Queer Musings

Book Review - Little Brother

2008-07-20T13:31:34Z

I know... It's been two months since my last post. I'll explain more about that later today after I get some sleep. For now, I thought I would share with you what I thought about Cory Doctorow's book Little Brother.

While the link provided for the book is to Amazon, you can get it for free legally directly from Cory's web site. The main reason I've provided the Amazon link is because I believe that artists, even the ones willing to give their work away, should be compensated for their work. Also, I will fess up to it being an Amazon Associate link. However, the $0.50 or so I would make off of a referral really means little to me. It's not like I can buy much with that.

Now on with the review...

As a fan of the futuristic cyber-punk genre, it's great to find something grounded in the reality of modern day.

Little Brother is the story of seventeen year old Marcus, aka w1n5t0n and his use of current technology to take down a system that has robbed all U.S. citizens of their privacy. It all takes place during the weeks and months after a devastating terrorist attack in San Francisco.

Some descriptions of how some of the tech worked did get in the way of the overall story. It probably would have been better if Cory had just mentioned it in passing and then include an appendix going into more details of how it all works. For example the part where it explained tunneling SMTP through IM and that you could tunnel all of that in SMTP distracted from what I feel was the most important part of the story.

While the tech was an important part of the story. I think, however, the overall message is we need to keep a closer eye on the government and the sacrifices we have already made in the name of national security. If we are ever attacked again, are we prepared to place more of our Constitutional rights on the alter of "security" to be sacrificed?

Overall it was an excellent read, and I would highly recommend this book. As a country we are already close to living in the America depicted in Little Brother. It shows that there is a place for home grown "terrorists" willing to be brave enough to take on our own government for the betterment of the nation. It reminds us all of why the colonial terrorists overthrew the tyranny of the English crown, and why such liberties were included for all of us in the Bill of Rights.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Get Married

2008-05-21T19:24:48Z

Just another reason to get rid of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. GLBT service members are being advised to think long and hard about taking advantage of the new marriage laws in California.

I didn't realize that DADT said a service member "shall be separated from the armed forces" if "the member has married or attempted to marry a person known to be of the same biological sex."

Apparently there can be two

2008-05-21T17:17:44Z

Sci-Fi Wire is reporting that there is going to be a remake of the classic film Highlander.

So much for "there can only be one."

Iron Man co-writers Art Marcum and Matt Holloway will be writing the updated version of the movie. I haven't seen Iron Man yet, but all the reviews have been positive, so I will try to reserve judgment until further news of this comes out.

Homophobia is alive and well in America

2008-05-20T20:59:39Z

Sadly homophobia is alive and well in the US. I'm appalled and disturbed by some of the comments being made on 24 hour new channels about the pending nuptials between Ellen and Portia.

Sure it was ok for Star Jones to whore her wedding out. But heaven forbid if a lesbian should just make a simple announcement that she and her partner are getting married.

If you ask me Jones made more of a mockery out of marriage than any GLBT couple could ever do. We all know how it's ending for Star... Next stop divorce court.

Sulu to go where no California gay man has gone before

2008-05-20T00:07:36Z

Now that California GLBT couples can look forward to getting married, George Takei has announced that he and his partner Brad Altman will be getting married.

Being of Japanese decent, George knows first hand the insanity that can result from discrimination. In 1942 after Pearl Harbor was bombed his family along with approximately 110,000 other Japanese was sent to internment camps. So I can only imagine his joy and excitement at being able to marry the man he has dedicated the last 21 years of his life.

Congratulations to George and Brad. I hope the two of you have another wonderful 21 years together.

Charter Adding Spyware Hardware to Its Network

2008-05-19T23:37:41Z

Charter Communications is getting ready to install hardware that will track a users surfing habits and deliver ads based on a variety of factors. The hardware will come from NebuAd. Thankfully two members of Congress have decided to raise a stink about this.

Charter is describing this as an "anonymized" ad-delivery system. Users are going to be able to opt-out by setting cookies in their browsers.

Since Charter is my ISP, I have some issues with this.

The main problem I have is one of privacy. I shouldn't have to opt-out of a system that is going to track my every move on the web. Maybe Charter can tell me how I'm supposed to set cookies on my two TiVos, or on my Wii when they connect to the internet. While the Wii does have access to an Opera browser for general web surfing, there's still the news and weather applications that doesn't use a standard browser.

What's going to happen to all of the security conscious surfers that have their browser set to not accept cookies. Some people even have their browsers set to delete all cookies on exit.

Also how much of my information is Charter going to divulge to NebuAd? I don't know this company. I have never heard of them until now. How do I know if they are trustworthy, and won't sell any information given to them by Charter?

Then there's the issue of stealing revenue. Where are these ads going to appear? Will they only be on Charter.com and Charter.net? Honestly I don't think so. That leaves one other option for Charter. They will most likely appear on other web sites. This will cause potential problems in revenue that would normally go to the site you're visiting going to Charter.

I'm sure there's other things that could be added to the discussion of why this is a bad idea, I just thought I would get the discussion started. Charter really needs to think long and hard about all the potential problems associated with installing the hardware on their network. If they do decide to go ahead with this beyond a trial run it really needs to be an opt-in program.

Sadly I don't see myself changing ISPs because I enjoy the 16Mb connection I have with Charter. This is faster than anything I can get from a DSL provider. I will be calling them to let them know what I think about adding what I consider to be spyware on the network. I do everything I can to minimize spyware on my computer, I shouldn't have to worry about it being installed in my ISP.

Fly JetBlue - Sit in the Loo

2008-05-17T23:48:03Z

What kind of customer service is this?

Gokhan Mutlu of New York City is suing JetBlue for making him sit in the bathroom. While on a five hour flight Mutlu was ordered by the pilot to sit in the toilet for three hours.

Apparently the flight was full, and a flight attendant who had been assigned a seat said that she would take the jump seat so Mutlu could have one on the plane.

The only reason I can think of for a flight attendant to be assigned a seat is if they are deadheading. Otherwise they would be in a jump seat and working the flight.

If the flight attendant didn't want to sit in the jump seat, they would have been well within their rights to not give up a "comfortable" seat. Especially if they are deadheading to meet another flight. Also the fa should have already known that a jump seat isn't the most comfortable seat to sit in for five hours.

As someone who works for an airline, I always hate seeing news about poor customer service. While I don't work for JetBlue, this does reflect poorly on the airline industry as a whole. I hope Mutlu has a good lawyer and gets what he rightfully deserves from this incident. I hate to think what would have happened if the plane had encountered severe turbulence, or if an emergency occurred and he was in a seat that provided a seat belt.

Couldn't Make This up if I Tried

2008-05-17T06:19:03Z

There's no way I could have made this up. If you click the picture for the larger version, you'll see that I did a Netflix search for a cheesy sounding movie called Zombie Strippers. Don't judge me, just keep reading.

The reason I'm posting this is simple. I want to know what does Academy Award winning actress, Meryl Streep have to so with zombie strippers. Why would she come up as one of the recommended actors for such a weird search term?

Go ahead, click the picture to see the larger version. I know you want to do it. When you do, you'll probably wonder what in the hell does one have to do with the other.

I was Beat to the Punch

2008-05-17T05:49:49Z

There's a reason why I should check out friends blogs before posting to here. I was beat to the punch on finding a YouTube posting of Ellen's announcement. In my defense, I don't have real internet access at work unlike sammy.the.k LOL. Also when I got home today, surfing the web was the last thing on my mind. I wanted to catch up on some TiVo then watch BSG.

via: [the chaser blog]

You Go Gurlz!

2008-05-17T05:32:53Z

With the California Supreme Court decision yesterday, this opens the door for everyone's favorite lez couple to get married. While calls and e-mails to Ellen DeGeneres were not immediately returned, The Associated Press is reporting that a source said that Ellen and Portia de Rossi will be getting married.

Ellen has been using her show as a platform for GLBT issues, and I would like nothing more than to see her and Portia tie the knot.

Congrats girls, maybe being one of America's best loved talk show hosts will turn this into a catalyst for change across the country.

Failing Grade For all Presidential Candidates

2008-05-16T05:26:54Z

In a recent analysis on Gay.com none of the Presidential hopefuls fully support the California Supreme Court's marriage decision.

John McCain, or should I say Bush III, is naturally the worst of the three. The only Republican willing to go on record as supporting the court is California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Not only has the governator come out in support of the Supreme Court's ruling, he's gone as far to say that he will not support an amendment to the states constitution.

Even my boy, Barack, along with Hillary is only willing to go so far as to support civil unions. News flash for you two, giving us most or all of the same rights of marriage and dressing it up by calling it civil unions is not equal treatment under the law.

Civil unions are the legal equivalent of black only water fountains.

So if you ask me, all three candidates should receive a failing grade on GLBT issues. The only politician that has had the fortitude to step forward, not counting Mayor Gavin Newsom (who helped kick start all of this in California), is Schwarzenegger. It pains me in some ways to say this, but maybe we do need to amend the federal constitution and allow him to run for President.

California Recognizes Domestic Partnerships Not Equal to Marriage

2008-05-16T00:06:28Z

Same sex couples in California are celebrating a victory on the road to full equality in issues of marriage.

The California Supreme Court, in a 4-to-3 ruling, struck down two laws defining marriage as solely between a man and a woman. The decision will become effective in 30 days, and will make California the second state in the nation allowing gays and lesbians equal treatment under the law when it comes to marriage.

Writing for the majority, Chief Justice Ronald M. George said, "In view of the substance and significance of the fundamental constitutional right to form a family relationship." He went on to add, "the California Constitution properly must be interpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all Californians, whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex couples as well as to opposite-sex couples."

The court did leave open the possibility that the state Legislature could call a state sanctioned union something other than marriage. It would, however, have to be applied to all couples.

In my opinion, that's where things start getting tricky. What does a state call a civil recognition of a commitment between two people if not marriage? There are already groups campaigning to amend California's constitution to place a ban on same-sex marriage. If the Legislature steps in and decides all unions are to be called civil unions, I think that would add fuel the the amendment fire.

Maybe I'm just getting cynical in my old age.

I am happy to see the court rule that the current laws are unequal, I just worry about the possible backlash this political season. This wouldn't be the first election year that we've been thrown onto the sacrificial alter by the Republican party to show that they are the only moral ones to run this country.

While this is a great victory for GLBT people across the nation, I just hope everyone remembers we still have a long hard fight ahead of us. We must not let our guard down for one moment because of what has happened in California. If anything we need to mobilize and work even harder in states, such as my home state of Texas, that have already passed constitutional amendments banning marriage and get them removed.

Knoxville, Posey in John Waters's Newest Movie

2008-05-13T19:52:25Z

John Waters is at it again, and this time he's added indie favorite Parker Posey to be in his latest movie. I'm already excited about seeing the movie, called Fruitcake, solely on the fact that she will be in it.

Joining Posey is everyones favorite Jackass, Johnny Knoxville. Knoxville was in Waters's last movie A Dirty Shame, which I loved.

Actually I don't think John Waters has ever made a bad movie. Sure they can be a little disgusting from time to time, but that is what made him so famous in his early days.

The plot has not been announced officially, but according to The Hollywood Reporter it concerns a boy named after his favorite dessert. After his parents are caught shoplifting, the boy runs away from home and meets another runaway, a girl who was raised by a gay couple and is searching for her birth mother.

Why do I sense some incest is going to be involved? Well Waters has done plenty of taboo subject matters before. What's one more for him?

Getting Turned on by Caprica Casting

2008-05-13T19:27:44Z

I'm really getting turned on by the casting of the Battlestar Galatica prequel Caprica. While I don't mean that to sound so dirty, they have cast two pretty hot actors.

A few days ago Sci Fi Wire reported that Esai Morales will be joining the show. Now they are reporting that Eric Stoltz is going to be playing a wealthy computer engineer. They are both incredibly sexy, and terrific actors.

When I first heard that the prequel was going to be more of a night time soap, I was a little reluctant to want to see it. That's changing as the casting announcements are being made. Of course I was a little turned off by the idea of a re-imagined BSG until I saw that Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell were staring in the mini-series.

The producers are doing a great job of attracting really talented people that you wouldn't necessarily associate with Sci Fi. I think that that has been one of the strengths of BSG. I'm now hoping that it carries over to Caprica.

links for 2008-05-01

2008-05-01T14:37:57Z

Island Of Lesbos Takes Gays To Court Over Term Lesbian - Gay News From 365Gay.com

(Athens) A Greek court has been asked to draw the line between the natives of the Aegean Sea island of Lesbos and the world's gay women. [I don't even know what to say about this.]

(tags: Gay GLBT Greece Lesbian Lesbos Queer)
Shareholders Reject Bid To Strip Gay Protections At Wells Fargo - Gay News From 365Gay.com

(San Francisco, California) A motion by a Wells Fargo shareholder to remove protections for LGBT workers from the company's non-discrimination policy was defeated this week at its annual meeting.

(tags: Gay GLBT Nondiscrimination Queer)