Igor

zakmckracken @ 3:14am: See you next week ...
Thanks for all of the awesome words of support. I'm feeling more at ease and a bit more prepared for surgery. It's unlikely that you'll hear from me for a week or so, but I'll update as soon as I am able. *hug*

zakmckracken @ 9:01pm: OMG WTF
The dogs next door stopped barking a few days ago. I noticed it had been especially quiet, but figured the neighbor was keeping them inside all the time or something. Umm.. no. He left a bottle of anti-freeze open and the dogs drank it.

At first I was ecstatic. Everyone here knows that I've come the closest I've ever been to insanity because of those dogs. But then I realized how awful the situation was, and even started to feel kind of sorry for the neighbor.

At least things are quieter around here for the time being.

zakmckracken @ 3:57pm: Surgery... on Friday the 13th
I'm going in for (what I consider) pretty major surgery on Friday (general anaesthesia and all). This will be followed by 10-12 days of what my doctor called "excruciating pain," and then another 2-3 months before I'm 80-90% healed.

Trust me, I'm not excited about this. I know it has to be done, but I'm stressing. Any and all good thoughts and positive energy that you'd like to send my way Friday afternoon and the following few days would be more than appreciated.

savagelove @ 12:00am: Features: Savage Love:November 11, 2009

http://www.avclub.com/articles/november-11-2009,35160/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=type_savage-love

I am a 30-year-old woman, married for five years to a man eight years my senior. Lately I have become more aware that I am turned on by the idea of bondage, specifically men locked up in chastity devices. I am ashamed of myself, because it seems, well, pretty perverse and disturbed.
My husband is a pretty dominant alpha-male type. I am a relatively dominant personality, but I’m a bit submissive around him in order to keep the peace, as he will not tolerate any disagreement in certain situations. So I am wondering: Is this new fetish springing from ...

malicious_pengy, posting in uw @ 12:35pm: Wow. A blank schedule.
I decided to just go and take 10 fun credits for my last quarter here. I have to take my 5 credit history senior seminar, but that's honestly the only thing I have left.

I looked through the schedule, and I just really didn't see anything fun. Soc of Murder might be okay, but seniors have to wait until period two. Com. New Media looked good, but is full already.

So, do you
(a) have any class recommendations? I'm normally interested in most things in humanities and the soft fuzzy sciences, I just didn't see anything that felt right. If you know that a class is good, tell me.

(b) know what it's like to be a part-time student? I'm really not sure what differences there are for UW. Does it affect when you have to pay back student loans? I'm not currently on financial aid, but I used loans last year. Does it affect IMA rights or the bus pass? I'm checking this out on my own right now, but if you already have information, it would be handy.

zakmckracken @ 6:34pm: ink
ink is out on DVD tomorrow. It's low-budget ($250,000?), so comparisons to films like Donnie Darko and The Matrix are both unfair and ridiculous. It's unlike any of those. We don't buy many DVDs anymore, but this one is creative, profound, and fun, so we'll be picking it up (along with Humpday - on DVD November 17th). Drop it in your Netflix queue if you're looking for something other than your everyday studio flick.

zakmckracken @ 6:00pm: Referendum 71 has passed!
Awesome! As of 5pm, 53% approved vs. 47% rejected (back up to a 6% lead by over 100,000 votes). With 57,000 ballots remaining to be counted, even if all of them were rejects, Referendum 71 would still win by a significant number of votes.

Congratulations Washington for making history! We are the first state in the U.S. to win a popular vote in favor of equality for gay men and women and their families. The final results should be available tomorrow or the following day, so I'll be sure to make one last post.

zakmckracken @ 5:47pm: S.E.T.I. featuring Billy Reid

SUBJECT IS CANADIAN: FALSE ALARM

zakmckracken @ 5:38pm: Jonathan Coulton - I Feel Fantastic

zakmckracken @ 6:14pm: Referendum 71 (update)
As of 6:00 this evening, the vote is 52.5% approved vs. 47.5% rejected. The gap dropped 1% (bringing Ref 71 supporters to a 5% lead), but there are only 140,000 ballots remaining to be counted.

zakmckracken @ 5:02pm: ink

zakmckracken @ 3:41am: Referendum 71 (update)
As of last night, with 180,000 ballots remaining to be counted, we are at nearly 53% approval and just over 47% rejection. That's a 6% gap (vs. the 4% gap we had yesterday)!

zakmckracken @ 9:56pm: "Biblical"
Lately, I've seen Christians online using the term "biblical" in a similar manner/context as "Christ-like." As in, to act "biblically." Man, that's messed up. If the majority of Christians had read the Bible (they haven't), they'd know that most of what is written in the Bible relates to murder, rape, and dismemberment. Please, Lord, let not the Christians act biblically.

zakmckracken @ 7:04pm: Are gay people welcome in Washington State?

Green = Approved Referendum 71
Yellow = Rejected Referendum 71
Red = Rejected Referendum 71 (more than 70% majority vote)

Well, just take a look at the map (shamelessly borrowed from the wa.gov website and edited). I think it speaks for itself. The closer you get to Oregon or Idaho, the less likely you are to be welcomed. Must be the sea air that makes us more logical and humanitarian in this corner of Washington State (it can be extremely hot and desert-y in Eastern Washington). Spokane County actually surprised me. Spokane is a pretty progressive city, but they're at 60% rejection. I think it's safe to say that most of the 40% who voted to approve the referendum live within the city limits.

I debated whether or not to bring this additional statistic up, lest I sound like a bigot, myself, but I trust that most of you know me well enough to know that I'm not, so here it is... Of the 6 red counties (those who voted to reject Referendum 71 with more than a 70% majority vote), 3 of those are predominately populated by Hispanic people. Granted, these are mostly farmers who don't speak English, but it still bothers me. The feeling I have about this is very similar to the one I felt when I discovered that counties in California that were predominately African American were the ones leading the way against Prop 8. It's strange to me that people who are so familiar with prejudice are willing to spread it to others without so much consideration. That's all I'll say about that, though. I feel like it's a sensitive subject, and I'm not out to make generalizations or accusations. I have hope that opinions will continue to change as time goes on.

So where are the best places to live if you're a homo? On an island. Seriously. San Juan County is still at 71% approval. King County (Seattle proper) is a good bet, too. We're still at nearly 68% approval. Jefferson County (the peninsula) is at 66% approval (that's where all the lesbians and their children live). Those are the top 3 at the moment. All the other greens are safe (though, you'll likely run into ignorant people occasionally no matter where you live).

[Edit: Bunk pointed out that it's unfair to assume that Hispanic people in those counties were the majority of the voters. Many people may not even be registered. I'll just presume that it was the rich, white conservative minority in those counties that voted against Referendum 71. Wirrrn also pointed out that race is largely irrelevant, and I agree. I think the reason I brought it up at all was to emphasize the fact that cultural and religious beliefs can greatly influence opinion on these matters. I didn't express that very well.]

zakmckracken @ 4:39pm: Referendum 71
It's pretty official at this point. Washington's Referendum 71 is going to pass. This was a vote on whether or not Washington residents should keep a bill that gives gay people and senior citizens who are in domestic partnerships the same rights as married couples. As far as I know, this is the first time in history that gay rights have been voted on by the people and won. It is a huge victory, and a significant step toward marriage equality. Remember, this was essentially the same path that Vermont took 10 years ago, and gay marriage is now legal there.

The current vote is 52% approved to 48% rejected. There are just over 200,000 ballots remaining to be counted - more than a third of which are from King County (Seattle proper), where residents are approving the referendum at between 67-68%. I love Seattle. Eastern Washington, on the other hand, I do not love (for those who don't know, the eastern portion of the state, behind the mountains, is where we hide our hicks). Garfield County is in the lead for "Biggest Bigots" at over 77% rejection. Most of the surrounding counties are voting with 30-40% approval (I guess not all hicks are ignorant). On the opposite end, we have San Juan County in the lead with 71% of the islanders voting to approve the referendum.

Despite half the state hating gay people, human rights prevailed. I feel that it's important that I stress that it doesn't matter by what percentage this referendum passed.. we won.. by popular vote.. and by at least 4%, which, when you think about it, is a ton of people. If this vote were put to the public 10 (even 5) years ago, it wouldn't have passed. People are finally waking up and seeing gay people as.. well.. people. It will only get better from here on.

zakmckracken @ 11:55pm:

zakmckracken @ 8:46pm: What if...?
What if the world were slightly different and Christians couldn't legally get married? Would gay people actively work to ensure that their rights as productive, loving human beings were stripped from them? I think not.

Christians often seem to forget that, historically, they weren't always a majority, and that forcing others to adhere to their beliefs is no more than a current manifestation of the oppression that they claim to have experienced in the past.

Taking rights away or denying someone the same rights that you take for granted on a daily basis are, in no way, forms of compassion or expressions of love. They are expressions of fear and arrogance.

feralcat21, posting in uw @ 8:54pm: seeking violins for symphony
A local symphony with a 60-year tradition is seeking violinists to play music of the 19th and 20th centuries with us. If you play violin, or played in high school and want to start again, please contact us! Comment here or email thaliasymphony@gmail.com.

zakmckracken @ 8:26pm: Windows 7 voice recognition (Part 2)
I've used voice recognition for the last four entries as well as a bunch of emails. So far, I'd say it's about 90% accurate. Most of the time I see the errors and am able to fix them, but if you notice in the future that I type something like "hired where" instead of "hardware".. or "soft to wear" instead of "software," please don't hesitate to point that out (or make fun of me). The more I am able to identify these issues, the better I can train the computer to understand me.

zakmckracken @ 7:56pm: Windows 7 -- Thoughts
I've just finished customizing Windows 7, and as far as I can tell it does everything I need it to do (maybe more). I'm still a little shocked by how easy the migration from XP was. I didn't have to install any hardware drivers, and all the programs that I use regularly installed without any problems. I did have the dilemma with my sound card, but that wasn't an issue with Windows 7.

Overall, I really like the OS. It's fast, simple, and not nearly as restrictive and illogical as Vista. It also feels really solid. I managed to crash Explorer once doing something I shouldn't have been doing, but unlike past operating systems, I didn't have to reset the machine.. I just waited a few seconds and it sorted itself out. No data was lost, and my download and file copy processes continued on as usual.

Many thanks to bunk for picking me up a copy of Windows 7. It's one of the best operating systems I've ever used, and certainly the best OS native to the PC.

zakmckracken @ 5:33pm: Windows 7 Libraries
The new file organization system is actually pretty great. It allows you to create libraries (which are basically folders with hard links to preferred directories), and use those to centralize your data. Makes finding things a lot easier and simplifies navigation. I was initially resistant to using Windows 7 libraries, but now that I understand how they work I'm very happy with them.

soup_lover_9, posting in uw @ 4:35pm: Free parking on/near campus?
I'm driving to campous tomorrow (I know there's a service going through town in the morning for the Police Officer) and I wanted to know if there's anywhere on or near campus that has free parking. I'm planning on being there all day and into the night.

I know I can park at U Village but I've hear rumors that you'll get a ticket. Is the parking garage under Odegaard/Kane Hall free?

Much thanks.

joshc @ 12:16pm: oh, hello
What have I been doing?
A while ago I was in Hawaii for a big science conference. We stayed at a fairly cheesy old hotel called the Outrigger, which had the main benefit of being on the beach and in the middle of the Waikiki strip of luxury shopping opportunities. It also featured a bar where performers sang bad cover versions of classic songs with extra island flare. On the beach, a boat left every couple hours for sightseers. In between voyages, a tooth-deprived man stood on the shore yelling "one dollar beer, one dollar Mai Tai" to drum up customers while his miserable-looking dachshund ran up and down the beach digging and urinating on sand castles. The weather was hot and humid. My room had a tiny deck with a hint of a view of the ocean through skyscrapers. The conference had a weird early morning, sometimes late afternoon schedule, which allowed for guilt-free visits to the beach for sunning and ocean swimming. On the first night of the conference, a company that has gotten very rich off the stimulus grant threw a party at another beachside establishment, complete with fire spinners, food, scientists dancing, and dangerously tasty tropical beverages. Our classier hotel neighbors had more tranquil bars with quieter music and blank eyed dancers at sunset. We discovered a japanese restaurant that served a dessert called "honey toast", which is exactly as good as it sounds. All in all, with the heat, weird sleep schedule, the mix between listening to talks and sitting on the beach, the advantage of being three time zones west of usual, the whole trip was as relaxing as having a temporary voluntary partial lobotomy.

After only a couple of days back in Seattle, there was another meeting in Washington DC, which was an antidote to the blissful carefree numbing of the mid-Pacific. Not bad, just highly over scheduled. Meetings, giving talks, listening to talks, meetings, new tasklists. And coordinating a pub crawl, guiding people around the always-pretty national monuments at night, and long flights.

Because of this, I mainly hibernated on the Halloweekend, venturing out for the usual brunch and ice cream ritual and going to see the new Andrew Bujalski movie at the film forum on Sunday night. I think that I "liked" Beeswax even though it was twelve minutes too long, had almost no plot, and I didn't really sympathize with any of the characters. It's no Mutual Appreciation, for sure.

Yesterday I went to see the Dirty Projectors with everyone else in Seattle and even some friends from New York. Remember how when Neumo's opened they were going to fix their awful ventilation situation? Haha. Anyway, the show was super.

And tomorrow, we're heading off to Orcas Island to cozy into two little cabins during a frightening weather event. But boats, islands, beaches, pals, board games, and all of that!

zakmckracken @ 6:18pm: Windows 7 (Yey!)
Yes! I've installed everything I need on Windows 7. Now I just need to backup the latest versions of the open source programs that I've downloaded, and pull a few games off the shelf to try out on the new system. I'm still extremely impressed with the OS. I'm not sure what I expected, but it's better than that.

zakmckracken @ 4:48pm: Windows 7 XP Mode
I've just installed the virtual XP mode available in Windows 7 Professional, and it's great! It basically just opens up Windows XP in a window. I haven't had a need to use this mode yet (as I mentioned, all but one program have been compatible with Windows 7), but it's nice to know that the OS is there (virtually) if I need it.