George Takei is a very funny fellow

"We will disrupt their workday with a mildly offensive blinking light! DEATH TO AMERICA!"

College Humor has the exclusive video of the plot to terrorize Boston with Aqua Teen Hunger Force advertising.

One Laptop Per Child Program to Launch Test Machines Next Month

The OLPC (One Laptop Per Child)program was founded by Nicholas Negroponte with the objective of providing laptop computers to children in the developing world at a cost of around $100 per computer. It's an ambitious goal with a number of pretty obvious challenges. What they've come up with for their test machine is pretty interesting and perhaps the most interesting thing about it is the software that was designed for it. I can imagine that educators in the developed world will be very interested in taking a look at it too.

Here's a picture of the test machine:


Link to the demo here.

The laptop runs on a linux based operating system that was designed especially for this program. It features a simple interface and some nifty features that allow students to collaborate on projects and view web sites as a group, with real time commenting and discussion. This software looks like it could be a useful tool for lots of educational environments and especially so for distance learning in situations where transportation and availability of educational facilities are limited. For more information on this interesting program, including how you can become involved as a developer or financially, check out their site.

Presidential Ticket Quiz

Taking a tip from Southwest Progress, I took the Presidential Ticket Quiz over at Blue Pyramid. Here are my results:

You're Nader-Ventura!


As Ralph Nader, you are a profound and prolific standard of non-conformism. You are
utterly unafraid, strong in your convictions, and unashamed of your actions. You have been
accused of being a bit egotistical and have an utterly dull social demeanor, but this should
not detract from your strengths as a fire-starter. You like creating groups and then discarding
them, as well as being a lone voice of reason in a horrifyingly bleak atmosphere. Above all,
you have a very clean nose.

You select Jesse Ventura as your running mate, just in case the Vice Presidential
debate is replaced by a grudge match.


Take the 2008 Presidential Ticket Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

Good god! Nader/Ventura? I really need to rethink my politics. :-P

The subject of protest marches and rallies has come up a few times today, both on blogs and in conversation. It always brings me back to this terrific Matt Taibbi column from 2004. The whole piece is great, but this section sums the whole thing up nicely:

That's why the one thing that would have really shaken Middle America last week wasn't "creativity." It was something else: uniforms. Three hundred thousand people banging bongos and dressed like extras in an Oliver Stone movie scares no one in America. But 300,000 people in slacks and white button-down shirts, marching mute and angry in the direction of Your Town, would have instantly necessitated a new cabinet-level domestic security agency.

Why? Because 300,000 people who are capable of showing the unity and discipline to dress alike are also capable of doing more than just march. Which is important, because marching, as we have seen in the last few years, has been rendered basically useless. Before the war, Washington and New York saw the largest protests this country has seen since the '60s – and this not only did not stop the war, it didn't even motivate the opposition political party to nominate an anti-war candidate.

There was a time when mass protests were enough to cause Johnson to give up the Oval Office and cause Richard Nixon to spend his nights staring out his window in panic. No more. We have a different media now, different and more sophisticated law enforcement techniques and, most importantly, a different brand of protester.

Protests can now be ignored because our media has learned how to dismiss them, because our police know how to contain them, and because our leaders now know that once a protest is peacefully held and concluded, the protesters simply go home and sit on their asses until the next protest or the next election. They are not going to go home and bomb draft offices, take over campuses, riot in the streets. Instead, although there are many earnest, involved political activists among them, the majority will simply go back to their lives, surf the net and wait for the ballot. Which to our leaders means that, in most cases, if you allow a protest to happen... Nothing happens.

Troop Surge

"Interestingly enough, one administration official admitted to us today that this surge option is more of a political decision than a military one because the American people have run out of patience and President Bush is running out of time to achieve some kind of success in Iraq. While this plan will clearly draw some stiff opposition on Capitol Hill, the president is expected to announce it a week from today," - NBC's Jim Miklaszewski, on the reasoning behind the new Iraq "strategy."

Remember this the next time you hear President Bush talk about how much he cares about the lives (and lost lives) of American troops.

(emphasis added by me)
h/t to Andrew Sullivan for the quote.

Make It Stop

Transcript here...

365 Days

A sidewalk chalk shrine made by neighborhhod kids decorates the steps on the front porch of the Harvey family house. (Dec. 29, 2006) ERIC DAVIS/TIMES-DISPATCH

One year ago many Richmonders had their whole world view shaken right down to the roots at the news of the murders of Bryan, Kathryn, Stella and Ruby Harvey in their home, on New Year's Day. Throughout this past year there have been a number of milestones, both beautiful and horrific, that have marked the path through these 365 days. I think the trials were hardest for me personally. As each one passed I felt myself let out a sigh of relief. A little bit of the weight comes off with each one.

I don't know if I'm the only one who saw January 1st looming ahead somewhat menacingly. Another marker in the road...but maybe the last of the really hard ones. It's been one year since that terrible day and I am so proud of Carytown for ringing this day in right. Rather than allow New Year's Day to lurk as the dark anniversary of terrible loss, the merchants chose to throw a great party (benefiting the Harvey Foundation and The Byrd Theater). Kudos to Carytown for choosing to banish the boogymen and reclaim New Year's Day for optimism, fun, and thoughts of the future. It's the right way to remember them well.

Update:
Another good article in the T.D. about the NYE festivities in Carytown.

It was as if Richmond-area residents wanted a massive dose of togetherness and harmony to end a crazy and violent year that began with the New Year's Day massacre of the Harvey family, said Todd Schall-Vess, manager of the Byrd Theatre and the man who designed and built the ball.

Kathryn Harvey operated the World Of Mirth shop in one of the blocks anchoring the street party.

"We really -- more than a lot of years past -- needed a point to say, 'This is where it starts over,'" Schall-Vess said. "This is where we start anew again."

More here...

Water, Water, Everywhere...

For residents of north Richmond, a day's worth of torrential rain can only mean one thing...




















..Battery Park is flooded again.

Happy friggin' New Year. :/