Republicans vote against Motherhood

Published 1 month, 3 weeks ago in Politics and Annoyances. 0 Comments

Well, today is Mother’s Day. While some of us were preparing various and sundry expressions of gratitude to Mothers everywhere, Republicans had bigger fish to fry.

From Dana Milbanks at the Washington Post:

Republicans Vote Against Moms; No Word Yet on Puppies, KittensBy Dana Milbank
Friday, May 9, 2008; A03

It was already shaping up to be a difficult year for congressional Republicans. Now, on the cusp of Mother’s Day, comes this: A majority of the House GOP has voted against motherhood.

On Wednesday afternoon, the House had just voted, 412 to 0, to pass H. Res. 1113, “Celebrating the role of mothers in the United States and supporting the goals and ideals of Mother’s Day,” when Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), rose in protest.

“Mr. Speaker, I move to reconsider the vote,” he announced.

Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), who has two young daughters, moved to table Tiahrt’s request, setting up a revote. This time, 178 Republicans cast their votes against mothers.

It has long been the custom to compare a popular piece of legislation to motherhood and apple pie. Evidently, that is no longer the standard. Worse, Republicans are now confronted with a John Kerry-esque predicament: They actually voted for motherhood before they voted against it.

Republicans, unhappy with the Democratic majority, have been using such procedural tactics as this all week to bring the House to a standstill, but the assault on mothers may have gone too far. House Minority Leader John Boehner, asked yesterday to explain why he and 177 of his colleagues switched their votes, answered: “Oh, we just wanted to make sure that everyone was on record in support of Mother’s Day.”

By voting against it?

If Boehner’s explanation doesn’t make much sense, he’s been under a great deal of stress lately.

You can’t make this stuff up!

Tags:,

So Long, Hoppy.

Published 2 months, 1 week ago in Politics and Annoyances. 0 Comments

This is was Hoppy. Also known as wolf 253 to those at Yellowstone National Park.

hoppy.jpg

Photo by Steve Justad

Hoppy got his name because he had a limp ever since a fight he was in as a pup. Unfortunately, he’s no longer with us, since the Bush administration issued a rule permitting states to kill wolves affecting elk herds in any way in the northern Rockies. Hoppy was one of the first casualties as the federal government stripped Endangered Species protections for gray wolves in the northern Rockies at the end of March.

See a slide show of Hoppy and other wolves at Yellowstone and find out what you can do to help here.

Tags:,

BigDog

Published 3 months, 2 weeks ago in Technology. 0 Comments

If you’ve been to the Science Fiction section of my gallery, you’ve probably seen some of the futuristic legged vehicles I’ve done, like the MW-77 Assassin and the MW-81 Bulldog:

MW_77_climb.jpgMW_81.jpg

 

These vehicle designs may seem completely unrealistic, or look like a technology that’s a long, long way off…but take a look at this video from the BigDog project at Boston Dynamics.

Very cool, and also a little creepy! :lol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1czBcnX1Ww

Read more about BigDog here.

Tags:

Tags: robotics

Dilapidation Photos

Published 3 months, 2 weeks ago in Travel and Photos. 0 Comments

Last year I went on a week-long photo trip through Southern Utah, mainly to get to Bryce Canyon and Escalante State Park. Along the way, I stopped at a couple of ghost towns and abandoned mining areas to get some photos of fallen structures and such.

dilapidation.jpg

These are great for art reference, both for seeing how things collapse over time as well as for textures. I’m fascinated by old buildings anyway, and the history of them.

You can see the photos at my gallery site, here.

Tags:,

New Artwork: “Angel of Death”

Published 5 months, 1 week ago in 3D Graphics and Photos. 1 Comment

Well whaddya know? I actually finished a new piece of artwork! Will wonders never cease. This one is called “Angel of Death”. I’ve always been intrigued by that name, since it’s sort of a “juxtaposition of the incongruous” and I’m fascinated by such things. The term “Angel” is usually a positive, uplifting, light kind of word, whereas “Death” is about as opposite as you can get.

So this is my idea of what the Angel of Death might look like. It feels great to finally have a new piece done, and I am starting to think about what the next one will be. I have foolishly made a New Years resolution that I will finish 10 new images this year. (!) That’s a lot considering how busy my job keeps me, especially in the summer/fall, but I’m determined to goof off less, and make more art.

AngelOfDeath.jpg

You can see the full-size version at my gallery site, here.

Tags:

Game Dude = Used Game Awesomeness

Published 6 months, 1 week ago in Travel and Electronic Gaming. 1 Comment

This is a public service announcement to anyone living in, or traveling through the Burbank, CA area that is interested in used console games. I live out in the sticks of NE Nevada, where there’s not a whole lot going on games-wise, but I make it into Burbank every couple of months for business. Game Dude is a store that sells boatloads of used (and new) video games. It’s a rather large store though, so there’s more than you’d normally find in a typical used game store.

I realize that you can get good deals on eBay for used games (and I frequently do), but there’s something extra-cool about standing in a store this large that specializes in video games.

gamedude1.jpg

So I would be remiss to not share said location with my fellow gaming geeks and geekettes. Here’s the rack near the front door that has all the price lists:

gamedude2.jpg

There are lists for new and used Nintendo 64, Playstation 1, 2 and 3, Xbox and Xbox 360, Dreamcast, Gamecube, Saturn, Neo Geo, Game Gear, Wii, Nintendo DS, Sony PSP, Super Nintendo, Game Boy, and Game Boy Advance. Plus they’ve got used DVD’s. Here’s just one of the aisles:

gamedude3.jpg

And here’s the Xbox section:

gamedude4.jpg

Anyway, if you’re a game freak and you like checking out used games, check this place out. I was there a few weeks back, and picked up Bully and Disgaea for PS2, and Exit and Crush for PSP. I just got a Nintendo DS for Christmas, so next time I go I’ll be looking for some DS games too. The best part is that when you check out, they open each case to make sure the game is actually in it, and they show you the underside of the CD so you can see the quality of the disk surface. Most excellent.

Check out their site here.

Tags:,

Global Warming Deniers (Including Rush) Fall for Fake “Report”

Published 7 months, 3 weeks ago in Humor and Blogging. 0 Comments

Ok, this is funny. A report by Low Carbon Kid talks about how global warming is a hoax and gives “evidence” by showing that it’s not due to man, but rather “saprotrophic eubacteria living in the sediments of the continental shelves fringing the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.” Global warming deniers jumped all over this, including Rush Limbaugh, who headlined a show with it. The problem? It was a joke. An attempt made to see how gullible people were, and how desperate they are to cling to the idea that mankind is not responsible for global warming.

Low Carbon Kid says: “Its purpose was to expose the credulity and scientific illiteracy of many of the people who call themselves climate sceptics. While dismissive of the work of the great majority of climate scientists, they will believe almost anything if it lends support to their position. Their approach to climate science is the opposite of scepticism.”

A number of people ran with the story without even bothering to verify the source.

Read the whole story at DailyKos here.

Tags:,

Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction…Shipped!

Published 8 months ago in 3D Graphics and Electronic Gaming. 0 Comments

Okay, well it didn’t just ship, it’s been out there for a couple of weeks now I think, but the important thing is that it’s on the store shelves now. It’s what I’ve been working on for the last year or so, and it’s always good to see something you’ve worked on out in the stores.

It’s been getting some good reviews too…check out the scores at Metacritic.

Here’s a shot of Metropolis, which is the opening level in the game, and is also what you see in the demo you can download on the Playstation Network. This is one of the levels I lit, and I think it came out pretty well.

metropolis.jpg

I’m looking forward to playing it …I only lit about five of the levels myself, so there’s a lot of the game that I haven’t even seen yet. So go buy one. Or two. Buy lots for all your friends. :wink:

Check out the official Ratchet and Clank website here.

Tags:, ,

Bryce Canyon Photos

Published 9 months, 1 week ago in Photos. 0 Comments

A couple of weeks back I had my 2-week post-project vacation. I spent the first week lounging around the house and playing computer games, and then spent the second week driving around Southern Utah to do some photography. In 5 days, I shot about 1400 photos (!) and it’s going to take some time to sort them all out.

The first ones I’ve posted are from Bryce Canyon, which is a great National Park in Utah. I’ve only been there once before, many years ago. It was great to see all that colored rock again.

IMG_8408.JPG

I still have to go through the shots from Kodachrome and Escalante parks, and also the various ghost towns I passed through.

I’ve posted the photos from Bryce Canyon here. Enjoy! :cool:

Tags:, ,

A trip to Metropolis

Published 10 months ago in Elko and Photos. 1 Comment

Metropolis Nevada, that is. Metropolis is now a ghost town (actually little more than a few deteriorating foundations and walls.) My wife and I headed out a while back to check it out and get some photos.

I took a bunch of pictures not just for the strangeness of the environment itself, but to use as reference for an upcoming project. Lots of cool crumbling structures and collapsing walls.

IMG_6696.jpg

Metropolis is located about 12 miles Northwest of Wells, NV. It was started in 1911, and grew rapidly thanks to a promotional campaign by the Pacific Reclamation Company. The Bishop’s Creek Dam was built, and provided plenty of water, but in June of 1912, some farmers from Lovelock filed a lawsuit claiming that the dam interfered with their water rights downstream. The Pacific Reclamation Company was forced into receivership in 1913, and that was the beginning of the end of Metropolis.

By 1920, there were fewer than 100 people left in the town and on the nearby homesteads. On Sept. 11th, 1936, the 50 room hotel that had been the pride of Metropolis was destroyed by a fire.

The two main structures seen in my photos are from the remaining foundation of the hotel (the large tower in the center of it was the bank vault) and the building with the arched entrance was the school.

You can see the photos here.

Tags:

« Previous Entries

Categories

Calendar

July 2008
M T W T F S S
« May    
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031  
Pages (999999): [1] 2 3 4 » ... Last »