That quote effectively describes hippies who think that by not shopping at Wal-Mart they’re making some sort of profound social statement. Also, rabid Apple fanatics. And I say that as someone who avoids Wal-Mart and uses Macs exclusively. The difference is that I’m just doing what’s in my best interests — I’m not trying to slaughter myself on the altar of societal betterment like so many doe-eyed Leftists.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve visualized the months of the year as being physical objects (like pages from a monthly calendar) arranged in a specific fashion.

This is how every year looks in my mind:

When I think of “now” in a month-to-month sense, I visualize myself as standing on the appropriate month on that layout. If I think about another month, I visualize myself looking at the other month’s placeholder. So when I look at September from April, I’m standing on April, facing South.

I don’t know how this started. It changed a bit, over time. It used to transition from down to left after September instead of after August, but it eventually blended into this form. Note that on midnight on January 1st, I don’t visualize myself jumping across the gap (nor do I jump between any other months). I just warp there.

I’m unusually conscious of this physical layout when I’m playing Tetris. When I say things like “I can’t believe it’s June already!” I’m actually thinking “I can’t believe we’re headed down already!”

The sections (January to April, May to August, September to December) roughly match Florida three seasons (which are Summer, Fall, Still Fall But I Guess We Can Call It Spring). I was home schooled for K-11, and I didn’t get summers off, so that doesn’t explain the direction change for summer. Sometimes when I count out months, I tap out this pattern.

Anyone else have anything that they visualize in a non-traditional manner?

Inspired by Red State Update.

And no, don’t worry, I’m not voting for McCain.

AngryRenter.com is a petition site for renters who are less-than-pleased (okay, they’re angry) that stupid home buyers who bought houses they couldn’t afford using a subprime mortgage are going to get bailed out by the government, at the expense of all the sensible people who didn’t get themselves into that situation. They put together a nice little video that sums up the situation.

Nicely done. Enough with the bailouts. Bailouts only reenforce bad behavior.

Waterboarding is an interrogation method in which the subject is strapped down, sometimes inclined backwards, and water is poured into their nose and mouth. At first, it isn’t so bad — you can hold your breath. But you need to breathe eventually, and when you do… hello water. Water is drawn in, which induces a sense of overwhelming fear. You feel like you’re dying. And you are — you’re experiencing a controlled drowning that, if not stopped at the right time, would certainly kill you. It’s very effective. You’ll say anything when your body has you convinced that you’re about to die.

It’s an extremely cruel form of torture, and can cause lasting psychological damage. The CIA reserves the right to waterboard detainees, and the Bush Administration has rebuffed requests to ban the method.

If you want to help this planet’s environment, you have two options: fascism or capitalism. Sort of puts the hippies in a pickle, as they hate both. But it’s simple: you can proscribe earth-saving technologies and practices (fascism), or you can allow people to adopt them voluntarily (capitalism). There is no in-between. There is no way to compromise between voluntary action and violent coercion. The Kyoto protocol (if you actually want to guarantee results that would satisfy it) squarely falls into the fascism side. If that makes you uncomfortable, take heart. There is another way.

I like to call it “free and sustainable environmentalism.” The best way to make new technology sustainable is to make it economically beneficial so that people will voluntarily adopt it. If a hybrid car would save me money, I’d buy one in a second. But it’s a losing deal. I get about a 30% mpg boost for a huge price and maintenance boost (and a resale value that plummets as the warranty on the batteries nears its end).  The real environmentalists are the capitalists who are investing their money into new technologies that’ll be better for the environment and will save people money once they mature.  The real environmentalists are the inventors who discover better technology and the entrepreneurs that bring it to the masses.

The prime example that is available today is Compact Fluorescent Lights. These low-energy light bulbs pay for themselves in energy savings within the first year, and for the next six years (or so), they generate a profit. That’s money in my pocket. That’s a no-brainer. Those are the only kind of bulbs we buy in my house now.  Want to save the environment? Create a similar energy saving breakthrough for air conditioning.  That’s half of my electric bill in the summer, here in Florida.

The best part is that, as a consumer, you don’t have to strain yourself.  Just keep an eye out for better, greener technologies, and when it becomes economically beneficial to switch, switch — and then tell your friends.

My soul for the pope to respond “dude… for serious?”

Left-wing radio host Ed Schultz called Republican presidential candidate John McCain a “warmonger” at the North Dakota Democratic Convention during an introduction of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.  There has been limited backlash on the right over this accusation.

This is no small insult, either.  Warmonger?  That’s a nasty charge, and certainly far beneath the squeaky-clean campaign Obama claims to be running.

Rob Port - Say Anything Blog

Obama quickly distanced himself from Schultz’s remarks.

“John McCain is not a warmonger and should not be described as such,” Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Saturday. She added, “He’s a supporter of a war that Senator Obama believes should have never been authorized and never been waged.”

Fox News Election

Did anyone bother to look the word up in a dictionary?

One who advocates or attempts to stir up war.

Answers.com

The shoe fits.  The man actually sang ”Bomb Iran. Bomb, bomb, bomb…” (to the tune of the Beach Boys’ Barbara Ann).  Or how about “There’s gonna be other wars [sic]. I’m sorry to tell you… there’s gonna be other wars [sic].”  In 2000 he called for the military overthrow of Iraq, Lybia, and North Korea if they continued to develop WMDs.  He talked about attacking Iran after 9/11.

John McCain advocates and attempts to stir up war.  He is a warmonger.

Jason Kottke notes that some people are including the line “Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail” (or some variation) in their e-mail signatures.  Looking back, I found a couple e-mails sent to me that have that signature. How about this: trees are a renewable resource — my time isn’t.  If you treat your e-mails to me as an opportunity to berate me with holier-than-thou ecocentrism, don’t be surprised if I pay you as much attention as I would a street preacher forecasting humanity’s imminent doom.

Democrats are working hard to prolong their boon to trial lawyers, who are tying up the court system with frivolous lawsuits against telecommunications companies who carried out their patriotic duty to assist in terrorist surveillance in the wake of September 11th.

National Republican Congressional Committee - Karen Hanretty

No one has a “patriotic duty” to break the law, which is what these telecommunications companies did (and are continuing to do). I can see how the lawsuits might seem frivolous if you think that this law-breaking is a patriotic duty. But it isn’t. It’s still illegal, and the plaintiffs should have their day in court. And yes… suing someone requires enlisting the services of trial lawyers. That doesn’t make this a big conspiracy.

Nine Inch Nails, on their official Pirate Bay torrent for Ghosts I, the first of a four-volume set released two days ago:

Now that we’re no longer constrained by a record label, we’ve decided to personally upload Ghosts I, the first of the four volumes, to various torrent sites, because we believe BitTorrent is a revolutionary digital distribution method, and we believe in finding ways to utilize new technologies instead of fighting them.

NIN @ The Pirate Bay

They’re offering the entire 36 track, 4 volume set for $5.00 on their site (though it is currently down from the incredible volume of traffic), as well as from Amazon’s MP3 music store. It is available in MP3 format (320kbps), FLAC (lossless), and Apple Lossless. None of the formats is encumbered by DRM. The first volume is not only available free, it is Creative Commons (attribution, non-commercial, share-alike) licensed. I’ve heard a few tracks on their site, which seemed very promising. I’ve bought the whole set, and hope to be able to download it once their server recovers!

I’m looking forward to more and more artists embracing self-published DRM-free digital distribution.

The Billboard Liberation Front Creative Group has “liberated” an AT&T billboard in San Francisco to call attention to AT&T’s collaboration with the NSA in providing illegal warrantless wiretaps and data collection. AT&T is currently facing a lawsuit from the Electronic Frontier Foundation for those activities. President Bush is desperately seeking retroactive immunity for AT&T and other telecom companies that similarly and knowingly broke the law, in order to dismiss these lawsuits and prevent more details of this illegal spying from coming to light. And to better keep us safe from terrorists, of course. If we don’t grant immunity to these companies, they might be disinclined to flagrantly (and patriotically) break the law in the future! Heavens, we wouldn’t want that! Don’t Americans understand that the threat of terrorism is more important than the rule of law?

Truth be told, I hate cigarette smoke. I hate the smell, the filth, and the effects of nicotine on me. But property rights reign supreme, and I don’t have a right to clean air inside anyone else’s property. Smoking bans are un-American. Accordingly, it is with great delight that I discovered that bars are getting around smoking bans by holding “theater nights.” Obviously there has to be an exception to smoking bans for theatrical purposes. So Mark Benjamin, a criminal defense attorney, had the brilliant idea of encouraging bars to hold a “theater night” in which all bar patrons were declared to be actors, and their smoking considered part of their performance. I love it. In fact, I’ve often wondered if pornographers could use such a loophole to establish de-facto brothels (maybe just in California, where they have the benefit of the California v. Freeman decision).

What other theater- or film-related loopholes can you think of?

So welcome, Ed. I look forward to working with you, and I look forward to your writing! Ed replaces Bryan Preston, who has accepted a producer position with the Laura Ingraham radio show. Morrissey should provide a worthy counterpart to the mysterious “Allahpundit,” who will continue to grace Hot Air with his witty humor- and sarcasm-laced (yet insightful) commentary.