To Dwell is to Garden
Ear Butterflies invaded
And it was time to rejoice!
Finally some folks around
Who don’t mind listening to my voice
From B. Mossman, who also created the Back in the Day video for the Figurines.
Check out the Ear Butterflies.
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The World is Too Much With Us
Wordsworth, 1807
For the past seven years America has been led by a maniac. For most of us with even the slightest concern for the welfare of the world at large this time has felt much like a sad and often shameful eternity. But all things must pass, as has wisely been said.
I am not from America, and therefore cannot cast my ballot in this all important election on the horizon of American history. Nevertheless, I want to point to two individuals who have recently made their opinions known, Randall Munroe of the xkcd webcomic and Daniel Jalkut of Red Sweater Software. In candidly sharing their thoughts about the upcoming election, both express a belief in the potential of America to become a nation of openness and generosity, respected throughout the world not for its power and the fear that such power inspires, but for its integrity as a world citizen. And for both, the candidate who will bring these aspirations for their country into reality is Barack Obama.
From Munroe’s blog post:
I want someone who can lead the country. When people grow cynical and detached from government, or blinded by partisanship, evil runs amok. Obama represents an honest shot at making our government something we can be proud of. I’m tired of throwing things at CNN. I’m tired of feeling depressed when I read speeches by the founding fathers. I want Jon Stewart to smile again. For a brief moment, next Tuesday, we’ll have a shot at finally getting things right.
Munroe ends his post optimistically and reflects on some approaching events to put our (and his own) future into perspective:
…there are lots of comics and projects I’m looking forward to on the horizon. Also, someday soon we’ll be able to spectrally image the surfaces of Earth-like extrasolar planets, which is way exciting. Space is on the verge of becoming an adventure again, Windows Vista is flopping, and Mario Kart will be out for the Wii soon. I think the future will be okay.
Jalkut’s Obama-post does not have the humorous edge to it that Munroe’s does (Jalkut is a software developer, after all, and not a webcomic publisher), but his words have an immense sincerity and personal tone to them which, I think, reflects how heavily the issue of the accountability of his country to the world weighs on his conscious. From his blog post:
I personally think that Barack Obama represents our best hope for jumpstarting a change in our relationship with the world…At this point in our country’s incredibly short yet powerful history, I believe we need to elect a President whose leadership and vision give us a head start in the eyes of the world. A President who causes the world to sit up and acknowledge: “America cares about us.”
Jalkut ends his post with an appeal for Obama support as well as an optimistic message to non-American citizens aware of the the upcoming election and their stake in it:
I’m ready for…a leader who will represent everything hopeful about our unique, positive attitude toward the world. If you’re American, and you’ve got something hopeful to say to the world, I strongly encourage you to consider voting for Barack Obama. If you’re not American, and you’ve got some faith left in us, I strongly encourage you to sit tight and see how much better we can be, when we try.
Although I am not from America, I do belong to that majority for which this election is of great importance: a human being who cares about the fate of our planet and the people on it and recognizes that the leadership of our most powerful county has a direct and powerful impact upon that fate. A recently published CBC poll has found that 15% of Canadians would forfeit their say in Canada’s next federal election to instead vote in the U.S. election, and I’m sure many others around the world would do the same. As Jalkut rightly observes, we’re all in this together.
From Randall Munroe:
xkcd - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math and language
xkcd blag and Politics (Obama endorsement) post
From Daniel Jalkut:
Red Sweater - Amazing Mac Software and particularly MarsEdit local weblog editor for Mac (which, incidentally, this post and nearly every post on Verkhovensky’s Internals is written from).
Red Sweater Blog and Red Sweater Endorses Barack Obama post.
Barack Obama official website.
Technorati Tags: xkcd, Red Sweater, politics, Obama, election
Here is an excellent article cautioning venturous modders considering a corset piercing. But if you are in this camp, the article is not intended to kill your fantasies, as it provides rough instructions on how to do it properly should you be determined to lace up - and it’s from Shannon Larratt!
From the article:
[Corset piercings have] become one of the most popular forms of surface piercings, and for good reason — they’re a very pretty, sexy piercing that can be extremely complimentary visually. But when I get these pictures [sent into me at BME], I’m far too often struck with a mix of sadness and anger. Sadness for the women who are being tricked into mutilation, and anger at the likely incompetent, irresponsible, and in my opinion, negligent piercers who are doing it to them.
Larratt writes that, “the big problem is that almost always [corset piercings are] done not with surface piercing jewelry designed to minimize the problems, but with simple captive bead rings which exacerbate the problems and almost guarantee failure,” and he illustrates the assertion with less-than-beautiful images of post-corset piercing scars. I think it’s best to listen up on this one.
Unless especially entertaining or informative, I don’t appreciate unsolicited jokes or otherwise arriving in my email account. It actually makes me a little nauseous that forwarding an obscure link or some banal picture of a wet kitten passes as communication among intelligent individuals.
Nevertheless, on occasion, invariably under that alcoholically inspired and conscience deadening influence of spiritual kinship, I fail to resist blindly throwing such an impersonal shout-out to a horde of degrading email contacts myself. I’m happy that the Internals now provides somewhat of a buffer for this foolish behavior.
From xkcd.
