Price of Paradise Pt.1

Living life in Hawaii is a unique experience, there's the good the bad and the ugly, being a bit isolated from the contiguous 48 states, and having a population that is quite different from the rest of the US, (42% Asian, 24% white 9% Native Hawaiian) you have things that don't normally see. Take food for example, go into a 7-11 here and you can get dim sum, sushi and something called a spam musubi, a slice of fried spam on a block of rice wrapped in nori (seaweed), Now Myself can imagine people going "yuck, spam" but we consume more spam per capita than any other state, the origin of this is said to be that during WWII, spam was the most readily available meat, what with the war and rationing and all, and so a few generations later, you get McDonalds serving scrambled eggs rice and spam for breakfast. Which is actually comfort food for a lot of people Myself included. Not the same as if it was made at home, but close enough. There is no such thing as a "fine dining" chinese restaurant. PF Chang's? feh. Why? because no one would go to one when there are chinese, japanese, korean BBQ, and vietnamese restaurants on just about every block. Supermarkets like Safeway have a entire aisle with asian foods, there is a Japanese supermarket called Daiei, which has has at least seven aisles. Minute Rice? Uncle Bens? sacrilege!

Societal Evolution

The Fabulous David E has an article in the LA Weekly concerning gay marriage.

...If gays and lesbians are legal, then a place must be assigned for them in the mainstream. And since marriage is the culture’s method for legitimizing sexual acts, then gays and lesbians must get married.

Ah, but there’s the rub. For if “they” are allowed access to something that “we” own the rights to, then “we” forfeit the exquisite pleasure of looking down on noses on “them.” And it’s for this reason that the hysteria over gays in the military, the Boy Scouts, the Catholic Church pedophile scandals and the recent uproar over the Episcopalians appointing an openly gay bishop is just so much background noise. The real story is that over the last decade an ever-increasing number of corporations is offering benefits for the same-sex partners of their employees. It’s a clear indicator of the fact that simply by being out, gays and lesbians have won the major battle for social legitimacy. Vermont has domestic partnership. Canada has full-bore same-sex marriage. No matter how much Karl Rove and his allies complain, we’re next.emphasis mine

He goes on to point out it's inevitability by showing historically how marriage, and social propiety have evolved and changed to reflect how the people who lived during those times attitudes have changed. Pretty standard argument for the most part, but at the end come to the money quote:

... the common fear that gays will develop relationships that are intense and satisfying even though they do not conform to the ideas of relationships held by others. It is the prospect that gays will create as yet unforeseen kinds of relationships that many people cannot tolerate.”

“Gay marriage”? Darling, we’re just getting started!

It's the challenge to the paradigm of what defines a relationship as marriage that has many literally in fear of destroying the very foundation of ther belief system. Think about it, never mind what two people do in the privacy of their home, (well, actually they do mind, but to appear even handed they say they don't) but that two people of the same sex can be recognized as "married" by the government, with all the legal rights and privliges, enforcible by law, which means they have to,(gasp), recognize it also, thereby taking away their 1st amendment right to discriminate against them in the name of religion. And since their beliefs are supposed take precedent over any actual laws, well you can see the paradox.

mouse fun

This is amusing, and facinating, well to Myself anyway, there are others as well

So Bubba calls his lawyer...

... and asked, "Is it true they're suing
the cigarette companies for causing people to get cancer?"

"Yes, Bubba, that's true." answered the lawyer.

"And people are suing the fast food restaurants for making them fat
and clogging their arteries with all them burgers and fries - is that
true, mister lawyer?"

"Sure is, Bubba, but why do you ask?"

"'Cause I was thinkin' - maybe I can sue Budweiser for all them ugly
women I've been waken' up with."

Political Compass Test

Take it here. On a 2 dimensional scale from -10 to 10, x axis economic left/right, -6.50
y axis libertarian/authorative -3.85
Myself is definately liberal but only moderately libertarian

Myself's rule of life #2(updated)

If you are not retired, and your annual salary, in thousands of dollars, is less than your age you are a bit of a broke-ass.

you gotta see this

But since I'm to cheap to actually pay for a blog that can hold images, this link will take you to a picture of a 13-year old girls surfboard, who was attacked by a shark and lost most of her left arm. Luckily, She did survive.

ever wonder

what kind if idiot responds to the Nigerian spam scam? and what happens

instead of gaining millions, Eric, who is in his late 40s, ended up losing almost $330,000 as he was dragged from one tale to another over three weeks. He became one of five Singaporeans this year conned by the slew of Internet scams, which start off with a personal e-mail.

snip

He received Duruoha's reply soon after, asking for his phone number. Eric was asked to transfer $17,000 to a lawyer handling the transaction and another $18,000 for the attorney's travelling expenses.
Duruoha told Eric to meet him in London with another $24,000 for a 'foreign allocation payment', a fee to transfer the funds out of Nigeria, and about $5,000 on a video camera and four watches to bribe Nigerian officials.

Hmmm... makes Myself think that the email promising me a ten inch dick might possibly not be true too.

For Myself, being male, childless w/ boyfriend means the night shall involve dressing up ( we are going as matching tigers, not my idea), and running the streets of Waikiki and, of course, major intoxication. I did buy a some candy, because we usually get a few little tricks-or-treaters before the big kids go out , besides it was $1.50 a bag. I'm sure Ill eat the rest, Snickers and Skittles (yum). Just to get in the spirit I read October Country and most of From the Dust Returned by Ray Bradbury, who writes prose like I wish I could.

Happy Halloween all

Some people have no sense of humor

Link

An early Halloween prank in Waikiki last night got a 21-year-old Haleiwa man arrested for unauthorized entry into a vehicle.

Police said the man, who was wearing a “monster” mask, went up to a car that was stopped at a traffic light at the corner of Kalakaua and Ohua avenues about 10 p.m., stuck his head through an open window and screamed. The driver of the vehicle notified police who located the suspect and arrested him.

Music Wars Scene 23:
In Which the Empire RIAA says Please Mr. Postman

It seems the RIAA is going to be nice enough to send you a letter, and politely, and in a most plesant manner, tell you that they are suing your ass:

The public backlash to the suits was immediate, prompting the Recording Industry Association of America (news - web sites) to agree that, in the future, it would issue warnings before formally filing lawsuits. On Friday, the industry made good on that promise, announcing that it had sent letters to 204 people informing them that they face imminent legal action.

According to The Associated Press, the "letters give the recipients 10 days to contact the RIAA to discuss a settlement and avoid a formal lawsuit. The RIAA declined to identify the individuals, but said they were sharing an average of more than 1,000 songs on their computers. The advanced notice also could help the RIAA avoid embarrassment. Last month's targets included a 12-year-old girl and a grandmother who claimed she was falsely accused of sharing rap songs. Many of the accused learned of the lawsuits when they were called by reporters." "In light of the comments we have heard, we want to go the extra mile and offer illegal file sharers an additional chance to work this out short of legal action," RIAA President Cary Sherman said in an oft-quoted statement.

How very white civil of them. Don't even think that they are doing this out of the kindness of their heart. This new tactic only serves to cover their ass so the next 12 year old they sue won't be informed by the press of the pending lawsuit. Although the fact that they had to change their approach shows that they know that they are abusing the DMCA that is the legal basis for all this.
In a related commentary, Todd Rundgren had this to say:

The plain reality is that, except for a few notable aberrations, musicians will always be more appreciated, certainly in a financial sense, by live audiences than by labels and the listeners they purport to represent. The seemingly quaint idea that recordings were promotion for great performers is no less true today. Ask Phish.

Ask also whether, as a musician, you ever believed the RIAA was actively protecting your interests until they got into a fight with their own customers and started using your name, your so-called well-being, as justification. And when the customers became skeptical they became the enemy. And to follow the RIAA's logic, customers are therefore the enemies of musicians. Let us ignore the fact that if you ever got compensated for your contribution, it would have been because your manager and lawyer (and many before) forced the labels to recognize your labor in financial terms.

The reason why the RIAA comes off as a gang of ignorant thugs is because, well, how do I put this -- they are. I came into this business in an age of entrepreneurial integrity. The legends of the golden age of recorded music were still at the helm of most labels -- the Erteguns, the Ostins, the Alperts and Mosses by the dozens. Now we have four monolithic (in every sense of the word) entities and a front organization that crows about the fact that they have solved their problems by leaning on a 12-year-old. Thank God that mystical fascination with the world of music has been stubbed out -- hopefully everyone will get the message and get over the idea that the musician actually meant for you to hear this.

You tell em Todd.

It's not like this is a surprise or anything

Looks like Hasbro is suing David Chang, maker of Ghettopoly:

NEW YORK (AFP) - Hasbro, the manufacturer of Monopoly, said Wednesday it had filed suit against the creator of "Ghettopoly" -- a spoof version of the celebrated board game that stereotypes gangsta rap culture. "Hasbro will not tolerate unlawful use of its intellectual property to sell the reprehensible 'Ghettopoly' game," Frank Bifulco, president of Hasbro's US Games said in a statement.

...

The protests prompted Urban Outfitters to pull the game from its shelves. Chang acknowledges the stereotyping charge but insists that the accusations of racism miss the point.

"Ghettopoly is controversial because it's both fun and real life," Chang says on his website www.ghettopoly.com.

"It draws on stereotypes not as a means to degrade, but as a medium to bring people together in laughter," he argues. "If we can't laugh at ourselves and how we each utilise the various stereotypes, then we'll continue to live in blame and bitterness."

Shorter explanation: "can't we all just get along?"

Music Wars Scene 23:
In which the founder of the rebellion returns from the dead

Look out iTunes, Napster is back. The creation of a college student, Shawn Fanning, who wrote the true killer app of the new millenium, started the Music Wars in 1999, by allowing any user on the internet to download MP3 music files, and let others download from their collection.

Napster (news - web sites), the file-swapping service that set music fans on their ears and sent the music industry into apoplectic fits, is resurrecting itself as a pay service two years after its free service collapsed under the weight of lawsuits.

Under its parent Roxio Inc. (NasdaqNM:ROXI - news), which bought the Napster assets out of bankruptcy in late 2002, Napster on Thursday introduced a test version of its new software that will sell individual songs for 99 cents each, albums for $9.95. or monthly "all-you-can-eat" subscriptions for $9.95.

Ironically, Napster sounded the opening salvo of the online music revolution in 1999 when it launched a free service that allowed users to download digital music from other users and in turn make their songs available to others.

The music industry has blamed such file-sharing services for its sharp decline in music sales over the last few years. Napster's relaunch is the latest example in a crowded field of online services aiming to convert an online community used to getting their music for free into paying customers.

The only problem with the pay services is that they don't have a big enough catalog, forget the obscure stuff, when you don't even have any Beatles tunes, your catalog sucks. Napster promises to deliver in this regard, we shall see. Of course the other big problem is that the free P2P Networks still exist and although usage has declined in the wake of the recent lawsuits, any pay for play service will be impacted by the free rebels. Myself sees the Music Wars as the beginning of the end for music on CD's. Much like the decline of vinyl, and casette tapes, the days of CD's are numbered. If Myself can get a device the size of a pack of cigarettes, or even smaller that can hold 30 plus songs of my choosing, never skips, can never get scratched, why would I want a much more bulky CD player that only holds 12 songs, some of which I may not even want, can't go jogging with, any can very easily get permanently ruined?

I know this is wrong but...

It is also funny, there is a boardgame out there called "Ghettopoly", yes thats right Ghettopoly. picture here and article here there are, of course, some who are not amused:

...Black leaders are outraged over a new board game called "Ghettopoly" that has "playas" acting like pimps and game cards reading, "You got yo whole neighborhood addicted to crack. Collect $50."
Black clergymen say the game, the brainchild of a Pennsylvania man, should be banned, and have called for a boycott of Urban Outfitters unless the company stops selling Ghettopoly in its chain of clothing stores.
...
"If we are silent on this issue there is more of this type to come," the Rev. Robert P. Shine Sr., president of the Black Clergy of Philadelphia & Vicinity, said at a sidewalk rally Wednesday in front Urban Outfitters' corporate headquarters in Philadelphia.
Shine displayed the game board, with properties including Westside Liquor, Harlem, The Bronx, and Long Beach City, and squares labeled Smitty's XXX Peep Show, Weinstein's Gold and Platinum, and Tyron's Gun Shop.
Players draw "Hustle" and "Ghetto Stash" cards with directions like, "You're a little short on loot, so you decided to stick up a bank. Collect $75," and "Steal $$$ if you pass Let$ Roll."

Also coming soon are Hoodopoly, Hiphopopoly, Thugopoly, and Redneckopoly. The game even has its own website: www.ghettopoly.com. Myself is pretty sure the people at Hasbro®, are none too pleased with this. But the article gives no mention of copyright violation. At any rate I can see why this could be deemed offensive, certainly non-PC, and Myself can respect that some people will be up in arms about something like this, perpetuating horrible sterotypes, racial oppression, and all that, but Myself does not think it falls under the category of "something that would make it a big deal". Besides you gotta love a game with pieces like Pimp, Hoe, 40 oz, Machine Gun, Marijuana Leaf, Basket Ball and Crack. I can hear parents around the country now: No Jimmy, its Sally's turn to be the pile of crack this time, you can be the 40 oz.
via Atrios

God's wrath?

Hurricane Isabel roared through Virginia Beach, Va., in September, inflicting serious property damage, despite public calls for prayer to keep it away by prominent resident Rev. Pat Robertson, whose Christian Broadcasting Network is headquartered there. (In 1998, Robertson condemned the city of Orlando, Fla., for sponsoring a Gay Days festival, and warned that the city could be torn up during the subsequent hurricane season, as God punishes those who promote homosexuality. Instead, the first hurricane of that season (Bonnie) made a direct hit on Virginia Beach.) [The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk), 9-16-03]

Heh Heh Heh.

Stupid criminals

William Penny was arrested in Greenwood, Ind., in August, putting a halt to his alleged identity-theft business. He was caught because, three times in a three-day period, he had aroused suspicion of several people in a neighborhood by approaching a certain ATM on foot, carrying a motorcycle helmet, donning the helmet as he neared the ATM's camera, making a withdrawal (with someone else's ID, allegedly), walking away, and then removing the helmet.[WISH-TV (Indianapolis), 8-5-03]

Local stuff. Paula, Randy, and Simon are in Honolulu this weekend for American Idol auditions, (this is what passes for NEWS on the local CBS affiliate KGMB, hooray). Kobe Bryant joins the rest of the Lakers for their pre-season game, and a former trustee of one of the largest endowment estates, Kamehameha Estates Bishop Estates,(KSBE), Lokelani Lindsey, was immedieately hauled off to prison to serve her 6 month sentence. She was caught taking a trip to Las Vegas, yet she had the date at which to begin her sentence delayed three times, because her husband is ill. Oh yeah, she was found guilty of using KSBE employees to do work on her personal home. Landscaping, carpentry and such, all 5 or is it 7, were replaced. It is an ugly chapter of in the history of this Aina called Hawaii, and not over yet, nope not by a long shot, much more to come so stay tuned folks. Hopefully, Myself can find links to back up this shit Myself is writing, (I promise I will look). Plausible denial will suffice.

Myself is trying to decide wether its more fun to watch the Republicans squirm over the Wilson/Plume thing or was it more fun watching the Democrats squirm over the Monica thing.

The Price of Paradise

The Honolulu bus strike of '04 has ended, buses began running on Monday, and just so there's no hard feelings towards bus riders all buses are free until Friday, that's right, free, after a month long strike. However in order to pay for the new contract bus fares will increase to $2.00 a ride, the highest in the nation. That's right, not only do we have the highest gas prices (still above $2.00 a gallon), the highest car insurance rates, high cost of living, second only to Alaska, and the second highest cost for housing (San Francisco Bay areas are first). *sighs heavily* This is why I think I want to move to Las Vegas

So a guy gets pulled over by a cop. The cop goes up to the car, notices the driver is alone and obviously drunk, eyes all red, head swaying from side to side.
Cop: " So you've been drinking tonight?"
Drunk: "No way, Officer, I'm the designated driver!"
Cop: "What do you think I am stupid, you're the only one in the car!"
Drunk: "....NOT!...check the trunk!"

joke courtesy Augie Tulba

Myself happened to be channel flipping last night and lo and behold on the David Letterman show was none other than Secretary of State Colin Powell. Now this just seemed a bit unusual to Myself, in that a Cabinet level administrator appearing on a late night talk show to pimp the White House policy. It just seems wrong and out of place, sort of like if Ashton Kutcher were to go on Meet the Press.