and forth on gun safety regulation is going strong and I expect it to continue earnestly through January if not longer. I hope something come’s of it.

Today in an NBC article there was a 2008 quote from a representative of the New Speak named Independent Institute. NBC News describes them as “conservative”, which seem reasonable given the quote. The Institute itself claims to be non-partisan and says it “sponsors in-depth studies of critical social and economic issues”.

So, if the studies are in-depth, the quotes coming from their Research Director are a bit hyperbolic if not all out lies.

“It’s like trying to drain the Pacific with a bucket,” Alex Tabarrock of the conservative Independent Institute told USA Today in 2008. There are an estimated 310 million guns in the U.S. – about one for every U.S. resident.

I would certainly not accuse Mr. Tabarrock of being a scientist.

There are legitimate questions as to whether gun buy-backs are useful or successful. It depends greatly on how you would measure the success. It seems the same people that would say “if we get one criminal off the streets, we’re doing good” aren’t willing to extend that tenuous logic to “if we get one weapon of possible death off the street, we’re doing good.”

If we even accept the sisyphian challenge false dichotomy Mr. Tabarrock presents us with, one intimating that unless we remove every gun from circulation that gun crimes will not be diminished, we should look at the numbers he is trying to scare us with.

In the last week I’ve read newspaper articles that totaled over 5,000 guns purchased back from citizens. With 310M guns at large, we would have to have 61,000 such weeks, or less than 1200 years. Those are all rough numbers, but 1200 years is still a long time, and if that’s the point you’re trying to make, make it on that merit.

Now, the Pacific Ocean has 6.6 x 10^20 liters of water (1.7 x 10^20 gallons). If we’re equating buckets with the guns, and not one buy-back event, and we stipulate that a bucket is about a gallon. That would leave us with 3.4 x 10^16 weeks or 653,846,153,846,153 years to empty the Pacific Ocean. That’s 544,871,794,871 times longer than slowly, in an unorganized manner, buying back guns.

That’s a ridiculous comparison.

But the implied point is equally ridiculous. Buy back plans are not about appreciably reducing crime numbers. The point is, if there is any unwanted gun, we should get it out of circulation. All guns should be owned by responsible adults that handle and store them properly. In the same way that if you have used motor oil, we need to provide a safe place for you to dump it, if you no longer want to be responsible for maintaining your gun, we should make it easy for you to get rid of it. Responsibly.

Addendum: If we return to the borrowed quote, it was shortened.

“It’s like trying to drain the Pacific with a bucket,” says Alex Tabarrok, research director at the Independent Institute, a think tank in Oakland. “More guns are going to flow in.”

His implication was less that emptying was feasible, but that the number of guns, i.e. the ocean level, would be maintained.

The growth in the number of guns in America itself is a counter-argument for that statement.

I still contend that his metaphor is out of balance, and there is always a good reason to provide for taking a gun out of circulation. Just because we need to do more doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do this (especially while we’re waiting for Congress to get off its ass).

I Care More Than You Do

bshirley — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 18:39:45 +0000

That’s what I hear when I listen to the media: “I care more than you do.”

Today there was another tragic gun related mass murder. This time at a school in Connecticut. As is always the case in injury or death to children, some will claim they have more sympathy for those effected because they are parents. They don’t state it that way, but that’s the implication of their unreasoned words.

This is itself unsympathetic and self-important.

“I think it’s important on a day like today to view this as I know the president, as a father does and I as a father and others who are parents certainly do, which is to feel enormous sympathy for families that are affected and …” -White House spokesman Jay Carney [CNN]

Here’s what I hear:

“You uncaring, un-empathetic, asshole non-breeders and gays can’t possibly be moved by human tragedy because it involves pre-adult children and you obviously don’t like children …”

When there were several tragedies in the NFL in the last two weeks, I didn’t hear anyone say “I was a high school quarterback, so i really feel for the families of those effected [like others can't be] …”

When there was a movie theater tragedy, I didn’t hear anyone say “I used to be a ticket puller and saw the three previous Batman movies, so I really feel for the families of those effected …”

It’s ridiculous. And it’s rude.

I’ve known many, many people in my lifetime and their ability for compassion has never seemed to be related to whether or not they had successfully procreated.

Lines, Lines, . . . or Not

bshirley — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 11:00:56 +0000

There is a television ad for Galaxy S3 (I think) that is all about the iPhone lines, and the hours that people wait in them. When you’re ad is mostly about the opponent, you’re losing.

Apple announces a new product, and there will be tens of thousands of people waiting in lines to get it.

Meanwhile, Microsoft pays to promote a tweet to convince a hundred people to show up for the release of the new surface. $99 of Xbox Music Pass. I guess that’s a thing; I haven’t heard of it.

https://twitter.com/MicrosoftStore/status/260582589415444481

Lesley Gore: You Don’t Own Me

bshirley — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 11:00:50 +0000

Written by John Madara and David White and performed by Lesley Gore, a 1963 No. 2 hit single, edited into an excellent statement on Women’s Equality and the politics of 2012.

tip of the hat to: Andrea via Jennifer

Final Debate Reaction

bshirley — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:08:41 +0000

Often on the campaign trail Mitt Romney will never mention specifics and only regurgitate platitudes. In the final debate on foreign policy (transcript) he did much the same. When he didn’t speak in platitudes, he spoke in what he believed (which was often demonstrably false: “I don’t see our influence growing around the world. I see our influence receding”), or in incorrect facts. But mostly it was platitudes.

I think this is best shown in his closing statement which is so full of no information, that I would love to have it presented by Obama and run it past conservative voters.

Here’s Romney’s entire closing statement. I have changed the word “president” to “my opponent” to make it more neutrally stated.

The red text is the only specific reference and is a an attack on the president, not a policy statement. (Earlier in the debate: “attacking me is not an agenda. Attacking me is not talking about how we’re going to deal with the challenges that exist” – Romney)

There is no foreign policy in this statement, at a foreign policy debate.

I’m optimistic about the future. I’m excited about our prospects as a nation. I want to see peace. I want to see growing peace in this country. It’s our objective.

We have an opportunity to have real leadership. America’s going to have that kind of leadership and continue to promote principles of peace to make a world a safer place and make people in this country more confident that their future is secure. I also want to make sure that we get this economy going. And there are two very different paths the country can take. One is a path represented by [my opponent], which at the end of four years would mean we’d have $20 trillion in debt heading towards Greece. I’ll get us on track to a balanced budget.

[My opponent's] path will mean continuing declining in take-home pay. I want to make sure our take-home pay turns around and starts to grow.

[My opponent]‘s path will mean continuing declining in take-home pay. I want to make sure take-home pay turns around and starts to grow. [My opponent]‘s path means 20 million people out of work struggling for a good job. I’ll get people back to work with 12 million new jobs.

I’m going to make sure that we get people off of food stamps, not by cutting the program, but by getting them good jobs.

America’s going to come back, and for that to happen, we’re going to have to have a president who can work across the aisle. I was in a state where my legislature was 87 percent Democrat. I learned how to get along on the other side of the aisle. We’ve got to do that in Washington. Washington is broken. I know what it takes to get this country back, and will work with good Democrats and good Republicans to do that.

This nation is the hope of the earth. We’ve been blessed by having a nation that’s free and prosperous thanks to the contributions of the greatest generation. They’ve held a torch for the world to see — the torch of freedom and hope and opportunity. Now, it’s our turn to take that torch. I’m convinced we’ll do it.

We need strong leadership. I’d like to be that leader with your support. I’ll work with you. I’ll lead you in an open and honest way, and I ask for your vote. I’d like to be the next president of the United States to support and help this great nation and to make sure that we all together remain America as the hope of the earth.

Thank you so much.

An almost entirely content free statement. The gray part tips off who is speaking, but other than that and the red part, ANYONE could deliver this speech. It says NOTHING about his plan for the country on domestic or foreign policy. It states only his hoped/promised outcome of some unstated/unknown policy.

It’s not a direction. It’s waywardness.

Breakfast Mundanity: Carrot Cake Yogurt

bshirley — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 11:00:32 +0000

I was up on 19th Street in the Heights on Thursday, stopped in at Replay to see Crazy Mike and Laura and fill out my outfit for Allen Bartell’s upcoming wedding. Afterward I stopped by the Zombie Kroger on 20th. I tend to grocery shop in single-bag increments. I picked up a few things, but I saw something new that I hadn’t before.

A carrot cake flavored yogurt. Generic Kroger brand = cheap. CARBmaster = whatever. I much prefer a non-non-fat yogurt, why rob the natural food of its flavor? But with the carrot cake flavor I had to vice it a try.

It has a very orange color. It seems unnatural, but it’s likely from carrot juice (or maybe the “caramel color” and “yellow 6″ helped), that would quickly stain the yogurt. The first taste was surprising and good. But … then came the aftertaste. The telltale aftertaste. Reading the (lengthy) ingredient list confirmed it: sucralose!

Ick. I hate all artificial sweeteners and this one always leaves a nasty flavor in my mouth. So much that the rest of the container was spoiled by it.

Now I have one more left in the refrigerator and I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it.

X Files: Fearful Symmetry (s2 e18)

bshirley — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 10:00:42 +0000

Summary: Zoo animals getting loose, turning invisible, and rampaging. Mulder thinks alien abduction is involved.

Location: Fairfield, Idaho

Guest Actors: Lance Guest (Last Starfighter)

Jill Stein, Presidential Candidate

bshirley — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 21:23:33 +0000

Polls are currently leading toward President Obama being re-elected. Texas will certainly remain a red state and push its electoral votes toward Mitt Romney. But there are other candidates running for president, Jill Stein among them.

She is the Green Party candidate, and if you live in Texas or any other state not in contention, voting for her (certainly not a winner) is an absolutely valid choice.

As it happens, she’ll be visiting Houston for a few days this week. A full itinerary is available at Brains and Eggs‘ blog. If you have the time, check out any of her appearances or listen to her on the radio.

The Green Party’s Ten Key Values are

Grassroots democracy
Social justice and equal opportunity
Ecological wisdom
Nonviolence
Decentralization
Community-based economics
Privilege Checking and gender equality
Respect for diversity
Personal and global responsibility
Future focus and sustainability

You can read their platform online at their website.

X Files: End Games (s2 e17)

bshirley — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 10:00:07 +0000

Summary: Great story continuance of a 2-parter. Scully taken hostage, traded for Mulder’s sister, who dies in a river. Then Mulder stumbles into the female clones who all look like the one claiming to be his sister. Mulder heads to the Beaufort Sea without telling Scully. Skinner sticks his neck out for Mulder again, while he finds the submarine in the ice. Scully arrives to help in the ER that the previous episode began on.

Location: Beaufort Sea; Germantown, Maryland; Bethesda, Maryland; Rockville, Maryland

“I’m your sister, Fox, you have to trust me.”

X Files: Colony (s2 e16)

bshirley — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 10:00:01 +0000

Summary: Unconscious and narrating, Mulder starts the episode in hypothermia and sure of extraterrestrial presence. A bunch of identical green-blooded guys being killed off by another green-blooded guy. Then, bam! The return of Samantha Mulder. Raised by one of the alien duplicates. Episode cliff-hangs with Scully staring at DoppelMülder.

Location: Beaufort Sea, Arctic Circle; Scranton, Pennsylvania; Binghamton, New York; Syracuse, New York; West Tisbury, Massachusetts; Tileston, Virginia

Guest Actors: Brian Thompson shows up in 9 episodes as the Alien Bounty Hunter.

David Duchovny gets a writing co-credit on this one.

X Files: Fresh Bones (s2 e15)

bshirley — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 10:00:05 +0000

Summary: Spooky voodoo doings at an INS camp full of Haitians being guarded by marines.

Location: Folkstone, North Carolina

Guest Actor: Roger R. Cross (appears in 4 episodes over 4 seasons as 4 characters, 24, lots of other sci-fi movies and tv shows)

Once again shot in very low lighting, reinforcing the fact that this should be watched at night in a dark room.

X Files: Die Hand Die Verletzt (s2 e14)

bshirley — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 10:00:09 +0000

Summary: “the hand that wounds” Satanism in small town America. Mutilated victims. Molested children. Satanist who have sone soft. Black magic. A spooky basement being searched in the dark.

Location: Milford Haven, New Hampshire

Guest Actors: Dan Butler (Fraser)

Just as Scully was explaining to Mulder that there was nothing that appeared odd about the case, toads fell from the sky.

X Files: Irresistible (s2 e13)

bshirley — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 10:00:14 +0000

Summary: Mulder and Scully investigate some odd body mutilations. Scully behaves oddly to the crime scenes, not being able to deal with the gore – odd for a pathologist. She then gets abducted and hallucinates from the paralyzing fear.

Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Guest Actor: Bruce Weitz (General Hospital); Nick Chinlund

“You’re saying some human’s been doing this.” – local agent thinking it was alien like activity
“If you want to call ‘em that.” -Mulder

X Files: Aubrey (s2 e12)

bshirley — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 10:00:56 +0000

Summary: A serial killer from 50 years prior is being conjured up in a female officer’s dreams.

Location: Aubrey, Missouri; Edmund, Nebraska

Guest Actors: Terry O’Quin (Millennium)

“I’ve always been intrigued by women named BJ.” – Mulder

X Files: Excelsius Dei (s2 e11)

bshirley — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 10:00:50 +0000

Summary: Weird things going on at a convalescent home. Experimental drugs. Ghosts. Eastern medicine. Very typical low lighting. Nice room-filling-with-water stunt towards the end.

Location: Worcester, Massachusetts

Guess Actors: Teryl Rothery (Stargate SG-1); Sab Shimono (Japanese-American character actor)

X Files: Red Museum (s2 e10)

bshirley — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 10:00:13 +0000

Summary: A religious cult abducting children or bovine growth hormone causing violence. Scully recognizes deep throat’s hit man cleaning up after the drug testing gets exposed.

Location: Delta Glen, Wisconsin

Guest Actors: Paul Sand (general all-around weirdo character actor)