First things first

I have to admit, though, I have always kind of liked “Moxie Crime Fighter.”

(from Lapham’s Quarterly)

I think I’ve found a candidate worthy of my support in the 2012 presidential election: Scott Adams.

I don’t agree with everything he supports, but overall I think he’s a pretty reasonable person. Take a look at his post “Why You Should Vote for Me” and you’ll see what I mean.

For example:

Public Debate: I’ll host televised public debates on our domestic policy options, in an entertaining fashion. And I’ll interrupt and humiliate participants who ignore the known facts and the best science. I’ll make it my job to provide the public with useful information, in proper context, and free of politics. You won’t get that from the other candidates. In today’s world, voting and guessing is almost the same thing. The major political parties have a strong interest in keeping voters ignorant. I’ll change that.

Revenge on Congress: According to the polls, most of you think Congress needs a kick in the ass. Neither Romney nor Obama are likely to do much about Congress except gripe about it in a general way. And neither man will complain about his own party. After I finish a few of my public debates as President, I’ll go after individual members of Congress that are favoring politics over the facts. I’ll bring accountability to Congress if I can. At the very least, I’ll shine the light of shame on the worst cockroaches in both parties and make them scurry. You’ll enjoy watching it.

Can you see the appeal?

In case you haven’t heard, 2012 is a presidential election year in the USA. Various GOP candidates are jockeying for their party’s nomination; meanwhile, Obama doesn’t have to worry about primaries, since he’ll be running for his party’s nomination unopposed.

When Obama was elected, like most of this country I was filled with hope. Finally someone who would do the right thing! Justice! Fairness! All that other good stuff!

What we got was a lot of politics as usual. For a long time, I strongly supported Obama, truly believing he would improve our country. When people criticized him, I could point to stuff like this and say, “See? He is making a positive change!”

And then my faith in him started to disappear. Well, “disappear” might not be the best word—it’s still there, just smashed under a pile of broken promises and business as usual. Obama has shown his true colors: he’s no progressive but just another middle-of-the-road conservative. Aside from his party affiliation, he isn’t much different from most mainstream Republicans. Don’t believe me? Take a look at some of his accomplishments.

So am I hugely disappointed in Obama? Yes. Will I vote for him in 2012? Sadly, I probably will (assuming someone better doesn’t come along). The progressive left that got him elected in 2008? He knows we have no choice but to support him in 2012. (I mean, really—where else are we going to go?) So he’s taking us for granted and doing what he can to appeal to those in the center and right.

Hey, anyone know if Ralph Nader has announced his candidacy again yet? :)

Singing Christmas hedgehogs.

I don’t really need to say anything else.

This post serves two functions: to let me try out the WordPress iOS app, and to introduce these two little fuzzies.

Last spring, a huge tornado hit Joplin, Missouri, and took out a good chunk of the town. Among those directly affected were the parents and brother of my roommate from college (and still good friend), Beth. They lost pretty much everything: home, cars, belongings. The destruction was so bad that not only was their house razed afterward, but the foundation—which was too damaged to support another structure safely—was removed as well, and everything was filled in . All that remains is a flat empty lot with a driveway apron (the small ramp-like part leading from the curb to the main driveway) going nowhere.

Fortunately, none of Beth’s was injured. And the things they lost were, after all, just things—most of which could be replaced. But among the irreplaceables were items that Beth and her brother had made as children. When I asked Beth, “What can I do for your family?” she replied that some handmade Christmas decor would be much appreciated.

So I sent a note to my local knitting group, and right away several people volunteered to make something. One friend, Ann, is in the middle of downsizing/reorganizing and sent four boxes of Christmas stuff to Beth’s parents. (I checked with Beth about this before giving Ann the go-ahead to ship so much. Beth says there are holiday drives in progress in Joplin right now, so whatever her family can’t use or share with friends will surely find good homes with other people affected by the tornado.)

Other friends created items especially for Beth’s family. From the top : various ornaments from Katie, knitted owl and ball ornaments from Gina, a set of knitted accessory ornaments from Ruth, and a knitted stocking ornament from Beth (not the Joplin one).

All of this stuff (along with something I made) went out to Joplin early last week. Just in time for the holidays!

A friend* recently nudged me to post something new on my blog, so here I am. I know I’ve been neglecting this place lately, but the weird thing is that I think about my blog all the time. I compose posts in my head almost every day, but always when I’m not able to sit down at a computer and write them. And when I do find myself at a computer, well, the inspiration is gone (or at least hiding in the back of my mind, behind all the other-things-I-need-to-take-care-of-when-I’m-at-a-computer).

I’m finding that most of the “quick” things I usually would have posted here are instead finding there way to my Google+ page. I’m still staying far away from Facebook, but I am spending time on Twitter** and Google+***, and of course I still read lots of blogs. Each of these social media outlets has its own function for me: I use Twitter mainly for information gathering and sharing, Google+ for conversations, and blogs for in-depth reading. I like them all, though sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information out there. It’s a bit like drinking from a firehose. I’ve discovered that the only way to stay sane (and have a life that isn’t completely tethered to the Internet) is to take occasional sips rather than try to drink all that water.

Some people say that blogs are dying—or even already dead—especially in the wake of the arrival of Google+ on the social media scene. Last summer a number of prominent bloggers publicly announced that they were moving all their content to G+ (none of them were people I read, so I have no idea if they followed through on this). G+ does facilitate conversation much better than Twitter and Facebook do (and so far, I’ve been really impressed by the intelligent discourse and genuine interaction I’m finding on G+, as well as the lack of ads and Farmville updates there). But for longer treatises and for customizing how you want to present yourself, your images, your text, etc., to the world, I think blogs still come out ahead.

Unfortunately, many of the blogs I used to read that were written by friends and acquaintances (either from real life or people I’d met online) have fallen mostly silent over the past few years. People are migrating to different online communities (especially Facebook), getting busy with life, getting bored with their blogs.

Many bloggers, however, show no signs of leaving. One of my favorite bloggers, John Scalzi, tweeted while watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy the other night. I saw the tweets unfold in real time and spent much of the evening laughing my head off. Happily, Scalzi collected all of those tweets into one blog post, which you can read here. Trust me—it’s well worth your time.

After you’ve read through that list, look at this video, which someone created in response to Scalzi’s tweet “Dear world: I am deeply disappointed there is not a dubstep version of the Smeagol Fish Battering Song.”

(via)

Some days, I really love the Internet.

__________

* Said friend is, unfortunately, blogless. I keep trying to convince him to spread his wit beyond the confines of Facebook, but so far he’s not interested.

** On Twitter I am here.

*** On Google+ I am here.

Apparently, they are quite a menace!

Procrastinate? Who, me? Never!

The title of this article tells you all you need to know:

“German Village Produces 321% More Energy Than It Needs!”

This sort of effort takes a high degree of community-mindedness (e.g., a willingness for everyone to work as a team without a “looking out for #1″ mentality) and interest in pro-environment projects.

Think it could ever happen in the USA? I’m not so sure . . .