A reminder...and an inquiry

First of all, as some on my friends list or yours may already have mentioned, today is Election Day throughout the United States. (I still think whoever had the bright idea to schedule it on a workday, instead of Saturday or Sunday when we might have better turnout, should be keelhauled behind a truck...but that's a rant for another day.) The League of Women Voters has a very helpful website up called Vote411.org if you need to find out how and/or where to vote. (And if you live here in Georgia—or one of the other states that has new voter ID laws in force—don't forget that picture ID or passport!) I plan to do so promptly after getting off work...and I hope my fellow US citizens reading this will do likewise, at your earliest convenience, if you have not done so already. (And if you have, good on ya, mate!) A quote from that galactic sage Lazarus Long seems apt here:

If you are part of a society that votes, then do so. There may be no candidates and no measures you want to vote for...but there are certain to be ones you want to vote against. In case of doubt, vote against; by this rule you will rarely go wrong. If this is too blind for your taste, consult some well-meaning fool (there is always one around) and ask his advice. Then vote the other way. This enables you to be a good citizen (if such is your wish) without spending the enormous amount of time on it that truly intelligent exercise of franchise requires.

Second, I've been notified by LJ a few times in the past couple of months or so of new people friending me whose handles and/or userpics I don't recognize. I take this as a compliment that people other than my own circle of meatspace friends and acquaintances is signing on to read my rants, filks and other musings, and you are most welcome so long as you don't step on the cat. (His name is Ari, and he's orange and weighs 22 lbs; you can't miss him short of being blind.) However, curiosity gets the better of me at least as often as it does him; so if you've friended me during this period, would you mind terribly posting here with as much information about who you are as you're comfortable with having on this site, how I or one of my friends knows you, and why you decided to put me on your list? I look forward to meeting my newest readers.

Rewriting a 1970s rock classic

Well, the other day, I was driving and heard on the radio a really great cover of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's old hit, "Love the One You're With," done by the late, great and dearly missed R&B crooner Luther Vandross. While I mainly enjoy the melody and driving piano hooks, it occurred to me that the lyrics might not be the best thing for men with wives or girlfriends far absent to be hearing. Maybe it's just the incipient old fogey in me, but it does appear as though Stephen Stills was basically writing to encourage infidelity ("There's a girl right next to you / And she's just waiting for something to do...").

So I took it upon myself to come up with lyrics more suitable to help someone in a long-distance relationship hang on to their integrity and preserve a relationship in which both have agreed to exclusivity. (And I just know my Songbird is going to tease me yet again about my statement to her, early in our dating, that monogamy is not a natural state for most males of the species.) What follows is my version; comments not required, but welcome. (I do realize that my poly friends may take issue with this; any intelligent and respectful objections are also welcome.)

( I love you and miss you terribly, sweetheart. )

One of my La. homeboys writes about why he (and I) left

Rod Dreher, columnist for the Dallas Morning News, apparently emigrated to Texas from his home state of Louisiana, just as I did back in my grade-school days. Of course, I was a kid and he was grown and with a family to support, but the mutual understanding of the situation is still there...as he demonstrates in this very good op-ed about Republican Bobby Jindal's recent outright win in our shared home state's gubernatorial primary.

Member of the hated GOP though he may be, I now find myself actually willing to give Jindal the benefit of the doubt...at least, until he's been in office for about six months; after that, he's fair game. But if he really thinks he can make some headway in cleaning up the decades-old cesspool that is governance in the Pelican State, I'm interested to see him try...and how he does it. Here's hoping he can avoid being unduly influenced by the various interests that dominate his party—big business, the religious Reich, the chicken-hawk warmongers, the gaming industry, etc.—and truly govern for all Louisianans.

I truly would be overjoyed to see him turn my home state into a great place to actually live...instead of just a good place to be from, as it has been my entire lifetime and before.

How can we let Internet companies know helping China oppress its people is NOT okay?

Yahoo! co-founder /honcho Jerry Wang found himself on the hot squat today, facing a Congressional committee in Washington and having to explain to its members—and to the mother of a jailed dissident, seated right behind them—why their company had cooperated with the Communist rulers of the People's Republic of China in tracking down and snooping on her son, as well as on other citizens it felt threatened enough by to want them in jail, for the "crimes" of speaking out against government policy, or even merely daring to seek out news and information from non-Beijing-approved sources. (See my local paper's article here.)

Yahoo! isn't the only offender, either; Google and Microsoft have also been guilty of wanting into the lucrative Chinese Internet/IT services market so badly they were willing to hand over information about their Chinese users that should have been privileged and private...and would have been, in any country not led by paranoid authoritarians (yeah, I know, that may be a redundancy). The infocorps argue that even censored information is better than none at all for those under the bootheel, and that they should not be denied full access to all the wonders of the Information Age just because we might not approve of how their governments are run. (And all that moolah to be made has nothing whatsoever to do with it. Sh'yeah, right.)

But what can us poor individual Western users do about this shameless corporate kow-towing to tyranny? Refuse to use the offending companies' products and services? For how long? And which ones? Stage a day of protest? Send letters, e-mails or other communiques to their officers and boards? I'm throwing open the floor to suggestions. All I'm saying is, there's got to be some way we users in the US, who represent the single largest chunk of their customer base outside of China, can pressure these gutless putzes to stop aiding and abetting oppression.

Today's Meme: The GeekCore Quiz

Nerdily nicked from lisbethk24   :
How nerdy are you? Put an X next to each item on the list that describes you and then tally them up. Got 15 or more X’s? Welcome to the Nerd Core.

( My answers. (sings) 'They see me mowin' my front lawn...' )

Today's Meme #2: Nerd, Geek or Dork?

( Wanna see which one I scored as? Look back here. )

Some idiot has cost me my vote...and I will find out who!

Both my new voter registration card and the State of Georgia's poll locator website for the Secretary of State's office told me my polling place was in a local senior-citizens' services center. Gave me the exact address and everything, plus I looked it up on Mapquest. The state site also told me polls were supposed to remain open until 7:00 PM Eastern, leaving me plenty of time, even having to work until 5:45, to get down there and vote. Right?

( You think you can vote after work? Silly graphic designer! )