dameargyle

So I've been keeping up on the brouhaha following Judge Walker's decision to overturn Prop 8 in CA, and found this profoundly disturbing section in a recent article questioning the likelihood of the ruling being overturned by an appeal:

Other legal analysts think the appeals court will allow the group that raised $40 million to pass Proposition 8 to formally challenge Walker's ruling.

"What Judge Walker's ruling means is you can sponsor a proposition, direct it, research it, work for it, raise $40 million for it, get it on a ballot, successfully campaign for it and then have no ability to defend it independently in court," said Dale Carpenter, a University of Minnesota constitutional law professor who supports same-sex marriage. "And then a judge maybe let you be the sole defender in a full-blown trial and then says, 'by the way, you never can defend this.' It just seems very unlikely to me the higher courts will buy that."

Is it just me, or is it being implied that the whole "we raised $40 million" aspect is an indicator of whether or not something has a right to appear in court? If the Prop 8 people had only managed to raise 40 bucks, well, that would be different?

Since when should there be a price tag on something like this? If people are willing to throw enough money at something, that makes it more important than it would be otherwise? Especially in a social justice/equal rights context?

Seriously, that attitude scares me, completely apart from the topic being discussed. That would bother me even if the argument was being made in favor of something I otherwise support. :/

Nicholas Cage in a what will apparently be a movie-length version of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice."

*Tell* me that's not Harry (except for the hair):

http://movies.yahoo.com/photos/collections/gallery/1653/stars-on-the-set#photo65
http://movies.yahoo.com/photos/collections/gallery/1653/stars-on-the-set#photo66

Copycats! >:(

ETA: When you click one of the links, give the photo album a minute to jump ahead to the appropriate pic in the sequence; it will, if you give it a minute.

Dangit.  Was feeling a little better, so I was doing housework, including cleaning my 55-gallon fish tank . . . and when I took the light hood off, I found a *major* crack in the frame.  I mean, heading-towards-massive-structural-failure time.

It would take $150 or so to replace the tank, new, which I don't have to spare; I could probably look for a used tank, but there's no guarantee on when I'd find one, and I want this sucker taken down ASAP.   Like in the next two days.

Also, countessaleska  and I are in our continual quest to Find A Nicer Place (the problem being budget x size needs x someplace that allows cats) to rent; if possible, we'd like to move this spring/summer.  The less stuff we have to move, obviously, the easier it'll go.

So, I think it's time to call the "good" neighborhood pet store (as opposed to the sleazy one), see if they want some free fish and plants (this being a college town, they're used to taking on people's pets when a move becomes necessary, and they like older/bigger fish because they sell for more -- plus they're nice people), and call it the end of amateur fishkeeping for now.  Darnit, and I've had such a nice setup for the last three years: 4 Congo tetras (3 females, 1 gorgeous male), 2 angelfish (large), and 2 black neons and 2 serpae tetras left over from a smaller tank I dismantled a while back.  Plus driftwood, river rocks, and a nice bed of cryptocorynes.

*Sigh*

RL rant, under the cut.  Mostly me venting in tl;dr mode about irritiating pieces of scientific equipment at work, to keep sane.  You've been warned.

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I finally steeled myself and went to see the online vid clips of the new American Life On Mars . . . and I just don't think I can do it.  I just don't think I can handle seeing a show of which I'm extremely fond getting so . . . mangled.

While I've got nothing against O'Mara (or any of the rest of the actors) as such, he seems almost violently miscast as Sam.  And there's a real WTF-ery to a situation in which Sam outmasses Gene so considerably. There's no way the character dynamic can be kept the same, but it looks as if they're trying anyway.  *facepalm*

Blond Annie is also WTF.

And then Chris and Ray are creepily intended to be lookalikes, which also, paradoxically, seems incredibly wrong.

Watching the "Sam introduces himself in 1973" scene was really bizarre -- they lifted the dialogue so completely, and yet it plays so differently and clumsily in an American cultural setting (where the original felt utterly natural in comparison), it just hurts.  Srsly.

Off to watch an episode of the *real* show with countessaleska  now, taped from the BBC marathon (though there's a whole nother layer of WTF there, with the bizarre subtitles they inflicted on us in the apparent assumption that Americans can't understand spoken English, for crying out loud.  Ugh.  But that's a different rant . . .)

Now that Fry-kitty is old enough to go outside, his exceptionally soft, fine fur means that he's acquired a new hobby: vacuuming up every freaking goosegrass burr from our yard.  Much as I try to keep the stuff under control, after a wet spring like this last one, it's a losing battle.  Tippy and our late Gandalf never have/had much trouble with the stuff, seeing as how they were both shorthairs, but Fry comes in so covered with burrs he feels all nubbly.  He then proceeds to pick the things out of his fur and leave them all over the house (and particularly in my bed, which he's claimed as his territory) for us humans to enjoy, too.

Aaaaargh.  I hated goosegrass enough as it was, for the nasty weed that it is.  (I also hated it on a more personal level because it makes keeping sweet woodruff in the garden almost impossible -- the minute anyone walking by spots the stuff, they say, "Oh, more goosegrass," and proceed to rip it out in an attempt to be helpful . . . without bothering to ascertain whether it was actually *sticky* or not.)  After half an hour of picking burrs off of Fry, I have a whole new reason to be irritated.

Although, about halfway through, I was amused to realize that I was using beautifully stereotypical primate grooming moves with my hands to get the burrs off the cat.  Think baboons in nature documentaries.  Entirely instinctive and, admittedly, pretty effective.  I can't help but wonder if one of the reasons cats "agreed" to domestication/symbiosis with us humans is because our spinal-reflex grooming instincts make us extra-useful to a species without hands . . .  *snerk!*

Other random thought: if you believe Gerard and some of the other Renaissance herbalists, goosegrass tea is/was a weight loss aid.  Wouldn't it be entertaining if that Holy Grail (other sort, folks on my fanfic list, minds out of the gutter)  of current Western culture, the herbal weight-loss remedy that actually works, existed all over the %^&#*%& place, ignored, in the form of a hated weed?  That there's irony, people!  ;)

Totally random thought: wonder if goosegrass, being in the Rubiaceae (coffee family) might contain caffeine?  I have no evidence for that, mind, but it's an interesting thought . . . and it'd sure as hell cause one to lose weight!

/random

I thought this might be appreciated, given some of the recent writing discussions on the f-list . . . XD


more graph humor and song chart memes

Much as I'm looking forward to RadCon, I'm still grumpy over missing out on the 4W (aka the Western Washington Western Martial Arts Workshop) being held the same weekend.  Christian Tobler on Liechtenauer (Tobler's an amazing martial artist + a great guy -- I've been to one of his seminars) AND a seminar on Fiore's longsword techniques.   All within driving distance.  Aaaaaaaargh.  That's the problem with three-day weekends.  Too much cool stuff gets double-booked on them (Gallifrey One is holding their big DW con the same weekend, in fact.)

Anyway, I'm firm in choosing RadCon -- but a buddy of mine just emailed to happily tell me his plans for going to 4W . . . and made me jealous all over again.  So I'm venting here.  *Grump!*

Sword geek moment below the cut, minor S2 Torchwood image spoilers . . .