Justinhazelton.com

Let's Put Lipstick on this Website

2008-09-12T11:11:00.000-07:00

If you put lipstick on a website, it's still a website. HAHA. Anyway, recently Obama made a comment about putting lip stick on a pig. After he made his joke the McCain people said it was highly offensive of him and they demanded an apology for insulting Palin. To my great pleasure, Obama came out and said exactly what I said and refused to make an apology. Way to go Obama, glad to see he did not cave.

Then to my greater amusement, thanks to the power of YouTube we can see McCain making the EXACT SAME REFERENCE about Clinton. Double standards, sounds like a Republican trait.

And just because, McCain is a dirty liar!

9/11 Anniversary

2008-09-11T10:26:00.000-07:00

Seven years ago Osama bin Laden decided to attack America. We have since been able to end the Talibans reign in Afghanistan but we STILL have not found the main culprit behind the horrific crimes. This may change soon...

The New York Times is reporting that George Bush is not only increasing the number of troops in Afghanistan but also he is attacking Al Qaeda and Taliban forces in Pakistan without Pakistan's permission. This is a bold move that I respect for many reasons. One, Al Qaeda was not in Iraq before the invasion but they are now and killing the terrorists in Iraq is only curing the symptoms, not the disease. Also Capturing/killing Osama Bin Laden will be the best bet at finally respecting those who died in 9/11 by ending Al Qaeda's reign of terror.

I feel like 9/11 has been exploited by so many people for personal and political gain, the worst of course is Guiliani (I know I spelled his name wrong but I dislike him so much it's not even worth correcting) and exploiting a tragic event is disrespectful to those who died. So, after 7 years of using 9/11 as a means to gain power, as an excuse to arbitrarily invade countries, as an excuse to deny civil rights, as a reason to hate an entire religion, and so on and so on, let's end this drama and bring those responsible to justice and give closure to the family and friends of those who died. .

Does anyone else find it suspicious that Bush is finally acting serious in Afghanistan? It's been over six years since the Taliban has been overthrown yet he waits until now to actually make a legitimate attempt to find bin Laden. I wonder why?

Fringe: Ow, My Head Hurts.

2008-09-09T21:40:00.000-07:00

Fringe a new show on Fox had just premiered. The show, created by the same dude who does one of my favorite shows, Lost, is about, well I don't really know, which is probably why my head hurts. Basically, its about fringe science, or pseudoscience, or something that is science but not really, like mind reading and teleportation.

Similarly to Lost this show (based one its first episode) blows my mind while also forcing me to sit at the edge of my seat, which I literally was doing for half the show. I mean, how can anyone not like a show that stars a smart, strong, and dangerous woman, and a cute, old, genious, and mentally insane old man?

What I liked about this show: Unlike Lost, this episode of Fringe started off with a crazy event and then it was solved and the story ended. It did not leave lose ends to solve in three seasons. I don't know if I could handle two shows, I would just confuse the two. I also liked the premise, it is sort of X-Files'ish but not dealing so much with alien stuff. The music and camera work also was done in a way to perfectly compliment the action in the show.

What I disliked about the show: Certain parts of the show seemed a bit to unnecessarily over dramatic. Also, there were points where the female lead seemed unnecessarily (I like that word) rude to the people she was talking too. I have a feeling though that was a situation specific thing that may not occur again.

In conclusion, if you missed the premiere it very much recommend you go watch it, it is definitely worth a shot and if you don't like it than no harm no foul. And do not be concerned the show starts with a plane in turbulence, the show is not a Lost 2.

For the T-Shirt Lovers: PleaseDress.Me

2008-09-07T22:17:00.000-07:00

Everyone who knows me knows that I love wearing, at least what I think are, unique and cool t-shirts. I am a big fan of shirt.woot.com which sells one shirt every day for $10 shipped. Recently PleaseDress.Me has opened as a search engine designed to make it easy to find those cool and unique t-shirts. With this website you can search by color, design, tags, or price. So, if you are dying to show off your love for your favorite presidential candidate Barack Obama just type the name in and walla, all shirts Obama are displayed. Bare in mind the site is new, thus their will not be many results found on your searches but I have found some pretty cool shirts and it will only get better with time. They site's operators have released an API and will soon have more shirts to search from. That means very soon it will have even more unique and cool shirts out there to find. Cool!

McCain and Palin's Speeches

2008-09-05T09:30:00.000-07:00

Now that the RNC is over it is time for a brief overview of what I heard in the speeches. What I heard were a lot of words. Words do not automatically have meaning they need be constructed in a means which have meaning.

So when they speak of change, what do they mean. With eight years of Bush with the support of six years of a Republican congress, the things they supposedly want to change are mostly at the fault of their Republican party. True democrats have had control for two years but it is difficult for them to accomplish much with vetoes and filibusters.

"The Party of Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Reagan" this is also a bunch of words. According to Doris Kearns Goodwin, a Pulitzer Prize winner and expert in Lincoln says the Republican party now adays is unrecognizable to the party he was with. Roosevelt, well, the famous Roosevelt of course was FDR who was a Democrat (who lead us in WW2 but Democrats don't know how to fight) and also lead us out of a depression. The lesser one, Teddy Roosevelt, was a Republican but actually left the party to join the Progressive party. Even Reagan, yes he is a famous Republican but almost 30 years ago. I do not think it counts for change when you go 30 years in the past. McCain should not just say words he should say things.

The words that did have meaning I did not much like. They both spoke of Iraq and defense and the terrorist attacks. When fear is used as a tactic of gaining votes you should really be scared. When people are scared they are more willing to give up their rights and when you give up your rights the government only gets that much stronger. By the way, they are called terrorists, not killerists. The point of their attacks is not killing people, the point of the attacks is to kill people so the people who are still alive are afraid. Yes, every death caused by a terrorist attack is tragic, but think about 9/11 and think about what has happened to our country since. *cough* USA Patriot Act *cough*

There is also strong anti-patriotic rhetoric in these speeches. For some reason they think they are more patriotic than Democrats. This is not true, they are equally as patriotic, they just have differing views on how to best run the country. Calling people unpatriotic, as silly as it sounds, is a powerful means of social control, take this quote for example: "Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country." That is a famous quote said by Hermann Goering, Hitler's right hand man. Just for the hell of it, my other favorite quote of his is: “Education is dangerous - Every educated person is a future enemy.” Kids, stay in school!

There is more I can say, but I will stop here. All I want is for McCain/Palin, and to a lesser extent Obama/Biden to stop saying words and start saying things.

Movie Review: Vicky Cristina Barcelona

2008-09-04T10:28:00.000-07:00

Yes, in my immense boredom I went to see the newest Woody Allen movie Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and with a 81% Rotten Tomatoes rating I figured it could not be too bad. And yes this movie has been out for two weeks but being from Santa Barbara, small movie releases don't come out for weeks, if ever. So, on with the review.

The movie was about Vicky, a woman who though she knew what she wanted in life, and Cristina, a woman who knew she did not know what she wanted in life, and their summer visit to Barcelona. There, they meet an artist, Juan Antonio, who attempts to challenge Vicky's conception of herself and helps Cristina find her way. Then, with the return of Juan Antonio's ex-wife, Maria Elena, a rather interesting love affair ensues.

It is hard for me to say exactly what this movie is about because I think it is about whatever the viewer wants it to be about. What I enjoyed most of this movie is that it was not the typical love story because it breaks down the commonly held notions of relationships thus freeing itself from the cliche narratives of the typical "chick flick." While watching this movie I often found myself not only analyzing the themes of the movie but applying them to my own life. Although the story lines differ in many ways, I felt the same watching Vicky Cristina Barcelona as I did Garden State, and if you do not know what I mean by that than absolutely do not see VCB.

This movie was not perfect, it felt a little slow at times and at other times the movie seemed very unfulfilling yet the movie shines with its originality so I ended up really liking this movie. Vicky Cristina Barcelona is not for everyone, but if you do go and see it, I urge you to keep an open mind, otherwise you will definitely hate this movie.

Back to Talk Some Politics

2008-09-03T10:00:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since I have been able to post but I am back to write about some of the new political developments that have happened since me leaving, mostly, the announcements of Joe Biden and Sarah Palin.

Obama's choice in Biden I believe is a relatively safe bet and strengthens his ticket because of the many years of experience he has, especially in international affairs. Maybe not the BEST choice, but a good one.

But of course this post is going to be about why Palin is a TERRIBLE choice. In her acceptance speech she mentioned how her and McCain will get the 18M female votes that were cast for Clinton, simply because Palin is also a woman. If I were a woman I would be seriously offended by this statement. Although there may been some, most women were not fans of Clinton solely because of her sex but because of what she believed in and what she fought for; being a woman may have helped, but certainly was not the sole reason for her popularity with women over Obama. Palin opposes Clinton on issues of health care, reproduction rights, sex education, gay rights, worker rights, etc etc. Thus, to suggest 18Mil people will vote for her even though she differs in every idea, absolutely ridiculous.

Next, her lack of experience also makes her a bad choice. Besides her one year of governing the "nations largest state" (someone did say that), her experience is with the city council and mayor of a city of 7,000. To put that in perspective, my University which is 1000 square acres has 21,000 people, thus my chancellor has a harder job than her. With McCain' s oldness there is a chance he could die in office leaving a inexperienced person to lead the nation. I am not saying she can't do it, I am just saying, if you accuse Obama for being to inexperienced to lead then what makes Palin acceptable? (Apparently her own staff does not know - YouTube)

And to end, I think it is important to talk about her 17 year old daughter being pregnant, only because it shows how Republican beliefs of sex education, or lack their of, is a failed policy. If you don't want to get an abortion, fine, but abstinence only education does not reflect reality because, regardless of what you teach, kids are going to have sex and if they are not taught how to have sex safely becoming pregnant is lucky consequence, she could have just as easily gotten AIDS or any other STD. Now two 17 year olds are going to be parents and getting married. Levi, the 17 year old proud dad, say about himself "I'm a fuckin' redneck who likes to snowboard and ride dirt bikes," and he likes "to go camping and hang out with the boys, do some fishing, shoot some shit and just fuckin' chillin'," and do not fuck with him because "Ya fuck with me I'll kick [your] ass." (Via Fresh Intelligence). He sounds very mature and I am sure he will make a great dad :/

Boob Physics in Soul Calibur IV

2008-08-05T09:29:00.000-07:00

A while back I had posted in my blog a story called The Cover-Up Conspiracy which was about how the women in the game Soul Calibur IV have breasts that are, well, unrealistically large. Why they chose the large breast look, no one will ever know, but lucky for us all the guys (most likely guys anyway) at gamesradar.com have come up with a nice little video called Boob Physics.

The point of the video is that Soul Calibur IV was released for both the PS3 and Xbox 360 and the video helps determine which console you should buy the game for if you happen to own both systems. They do this buy doing a side by side comparison of how the boob physics work in each console. Yes... this is real.

Although the video is completely stupid it may still be worth watched simply because it is absolutely crazy to think that anyone would WANT to see this in a videogame. Click here to check it out.

Unnecessary Censorship Fun!

2008-07-31T12:26:00.000-07:00

This is just a funny video that was on Jimmy Kimmel. Basically they censor random words and blur things out in sesame street and give it an all new meaning. Not being a fan of censorship myself, I think this video shows how ineffective a blur or a beep is because our imaginations can fill in the blank pretty easily.

Snickers, the Two Time Offender

2008-07-29T09:13:00.000-07:00

During the Superbowl, I think two years ago, Snickers released the following commercial that many did not like (including myself) because of the standards it places on men and how it restricts the flow of gender, so to speak.

The commercial starts of pretty funny then the whole "do something manly" and hair ripping is ridiculous and only strengthens the hegemonic standards of masculinity.

With the amount of negative feedback they received from the commercial you think they would have learned their lesson, but instead they recently released another commercial which also attacks men (literally) who may not be so confined by gender. Take a look:

Hearing someone say a guy has to do something like a "real man" is like hearing nails on a chalk board because people should be able to do whatever they want to do, so long as it does not hurt anyone else, without fear of being insulted or assaulted.

Unfortunately that will never happen, but you can always boycott companies that promote crap like that. Everyone loves a good boycott.

Online Money Management

2008-07-22T23:00:00.000-07:00

Do you have several places your money is coming from and going too? Is it hard to keep track of all of your money? Would you like to take your little check book to the world of the web? Then I recommend the totally free and totally amazing Mint.com!

Currently on Mint.com I am tracking my two credit cards, my checking account, savings account, retirement account, and my student loans. When a payment is due for my CC or (starting in a couple of months) my student loans, it will automatically e-mail me or I can have it SMS me (all optional).

Not only that but it also helps budgetting by automatically categorizing all of your purchases and Mint will tell you if you go over your budget. To lazy to make a budget? Well Mint will make one for you based on your average for each category.

If you are smart your next question would be: "Justin, isn't unsafe to store all of your bank/CC/Loan/Investment information on one website? What if you get hacked?" Mint does not actually store any of that information, so if someone got into your Mint account all they would see is how much money you have (or do not have) and would not be able to do anything malicious. http://www.mint.com/safe.html has more info.

So anyway, this post is now finished, and believe it or not I am not even getting paid to do it. Mint.com is totally free and the above mentioned features are only some of the things it has to offer, and more stuff is on the way. I been using it for a year now, so I thought I would share it all with you.

Do You Know Your Stuff?

2008-07-19T09:01:00.000-07:00

I have recently came across the PEW News IQ test, it is a test of 12 questions based around people in current events that have some importance in our lives, like stuff about Paris Hilton. I got 11of the 12 right, the national average is 6 out of 12. See how well you can do! Don't cheat!

http://pewresearch.org/newsiq/

My Blood is Better Than Yours

2008-07-15T14:41:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I donated blood, a pint of that good ol' red stuff to help save some lives. One thing that has always bugged me about donating blood is the pre-screening questions that are in place to disqualify people from donating because their blood is unhealthy to be recieved, or potentially unhealthy to be recieved.

Although it makes sense that you would not want to take blood from a person who has West Nile Virus, the fact that sexually active gay men cannot donate is completely asinine. Not only are gay men not allowed to donate but women who have had sex with a man who had sex with a man are not allowed to donate. The only reason they prevent this class of people from donating is because the high risk of AIDS. They test all blood for AIDS anyway! Why can't the dude just say yes I am gay but I do not have AIDS, simple enough! They asked me, a straight guy, if I had AIDS, I said no, and they took my word for it, apparently gay men are liars? I think it is time the federal government stops supporting myths like AIDS is a gay man's disease, and start focusing on reality.

Normally I would simply avoid the offending organization, sort of like the boycott on the San Diego Manchester Hyatt, but not giving blood means that some poor sap who needs it wont get it, that does not really feel like justice. So that is why I continue to donate, but there has got to be something that we can do to let the government know that their policies are antiquated and myth based!

RIP Blockbuster. Actually, Good Riddance

2008-07-14T16:30:00.000-07:00

Today marked the beginning of E3, the Electronic Entertainment Expo, basically the biggest convention of the year that has to do with video games. Today was Microsoft's big press conference for their XBox 360, and one of the many things they announced was a partnership with Netflix! What this means is, with a Netflix subscription and a internet connection you can rent a movie from your XBox 360 and watch instantly. No going to a store, no waiting for it in the mail.

This was the smartest move Netflix could make and will any person who owns a 360 and a Blockbuster pass should, and probably will, switch to Netflix because you cannot get any more simple than pressing a button and watching.

Blockbuster has been a company I have never liked, and I will be happy to see them go the way of the Dodo. Another bonus is that it will hurt Apple and the AppleTV. Yay!

Credit Cards Rules and Laws

2008-07-11T16:18:00.000-07:00

Consumerist.com has run a story about 10 things you may not know about your Credit card. Here they are:

Unsigned Cards Are Not Valid And Merchants Can And Will Refuse Them
The Maximum Liability For Unauthorized Use Of A Credit Card* Is $50 According To Federal Law
Merchants Cannot Require You To Present ID, Unless Your Card Is Unsigned
Merchants Cannot Require A Minimum Transaction Amount
Merchants Cannot Charge A Surcharge For Using A Credit Card, However, They Can Offer A "Cash Discount"
Many Credit Cards Have Programs That Will Automatically Double The Manufacturer's Warranty And Other Excellent Benefits
Merchants Are Not Allowed To Make You Give Up Your Right To A Chargeback
Merchants Are Not Allowed To Place A Hold For The Estimated Tip
If Merchants Suspect You Of Fraud They Are Supposed To Call With A "Code 10"
If Merchants Break These Rules, You Can Report Them To The Credit Card Company

What I found particularly interesting is the #4, the minimum transaction. I come across this a lot, and my own work was guilty of this for awhile. If I do come across this I will definitely report them!

To find out more information, head to the Consumerist.com website.

Why I am NOT a Democrat (Well, one reason)

2008-07-10T12:52:00.000-07:00

As I say in my FAQ section of the webpage, I currently do not identify as a Democrat. I am liberal and I do usually vote Democrat and I will be voting for Obama. With a recent congressional vote it has become LEGAL for government agencies to wiretap phone calls without a warrant. President Bush has been a long time supporter of this bill because it empowers the government to help fight terrorism. This new law helps strengthen our efforts against Al Qaeda because we can monitor their communications, and as Missouri Senator Christopher Bond puts it, you should not be afraid of this law "unless you have Al Qaeda on your speed dial."

Fuck that. I more of a believer of: "Those who can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Our right to privacy has been a cornerstone of our constituion and of democracy. I do not mean United States Democracy, I mean democracy, as in that thing we are trying spread across the world, whether they want it or not. From the looks of it, the United States does not want democracy just as much as Iran or Iraq do not. Actually, that is not a fair claim because, "We the People" want democracy, we love democracy, too bad democracy makes things balls hard for ruling the world. By the way, the quotation from above was not some random thing I found, it was first spoken by Benjamin Franklin, ya know that guy who is on the $100 bill because he was like our founding father who helped create America. Way to go Bush for completely trashing his dream.

But in all fairness, I cannot solely blame Bush. I actually should not blame him at all since he has no legislative powers, especially since we have a House and Senate being run by Democrats. That's right folks, Democrats gave Bush this power of warantless wiretapping on a silver platter. That is mest up. It came with much disappointment when I saw Obama was one of the cowards who voted yes.

Not only did Obama and most other Democrats agree to this new law but they also agreed to something called RETROACTIVE IMMUNITY. Basically, Bush, with the help of Verizon and AT&T, had been wiretapping people's phone calls for years now with out any law to give them this power. So, what they were doing was illegal. With retroactive immunity this law basically says "Whatever" to any wrong doings. Imagine giving retroactive immunity to a serial murderer, that would be nuts to say hey, you killed some people, but whatever dude, we're cool.

The bigger picture here is that, retroactive immunity is legitimizing Bush's crimes against our very own constitution and the Democrats are doing it for him! I do not have Al Qaeda on my speed dial but as Ben said, I do not think the trade off is worth it, and if you do, well then you do not deserve the protections that a legitimate government would normally provide.

Now, our only hope is the ACLU who have already filed a lawsuit. I have always loved them :)

Sources:
New York Times
American Civil Liberties Union

Exectuive E-Mail Carpet Bombing

2008-07-08T16:04:00.000-07:00

Have you ever called customer service to only get no results? Of course you have because most customer service is terrible. Then let me introduce you to a concept I have just read about called Executive E-Mail Carpet Bombing or EECB. EECB is essentially e-mailing top executives of a company with your complaint, and continue to e-mail them until you have results. From what I read, the results work very well.

Visit this link to find out how to launch an EECB: http://consumerist.com/consumer/complaint-letters/how-to-launch-an-executive-email-carpet-bomb-259713.php

Editing History, Never a Good Sign

2008-07-06T23:08:00.000-07:00

During a 4th of July Speech at the former home of our very own Thomas Jefferson (of course he is famous for writing the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776, well, that is when the sent it at least), President George Bush gave a speech in which he quoted Thomas Jefferson about the greatness of democracy. The quote is as follows:

May it be to the world, what I believe it will be -- to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all -- the Signal of arousing men to burst the chains, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government.

That was Bush's version of the quote, the actual quote reads:

May it be to the world, what I believe it will be, (to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all,) the signal of arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security of self-government.

Jefferson here is clearly criticizing religion here, and he was a known opponent to religion. Personally I am not a religious person yet I do accept people's religious beliefs, most of them that is, but I do agree with Jefferson. Religion has played a critical role in history in mainting the oppressive political regimes.

Actually, religion is still used as an excuse to oppress. The clearest example is Iran or Saudia Arabia which forces women to wear veils and criminalizes women for being raped. This trend is not unique to the Middle East, the US still uses religious as an oppressive means, this is why we still are denying full and equal rights to those whom identify as women and/or queer.

Is it a surprise that Bush edited the Jefferson's quotation? No. Should he have edited the quotation? Of course not. Removing this line changed the entire significance of Jefferson's quotation and helps further define Bush as a Christian leader, not a leader.

Source: http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2008/07/bush_edits_out_jeffersons_reli.php

Goleta Gap Fire

2008-07-04T17:13:00.000-07:00

As a resident of Isla Vista I have not been directly threatened by the fires that are burning only a couple of miles away. My internet was just restored after being down for almost 24 hours, and my electricity has been off an on for nearly two days. During the last power outage, yesterday around 7pm, I decided to take a drive. Here is my story of what I saw and what I felt, and a couple of pictures I snapped with my cell phone.

As I walked to my car I could see the pummels of smoke and hear the faint sounds of sirens in the distance. As I got closer to my car I saw the piles of ash resting peacefully on its paint, only further verifying the greatness of the fire. I quickly got into my car and slammed the door, an heroic yet failed attempt at preventing the parasitic ash into my vehicle. The key turned, and with a put put my engine reluctantly started, as if it was warning me to stay home. The car moved, stirring the ash from its slumber, and I directed the car out of Isla Vista and up Storke, heading towards the 101.

What I saw was a battle, a battle between sun and fire, light and dark, air and ash, a battle with no clear victor... yet. The street was busy, a lot of people going somewhere, or maybe just driving for the hell of it like I was. With the electricity out all stoplights were off, not even the flashing reds. Surprisingly, during times of high stress, most drivers were very respectful. I eventually made it farther up the street were I began to see the dark side over taking the light side. And we can also see gas prices at $4.999/ gal.

With one right turn I made it safely on the 101. Things got dark, fast. Soon I was not sure if it was 7:30pm or midnight, the ash had clearly darkened the sun:

Cars were driving slow, partially because of traffic, most likely because to our rights we could see a magnificent orange glow, like the songs of the siren, this glow had a dangerous lure to it. (Unfortunately my camera phone is not strong enough to get this shot). Further up the 101 I see an SUV and a Prius pulled over to the side, the two had hit each other and were awaiting for the police who, I am sure, already had enough on there hands.

Luckily the darkness did not last forever, the sun started to break through a bit. I see infront of me four fire engines. Upon closer examination I saw they traveled to Goleta from Chula Vista, a city about 250 miles away. Thanks for your help.

I safely made it home about an hour later, all of Ilsa Vista was at about half-electricity with spotted black outs. If it was not for that Gap though, I am sure I would be out of a lot more than just my internet.

Happy 4th of July everyone. I probably wont celebrate until next week :)

Update One: Kind of ironic, literally the second after I pressed the "Publish Post" post button the electricity went out, luckily it only went out for 20 minutes.

Cell Phone Ban while Driving - Day One

2008-07-01T23:08:00.000-07:00

With today's end marks the first day of the ban on driving while holding a cell phone, hands free are OK! Here are my thoughts: I do not think the problem with cell phones in car is the act of holding the phone but the actual conversation. Drivers begin to focus on the conversation and the driving becomes the secondary action, thus, going hands free will just give a false sense of security.

Many people do not have hands free though, thus, this law will prevent some people from talking at all. I have hands free, do not usually use it, but I do not usually talk in the car anyway.

One good thing about the law is that it prevents stupid people from diving one handed. I absolutely hate being in a parking lot, stopped, waiting for a huge fucking SUV to back out, going as slow as a snail, only to see some douche bag trying to one hand his/her boat in reverse, making sure not to hit any cars or people. PUT DOWN THE PHONE! Oh, so stressful, my heart is racing just listening to this.

If you do currently own a hands free and would like to, I recommend the Jawbone. The Jawbone has no blue light (main catch) but also has noise cancellation, and some other goodies. I wont link to it because hopefully Kontera ads will auto link Jawbone Bluetooth Headset directly for you :) otherwise try jawbone.com

McCains's Homes

2008-06-29T22:54:00.000-07:00

Obama has been called an elitest by Clinton and McCain. The following website is a Google Maps tour of all of McCains homes. Currently he owns a Condo in Arlington, CA, two condos in Pheonix, AZ, a house in Pheonix, AZ a ranch in Scottsdale, AZ a condo in La Jolla, CA, and a condo in Coronado, CA.

I am not sure of Obama's housing situation but I am sure he is pretty well taken care of. Calling Obama an elitest is kind of a joke though since all presidents are. I think this site can at least prove the McCain is.

Check it out: http://www.mccainvminnesota.com/cribs.html

Wall-E: In depth Non-Review

2008-06-28T09:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went and saw the movie Wall - E. The movie was about the environment, human sloth, and of course love. Before the movie was released there were rumors that the movie only had 10 minutes of dialogue; there is more than 10 minutes but not much, but even with the lack of talking I thought the movie was excellent. The one and only bad thing about this movie is that it is a Pixar movie which means the theater was packed with kids *shutters.*

One kid directly behind me decided to dictate everything that was going on in the movie, and continued to do so after his mom asked him to stop. He did eventually stop but before he did he said something kind of interesting. When the second robot was introduced, Eve, this boy immediately said "That's a girl robot," and then referred to Eve as a she and Wall-E as a he for the remainder of his in depth analysis. This got me thinking:
1) When in a kids education/socialization do they learn the necessity to assign gender to things like robots?
2) What about Eve made it look female and what about Wall-E made it look male?
3) And what sort of consequences does this have in long term conceptions of gender and gender roles?

And my conclusion:
1) From the second they are born. "It's a boy" or "It's a girl" posters are plastered everywhere to announce the sex of the child. I propose that, instead of describing the sex of the baby it should say, "It's alive and healthy, and that is all that really matters."
2) I have no idea, here is a picture, maybe you all have some insight? http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/features/wall_e/wall-e_3.jpg
3). I think if kids are taught gender and gender roles at a young age then it simply reinforces the strict concept of roles which can only slow down feminist and gay rights movements.

Anyway, the movie was really good, if you hate kids it may be smart to wait a couple of weeks to see it or just rent it. Or you can see it now and just listen and analyize what they say.

My Next Car Purchase: Mercedes-Benz

2008-06-27T11:16:00.000-07:00

The German based car company Mercedes-Benz has announced that by the year 2015 every single one of their new cars is going to be run on electricity, fuel cells, and biofuels, not GAS! Not only is gas at about $5.00 where I am at but it is damaging our world. Mercedes, being a well known car manufacturer, is taking a big step by saying that they will be petrol-free in less than 7 years, and the bold step will hopefully be the catalyst to creating universal change in how cars are powered.

Thank you Mercedes. I am your newest, biggest fan.

Bang Bang!

2008-06-26T11:28:00.000-07:00

Just recently the United States Supreme Court found a Washington DC law which banned the ownership of handguns, to be unconstitutional. The courts 5-4 decision claims that the right to own a gun is protected under the second amendment, even if the ownership of the gun is unrelated to being in a militia.

I am pretty upset by this ruling, the right to own guns came because our founding fathers felt it necessary to protect the state from the British attacks from Canada during our infancy. Now that we have the worlds strongest military we really do not have that fear. I think it is time for the United States to move forward and realize that we do not need guns.

As the Cliche goes "Guns don't kill people, people kill people" but what guns do is kill people easily and efficiently and as guns get smaller, quieter, and more powerful, they will kill people even more easily.

And what do we really need guns for? Don't say hunting, people can hunt with bow and arrows just fine :)

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7474924.stm

What's that burning feeling?

2008-06-23T20:40:00.000-07:00

Your friendly neighborhood weapons manufactures at Raytheon have developed, what they call the "Active Denial System" or ADS for short and it is supposed to be used to replace the fire hose with riot control. These 3000 pound devices are going to be mounted on top of vehicles and emits some sort of microwave pulse that goes 1/64th of an inch in your skin and causes a terrible burning feeling, but luckily no permanent damage is caused. Except maybe mental pain from the feeling of being burned!!!

Read on for more details: http://technology.timesonline.co.uk