Just heard back from Digitally Imported; they'll be playing my set on the Progressive channel at 3 PM on Thursday, January 15.

Neat.

Just got invited to spin at Mezzanine.

Holy shit.

Keith Oblermann can be a bit of a blowhard sometimes, but this rant on Prop 8 is spot-on:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#27652443

In video form:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=209418&title=decision-2008-garygary-unmarried

"I am also exercising my right to privacy, and I don't have to tell anybody who I vote for, nobody does, and that's really cool about America also." - Sarah Palin (no really, verbatim)

Apple takes an official public stance on Proposition 8:

Apple is publicly opposing Proposition 8 and making a donation of $100,000 to the No on 8 campaign. Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees’ same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person’s fundamental rights — including the right to marry — should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8.

As someone who plans on getting married next year if it's still legal, I have a personal stake in this. I've personally given about $500 to the cause, and I've talked others into helping as well. The LDS church is putting a ton of time and money into making Prop 8 pass. It's good to see powerful organizations on the other side too, but this is going to be a close one. Give money, give time, or (at the very least) go VOTE.

"With respect to the debates, it's my belief that this is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who, in approximately 40 days, will be responsible for dealing with this mess. And I think that it is going to be part of the president's job to deal with more than one thing at once," Obama said. A hint of a smile crossed his face after he delivered that line. He then added, "I think there's no reason why we can't be constructive in helping to solve this problem and also tell the American people what we believe and where we stand ... So in my mind, actually, it's more important than ever that we present ourselves to the American people and try to describe where we want to take the country and where we want to take the economy."

“What, does McCain think the Senate will still be working at 9 p.m. Friday? I think this is all political — I wish McCain had shown the same concern when he didn’t show up in the Senate to vote on the extension of the renewable energy tax credit.”

- Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania said in an interview, referring to the scheduled start time of the debate, which McCain now wants to back out of (presumably because he's not prepared to answer questions about the economy)

So... it's taken me a while to process my normal existence here after getting back from Burning Man. It's always weird returning from something as surreal as that. For anybody who hasn't gone, it's difficult to describe what Burning Man is about, or what it's like. I'll do my best.

We set up a theme camp this year. Nothing quite to the scale of the best camps, but it was something at least. With some pink-papered tarps, a fake pool, and some astroturf, our RVs became "Paradise Motel," a cheap roadside motel with, most likely, hourly rates. We set up a PA system, dance floor, and sno-kone stand. The sno-kones were especially popular. It was fun to spin for the random collection of people that stopped by. I also DJed at the big gay camp across the street from us, sandwiched comfortably between Nikita (Wednesday night) and Honey Soundsystem (Friday). It was a weird crowd, with raunchy gay sex and no music going on when I showed up. Since there was only dead silence (with the occasional moan and slurp) and the dancers weren't there yet, I had to start kinda mellow. What do you play in that setting? But by the time their generator died (whoops), there was a pretty nice dance floor going. They eventually got the power back on, but I figured it was as good a time as any to stop. I had blinky lights to go look at. One of my live DJ sets from Burning Man is up on my site, of course.

I was plagued by some rather weird stomach problems the whole time but, despite all that, I managed to contribute a pretty fair amount and have a great time as well.

"Don’t fucking question my Christianity you fucking idiot assholes. If you continue to have a problem, then talk to God about it, not me, you fucking racist homophobic misogynist fake Christian shitheads. God thinks it is funny that I swear so much. He said I could use his name in vain or whatever. He just wants me to use it. He loves me. So fuck you. And I guess he loves you too. Even though you are fake Christian assholes. If you were truly Christians, you would let gays get married, and send them fucking presents from Bed Bath and Beyond!"

- Margaret Cho

"I'm the mayor, I can do whatever I want until the courts tell me I can't."



- Sarah Palin, when told that a $50,000 taxpayer-funded redecoration of her office was illegal without council approval

It's been kinda quiet on both the LJ and DJ fronts this month, and for good reason. I've been busy with work (it's a cyclical thing, and right now is a very busy period), and I've been getting ready for Burning Man.

We're setting up our own theme camp this year, called Paradise Motel. It's basically a roadside motel, complete with DJ setup and fake-pool dance floor, bright fake-stucco walls, pink flamingos, neon-ish EL wire, and a kick-ass EL-neon sign.

But, of course, the big news for me personally is that I'm spinning at the AFTERGLOW party at the Comfort and Joy camp next Thursday. So far the weekend-ish lineup (that I know about) includes myself, Honey Soundsystem, and Nikita. That's a pretty kick-ass group of people to be associated with.

"It's no surprise that Senator McCain likes to bring out his 96-year-old mother Roberta, I suppose. The problem is that she is a lot perkier than he. The gentleman has had a few bad weeks, thundering in a dithery way about America's enemies, looking vaguely purposeful campaigning up and down supermarket aisles as if he couldn't remember what kind of cheese he'd been sent to buy."

- Garrison Keillor

I know many people who supported Obama because of his stance on privacy and FISA. Why is he backtracking now? I understand the political expediency argument, that this will get him points on the national security front. However, this doesn't hold water. Granting amnesty to telecoms for participating in illegal activity doesn't enhance our national security, it only weakens our civil liberties.

If you break the voters down into two populations -- those who pay attention and think for themselves and those who don't -- Barack is in the process of alienating the former. The latter is already convinced that Barack is a Muslim with an angry black wife who is intent on giving America over to the terrorists.

Just my two cents. Plus the $1200 I've donated to the campaign, on faith that Barack would stand by his principles.

I probably should have taken more time to compose this but I was on my way to a meeting. Feel free to email Bill Burton yourself to urge Obama to filibuster the FISA bill when it goes to the Senate.

For more information on Barack's backtrack on FISA:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/06/21/obama/index.html

The one-sentence summary of the FISA bill: it legalizes many of the warrantless eavesdropping activities George Bush secretly and illegally ordered in 2001.

"The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends. I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time. What do you get at the end of it? A Death! What’s that, a bonus? I think the life cycle is all backwards. You should die first, get it out of the way. Then you live in an old age home. You get kicked out when you’re too young, you get a gold watch, you go to work. You work forty years until you’re young enough to enjoy your retirement. You do drugs, alcohol, you party, you get ready for high school. You go to grade school, you become a kid, you play, you have no responsibilities, you become a little baby, you go back into the womb, you spend your last nine months floating …and you finish off as an orgasm."

- George Carlin

(via Lonelysandwich)

From the unintentional-gay-humor department:

"Intel Looks to Power Bottom of Market"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121245932291840291.html?mod=hps_us_at_glance_technology

Seriously, this video has it all. Chris Crocker, that singing fat kid, Miss South Carolina... I can't even recount here.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=muP9eH2p2PI

They should totally redo this ad with a Mac Mini:

http://www.macmothership.com/gallery/MiscAds/AdamAd.JPG

In the short term, the gay marriage ruling is great news. We stopped by the Castro for dinner and there was literally dancing in the streets. But left to sleep on it, I'm left somewhat pensive. The reason for this is simple:

I hate being a fucking pawn.

It's true that I want to be a part of history, to be someone who got married when it first became legal. But do I want our wedding pictures to be used in right-wing propaganda without our permission? Do I want to be portrayed as an evil which is hellbent on destroying the country? The right-wing will vilify us for fun and profit and, if the protracted fight to get the Dems' nomination ruins their chances in '08, we'll be blamed by the left for spoiling the election again.

On the other hand, it's quite possible that the Republicans shot their wad on this in '04. At least some people realize now that they were duped into re-electing Bush on wedge issues such as this one. Others may be willing to hold their nose and vote against their social convictions based on foreign policy and economic views. But, most importantly, most of the swing states have already passed discriminatory constitutional amendments. There's nothing new to put on the ballot this year to mobilize voters. Massachusetts has allowed gay marriage for years and they haven't invoked Armageddon just yet.

So -- there's hope. But we have to take action this time. Serious action. We need to educate the public, build awareness, and -- most importantly -- VOTE. Don't let a permanent stain of bigotry get written into our state's constitution.

A little back-story:

Since I work on (actually, at this point, manage) the Wiki Server product at Apple, I've been doing WWDC presentations of the product for a few years. At one point I used the term "stuDLycaPs" to make fun of other Wiki products, which often require you to construct links UsingTermsLikeThis. One of my co-workers started referring to me as StudlyCaps and it stuck.

So there we go -- DJ stuDLycaPs.