/dev/random

California Governor Schwarzenegger made the wrong choice by vetoing the Civil Marriage and Religious Freedom Protection Act.
Democratic candidate for governor Phil Angelides said today in denouncing Schwarzenegger’s decision:

“By vetoing the Civil Marriage and Religious Freedom Protection Act, Governor Schwarzenegger has come down on the wrong side of history. [He] had the chance to enter the [...]

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Benn loxo du taccu (”One hand can’t clap” in Wolof) is one year old today. If you love African music, it’s a must read audio blog.

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With all of the negative portrayals of Islam in the media, it’s refreshing to read this article about the Sufi brotherhoods in Senegal. The most powerful brotherhood, the Mourides, was founded by Cheikh Amadou Bamba, who is often praised in songs. This is the side of Islam Youssou N’dour portrayed in his album “Egypt” and [...]

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As an experiment, I captured this video with my cellphone this morning. You can hear a bit of Cody’s “bird watching” sound.

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Via MetaFilter: Societies worse off ‘when they have God on their side’ RELIGIOUS belief can cause damage to a society, contributing towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide, according to research published today. According to the study, belief in and worship of God are not only unnecessary for a healthy [...]

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The entire IP address range for Indonesia is now banned from MacMegasite due to an extremely lame stunt (someone simply POSTED A FREAKIN’ ARTICLE saying “you’ve been hacked” without actually doing anything). They did the same thing on WorldBeatPlanet yesterday.

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Despite fears that gas prices would rise after hurricane Rita, I found that gas prices actually went down. I had half a tank but I filled it up today at $2.79/gallon. Last week the same station was charging $2.83/gallon.

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I did three things today:

I got an antenna extender for my new Linksys WRT54G and relocated the antenna high on the wall to increase the signal strength. I can now get a decent signal on my powerbook if I sit in the yard behind my apartment.

I installed PmWiki on my powerbook. I had [...]

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Mike Doughty points out that today is John Coltrane’s birthday.

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Via Slashdot:

“Tommi Kyyrä, of IFPI Finland has said that being able to play music on a Linux or Apple computer is a privilege not a right, and that those that can’t because of DRM’d CDs should just go out and buy a CD player. Is switching the debate to rights and privileges really where [...]

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Via TPMCafe - The Coffee House:

Slowly but certainly, the Republicans are making sure their version of America is the only one possible.
Their version of America has no gays. Nor porn. It limits free speech to “zones.” Their version has energy companies writing our laws, taking away our rights to fresh air and water. They can [...]

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Hurricane Rita is now heading into the gulf after missing us. We got some rain with very little wind, but no flooding or other damage. Unfortunately it’s probably going to hit Texas or Louisiana as at least a Category 2 storm.

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The tree that wouldn’t die

Originally uploaded by mike3k.

Early this year a tree was removed next to my building, but the stump still isn’t dead. It keeps sending up new sprouts like these.

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Via Boing Boing:

StudentsforOrwell.org collects and documents the steady progress the U.S. government has been making towards acheiving Ingsoc’s three major ideals: War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength, put forth in George Orwell’s prophetic 1984.

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Let’s see if this works…

Sun-Sentinel’s downtown Fort Lauderdale webcam

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Mike Doughty posted an interesting item about his encounter with Bob Jones University students:

But these guys weren’t Christians. They were there because their parents made them go there. They told me that if the school’s administrators found out they were at my show they’d be kicked out of school. They told me that kids whose [...]

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I want a GP2X. Unfortunately it isn’t available in the US. It runs Linux, includes a SDK, and can play music, games, videos, and photos.
(Via Boing Boing)

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Hurricane Rita hit us. It’s now raining very hard, although the wind isn’t too strong. We’re not getting a direct hit - this is one of the outer bands.

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I finally got disgusted with my Netgear WGR614v3 and ordered a Linksys WRT54G, which I should have bought in the first place. I was reluctant to get the Linksys at first because of their reputation, even though every Linksys product I bought was rock solid.
First I got a D-Link DI-624, which had overheating problems. It [...]

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Tropical Storm Rita is heading towards us, with the worst expected to hit tomorrow. We’ve already been getting some rain today.

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