*yawn* Where's my coffee? (or, an entry from my DreamBlog)

If you’re anything like me, you’re barely recovering from a weekend of binge holiday drinking, and you feel like you may have just emerged from some strange rabbithole.  I’m really afraid to turn to any real news sources anymore, because I’m decidedly sick of the bull-crap responses I’ve been seeing to this Hurricane Katrina disaster down in NOLA. 

I seem to remember this dream I had last night where some dumbass upstart rapper made an ass of himself on TV.  He was really mad because there was this hurricane that came in and destroyed all the black people or all the rappers in New Orleans.  I’m not sure if it was just rappers or black people because he said “my people” and he could mean either one. Here’s how I know it was a dream though: Chris Tucker and Mike Meyers were there, and neither one said anything at all.

Just before part of the dream, though, there was a mayor of a major American city cursing and yelling on television. Then the mother of the president made a stupid remark about how people were better off with their homes destroyed.  Somewhere in all that, I got yelled at for trying to help these people with the destroyed houses.  Then weirdly, as is common in dreams, Sean Penn showed up to help me help the people, but then his boat sank, and he almost drowned because he put on a flak jacket instead of a life jacket. 

I’m pretty sure it was all a dream, but then when I checked my mail this morning, I had to slap myself a couple times, because this bizarre headline was awaiting me in my inbox: SPAMIS: Microsoft wants to “kill” Google.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer vowed to "kill" Google in an expletitive-laced, chair-throwing tirade when a senior engineer told him he was leaving the company to go work for Google, the engineer claimed in court documents made public on Friday.

In a sworn statement made public Friday, Mark Lucovsky, another Microsoft senior engineer who left for Google in November 2004, recounted Ballmer's angry reaction when Lucovsky told Ballmer he was going to work for the search engine company.

"At some point in the conversation, Mr. Ballmer said: 'Just tell me it's not  Google,' "Lucovosky said in his statement. Lucovosky replied that he was joining Google.

"At that point, Mr. Ballmer picked up a chair and threw it across the room hitting a table in his office," Lucovosky recounted, adding that Ballmer then launched into a tirade about Google CEO Eric Schmidt. "I'm going to f***ing bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to f***ing kill Google." Schmidt previously worked for Sun Microsystems and was the CEO of Novell.

This pretty much cinches it.  The whole world has gone mad. Where’s the damn blue pill?

/rizzn

Objections to the Strong Language used in Rizzn.com

I recently sent out to a medium sized list the link to KatrinaLostAndFound.org, and among that list was my father, who, it would appear, forwarded it on to some people from his church. He recieved an email back which reminded me of one of the reasons I enjoy living in metropolitain areas, as opposed to Bible belt districts.  As I’ve told many of you, in the real world, I’m considered a pretty right-wing guy, but in my hometown, I’m a pinko-commie-liberal.

I’ll quote some of the email I got back this evening from my father (the part quoted is my father’s friend’s words, not my father’s):

Thanks for the link.

I have to say that I am reluctant to link to this site (rizzn.com) because of its content (images and text) or any site in connection with this site. Take for example, this page -- http://www.rizzn.com/2000_02_01_archive.asp

And then he quotes from that page of my archive an account I gave of my frustration of bailing out a roommate at the time, who then welched on paying me back, followed by an account of a series of events that occurred back when I was 18 or 19, including some that involved some people from the church my father still attends.  I won’t quote myself here, you can click on the above link if you want to read the mildly entertaining story in my colorful language of five years ago. My point in bringing all this up is that I understand that people in this world have different sensibilities than I do, but it is upsetting that people will seek out the language I used five years ago, and ignore the intent and message of my words today. 

The beauty of the internet is that it's different from television - if you don't like what's there, you don't look at it, as opposed to the television, where you are forced to watch everything that comes across a channel.  The information my father’s friend pulled up on my site is literally about five clicks in, and five years old.  One would have to search hard on my site to find objectionable content, and if someone decides not to surf my site because of something I said four or five years ago, than so be it - I have no intentions of censoring myself, as it is a journal of my experiences, not someone else’s.

That is not to say I'm the same person I was, but it is to say I do not want to elimate my memory of my experiences simply because of the way I wrote them.

Furthermore, the most recent commentary on my site is decrying the politicisation of this natural disaster by groups like Planned Parenthood, who a couple days ago announced that they'd be distributing for free their "Day After" pill in an effort to let those affected by the disaster have free abortions due to what they called "increased demand."  That said, I'm not a preacher, and I'm not a church leader -- I'm a normal everyday American citizen, and sometimes I use foul language, just as almost everyone else in this world does, and anyone honest with themselves will admit that.  When I was younger, I used it more often than I do now, as my father’s friend found out (if he actually read any of my recent work).

Most importantly, however, the site I was referring out was not rizzn.com, but katrinalostandfound.org - an innocuous page that people can use to determine where lost loved ones are.  It contains no foul language, and a positive message as well as a valuable resource.

It is interesting to note (and I have been noting a number of interesting things with regards to Katrina) that this disaster is bringing out the absolute worst in people from all around the country.  Pop icons are going on national television, and accusing our political leaders of racism.  Infotainment shows have been routinely accusing the federal government and the president of murdering the refugees of New Orleans.  Political groups have been using this disaster as a platform to push their agenda.  This is the worst natural disaster in American history - we don't need to be finding differences but reasons to come together.  This site I created was not about pushing my own agenda or exposing people to cusswords, but to actually help.  I will be a little dissappointed to see people not participate in helping people find lost loved ones because of some words I said five years ago.

/rizzn

On the Turntables Currently: MC Frontalot - Charity Case

Katrina Lost and Found Update

I had a conversation with John Galloway from the Katrina Data Project today.  In the short time we both started our respective projects, I must tip my hat to him and his crew, as he’s currently accomplished much more than I.  He’s been able to assimilate about five large databases of information so far, and is establishing relationships with other non-profits out there. That’s why we’re joining forces, and I’m going to concentrate more on getting the word out and creating an ‘affiliate’ program for the database.  Stay tuned to Katrina Lost and Found for details on that.  Very soon, I’ll have a simple, small form you can integrate into your website to allow people to search or register in the database.

Another project that should be tackled within the next few days and weeks is a comprehensive database of people in the South that are willing to take in families and help them assimilate back into society, instead of being holed up in shelters, domes, and firestations. Let me know if you want to start organising something of that nature.

On a different note, I almost destroyed my television set last night while watching Real Time with Bill Maher, and I have have a much decreased respect for actor Brad Whitefield, the man who plays Joshua Lymon on The West Wing. They literally accused President Bush of murdering the state of Louisiana.  Meanwhile, Kanye West (yes, the fellow who played host to Suge Knight’s shooting last weekend) accused President Bush of overt racism on live television (during NBC’s telathon). It’s upsetting to see that this issue could very literally be something that ends up dividing our country permanently.

This just in: moments ago a civilian rescue helicopter crashed in NOLA, no fatalities.  The crash occurred in the middle of a rescue effort. 

I’m actually surprised to see that this is the first helicopter crash, given all the low altitude chopper traffic in the city.  I was actually expecting to see a vertol or Sinouk crash in the rebuilding of the levy.  This would have been a good situation to implement a UAV.

/rizzn

 

KatrinaLostAndFound.org Up and Running

We’ve got the KatrinaLostAndFound.org up and running.  We still need volunteers to work on getting better database scrapes, as we’re only synchronising with one other database as of now.  Email me or post on the board if you want to get involved.

I want to give a big round of thanks out to all who helped me get this up and running in a timely fashion.  Thanks Jon, for the idea.  Thanks Darrell for registering the domain in the middle of the night when the idea struck. Thanks go to Wendy Edwards for hooking me up with the rest of the developers and volunteers over at Chosen Spot Designs. Special thanks go to Kelly for stepping up with the design.

/rizzn

I'm doing my part: katrinalostandfound.org

Given that I’m pulling my hair out on this damn blip migration, I’m taking a break for a couple days to work on what’s turning out to be a community project called katrinalostandfound.org – it’s a public database of people displaced by Hurricane Katrina in NOLA.

If you’re a developer and you want to get in on this, volunteer your efforts over here on this message board. It’s going to be a standard ASP/Access/Perl imalgamation, or at least that’s what it’s shaping up to be right now, although I can run PHP and .net on this server, too.  If you know any of these languages, this is a good alternative to donating money that you might not have – donate your talent.

Right now we’re concentrating on creating an aggregator tool so that we can consolidate CNN’s and the NOLA local media databases into a central place.

/rizzn

PS: Forgot the link: http://katrinalostandfound.org

On the Turntables Currently: newsreal - rantradio_newsreal__2005-09-02.mp3

Damn the tornados, full RU486 ahead!

From Mark’s Forum:

Planned Parenthood To Give Away Abortion Pills

It seems that Planned Parenthood seems to think that the people fighting for their lives need abortion pills.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America interim president Karen Pearl lauded her group's efforts in a recent email to its supporters. "As Hurricane Katrina ripped through the southeastern United States, Planned Parenthood [is] there to offer one free month of birth control or one free emergency contraception kit to women from Louisiana and Mississippi," Peal wrote. "In past disasters, we know there has been an increased demand for [emergency contraception]," she added.

What? Are you telling me that during disasters people are ‘doing it’ like rabbits, and suddenly realize they need to abort a child? How much more of this do people need to see before they wake up and see the selfish,and arrogant attitude of the lefties?

Pro-life groups say the giveaways are another example of how the abortion business doesn't understand the needs of women and families. "The world sees people in the ravaged areas desperate for food, bedding, and shelter. Planned Parenthood only sees a publicity opportunity to push its latest political football, the morning-after pill,"

Clearly this is just another marketing gimmick for the lefty abortion mill, Planned Parenthood.

Personally, I think it’s incredibly tasteless that the left saw fit to use this disaster as an opportunity to promote the killing of yet-born children.  I know that this is a touchy subject, and I don’t jump on it very often, but being adopted myself, I tend to have a strong view of this one.  I’m not one of those people that think life begins at ejaculation, however any overt promotion of the easy ending of a life like this seems horribly callous to me.  Abortion to save a mother’s life?  Yes.  Abortion because it’s inconvenient for them to carry the baby to term?  No!  Lines of people wanting to adopt infants are miles and miles long, and to think that there doesn’t exist loving families wanting to grab these little ones is ignorance.

I’m not going to get on a soapbox of Abortion vs. Adoption.  I just felt it necessary to pass along what I feel is gross opportunism here by some fringe sociopaths.

/rizzn

On the Turntables Currently: gem - ghost month

Jon Stewart for President 2008

This one I’m pretty sure is not a hoax. There were a couple gimmicks that made me think it might be, but the source seemed sincere.  I picked this up from a San Francisco blogger called Fox Force Five. I haven’t called Jon’s people yet to confirm, so in a couple days I’ll have something for you.

Hopefully I won’t get burned on this one, but I wouldn’t mind too much supporting Jon Stewart in an election.  He more or less embodies all the qualities we were looking for in a wrassler president.

I’m just going to quote the salient paragraphs, and you can go to Fox Force for the rest:

The conversation then turned to politics, international relations and President Bush.

“Why don’t you run for president?” I said. Jon and his associate looked at each other and smiled.

“What?” I said.

“I am.”

“No way! In 2008? For the democratic party?” I said.

“I talked to Howard Dean, and he said the party would probably not nominate me. Of course it is hard to say this early on, but they are really planning on Hilary. I will probably run as an independent.” Jon said matter-of-factly.

I was astonished, “Aren’t you worried you will just become like Ralph Nader, and just take votes away from Hilary?” I asked.

“I would be more worried that Hilary would take votes away from me.”

“You are that confident?” I said.

“Jon has a great deal of influence,” his associate said, “He has a hit TV show, his book is a best seller. Arnold was elected governor, why not Jon for president?”

Jon raised an eyebrow.

So there you have it.  I’ll be in touch with someone this week to verify.

/rizzn

On the Turntables Currently: gem - ghost month