FINALLY this week will bring us new episodes of the hilariously funny The Venture Bros. on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim! And to celebrates its awesomeness, Astro Base Go is offering The Amazing Shirt of the Week!

Each week we premiere a brand new episode of The Venture Bros. television program, we will premiere a brand new t-shirt to go with it RIGHT HERE. The shirt will remain on sale for one week only–until the next episode and the next shirt premiere. We’ll only print as many shirts of each design as we receive orders for (okay, we’ll probably make a couple for ourselves, too) and once the ad for a shirt is removed, that shirt will never be available again.

The first shirt is oh so tempting:

Fire up the Murdermobile and call your arch nemesis–because you’re about to become a fully licensed member of The Guild of Calamitous Intent the moment you slide one of these 100% cotton American Apparel fine jersey short sleeve black beauties over your cybernetic exoskeleton or henchman’s tunic! Emblazoned in gold with the official logo of the recognized leader in organized havoc, this shirt says to the world: “I come in separate cuts and sizes for Men and Women!

Admit it…you want one, too! They even have an option for signing up to receive each of the shirts automatically! If I hadn’t just ordered a cool shirt last week, I’d get one. This site is a must check back with though, in case they do offer one I’d be a fool to pass on. We’ve already got our DVRs set to record this week’s episode, and I for one can’t wait!

Technorati tags: full of fun fridays, venture bros, shirts

Last week, talk show host Michael Savage played a great punk song from 1979, “California Über Alles” by Dead Kennedys. Is he seeing the light and leaving his conservative ways behind? Nope! He was doing it after hearing about Ted Kennedy’s tumor.

Summary: On the day it was announced that Sen. Ted Kennedy had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, nationally syndicated radio host Michael Savage opened his show by interspersing audio of Kennedy singing “Ay Jalisco No Te Rajes” with clips of news reporters discussing Kennedy’s diagnosis and audio from Kindergarten Cop in which Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character says, “It’s not a tumor.” Later, Savage played the Dead Kennedys song “California Über Alles” after stating: “The poor guy’s been suffering for years, you know? Unfairly he’s been accused of alcoholism, but we see now that it was something much more deep-seated. And so, to cut this out in some respect for Ted Kennedy, here’s a tune coming at you from the Dead Kennedys. Go ahead and play it, please.”

Tasteful! He said he’s not joking: “I’m playing the Dead Kennedys not to mock Ted Kennedy. It’s just appropriate, that’s all.” Sounds more like he’s celebrating to me. Even more tasteful.

Think it was a one time thing? Well, the next day he did it again.

His poor health does not excuse him from what he has done to our nation, and so, now, the Soros-run media sets on Michael Savage for daring to disclose the truth about Ted Kennedy’s legacy. Just as in a Soviet show trial, Michael Savage is now being persecuted for refusing to take the party line that the great lion of the left must be praised — all praise, all praise. Well, I will not be silenced. You will not be silenced. Silence is death. Silence is death. Speak the truth about Ted Kennedy. Americans must know his reckless record of destructive social engineering.

Kind of reminds me of how the media was after Reagan died. He was held up as a saint, and no one dare speak anything bad. Iran-Contra? Shhhhh! Ollie might hear you! You don’t want to hurt his feelings any more than they are hurt now that the Great Republican Leader is dead! Look, I’m all for revealing things that a person has done that’s not good for this country. And I’m not saying Savage shouldn’t have the right to say what he did. Just that he doesn’t know the meaning of the song, plus he’s being a tasteless jerk.

Here’s what Jello had to say about it:

I haven’t read the details yet, but I’m aware of what Michael Savage did. Obviously he took my song way the hell out of context and did it deliberately. But the bigger issue is Savage himself and how the hell he gets away with stuff like saying this, and saying that people with AIDS should be put in concentration camps. And then when people protest at the station, he calls on his own listeners to come down and beat them up.

…

The real issue here is why aren’t the big candidates calling for media reform? Once upon a time there was a law on the books called the Fairness Doctrine, and it said that if somebody like Savage or Limbaugh or that skull woman Ann Coulter said something completely fucked up and dishonest on the air, somebody else was allowed to come on the air and reply to them without being told to shut up every 15 seconds by a power clown like Bill O’Reilly. That law was on the books for 50 years but was allowed to expire in the late ’80s when a Democratic-controlled congress failed to override President Reagan’s veto of the law.

His quote is a must read! It’s so great that Jello is turning 50, yet still an active member of the punk scene and still as vocal as ever. I love how he has taken this story and turned it into an issue people need to do something about. Jello really needs to run for office again. It’s been almost 30 years, we need a man like him! One that stands up and call Savage what he is: “foaming-at-the-mouth, ultra-bigoted blabbermongers whom only North Korea or the Nazis could love.”

Technorati tags: california uber alles, jello biafra, michael savage, ted kennedy

I have seen the site Retropolis Transit Authority T-shirts for a while, and love their use of retro-future designs. Not quite Steempunk, but very Bioshock and Fallout. I was reminded of their site today via one of the blogs I read regularly, and took a look to see if they had anything I couldn’t live without. Turns out they did!

20th century suffragettes evolved into 20th century feminists. 21st century postmodern geek girls will mutate into stylish, if fascistic, mad scientist mavens of complete world domination. It’s best not to argue.

Tell me what self-respecting geek girl feminist wouldn’t want one of these? If they only had them in kid’s sizes, Baby Grrl would have one, too.

Technorati tags: full of fun fridays, retro-future, geek

…but will defend to the death your right to say it. So the popular quote from Voltaire goes. This week brings us two free speech stories, where this quote really is true.

The more reported story is courtesy of Sen Lieberman. He contacted the Google CEO and owner of YouTube saying “the company wasn’t doing enough to remove videos that are violent or could be used by terrorist groups to enlist followers”. YouTube responded:

While we respect and understand his views, YouTube encourages free speech and defends everyone’s right to express unpopular points of view. We believe that YouTube is a richer and more relevant platform for users precisely because it hosts a diverse range of views, and rather than stifle debate we allow our users to view all acceptable content and make up their own minds.

That’s exactly what needed to happen! Although we’ll see what will come of it. CNet has some interesting thoughts about where Lieberman may take this fight, including trying to introduce legislation at the federal level requiring deletion of “terrorist” videos. It wouldn’t surprise me, in fact I’d be surprised even more if a law wasn’t attempted. I’d hope though, that a court would smack it down on First Amendment reasons.

The second story comes out of Philadelphia. Seems that a local skinhead group is placing some obviously racist posters around town:

The poster features a photo of slain Police Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski, who was killed while trying to apprehend bank robbers earlier this month in Port Richmond.

The poster also shows three other white Philadelphia police officers killed in the line of duty, and the three black men charged in their deaths. It reads: “Guns don’t kill people. Dangerous minorities do. How much longer can you ignore this?”

Wow. No one could argue that poster is offensive, well unless you’re a huge ‘ole racist. The city’s Commission on Human Relations investigated the posters and had this to say:

“While we find their message of hate to be repugnant and their attempt to connect their motives and message to the death of Sgt. Liczbinski even more disgraceful, we live in a country that allows for certain freedoms of expression,” the commission stated in a news release yesterday. “At present, it appears that this group has not broken any laws.”

The story did not say where the posters were hanging. I’m hoping they are in a public area where anyone can tear them down, or deface them in some way. Just because they have the right to say it, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have any consequences. (Gee, I think I’ve said that before.)

Free speech, while having some needed limitations like threatening, libel, and slanderous speech, means that you let something that you might passionately disagree with be said or printed or videoed. Because if me, you, or especially the government, tries to determine what people can and can’t say, we have truly lost what it is to be an American.

Technorati tags: free speech, first amendment

Ok, well not really, but when you read about the American Life League’s new propaganda machine Protest the Pill Day ‘08: The Pill Kills Babies, that’s the first thing that came to mind. I remember seeing a picture similar to this many years ago, and it seems that we are coming closer to that as more fundies get their influence into people.

But what about this protest, you ask? Well, let me tell you! The people behind the Protest the Pill Day say that by taking the pill, women are preventing a fertilized egg from implanting into the uterus, thereby killing a “preborn” baby. Because life begins at conception, you see. But Jessika, you say, I thought the pill worked by suppressing ovulation. Well, gee…there you go and start using basic science against them. Let’s let PZ Myers explain the basics:

The ovary contains a supply of eggs. One egg each month begins to ripen and mature into a large structure called a follicle, regulated by a hormone from the pituitary called Follicle Stimulating Hormone, FSH. The follicle is going to produce estrogen, which is what causes the growth of the uterine lining. FSH is particularly important early in the cycle.

A second pituitary hormone, Luteinizing Hormone, assists in stimulating the mature follicle, and in particular, a rapid surge in LH is what triggers the follicle to pop, releasing the egg, in a process called ovulation. This is a key step, so remember this: a spike in LH levels triggers ovulation.

After ovulation, the egg goes on its way, and might be fertilized, leading to pregnancy. The follicle left behind isn’t done yet, though; it becomes a structure called the corpus luteum, which continues to produce estrogen (necessary to maintain the uterine lining), and also gradually produces more and more progesterone. Progesterone helps maintain the uterine lining, but also suppresses LH production by the pituitary. It’s a kind of timer. The corpus luteum is maintained by the levels of LH, but the corpus luteum also produces rising levels of progesterone, which shut off LH…and when too little LH is produced, the corpus luteum shuts down, no estrogen and progesterone are produced, the uterine lining is no longer maintained, and a woman finds a bloody mess in her panties.

The key thing to remember about this part, though, is that progesterone suppresses LH.

Put two pieces of the story together: a spike in LH levels triggers ovulation and progesterone suppresses LH. Hmmm. This suggests an idea. If you wanted to prevent ovulation, how would you do it?

Ohhh, I know!!! How about take a pill everyday with some progesterone to suppress ovulation? Wait…that’s what The Pill does! So what does The Pill Kills site really have against The Pill?

Q: How does the pill kill babies?
A: This can happen because the pill and other birth control products can prevent implantation from occurring. When the preborn baby implants in the womb, the baby establishes a connection with the mother so that he or she can receive the sustenance needed to grow. If the preborn baby cannot implant in the mother’s womb, he or she will die.

Notice the logical fallacy Appeal to Emotion there, with words like “baby”, “mother”, and my favorite “die”. RH Reality Check has a lot of information, with evidence, which shows that the medical definition of pregnancy doesn’t begin until after implantation. Which means it can’t be an abortion, with any kind of embryo, fetus, or baby, dying. At that stage, it’s at best a clump of cells that are shed when a woman gets her period.

All kidding and sarcasm aside, this tactic is just another way for the religious right to impose their beliefs on others, and in the process keep sex as nothing more than for making babies. Which, in turn, keeps women in their place…either pregnant or at home caring for the 10 kids she had because birth control isn’t an option.

It’s already an issue that many insurance companies don’t offer contraception coverage, and that the cost of The Pill has gone up over the last couple of years. In Oklahoma, we do not have a contraceptive equity law. Which means that even if you have health insurance, that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to get contraception covered.

But back to the protest… After reading their stance, and explanation about why they are against it, they really should just come out and say that Menstruation is Murder and that women need to Breed Don’t Bleed! At least saying that they will get written off like the extremists they are. It looks like there will be a few protests here in Oklahoma. If anyone is available, go do a counter protest!

One funny before I finally finish. In researching this more, I Googled “pill kills”, and the first hit was a story from The Onion, New ‘Anti-Abortion Pill’ Kills Mother, Leaves Fetus Alive. Ha!

Technorati tags: anti-choice, anti-contraception, propaganda, the pill

Here at Middle Raged Punk, I do have a lighter side. I mean, I can’t be raged all the time. So I’m borrowing from a few blogs out there that do at least one lighter post on Fridays.

When going out to lunch one day a few months ago, I saw a billboard around 235 & 13th or so, near mid-town/Bricktown. Picture the words with check boxes before them, the last one checked:

Wright Brothers
Doobie Brothers
Mario Brothers
All of the above
Only in America

Does it look odd to anyone else? The first two for sure are American, but Mario Brothers? They are a Japanese creation, from Nintendo. Starting with Mario himself in a little game called Donkey Kong. Sure, you can find plenty of people who play video games with them in it here, but they aren’t from here originally like the other two listed.

Oh, and billboard people? Couldn’t you have found a better brothers example besides the Doobie Brothers? Guess it is better than Allman Brothers, but still. You could have shown how hip you were and put Coen Brothers.

Technorati tags: full of fun fridays, oklahoma, billboards

We should all be familiar with Sally Kern by now. Yes, the same Rep. Kern who said gays were a bigger threat to the US than terrorism is still in office, and she’s now got a bill introduced that’s horrible.

House Bill 2633 states that “students may express their beliefs about religion in homework, artwork, and other written and oral assignments free from discrimination based on the religious content of their submissions.”

Oklahomans for Excellence in Science are already on it, and are calling for everyone to contact Governor Henry and ask him to veto the bill. They also have a lengthy list of valid reasons why this bill is not only bad law, but completely unnecessary. Oh, and in case this sounds vaguely familiar to a bill from just a couple of months ago, it should.

EXPLANATION. The original bill (HB 2211) that contained Kern’s language (now most of it is in HB 2633) passed the House (71- 25), was then not heard in the Senate Rules Committee (an attempt by the Senate leadership to stop the bill), but then re-appeared as a floor amendment in the Senate. An attempt by the Democrats to move the original HB 2633 forward without the Kern wording ended in a tie (24-24) strictly along party lines. Thus, the attempt to kill the religious stuff died on the tie vote. With the title not stricken, the bill as amended could not go back to a conference committee and must then be voted up or down on the House floor. The bill will pass in the House given the earlier vote on HB 2211. Given that the bill met strong opposition and died in the Senate Rules Committee and was almost stopped in the 24-24 tie in the Senate, the Governor can see that this is a controversial item that many Democrats opposed (including all Democrats in the Senate); this should give him strong backing for a veto.

The main reason for this, to protect students who want to express their religion, has already proven to be protected, even in school. Kids can pray before they eat lunch, they can turn in an art project that’s religious in nature, they can talk to their friends about church. She even admitted that the bill “is in line with Supreme Court rulings”, so why is this needed? This smacks of trying, yet again, to let students get away with creationism belief and talks in science class. A student could answer the Earth is 6000 years old to a question on an exam, and when it is marked incorrect, he or she could claim religious discrimination.

Come on fellow Oklahomans! Contact Governor Henry and urge him to veto this bill!

Technorati tags: anti-science, oklahoma, sally kern, freedom of religion, first amendment

Over in the UK, there are two Intellectual Property scuffles about Fair Use that don’t seem right to me. The first comes from an author everyone has heard of, J.K. Rowling.

J.K. Rowling is suing the publisher of the Harry Potter Lexicon, which began life as a popular Potter blog, and wants a court to rule that she has the sole right to profit from the “descriptions, character details, and plot points” of the Potter tales. Now, a federal judge has issued an injunction against RDR Books to prevent them from completing the typesetting, selling the books, or even marketing it on Amazon.com.

Basically, Steve Vander Ark of The Harry Potter Lexicon wants to make a print version of the website, which is a guide to the Harry Potter Universe. That’s easily Fair Use, but it seems that Rowling may have an ulterior motive:

Rowling, it turns out, has long wanted to produce her own companion book to the popular children’s series and donate the money to charity. She believes that the Lexicon would eliminate much of the demand for her product (because past titles with “J.K. Rowling” on the cover have sold so poorly).

Just a couple of weeks ago, Orson Scott Card had his say on the issue, slamming her in the process.

Once you publish fiction, Ms. Rowling, anybody is free to write about it, to comment on it, and to quote liberally from it, as long as the source is cited.

Here’s the irony: Vander Ark had the material for this book on his website for years, and Rowling is quoted as saying that when she needed to look up some ‘fact” from her earlier books, she would sometimes “sneak into an Internet cafe while out writing and check a fact rather than go into a bookshop and buy a copy of Harry Potter.”

In other words, she already had made personal use of Vander Ark’s work and found it valuable. Even if it has shortcomings, she found it useful.

That means that Vander Ark created something original and useful - he added value to the product. If Rowling wants to claim that it interferes with her creativity now, she should have made that complaint back when she was using it - and giving Vander Ark an award for his website back in 2004.

Many other gems there, check out the whole thing.

The second Fair Use item involves none other than the BBC. Mazzmatazz is “a Dr. Who fansite which posts knitting patterns of the current batch of Dr. Who monsters”. The site posted the patterns, for free, under Creative Commons licenses to prevent resale and so other fans could share them for free also.

Here, the BBC is not being fair, or being smart. As pointed out:

These are the people that kept the BBC’s now-lucrative Who franchise going during years of neglect by its owners; these are the people who actively promote the current series; and, in the UK at least, these are the people who pay the bulk of BBC’s salaries.

As of today, the site still does not have the patterns online. But I hope enough buzz has been created about this that the BBC lawyers change their minds. I mean, how could you keep someone from knitting such an adorable Ood?

Technorati tags: fair use, bullies, ip rights, uk

I’ve got a couple of posts with more substance that keep pestering me to be written (Sally Kern is up to no good again), but instead I’ll put up a fluff piece. I blame Streak.

The rules are:
1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about himself or herself.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

Ten years ago, I was . . .

Working at OKDHS as a TANF (welfare) caseworker, going through my “I want to help people!” phase. Yeah, I got burned out fast.

5 Things on Today’s “To Do” List

1. Go to work. CHECK
2. Close more tickets than I get. CHECK
3. Run on treadmill at work during lunch. EPIC FAIL
4. Go to the store after work. PENDING
5. Play with Baby Grrl. PENDING

3 Bad Habits:

1. Procrastination
2. Surfing the web.
3. Eating crappy food that’s oh so good, but not good for me.

5 Places I’ve Lived (in no particular order):

Honolulu, HI

Moore, OK

Midwest City, OK

San Diego, CA

Bethany, OK

5 Jobs I’ve Held:

1. Customer Service at a big computer store

2. Social Worker

3. cashier

4. IT specialist

5. Sales for a month. HATED that.

Tag, you’re it

Corwin

ElmoFromOK

Trav28

Yeah, I know it’s only three. But Streak tagged more than five, so I can break the rules, too. So there.

As expected, there was a huge backlash from gamers to EA’s decision to include “phone home” features in the PC versions of both Spore and Mass Effect. They listened, since a huge number of them threatened to not purchase either game as a result. The announcement for Spore:

We wanted to let you know that we’ve been hearing your concerns about the online authentication mentioned earlier this week. I didn’t want to head into the weekend without getting back to you with some information about how Spore is planning on using this new system.

A few things we wanted you to know:

— We authenticate your game online when you install and launch it the first time.
— We’ll re-authenticate when a player uses online features, downloads new content or a patch for their game.
— The new system means you don’t have to play with the disc in your computer. And if you are like me, always losing discs, this will be a huge benefit.
— You’ll still be able to install and play on multiple computers.
— You can play offline.

We do hope that players will play online - sharing creatures, buildings and vehicles with other players is something that is unique to Spore and one of the coolest features of the game. Every day, when I play the Creature Stage, I get to see wacky and awesome new creatures from my Buddies on the team coming over the hill at me and I can’t wait to see what happens when our creative, passionate community starts sharing their creations.

Still not ideal, but much, much better. As for BioWare, they listed a FAQ. Here are a couple of the questions:

Q: What is the difference between the old PC disc authentication solution and the new online model?

A: Two things have changed:

• First, authentication of discs has now gone from the physical format to the online format, freeing the need for consumers to have a disc in the drive at all times.

• Second, with online authentication consumers now connect to the Internet the first time the game is launched and are required only to reconnect if they are downloading new game content.

Q: Did BioWare and EA change their mind on requiring that the game be re-authorized every 10 days?

A: BioWare has always listened very closely to its fans and we made this decision to ensure we are delivering the best possible experience to them. To all the fans including our many friends in the armed services and internationally who expressed concerns that they would not be able re-authenticate as often as required, EA and BioWare want you to know that your feedback is important to us.

Very awesome that they listened to fans and made the change before the game was released. DRM does not prevent piracy. Amongst the gaming crowd, that type of restriction would have encouraged gamers to download a cracked copy and only frustrated people who did purchase the game. I’ll still probably wait for the console version, since I don’t PC game much anymore, but now I won’t feel dirty by giving them money.

Technorati tags: DRM, pc gaming