Crooks and Liars

Oh How irony and snark have become the means of communication.

Is news-speak really the means by which we must create the subterfuge to the truth.

Crooks and Liars - Colbert Does the White House Correspondents' dinner

Colbert, who spoke in the guise of his talk show character, who ostensibly supports the president strongly, urged Bush to ignore his low approval ratings, saying they were based on reality, “and reality has a well-known liberal bias.”

He attacked those in the press who claim that the shake-up at the White House was merely re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. “This administration is soaring, not sinking,” he said. “If anything, they are re-arranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg.”

From Editor & Publisher

Oh. How . Lovely. Makes me sigh. From fear, and from joy.

State of the Blogosphere, and the singularity principle

There was a recent meeting that I went to for the AERA (American Education Reasearch Association) where I was introducted to Mr. JayCross and his ideology of INformal learning (informL.com)

what it brought me to was a new perspective of the rapid pace at whcih we are actualy acquiring new knowledge. Not through a means of actual storage within our own minds, but a new way to access that information.

Regardless this broughtme to somethin ele. Ray Kurzweil: and his website http://www.kurzweilai.net/
it got me interested even more in the singularity summit...what I am trying to say is that I knew this was coming, it has been something that I have known about for some time... the singularity event. That time in our biological history when we reach that event horizon and the pass throught it. Now I'm not sure if this is somehitng that is going to happen in an effortless manner, but it is something that is coming (unavoidably).

As evidence State of the Blogosphere, On Blogosphere Growth
Just take a look at how the parabolic growth of the blogosphere has been growing... christ to think that I am supposed to be an old hand at this having started back in 2002... that's what scares me... I'm old school... old news, and yet I'm supposed to be on the bleeding edge of all of this... truly there are some times when it begins to feel like a little much.

today is one of those days.

I did it...I'm so proud of my work

After nearly 2 and half weeks of development from scratch, I was able to finally create an online portfolio. I don't have any clue as to hwo effective it will be, but take a look, and tell me what you think.

Kira's Online Portfolio. I'm pretty proud of the fact that I built this in flash, and was able to add all of the simple animations. Its nothing like some of the other stuff that I've seen, but It'll prove its point when it's necessary...I hope

geeze is this what pride feels like? I wouldn't really know ;)

HE LOOKS LIKE.... The Morbid Game of Psychoanalyzing Strangers in Pictures

HE LOOKS LIKE.... The Morbid Game of Psychoanalyzing Strangers in Pictures

I laughed, I cried, I even peed a little.


(when you read lynard Skynard you'll understand)

Bring back that loooooovin feeling

An article that a friend wrote about the alarming rate of growth that is happening on a daily basis on the internet.

Its one of those things that we all take for granted. That things are going to keep moving, that the perpetual machine that is the internet, and its organic nature, is not only desireable but necessary. Now I'm not arguing that it isn't. In fact I believe that we are reaching a critical mass, where the amount of bullshit and the amount to information cannot move on as they have reached a nexus. (hence web2.0)

But is this viral growth really a good thing? It's called viral for a reason, for it's unfortunate and uncontrollable nature. If you actually compare the amount to bullshit that you read on a daily basis and the actual amount of quality work you read or perform... its kinda sad.
Does this mean that we are what we consume? Really? cause if so I think that most of us should be full-up with porn by now.

then again, maybe not!

I have reaquainted myself with my fast

I soooo hate myself for loving this commercial, IF i didn't already own a VW golf myself, and completely understood this from a feminine perspective....

sometimes...

...Update: You can't really purchase a "fast" icon. You can only get one when you buy a new VW. Or you can take your chances with trying to buy one off of e-bay. They are auctioning off at around $250...

....PPS Update: you can learn more from Project Fast. (VW's commercial site about makingFriendsWithYourFast)

Punxsutawney Phil

so... according to an overgrown hamster we are going to have to suffer through 6 more weeks of cold and dismal weather.

yay.

see my joy?

Honestly who came up with this idea? Some seriously whacked out white people stand out in the cold, stick they're hands into the burrough of a rather large burowwing animal with long sharp teeth, yank him out and then hold him aloft of their heads declaring "Winter for 6 more weeks!!" or "No More Winter!! Yay!"

Doesn't make sense to me. But then again, there is little that I do out of habit that really makes sense to me anymore.

baaaaadddd habits...

okay...
so now that I'm merely waiting until I go back to school, I find that what tends to happen is that I get really, really bored. SO when I get bored, I go into the kitchen. And when I go into the kitchen, I find something to do. and that something to do normally includes food.

the strange part is that it seems to include alot of baking . So, really not such a hot thing. Nor is it all that good since my mother seems to think that it's a really great idea to give me all of her Food and Wine magazines. The most recent one that she gave me was the chocolate issue.

damn her....I know that she does it because I've been baking all of these lovely sweet and tasty treats, but all in all...damn her. She's hooked me line and sinker. I mean just look at that. I certianly can't say no to such a lovely chocolatly-peanut-buttery-gooey filled confectio/cake? can you? [and if you can - you're lying to yourself]

anyway... the point. 'twas my birthday yesterday, so I took stock (if only breifly) to determine what in the hell is actually going on.

• Me: 29. Female. 5'10.5" (1.77 meters) weight...decline to state but embarrasing all the same
• Location: same as ever (christ...even in the freakin room that I was nursed in....this can't be good)
• Prospects: not really looking, and not even sure of what prospects I should be looking for.
• Relationships: many, and all still fruitful, insightfull, friendly and happy. ( i hope)
• Hobbies: Cooking, eating, sharing my baked goods...uh...waiting for world peace to break out.
• Reverse Obit written?: nope. Don't like to think about it... too morbid.
• Life's goal?: uh... well this one is a tough one. Because at first I thought that it was going to be grow up to be a astronaut. ( I was 5) then it changed into being a world famous actress... (I was 13) then it changed into a succesful Lawyer (I was 19) now... well now I'm not even sure If its a good idea to have a life's goal in terms of a professional carrer. So I'm going to word that last question..... shitty one anyway.
• Number of Life's "must-do" items checked off: uh... I think about 5 or 6 of them. Actually I make up the list as I go. I still think getting to meet Archbishop Desmond Tutu still ranks higest and that one was a complete chance accident.

So when I look back at the previous years, most of it results in alot of wistful memories of when I was somewhere with someone doing something I probably should know better than to be doing, (at least in public.) Which when you take account of it shouldn't be all that bad. Actually I'm very proud of what I've almost accomplished and what I have been able to do.

This was going to be a long and drawn out sob-fest...poor me, nearly 30 and still going nowhere with nothing to show. But I actually do have alot to show for, the only difference is that now I have a tad more perspective than I did have approximately a year ago. I'm thankful for the chance to sit on my ass now, although I know I'm far from being done with not sitting on my ass and really spending more time in my life apologizing for being an ass (and most likely in public.) And as a "prospect" per-se, that doesn't seem so bad.


Because they're only called "Bad Habits" if someone else didn't get jealous while you were caught doing it.

wanted to say...

Belated Happy Channuka, and Merry New Year!
me? you ask, I'm busy living in SF still, not working and going back to school, and attempting right now to drink my weight in champagne!!!


wishing you luck, love and lots of fun for 2006!!!

I've been fish-hooked...

You ever notice that when you least expect it, you find that you get hooked into whatever the popular meme is for the day?

I have prided myself on trying so damned hard not being part of the main-stream, simply because I have never been considered, nor could ever really be accepted as part of the american mainstream...regardless, what I mean to say is that I'm getting swept up in the whole shebang just as much as the next person.

Sure I couldn't be happier that lewis "scotter" libby has been indicted.(although we'll have to have a discussion why a grown man would insist on being called "scooter") And I should be doing backflips about the fact that the republican party is in a backslide...and believe me I'm chuffed... but what I can't escape is this purely San Franciscian mind-set of "its too expensive to live here-syndrome"

At this rate all the radicals will be chased out, and we'll be left with Sans Colored-Folk-isco. its depressing. what was once a town where "people" lived is quickly becoming a sanitized version of itself. I miss the Market/Polk street night-time strip of hookers, trannies, pushers and pimps. I miss the fact that on the weekend the city belonged to the working class folk who had to stay nearby to where they worked simply because they didn't have transportation.

its not the same now. I want it all back. but I can't have it. I've been looking into buying a home. That once was a possibilty...maybe for my mother, but most certianly NOT for me. There is no chance in hell that this market will ever slow down, there is simply only so much you can build on in a 7x7 square mile area. What is really killing me is the fact that I might be forced to move to surburbia simply because its what I can afford, not because I want to escape the vaguaries of the city. I love the dingy-ness, the reality, the general slime that is san francisco (although that is quickly depeleting as well.)

Another thing...(and I know that I've ranted about this before, but your fault for reading) The median income in san francisco to qualify for Assistance for a first time home buyer is approximately $113k a year. Can you believe that bullshit?

its enough to make a girl scream. And the worst part about it, I shouldn't even be thinking about this bullshit. but I am because someone somewhere put this damned bug in my ear about buying a home and somehow it's managed to get stuck. There isn't much that I can do now but pine. or whine..or both.

shit.

LESBIANISM 'BOUT TO TAKE OVER | from | MetaFilter

You are going to laugh simply because the Re. Willie Wilson said this IN church on a sunday morning...

“My son in high school last year, trying to go to the prom, he said, ‘Dad, I ain’t got nobody to take to the prom because all the girls in my class are gay. And ain’t but two of them straight and both of them ugly.” — July 3

And he goes on to talk about..."women fallin' down on one another, strappin somethin on...Anytime you gotta slap some grease on your behind....You Butt ain't made for dat!"

Good god. I'm crying so hard it hurts.

got cut.

again.

it's unbelieveable. these past two weeks have been just that - strangely unreal. It seems like I can't break through the 2 year celing. I'm not really mad, but I still wanted to be the one to say "Fuck you" and then walk off in a huff, rather than it being the other way around. I know tht its hypocritical to say all of this considering that I have been looking for work since this past friday (last week) and that I've got interviews lined up, but its still something that kinda hurts.

you feel slighted. like the ugly one in high-school again. like no one likes you, or that maybe you've done something to make the popular kids turn against you.

and it sucks.

Don't ever let anyone tell you that they're okay after they just get laid off/fired/let go. It still hurts. It won't ever not hurt. I'm beginning to get convinced that maybe this isn't the profession for me. I've got shell shock now from all of the blows that keep coming my way. Every 3 months I get scared...I back everything up. Print all that I can out. Take immediate stock of all of the items that are within my reach that aren't nailed down...every time. And it always seems to happen right about the time that I get complacent. I get comfortable. It has never failed. Every time.

Its not that I liked the job. I couldn't stand it. It is soul crushing. It was daily torture, and with retrospect I'll be happy for the time and opportunity to go back to school that it gave me. Yet in the grander scheme of it all - this was a huge back-step and an emotional slap down that didn't need to happen. Now that I think of it...when I took this job I had another one lined up as well. They were ready to make an offer to me...its just that this job got to me first.

damn.

I want to cry, but I cant. There isn't anything to cry about. I think... No, I know that the ONLY thing that I'll miss are my co-workers. A great lot of people. They are what sustained me and made it bearable to go into that hell. Funny and caring...they were friends. and its rare that I get the opportunity to say that about an office.

fuck. now what.

My Favorite Quote...

We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked and dejected with a lost opportunity. The “tide in the affairs of men” does not remain at the flood; it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is deaf to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residue of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words: “Too late.”

- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. April 4^th,1976 Address to the Riverside Congregation, NYC.

Firefighters are being missused in the hurricane effor

Goddamnit! you've got the people there - now fucking use them, PROPERLY!!!

As New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin pleaded on national television for firefighters - his own are exhausted after working around the clock for a week - a battalion of highly trained men and women sat idle Sunday in a muggy Sheraton Hotel conference room in Atlanta.
Many of the firefighters, assembled from Utah and throughout the United States by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, thought they were going to be deployed as emergency workers.
Instead, they have learned they are going to be community-relations officers for FEMA, shuffled throughout the Gulf Coast region to disseminate fliers and a phone number: 1-800-621-FEMA......"They've got people here who are search-and-rescue certified, paramedics, haz-mat certified," said a Texas firefighter. "We're sitting in here having a sexual-harassment class while there are still [victims] in Louisiana who haven't been contacted yet.".....Firefighters say they want to brave the heat, the debris-littered roads, the poisonous cottonmouth snakes and fire ants and travel into pockets of Louisiana where many people have yet to receive emergency aid.
But as specific orders began arriving to the firefighters in Atlanta, a team of 50 Monday morning quickly was ushered onto a flight headed for Louisiana. The crew's first assignment: to stand beside President Bush as he tours devastated areas.

taken from the Salt Lake City Tribune

what in the hell...

I have only one word. disgraceful.

Update:

What makes this worse:

As noted here two days ago, the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s decision to ask evacuees to call (800) 621-3362 or browse to www.fema.gov to start the process of filing a claim for disaster assistance.... It turns out, according to the [American Red Cross] worker, who like the other aid workers spoke on condition of anonymity, that the call to the FEMA number does not open a claim; it results in a package containing the claim form being mailed to the address of the evacuee.

Since the evacuee is in a shelter, mail service has been suspended in many of the hardest hit areas and some of the homes are likely still under water, it seems clear that those claim forms won’t be mailed back any time soon.

Taken from Katrina Blog on MSNBC.Com

WTF!?!?!

Give what you can

American Redcross The grandaddy of donation organizations

Acorn is : Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is the nation's largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families, working together for social justice and stronger communities

A Network for Good includes a list of other local organziations who could use your help

And even more info from The Blogsphere: The Fug Ladies...


p.s. all family accounted for...its been a long week. My faith in humanity is renewed, and we shall all pull through this.