The Space Toast Pages 10 2009

A Question for the "Yes on 1" Campaign

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:04:00 GMT

What's to prevent individual teachers from discussing homosexual issues now?

I get it. You don't like gay people. You don't know any gay people. It's not that big a deal, in real life.

The fact remains that if I like a girl I have the right to marry her, without any "seperate but equal" rejiggering. How could I, as a decent person, deny that right to someone else?

(Question 1 is a Maine ballot initiative to outlaw gay marriage.)

Building the Shack, Part 8

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:40:00 GMT

Walls went up today.

Clamped a strip of wood to a floor joist. Lifted the west wall into place, levelled it, and clamped it to the strip. Screwed the wall into the floor frame.

Lifted the north wall into place. Secured it to the west wall and floor. Removed strip and clamps from the west wall.

Repeat for the south wall.

Managed not to fall down the banking hauling the east wall into place. Attached it to the other walls and floor.

Roof next, if I can find the materials.

Building the Shack, Part 7

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 22:39:00 GMT

Scrounged some bricks and began trying to level the ground. Laid stakes at a desired level.

Big rock on the spot I selected. Started digging it out. Planned to get under it and tip it flat, then fill around it again.

Rock turned out to be bigger than expected. Afternoon was disappearing.

Found the "bottom" about 3 feet down.

Tried to tilt it with a plank. Wouldn't budge. Kept digging out around it and retrying. Realized I'd only uncovered the narrow end of a long, flat boulder. Gave up and filled the hole back in.

Decided to bring the floor frame itself in and see how low it could sit on top of the boulder's edge.

Repacked the dirt as much as possible.

Worked out the lowest point the floor could sit. Levelled the floor frame using the ledge as a fulcrum.

Set four sets of four bricks crossways to act as feet for a plank on the banking (east) side.

Levelled and packed the dirt, and laid a line of bricks under the west side.

Drove additional stakes to keep the east plank and bricks in place. Cut a second plank to fit north and south sides. Dug and set them in place.

Secured the floor to the planks with 3" screws, toenailed in alternating directions. Partially filled the inside with dirt.

YouTube Captioning: Morning Musume - Kanashimi Twilight

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:15:00 GMT

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IANoK9E2pAg

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Human Instrumentality Continues
However, due to time constraints...

You can't beat the fit of a PVC blouse.

"YOU WANNA SEE UP MY SKIRT?!"

Who was in charge of the Pepto color scheme?

A zucchini sunset o'er Eden

You heard me: Eat that cumin leavened in air

Gecko went, "Coochie-coo, get more!"

That guy who covers Ood in tallow

It's a mole!

Come on man, Thayer's the sh*t; good day!

Ben wa? My toucan? Man, douchy.

Kick a tooth, get dumb and go and use a sheep

Guitar!

Oh take me! Not there. Not there. Sh*t, it's genetic?

Go back there, back there -- Ooh, super curry!

You'll need white cake or lying Sheens to meet the yob

Go get an anchor, an anchor, or soap from Goa

To keep your, keep your cheek out of doorbells

A book of crap, its name is Twilight

When in Japan, ride the Freudian pink tube.

Co-E.D. ocho to eat here

So let that coed tumble she next to me

In book of love, Coco's the tan dude

And I make that journey on your camel

What the f*ck!

Was your momma eating the loony?

Mocha ain't the key to collating

I'll suck your knee, Matt. Ooh, she-cat! Like her alchemy?

Nein!

White tushy manga marker, you made me better

Come on, come on, cut novels at bedtime

At your Islamic temple, Eid, then get married

You've got to keep those, keep those combos Naruto

The same, the same, but why can't I date him?

God that sh*t keeps going, those Twilights

"Hello? Can we get out now? We're wearing stilettos."

B-52s hair?

Why does she nag her, nag her? You made me taters

Nanka! Nanka! Normal set haters

Are you my long left demo? He begets nahin

He took a key to Quito: Domino Ludo

To tame the, tame the wild pair of tay-tays

Burn that sh*t. Quit talking those...

... Twilights

Paper!

Rock!

Six hours later...

A graphic reminder that biker gloves are about as "hardcore" as tattoos these days.

"Are... are we done? Is it over?"

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Class in America: The "Good Schools" Myth

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:27:00 GMT

The day's favorite American euphemism for deliberate class stratification, "good schools," is back, this time from Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times. This one is doubly insidious because liberals are still comfortable saying it aloud. I bitchslapped Kristof's fellow white-flight New Yorker Malcolm Gladwell when he took this same call up a year ago, and since nothing's changed, I'll refer you to my post from that time, Malcolm Gladwell's Good Teacher/Bad Teacher Delusion.

Snip:

Don't blame students; don't blame parents; don't blame underfunded schools; don't blame distending class sizes, don't blame school funding being tied to local property taxes; don't blame artificial testing requirements devouring classroom time; don't blame required special education skewing dollar-per-student vs. results numbers wildly below magnet and parochial schools; don't blame the flight of your upper-middle class into homogenous neighborhoods.

UI: R. Clayton Miller's 10/GUI

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:05:00 GMT

Problems:

1. You just doubled the amount of space I need between myself and the monitor.

2. Multitouch allows for more kinds of interaction: true! However, this interface steals ALL of them away from use by the applications.

3. Left and right sides of the screen aren't discoverable. Might as well be top and bottom -- i.e. bottom of the screen for application launching (call it a "dock") and top of the screen for context-specific options (a sort of "bar" of "menus").

4. Linear spatial overload of windows is no better than two-dimensional spatial overload of windows. Labelled zoom-all-the-way-out cheat no better than Expose and application switcher.

5. Where does file management fit into this scheme?

Lukas Mathis calls 10/GUI "one of the most dramatic reimaginations of the desktop user interface I've seen in a long time" but on examination it's an incremental hardware update with no real interface breakthroughs. Keyboard + mouse has gone on for far too long, as has the W.I.M.P. interface. A better direction would be a tactile multitouch surface which can be anything it needs to be, including a keyboard (for any language), coupled with a GUI that represents tasks and actors rather than objects in a space. 10/GUI does nothing about window and document clutter, squinting, scanning large lists, or making the computer's workings and status an organic part of its presentation. The video may be a slick investors' reel, but shows no real progress.

Building the Shack, Part 6

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 19:46:00 GMT

Framed the rafters and cut a ridge beam.

Still figuring out roofs. Went through a lot of revisions.

Used rise over run rather than angles as much as possible. Some bad math early on.

Pine a pleasure to cut on the tablesaw after all that rock-hard oak.

Rounded rafter ends a motif from early on in designs. Mirrored it with the ridge beam.

Might drill a hole and hang a lamp/planter/bird feeder off east and west ends of the beam.

Need to level the ground and lay a brick slab next. This is moving outside the workshop. Quixotic.

Building the Shack, Part 5

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 19:27:00 GMT

Framed the west wall.

Nailed a strip of scrap into the gap at the foot of the door to maintain dimensions while working.

More cross laps. Picturing the shack something like a three-walled card house, with the east (picture window) wall bearing less of the load of the roof than the other three.

House painters walked off with a roll of tar paper I was planning on using for the roof, so back to the drawing board there.

Rafters next.

YouTube Captioning: Jungle Girl: Chapter 1, Death by Voodoo!

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 17:53:00 GMT

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Hey Edgar, if you're just phoning it in these days, could you add some more tits? Thanks.

Starring
NOT ENTIRELY JOAN CRAWFORD

Starring
PUFF McMANMUSCLE

Starring
GOMER PYLE

And Featuring
DICK COCKY and WET STAINES

With
ONIONHEAD KLINGER and the BLACKFACE KID

A
DAVID DUKE
Production

Next Exit
GAS
FOOD
LODGING

Scene 3½

"Then how do we know about them?"

"Better schools," if you know what I mean. Posh assholes.

"An invisible plane!"

WE - MUST - STOP - WONDER - WOMAN - AT - ALL - COSTS

Speak of the devil...

Not so much scenes as notions.

Tag out.

"...monkey screwing little sh*t."

Marooned in the jungle with nothing but her wits and a book of Marks & Spencer dress patterns...

"In that python."

Shouldn't it have passed over by now?

Relax, they're just having a tailgate party.

Hands above your waist while running, that's a good girl.

JUNGLE GIRL!

"Jennifer Connelly too."

"Mom said it might get cold."

*thunk*

"Ow!"

It's been three seconds.

"If you know what I mean."

This'll be easy to smooth over.

Eventually...

Days later...

It makes you wonder why he didn't think of that.

Clearly, this is not southern California...

"How did you get here?"

"I think I know what you mean..."

Scene 17¼

Scene 17.999999999...

"If you know what I mean."

"That's my line!"

"If you... *cough*... know what I mean...."

"Well, besides that fiver..."

"Exposed her to fresh air, sunshine, and regular physical activity!"

Why is there a giant ear behind him?

Ice cream!

Well, he's secured TARP funds.

"Give up? A Hypocritical Oaf. Get it? Oh, I've got thousands of them."

"You just go start the plane..."

"Classic sitcom rules. Good."

"Stanton's not the sharpest pecker in the wood, if you... well, you know."

"Condoms..."

He should get some spackle for that wall back there too.

*click*

"You there! Are you chosen from the bravest men of the tribe?"

"No."

"See? Lying guards."

"Step through this awkward edit and I'll show you."

Did you get all that? It might be important later in the episode. Does anyone need a pencil?

"That should be enough white rice."

Anything?

"That shouldn't cause a problem."

PUSH IN

Of course he does. You're playing him too, aren't you?

"...foxtrot."

"...freely exploitable workforce!"

Edited by a cokehead with his own used razor blades.

( JUNGLE GIRL! )

She'd probably laugh at the notion of a villain named "Bradley."

"Mercury is in retrograde!"

For what?

Even gunning people down he's got that hangdog "just finished masturbating" look.

(An even sillier sounding name than "Bradley.")

"What? Hey, that's brilliant!"

"I'll use my milkshake to bring them to the-"

"Don't put that in my head."

=0_0=

Man, the original Fitzcarraldo sucked.

JUNGLE GIRL!

At this point we're editing just to make it end sooner.

"Who?"

"What?"

"How?"

"Where?"

"Why?"

"Who cares?"

"Beat it!"

♬ ...you believe in life after love... ♬

They might as well be hiding behind a rack of postcards.

Their bow and arrows must have all jammed.

.oO(My friggin' hero)

ANTICIPATE

FOLLOW THROUGH

If you liked the daring stunts in 'West Side Story'...

"She should be cooked through."

"Well, I was burned to death, but..."

"What? What were you f*cknuts DOING out here!?!"

"To get knackered."

That we... saw.

(What spear?)Oo.

*BAMF*

"I'm here now!"

Chirpa? The chief of the ewoks?

Ooh. Awkward.

"Prepare to be nimble!"

"How fascinating."

"My nuts!"

NEXT WEEK
Chapter Two
A NIGHT ON SPLASH MOUNTAIN

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Retired Addiction

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 17:43:00 GMT

Underworld's Second Toughest of the Infants album

Velvet smooth electronica with teeth.

Panorama: Rainbow

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:18:00 GMT

Sennebec Lake, Union, ME, looking towards Appleton.

Stitched together in Hugin from 25 camera phone pictures. Miller cylindrical projection.

Panorama: Bald Mountain, Camden, ME

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:02:00 GMT

And Penobscot Bay, from Ragged Mountain.

Stitched together in Hugin from 21 camera phone pictures. Fisheye projection.

PAUSE

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:56:00 GMT

What Should We Do With Polanski?

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:01:00 GMT

The more I read about the Polanski case, the harder I find myself leaning toward witch hunt, but I'll remain on the fence. The pertinent data seems to be as follows:

Statutory rape is based on the assumption that a woman under 18 can not make rational decisions about her sexuality when confronted with an adult. This may be true. The US says that this girl could have in 5 years. Britain says she could have in 3. Other countries differ in either direction. In my opinion, the US is closer to the truth. Whatever the case, it's difficult to argue sanely that the crime is equal to that of a forced sexual assault against an adult woman.

On the question of force, we have two pieces of evidence. Less valuable are Geimer's recollections of her feelings at the time, which, as hard as it is to accept, were nearly useless when recorded 30 years after the fact. More damning is the application of methaqualone to the girl's drink -- at the time a popular grey market recreational sedative.

There is no pattern of action, unusual for a true sexual predator. Polanski has received no allegations of sexual misconduct in the years preceding, nor in the years since. His pregnant wife had been murdered eight years before the incident. Polanski has now been married for the past 20 years. A settlement was reached, Geimer has dropped charges, and wishes to see the whole thing forgotten.

But America can go a bit nuts when a crime involves sex, especially with a minor, even while lingering over its American Eagle ads. It can resemble a kind of ritual flagellation, and if that's the case no one deserves to be flogged for our own sins. As I said, I'm reserving judgement on Polanski, but there's a whiff of inquisition about this.