Month: February 2005

The Freep says it best:

He painted Eve as God created her: nude.

And when he finished including the bare-bosomed Biblical first woman, he inscribed the word “love” on the mural that covers the outside wall of his Roseville art studio.

In Ed (Gonzo) Stross’ eyes, his variation on Michelangelo’s “Creation of Man” mural is art.

In 39A District Judge Marco Santia’s eyes, it’s a crime.

Santia ordered jail time, a fine and probation — a sentence that sounds a little harsh to a state senator, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan and fellow artists.

Santia ordered Stross, 43, to serve 30 days in jail, do two years’ probation and pay a $500 fine for violating a city sign ordinance. Roseville officials said letters were prohibited on the mural and Eve’s exposed chest is indecent.

*sigh* I thought this kind of crap was confined to the West side. Congratulations Roseville, you’re officially more idiotic than the Zeeland city council.

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Questionable Content is a strip I’m currently catching up on. I’m up to #209, which made me laugh out loud. Check it out.

The cynic in me says that this legislation will never pass. This time. But it’s a great start and some really good ideas.

Keep in mind that I said that as I tell you the proposal and who proposed it.

Some good news on electoral reform: Today Senators Barbara Boxer, Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, working together with Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio, introduced the Count Every Vote Act, a bill that proposes several necessary improvements to the way Americans conduct democracy. Among other things, the legislation would require that all electronic voting machines print paper ballots; that ex-felons be allowed to vote; and that Election Day be made a federal holiday, so people don’t have to worry about the consequences of being away from work while waiting in a line at the polls. The law, Boxer said in a press conference, “is meant to ensure [that] the election debacle of 2000, and the serious election irregularities of 2004, never ever happen again.”

Aside from the partisan BS that Boxer is unable to not vocalize (seriously, Democrats, tone down the hate and I’ll vote for you!), these are really good ideas and needed reforms. The paper labels (aka:. receipts) are an awesome idea. Someone in one of those three offices has a subscription to Wired.

Oh, and I can’t let this go. It’s petty and cheap, but, honestly, if you’re a Senator, don’t use the phrase “never ever”. All I hear is cheesy British melodrama.

West Michigan isn’t as “thrifty” as it used to be (anyone remember the Woolworth’s on River? Big Ten on US 31?). But the area does have that nostalgicflair for the, uhm, cheaper pleasures in life. Something I’m dealing with right now, trying to get the folks a hotel room in the good ole’ Double-A

Oh, and John, we need to get you set up with a blog. Seriously; if anyone needs a venue to get stuff off his chest (intelligently, I might add), you’re the one. Email me, man. (P.S. I might want the dirt on former employers.

Mention grad students; check. Point out ridiculous union stance; check. Post to highly-trafficked, local blog; check.

Get your flamewar over at AAiOR!

Man, I don’t check AAiOR for a couple days and I totally miss out on being called “dense”. Damn.

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Yahoo! has this feature that let’s you put news-type blocks on the front page of your My Yahoo! page. Until today, ZDnet was occupied a five-line block on my page. Then I read this article by Lance Ulanoff.

PC Magazine, ZDNet, can we talk? I know I’m nobody; I don’t rank in the Top Anything on these here Internets, but I am one of the “consumers” that Mr. Ulanoff speaks of. I do not think everything should be free. I do not think the Web is some Wild West of the technologically clued-in. And if you’re stupid enough to employ someone who publically rails in generalities like Mr. Ulanoff, then I will stop consuming your ad-funded “free” content.

Since the dot com boom and bust cycles began, pundits and soothsayers have been raving about the need to “tax” the Internet. No one knows how to do this, of course, but they know it’s somehow “right” to do. There’s no real need to do so either; there aren’t any starving, homeless web admins we need to care for, but somehow, somewhere, someone is missing out on a lot of revenue, I mean, money due to them.

Mr. Ulanoff plays the 321 studios card (again) as so many other clueless opinion writers have. DVD Xcopy was not a program that “depended on illegal activity”, anymore than Sony relied on illegal activity for their VCR business oh so many years ago. This agrument that, since some illegal activity is possible with a product, all uses of the prodcut should be illegal is tired beyond words. If your writers don’t “get it”, you need new writers.

Freakin’ sweet! It’s on the front page. Out 29 April. Go before Slashdot posts it.

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Oh sure, now Iowa has something cool. The 120-foot scroll on which Jack Kerouac wrote “On The Road” is on display for the first time at the University of Iowa Museum of Art. It goes to Vegas at the end of March.

Link

…well, we don’t know for sure. Get this:

A state agency is investigating whether workplace safety regulations were violated when three Washtenaw County Sheriff’s deputies rushed into a burning apartment building last fall and pulled residents to safety.

Why?

Sheriff Daniel Minzey said he was shocked to learn that someone had filed an anonymous complaint with the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration [ed. MIOSHA] after his three deputies received two awards for efforts labeled as heroic and life-saving.

That’s right everyone; save two lives, get an AWARD, get investigated. Who could have done this? The state isn’t saying, but the Sheriff Commander has an idea.

Sheriff’s Cmdr. Dave Egeler said he has strong reason to believe the complaint was filed by someone associated with the Ypsilanti Township Fire Department. A captain and union official at the Fire Department denied it was anyone within that department.

Well, isn’t that an interesting association of ideas. Unions aren’t known for their protectionist agendas. Oops, sorry, forgot to put the tags on there.

I really do hope it’s not the union, because that’s not just dirty pool, it’s downright childish. I will, however, be surprised if it was someone else.

It does raise an interesting point. Is MIOSHA not required to record who made the complaint, or is this just an anonymous report in terms of what they can tell the media? Because if they aren’t required to temper a report with the party reporting it, doesn’t that seem, oh, I don’t know, like a huge hole? I for one would like to see some transparency in this process.

Heroism may cost the county

MSC Software, a local software company that makes virtual product development software, is about to lose it. As of March 11, they will be delisted from the NYSE. While this isn’t officially an indication of the value or prospects of a company, it does bring into play some very interesting forces.

Most of the company’s stock (95%) is held by institutions: mutual funds, collective investment portfolios, that kind of thing. Many, if not all, of these types of funds have clauses that require the stocks of which they are comprised be publically traded on either NYSE or NASDAQ. Normally, they’re not allowed to trade pink sheets.

Which is what MSC Software becomes in less than a month. Anyone who owns MSC stock or works there, read that part above one more time. That stock is going to be required to sell by a lot of people very, very soon.

You can draw your own conclusions.

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