Closet cub is really closeted

I posted something on facebook about the sugar free reases peanut butter cups having a warning on them about a possible 'laxative effect' when eaten in excess. I hot a response from a friend about how she fed them to a kids party and all the kids had 'the browns' for a week. Closet cub posted something to the effect that that would be the only way 'the browns' could ever win the superbowl. I posted a response that it was 'cute when he talked butch.' well apparently that was over the line because he sent me this email on how my flirting was making him uncomfortable and he wasn't comfortable with me hugging him in front of the restaurant the day before.

Oy with closet cases and their drama.

Thing is, I know where it comes from. I was there 10 years ago. In the words of Harvey Milk, "Come out come out wherever you are."

Closet Cub

It was an ok party. I knew about half the people there. It was in one of those 50's ranch houses that have been added on until the house just rambles like a scrabble board and seems to go on for days. I grabbed a glass of wine and wandered out into the pool area and a group of lesbians were over in the corner, smoking and talking facing the bay with the lights sparkling and reflecting on the bay in the damp Florida night. At the other end of the pool, a guy I knew was talking to a guy I didn't. I crossed and began talking to the guy I knew. Smalltalk, nothing in particular. And then he wandered up. Cubbie. Cubbie and I talked about how he was campaign manager for the guy I ddn't know sitting there and I pledged my support. Cubbie asked me if I was on facebook and I pulled out my iPhone and friended his candidate. Cubbie spent the next hour talking about nothing in particular and I really wasn't listening because I was imagining him naked and what I would do to him when he was. After the party, I went home and tried to find him on facebook, but was unsuccessful.

The next morning I got a friend request from him. But in his profile it didn't say he was gay. Had I misread the situation? I looked for clues in the list of favorite movies... Mama Mia AND wedding crashers... Damn. Mixed signals. Finally I just im'd him... 'Are you gay?' because I thought I sensed that. He explained that he wasn't out to all his facebook friends so he didn't have that information on his profile.

I asked him if he eaten. He said no, so we met at a local diner for brunch. He told me he was business partners with his two brothers and one is a conservative religious guy and he couldn't alienate that brother right now because he was depending on that money to make it through grad school.

He's adorable and smart. I have to get to know him better. He's my little Closet Cub.

Bush Administration Insider knocked off

A story is making the rounds about a bush administration insider who was hosting the data for the 2000 and 2004 election while at the same time maintaining close ties to republican insiders and data from the elections that was hosted on a shared sever with party sites. You think to yourself... they wouldn't steal the election, would they? They wouldn't actually tamper with data from an election source...???

Well, put that together with what we know about diebold voting machine's security issues. Mix in what I know about administering a shared server and, at the least, you have a situation where the data on that server cannot be trusted to be accurate.

Social Networking

So i'm doing a lot with twitter/facebook/linkedIn and working with their PHP tools to make connections between websites. It's going to be interesting to see the type of applications that develop over the next year or so based on previously closed social networks opening themselves to developers and providing connections between the various services. There are many that are simultaneously competitive and complimentary. For example, LinkedIn and Facebook. LinkedIn is primarily business focused where Facebook is primarily personal. It makes sense for them to open themselves to connections linking your business life with your personal life. Twitter's strength is immediacy. Linking the three profiles on the three different services provides a unique synergy that neither of the three of them could achieve alone.

America is out of good ideas

In the first part of Tony Kushner's masterpiece "Angels in America", subtitled "Millennium Approaches", the world is running down, everything is becoming empty and man as a creation is out of creative ideas. I feel that acutely now. With so many corporate failures and so many companies on the verge of bankruptcy asking for governmental handouts, it seems the baby boomers leading American companies have led us to our doom. We are an empty cistern of ideals. With no imagination we are trustifarians living on a credit card tied to the hard work and accomplishments of our forefathers.

I believe in rain. I believe in renewal. There's always a second act.... a Part II. Perestroika ... the new openness... is coming. We shall be renewed. Good ideas will come and we again will be led by a progressive leader.

I have to believe. Please don't let us down, President Obama.

The Bubble Project

The heart of the McCain/Palin Constituency

Polling: National Trend

McCain and the Keating Scandal

Pollster.com

DON'T VOTE

D

John Stewart on the Presidential Address

Wanda Sykes on Sarah Palin and Weed

Musical Intervention

a prayer for New Orleans

to the God who I believe created me
then you for your grace
thank you for peace
thank you for rain
but I pray for New Orleans
I pray that lessons were learned
that this time people will leave
that the leaders will be wiser
that the indigent will be cared for
that lessons will be learned
that people will leave
that squall lines will move quickly
and that people won't die

amen.

Sent from my iPhone

Awareness Test

what "wrong message"?

And the money quote.... "The law is supposed to discriminate sometimes."

angry

I'm angry at you billy rothstein. The way you left us was inexcusable and I will never forgive you.

Waffle House Wedding

Take alook at This story about the great american waffle house wedding.

wow, does AT&T suck

Ok, so I went to get my iphone 3g today and was told that not only would I loose my discount on my WLAN card but I couldn't be upgraded in an Apple store because my account was a "Business" account. Ok, Setting aside the complete irritation of walking into a store and not being able to walk out with what I cam in to buy, I now have to deal with the slimy AT&T commission sales team who couldn't be bothered to stop the car if they were driving over me if it meant they weren't getting any money out of the deal. So Edward gets home and we decide to change our account away from a business account to a "personal" account.

I call AT&T "Customer service" and after being cut off 2 different times I finally reached an operator that would "fill out a ticket" to have my account converted which would take up to 72 hours to complete by a department to which, I couldn't not have the number to dial them directly. WFT?????? How is this in any way shape or form "Customer Service"?

Sweet jesus this is so freekin annoying.

UPDATED... ok, so now my account has been converted from business to standard account but the Apple Store at International Plaza is sold out of iPhones. The universe conspires against me.

new toys

with any luck at all, this time tomorrow, I'll have a new iPhone 3g. I just love getting new toys. :-) I read an article that being so distracted by things instead of people is a sort of high-funtioning autism. I may somewhat agree. All weekend long I was actually somewhT distrCted by the fact that I didn't have one.

20 minutes to whopner.

how to make bread

By the sunburn's red glare

Another night at georgie's, another horrible shakira remix, another
special on really cheap booze. Tomorrow and tommorow beats this steady
existence.

Not much going in other than down time after pride. I have a party for
The Fourth tomorrow at my managers house... It should be as fun as a
Hetro party can be.

I hope I can just rest this weekend. Pride was greuling and I haven't
decided if I'm doing their website next year. I should know more next
week.

I think I did a fantastic job on their marketing and it was a light
into my soul to be that creative again.

Georgies is packed. I'm going to go dance.

Sent from my iPhone

This looks hysterical

7:15 AM on pride day

Thirty-eight years ago today, the Stonewall Riots began. I can't imagine that world today. Regular police raids on gay clubs and the act of wearing women's clothes could get you jail time.... Just as today's kids can't imagine black and white water fountains we can't imagine what that world was like.

But we don't go to pride because of how far we've come, but how far we've yet to go. My new friend Janice Langbehn's story is tragic because of it's ubiquity.

Be proud. Happy Pride.

Yours truly

why i'm voting for Barack Obama

The foundation of all I believe in, politically speaking, is smaller government and lower taxes and having government focus on the infrastructure needs of its citizens and allow the citizens themselves create the world in which they want to live.

For as much as Senator Obama is not a "small government" senator, neither is McCain. Do you for one second think that electing McCain will lead to any serious reform in the Pentegon's corrupt purchasing practices? Do you think that McCain will streamline government using technology when the man can't check his own email and has trouble using the word "technology" without the word "new-fangled" in front?

Do you think for a minute that McCain will offer early retirement to thousands of government workers who are nearing the age and then delete their positions to decrease the load of federal employees on the tax base when he, himself should be retired to a condo at Sun City Pheonix. Ladies and gentlemen, the republican party is in need of an enema. Clean out the shit ....and feed it some ruffage. It's got the smell of old people. They're still focused, generationally on the arguments of the last century. Abortion, Evolution, Racism, Internet Porn... let them go down in flames declaring that the internet should be policed by the government "to protect our children".

I'm voting for the young guy... the guy who actually knows what text messaging is and is and posts almost every speech on You-Tube for the world to hear. He may not be philosophically what i'm looking for, but I think he'll make a good president. I'm putting my full support behind Barack Obama.

I'm tired of Baby Boomers and their silly fear of technology. I'm tired of the arguments of 50 years ago shaping the political debate. I'm tired of politicians who believe that they are the only ones who can help america... yes, i'm talking about you Hillary. I'm tired of the politics of racism. While I know most of those are with us for some time to come, electing Senator Obama will go a long way to put to death the era of baby boomer politics and... for better or worse... usher in whatever is next.

NYC 2057

Depressed

A few weeks back a coworker confessed to me that she though her son was gay. She also though her son was being harassed by other students at his school... Burns Middle School in Brandon.... She told me it had gone beyond names into slashing his bike tires and other acts of vandalism. She told me she felt helpless because the school administrators told her they could do nothing.

At this point, I dropped an email to PFLAG in brandon, who were sympathetic but told me they believed the principal was "fair" whatever that means.

I got an IM today at work that she was leaving because her son had been "in a fight" and had a black eye. There is a pattern of violence at this school that seems to be escalating with each passing year. There's at least one article at the St. Pete times about a girl at burns being bullied by other female students. In this case, her son was being bullied by male students.

Who's fault is it when students commit homophobic violence. In the case of that highly publicized video from polk county where one student is locked in a house and beaten while other students look on, the parents confess that "there was nothing they could do."

I feel helpless. How much do I stick my nose in when it's clearly none of my concern, except... when someone is beaten because they are gay... it really is my concern. But what to do...??? Especially realizing that there are only a very few days left in school.

I feel helpless, angry and very much saddened. And it's not even about blame... because it's my fault to. It's my fault I allow this in the city where I live.

'Deeply insulting to transexuals'

I'm doing some marketing work for St. Pete Pride in addition to doing their website. I did a series of ads for them, mostly optimistic and sunny with this one being the exception. We got feedback this week from several "transexual activists" who think the ad is "deeply insulting to transexuals". Honestly, I don't get it. This ad features a drag queen.... nothing more. I don't think it demeans anyone's sexuality... in fact quite the opposite. I think it's a strong statement on the transient nature of gender and society's gender roles. Anywho... call me what you want, just spell my name correctly.

Love and Peace to all

wv... toothless and racist

The moment

There are moments in time where the universe spins on its axis and we are different than we were. We've known change is necessary. We've felt the boiling crucible yearning for a reaction. We want to move forward in time.... and then the screw loosens and we start to feel the forward momentum. We start to feel our country, our world, our universe, our society... lurch forward.

That moment is now. And thank you God for our ability to change.

Tony Nomination update

Megan Mullally was ROBBED! The end.

OUCH!

friday i'm in love

Why does everything seem so much better...? the rash you've been scratching all week is almost gone... the cup of tea taste better and you got a full nights sleep thursday... Is it the anticipation of 2 days off or is it some sort of cosmic completion coming into balance? Either way, I feel good today. Very zen and balanced. I look around and see beauty. I'm going to try to have lunch somewhere outside and enjoy a fantastic day.

Kettle to pot: you're black!

So news reports are full of Clinton calling Obama "elitist" for his comments about people in small towns "clinging to God and Guns" because they're afraid... which outraged people in small towns in Pennsylvania so much they put down their guns and went to church to decide what to do.

The AP reported that Clinton spent the day eating pizza and drinking beer to prove how non-elitist she is... They also reported that She did shots of Crown Royal. Pander much?

What the AP didn't report is after about 10 shots, she then lifted her white wifebeater tank and showed her tits to everyone in the bar and then left on a harley with a man-ish woman named "chris" who resembled John Goodman. She's so butch. She could totally kick my ass.

Life beyond A-Z

A blog that I semi-regularly read has a story about a European transplant's experience in Washington DC. There's a running theme taken from a children's book the world is simply too big to be crammed into only 26 letters and we must experience life beyond A-Z.

I find myself feeling very similar emotions of late without adequate words to describe it. My normal optimism fails me and I must reach for a reason to believe that the world will be a better place. Part of it is The War Without End. Part of it is simply the provincial attitudes that pervade the culture in which I live. Take this story about commissioners warning against the Day Of Silence for GLBTQ students or this One about a "new drug" Salvia that Purple Haze is selling ( on 34th Street South if you've never been there, just north of the exit for the old Suncoast Resort ). There's some do-gooder state legislator on the west coast... here's the quote:

"We need to do everything we can to protect our children in a world where there are massive temptations," said Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach.

yes, the same ol tripe they always use. We must "Protect the children from the bad "(insert miscellaneous evil here). Will there ever be a time that American will see this for what it is... nothing more than a govermental power grab. Yet another of your civil liberties taken by an a behemoth nanny state.

As a country we need to see life beyond A-Z. We need to break our insistence that our government take care of us, feed us, medicate us, and then pay for our mortgage when we make unsound financial decisions. I weep for our country. I weep for the future. Or the pessimism could just be a rainy sunday morning when i'm fresh out of tea for breakfast. It's difficult to tell.

why it's good to keep the battle in the democratic party going

or, alternatively titled: "There's no such thing as bad press."

Throughout the next few months as Hillary and Barak duke it out for the Democratic nomination, there are many who say the scuffle is "bad for the party" and "one of them needs to give in". I couldn't disagree more.

I think what's bad for the party is monolithic politics with no opportunity for one citizen to make any sort of a difference. The idea that any one vote can make all the difference in the world has reinvigorated the democratic party in ways no candidate ever could. And despite polls that say voters on either side of the current battle "will hold their nose" and vote for McCain if their candidate looses is complete rubbish. Hillary voters are never going to vote to elect Bush II and Obama voters are not going to vote for a pro war candidate.

Allowing this battle to continue to it's conclusion at the convention is going to lead to one thing and one thing alone. More camera time for both candidates. The question is framed as not whether to vote Democrat or Republican but which democrat to vote for. And That's a question thats a popularity no democrat has enjoyed in my lifetime.

Barak and Hillary... Keep arguing. Keep having good weeks and bad weeks. Maintain your position on the issues and by all means FIGHT. It will not leave you bloodied for the general election, on the contrary, it will make you (Cue the Kanye.....) stronger.

we remember the good and forget the bad

Watching the tv mini-series John Adams i'm astounded by our barbarism. Our infant America was a violent place of insolent British ex-pats centered in Boston. And were treated with equal violence and arrogance by the British Empire. Its a wonder either country survived.

"Most men are evil and weak and viscous and are in great need of restraint." -John Adams

I love this series. I hope it wins more Emmys than Paul Giamatti can carry.

best line from SNL in 10 years

"What qualifies Hillary Clinton to be president? Is it that she was married to the president? if that's the case Robin Givins would be heavyweight champion of the world."
-Tracy Morgan

Who's responsibility is security?

There's a report out today that Paypal has discouraged use of the Safari web browser because "it has no anti-phishing" plugin/feature/attachment. My response to that is... Who's responsibility is security? The expectation that a car manufacturer would build a car that would tell you when you're going to be car-jacked seems a bit far-fetched.

When those phishing bank emails came out a few years back, my bank's response was to institute a two-tier login system that, quite frankly, was a pain in the ass until you got used to it. Yes, I locked myself out of my account a few times, but now I know that bank logins are secure. Is paypal at all responsible for not instituting what most banks now feel is a "standard" feature to their website? Seems like if they really cared about security they would.

What about my responsibility? If you see a paypal logo and login on the page and URL is just an IP address or some crazy ukrainian URL, is there no recognition that at least 50% of the responsibility of thinking "hey maybe I don't want to give ukrainians my paypal login information" ....maybe just SOME of that responsibility rests with me?

I understand too well how unreasonable the uneducated computer using hoards (READ 'windows users') can be. I deal with it on a regular basis. Issues like "most users won't see that button" and "most users don't know what that is" is regularly part of the feedback I get on the websites I build. 'It doesn't look right in IE 5' ....and 'My aunt who uses AOL 4 can't get the HTML in that email. What do we do about AOL 4 users, mr smarty-pants web developer?'....Yea, I been there paypal. I feel ya.

But either way, I have a message for paypal's PR dept.....My safari is perfectly safe and I love it just fine, thank you. If you're stupid enough to give your login information away, that's just darwinism in action. You are the slow antelope of the herd and as such, have been selected by nature for extinction. Please turn in your computer at the Best Buy where you purchased it with a DVD of the latest Kate Hudson/Matthew McConaughey movie.

Now paypal's usage fees, that's a crime for which there is no plugin!

Yes, we can

Boys Beware!