Will You Idiots Make Up Your Goddamn Minds?

The only thing more hilarious than Rick Perry is watching him shove is foot so far down his throat he'll be shitting toenails for the next few weeks.

See, in the recent debate, Perry got himself in trouble with the TEAbaggers and Teavangelists when he announced that, following in True States Rights tradition (which, for those who aren't native to the United States, means that this fool thinks Texas, one of the biggest Welfare states in the Union, could survive a day by itself. We keep tell them to shut up and do it then, but they don't, because they know. Today, State's rights are uniformly used to couch bigoted principles. Whenever someone brings up 'State's rights' on certain issues, it's because they're a bigot, usually a homophobic one), state should be allowed to decide whether or not they want to pass gay marriage laws.

Heh.

Oops.

Human Black Box: Devils Advocate (prt 1)

Welcome to the newest installment of Human Black Box, pumped out ready for a Friday. This is the beginning of a new arc; Arc 2, titled "Sacraments and Lies." This particular section is part one of Devil's Advocate. Before I go any further, I shout out to the guys over on the EP Forum - this particular thread inspired me to draft up my thoughts for this arc. Expect plenty of Left Behind references. Simply because I can't resist.

This particular act begins on Mars. Because the webbernetz is pretty cool, I have two things for you, my dedicated readers. The first is a map of Mars at the time of EP:

The second is even cooler. I present to you Google Mars. It's like Google Maps, but it's for Mars instead of Earth. Google Earth also has a 3d Mars Skin that you can download for it, too; it's definitely something you should check out if you're interested in that sort of thing.

In the meantime, let's get this arc started on the right foot...

Coming to Terms

I've done a lot of thinking lately about certain aspects of my life. I've hinted more than a few times that I've been confused about my sexuality and gender. Normally, I wouldn't bring it up, because I'm aware that it can sound like I'm pulling the "I just want to be special, too!" card, but that's not the case. Up until this point, I was legitimately confused about who I was and what I wanted, out of both myself and life.

Not anymore.

Sex and the Single Geek

This particular link come to me courtesy of Blag Hag; she posted this link on her blog (admittedly, it's an older post; what can I say? I 'm behind the times. We establish this every time I post something about space), a piece about the nature of sexism in "geek culture" - which is a fancy way to same gaming, of the card, video, and table-top varieties.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a part of that culture. I'm practically neck deep in it; I'm an ardent RPer who enjoys his table time. I don't get a lot of time to socialize with other people (my job not withstanding), so my games are a good opportunity for me to get with friends and have some fun. At the same time, I do sports. I played football in high school, and I run every day I get the chance too (regardless of weather) and if my knee is acting up, I'll walk three miles or more instead. I don't like Mountain Dew (diet Mountain Dew tastes nasty and the regular stuff is way to sweet; I'll take Coke Zero), and I don't like Cheetos, either. So I'm not really the individual to go to if you're looking for a stereotype, but even if I don't fit that stereotype, I do fall into the group by virtue of my hobbies. I'm not a hardcore gamer (okay, so that's a lie. I know several systems inside and out and I'm familiar with all major elements of game design, to the point of being able to design my own game), but that doesn't matter. All that matters is that, at the end of the day, my hobbies place me squarely in this group: it doesn't matter whether I walk three feet or three miles, or whether or not I played football on a field or on the PS3. All that matters is that here I am, a member of this culture. A culture in serious need of being smacked.

And this is one such article talking about sexism and misogyny, a major problem within the geek culture. This is a problem in society as a whole, but because I'm focusing on geek culture, I'm only going to be looking at how it relates to geek culture.
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Personhood Laws Are Anything But

First, an apology for the lack of updates. I've been busy lately (I cleaned my room. Don't look at me like that - this was a four day project to clean out seven years of dust, mildew, mold, and whatever the hell that funny smelling thing was in the corner; I haven't cleaned it this well since my depression first kicked in over 10 years ago, and it was my depression that kept me from cleaning it. This was actually a really big step for me.)

Anyway here I am and I'm back, and I'm bringing a heaping helping of stupid misogyny along with me. I love to pick on these people; they're so incredibly dense and self-righteous that they're easy targets. Think back to when you were a kid, and you saw your friend blowing bubbles. You couldn't resist popping them; it's like bubble wrap, with the exception that bubble wrap has more substance and is more useful to society.

Human Black Box: Interlude 1

So, I just recently finished the first arc of Human Black Box, and as I gear up to move into the second, I decided to make use of the various possibilities that an Internet-based story allows me.

Human Black Box: What Happens in Vegas... (pt 8)

... moves to Area 51.

Things are down to the wire now. Running on nothing more than sheer adrenaline, a little sleep, and plenty of ammunition, the team is on the last leg of their journey, and probably on their last leg, period. Four exhumans, two uplifts, and two transhumans are gearing up to mount an assault against a fortified position, protected by a general who has made multiple copies of himself and downloaded them into battle-hardened synthmorphs, creating his own person military.

Oh, an there's a TITAN somewhere in there, too.

If they can survive, they're almost all but guaranteed to get off the planet (providing Antares wasn't lying). But from where they stand, that's a pretty big if...

You can find the previous parts of Human Black Box here, in the Human Black Box archive. You can also find the character list here.
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New From Space!

Here's more space news.

I'm a little behind the curve on these, but that's okay. Information only moves at the speed of light and given the great distances involved, it takes time to get here.

Cheer for this, Tea Party Monsters

A Ten Year Old Dies of Kidney Infection.

A 10 year old girl died of a kidney infection, brought about by pneumonia, because her parents didn't have health insurance. They both worked. But they didn't have the insurance to keep her in the hospital. Because they didn't have the health insurance, this little girl, all of 10 years old, died.

Next person that spits "Death Panels" at me in the healthcare debate will get their fucking face broken. And then I'll cheer. After I spit on you.

Death Panels. They're gonna kill granny. They'll decide who lives and who dies.

So yeah. Cheer. Be happy. Be joyful. This is freedom.

Letting 10 year old girls die is freedom, because her parents couldn't afford insurance. This is freedom. Isn't this great? This is awesome freedom right here. I can taste the freedom.

You talk that shit around me, and your ass is mine. I'm fed up with this sort of ignorant stupidity. We have children dying to make an ideological point.

If you voted Tea Party, YOU ARE PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR KILLING THIS CHILD. God have mercy on your soul. Because I sure as hell won't.

A Question for the Ages

I'm dinking around again, trying to avoid starting work on my novel. I'm not sure why, I enjoy writing.

Anyway, I keep careful track of where all of my (relatively modest) traffic comes from. Most of it is from the Slacktiverse, the community blog I'm like the weird neighbor towards. You know the kind - they seem friendly but they can be a bit "off." Some of them come from other places where I've slapped my links at, or, where people have been gracious enough to link to me (yes, this has happened a few times. I'm immensely flattered when it does happen).

However, as I was looking through my traffic sources, I came upon this:

http://www.jobsforsmartpeople.com/

Now, here's the question. How does this place wind up lead people to my blog?

That's exactly what you'd think it is by the URL - a job posting webpage. I've never posted jobs, and as far as I know, I'm not hiring right now. Maybe it's the "smart people" in the title...

I'm going with that for now.

Anyway, I've also sent out the manuscript for a short story to be published in a contest (having proof read it myself and, more importantly, having had others look it over for me). Wish me luck, folks! I'd love to be able to say that I'm a published author very much.

This CAN'T Be Right

Megyn Kelly took Dr. Keith Ablow to task for his transphobic comments on Chaz Bono.

I...

I'm speechless. I really am.

*blinks in stunned silence*

How To Write About Africa

Sometimes, it takes a little satire to bring a point home.

Post 9/11 Thoughts

I didn't post anything on 9/11 yesterday because I have nothing positive to say about it. When you have nothing positive to say about a disaster, it's generally best to keep your mouth shut and wait until the day after it's anniversary before you say something about it.

Well, today's the day after. It's 9/12.

Here's my thoughts on 9/11:

So *This* Is The Sanctity of Marriage They Keep Babbling On About - Rape

After reading this, and seeing all their garbage about how allowing gays and lesbians to marry each other will lead to rampant pedophilia, and how conservatives continually prove unable to tell the difference, I've come to the conclusion that "consent" is not a word in the conservative vocabulary.

This is a heads up - what follows is pretty explicit in it's misogyny. It's also an incredibly twisted worldview - but then, I've come to expect nothing but from these people. I'm afraid that if, by this point, one of these sick bastards started making some sense, it'd mean the fabric of reality had come undone.

Also - cluster F bomb ahoy:

Human Black Box: What Happens in Vegas ... (pt 7)

Strike the iron while it's hot.

In the last section, the crew butted heads with the warbot. One good shot was all it took - but it was at the cost of Hotaru's health. To make matters worse (this whole section can be summed up with It Got Worse), and a nanobot swarm appeared over the horizon, forcing everyone to duck and run.

But the warbot is temporarily out of the picture. And the headhunters - at least a few dozen of them, anyway - are out of the way. For the time being, anyway.

Welcome to Part 7 of "What Happens in Vegas". You can find all of the previous parts of Human Black Box here, in the Human Black Box archives.

Our heroes are in the home stretch, now...
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Human Black Box: What Happens in Vegas... (pt. 6)

In the last installment of Human Black Box, the team found themselves the unlikely allies of the exhumans. Two enemies working towards the same goal... it helps that Mikhail is holding Cornelius hostage. Chloe's scheme is to go along until the time is right, and then plunge the knife into their back - of course, that means not turning hers. After all, if she's planning to betray them, it doesn't take a genius to figure out they're going to do the same thing...

You can find all the previous parts of Human Black Box here, in the Human Black Box archive.

In the meantime, it's off to the picture show!
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At the Intersection of Terrorism and Privilege

How US Firms profited from Torture Flights.


I think that the title says it all, really. And to be perfectly honestly, to see our mighty captains of industry charging to due a patriotic duty for their country brings a tear to my eye. Of course, it's probably not for any patriotic reasons...

And, of course, something to help set the mood.

Happy Halloween...

Well, if the big shopping industries can have pointless holidays like Christmas started as early as October, I feel compelled to announced, starting today, September 5 of 2011, Halloween begins. It's a perfect Fall day outside where I'm at, and nothing makes me think of Halloween more than autumn, hayrides, donuts and apple cider.

Thus, I officially declare that the holiday season for Halloween 2011 has being.

(not that it matters what I think any, but hey... If they can play months of some of the most irritating songs in record and recorded history, then I should at least be able to celebrate a month or two of Halloween, my favorite holiday of the year...)

A Tea Party Movie!

Oh my sweet holy pogosticks.

The crazy bastards did it. They did. They actually did it.

They made a movie about the TEA Party.

My goodness. I'm not sure whether I should be horrified or if I should fall out of my computer chair laughing my ass off.

Sadly, it's creatively title "Tea Party: The Documentary Film." Really, I'd think they would get more mileage out of calling it "Teabagging: The Movie." They'd get more hits on Youtube for their trailer, anyway. And speaking of their trailer; holy shit is that the most melodramatic thing I've ever seen. Let's take a closer look at it, shall we?

Feeling Spiteful

I've got writer's block, so I've put most of my fiction on hold until I can straight this out inside of my head. It's not something I want to do; I enjoy writing fiction, and when I can't, I become a little grumpy and spiteful. What's more, I can't sleep; insomnia isn't a regular friend of mine but I am involved in an extended relationship with it. So I'm double grumpy. Thankfully, I have a blog and a means to focus on my favorite target to take my spite and general grumpiness out on - everyone's favorite Fundies over on FTSDT.

The Inherent Racism in Antirationalism

This one sort of ties into my post below. As I was thinking about the role that race and ethnicity play in the history of science and the Enlightenment, a couple of tangential ideas struck me that won't really form into a solid post for me, so I'll just list them as they are.

The Enlightenment is Not Just DWM

I had a point made to me recently that I never stopped to think of before. The way the point was made to me was rather bluntly; those are usually the best ways that points are made. I've heard and addressed the concern that the Enlightenment, and science in general, are the focus of "Dead White Males," and as a result, something to be dismissed. I've dealt with that in passing, but the point that was made to me was sort of a reverse: the claim that the Enlightenment and science are exclusively White in their structure, and their philosophy, and that they're a White invention.

To sum that up in one phrase: that's pretty fucking absurd.