Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Trailer

yay!

afl-cio introduces obama to its members

many voters are still uncertain about who Barack Obama is, so the AFL-CIO has created a website to introduce Barack Obama to its members. They also sent out a few flyers to households in Michigan and Pennsylvania explaining his positions and defending the rumors that are still being spread about his patriotism.

goodwill haikus

I posted goodwill
haikus on picasaweb
Here are some, enjoy.

half bottle polish
black is color of the day
nail polish half off!

goodwill torture piece
put hand in clamp and screw down
steal and face the clamp

these are my new friends
they are very glamourous
we hang at beaches

Hilarious video (and I'm in it!)

Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!

more bicycles

since gas has become as expensive as rocket fuel, more people have started to ride bikes. i am one of them. i bought a really cute schwinn cruiser, and like to ride it to work when it isnt raining/too hot/not too tired.
I've noticed while riding my bike or driving my car, that most of the people riding their bikes have no idea that they have to follow any rules, of any kind. I've nearly missed creaming several cyclists b/c they've blown right through intersections i'm trying to drive through. In Indiana, bikes follow the same rules as cars. Which means, bicycles have to stop at stop signs and stop lights too. And - people in cars can pass them on the road.

Indiana Bicycle Rules:

Upon all roadways, a vehicle proceeding at less than the normal speed of traffic at the time and place under the conditions then existing shall be driven:

(1) In the right-hand lane then available for traffic; or

(2) As close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway;except when overtaking and passing another vehicle proceeding in the same direction or when preparing for a left turn at an intersection or into a private road or driveway.

...(1) A person who drives a vehicle overtaking another vehicle proceeding in the same direction shall pass to the left of the other vehicle at a safe distance and may not again drive to the right side of the roadway until safely clear of the overtaken vehicle.

(2) Upon a roadway with unobstructed pavement of sufficient width for two (2) or more lanes of vehicles moving lawfully in the direction being traveled by the overtaking vehicle.

..A vehicle may not be driven on the left side of the center of the roadway in overtaking and passing another vehicle proceeding in the same direction unless the left side of the roadway is clearly visible and is free of oncoming traffic for a sufficient distance ahead to permit the overtaking and passing to be completely made without interfering with the safe operation of a vehicle approaching from the opposite direction or a vehicle overtaken. The overtaking vehicle must return to the right-hand side of the roadway before coming within one hundred (100) feet of a vehicle approaching from the opposite direction.

Cyclists aren't supposed to ride on sidewalks, there is a law against it in "business districts" but I didn't find one for residential areas. The problem I see with it when I'm driving is that the cyclist then operates like a pedestrian. It crosses the street like a pedestrian, but if it is going in the same direction I am, and I am turning right, the bike is usually moving too fast for me to see it until its out in front of my car. The cyclist assumes it has the right-of-way and I should have eyes in the back of my head and see it speeding up alongside my car.

I'm not interested in killing anyone. really. I'd rather people take the time to learn how to ride a bike in traffic, b/c I think its great that people are getting off their fat butts (like mine) and getting some exercise.

time for some campaignin'

Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!

a real downer of a conference

The world's experts are meeting at Oxford University on Thursday to attend the Global Catastrophic Risk Conference. A few of the happy subjects being covered: "What to do if a large asteroid were to be on a collision course with our planet", "The unintended consequences of new technologies, such as superintelligent machines that, if ill-conceived, might cause the demise of Homo sapiens" and the "Movement towards the merger of man and machine". Oh to be a fly on the wall at their after-conference social mixers.

What up?

Greetings, friends and neighbors! Melissa, in her infinite wisdom, has asked me to be a contributor to her blog. Being an opinionated female, I could not refuse. I was just complaining to her that I am bored. She said, "Post something on my blog!" And so, gentle readers, here we are. I can't think of anything particularly interesting to say at the moment, but when I do, I'll be sure and fill you in. For now, peace out! ---Alicia

The PickensPlan

I don't care for his politics, but I like his plan.

McCain = Bush

John McCain’s campaign is so eager to distance themselves from George Bush that they’re willing to use taxpayer money to have the Secret Service carry out their mission. McCain gave an ‘open townhall meeting’ in Denver, and his Secret Service informed the local police to remove any protesters from the area. The local police removed a 60 year old librarian from public property because she was holding a sign that read ‘McCain = Bush’

Sounds like McCain’s campaign is operating more like Bush’s campaign after all.

Video of the Denver Police removing the 60 year old librarian and giving her a court date

Bush also used the Secret Service to remove protesters

i wish he were still alive today...

I reread an essay by Kurt Vonnegut, Cold Turkey, and came upon a section that reminded me why I loved him so much:

My government’s got a war on drugs. But get this: The two most widely abused and addictive and destructive of all substances are both perfectly legal.

One, of course, is ethyl alcohol. And President George W. Bush, no less, and by his own admission, was smashed or tiddley-poo or four sheets to the wind a good deal of the time from when he was 16 until he was 41. When he was 41, he says, Jesus appeared to him and made him knock off the sauce, stop gargling nose paint.

Other drunks have seen pink elephants.

And do you know why I think he is so pissed off at Arabs? They invented algebra. Arabs also invented the numbers we use, including a symbol for nothing, which nobody else had ever had before. You think Arabs are dumb? Try doing long division with Roman numerals.

We’re spreading democracy, are we? Same way European explorers brought Christianity to the Indians, what we now call “Native Americans.”

How ungrateful they were! How ungrateful are the people of Baghdad today.

So let’s give another big tax cut to the super-rich. That’ll teach bin Laden a lesson he won’t soon forget. Hail to the Chief.

I wish he were still around, I think he'd be happy to see this election year play out.

deaths by firearm

an interesting fact has emerged in light of the Supreme Court's recent ruling on Washington DC's handgun ban, according to CNN.com:

Suicides accounted for 55 percent of the nation's nearly 31,000 firearm deaths in 2005, the most recent year for which statistics are available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

I'm personally not comfortable with owning a gun, I try not to judge others who chose to do so, but it is alarming that most firearm deaths are self-inflicted.