Archive for March, 2008

Wisconsin’s shame

An 11-year old girl died this week from a treatable form of diabetes. She died because she didn’t get the treatment she needed–not because of lack of resources, but because her parents decided that prayer alone would cure her.

This is a shame on our state and our nation that we can allow such wanton neglect within a civilized society. As a libertarian, I am all for personal freedoms and liberties but this example has clearly gone way over the line. These parents are clinically insane at best; murderous criminals at worst.

The fact that such people could live in our state and be regarded as normal is deeply troubling. I don’t know them personally, but I would be shocked if this is the first time their over-zealous “religion” was noticed.

Have we really lost the ability as a culture to distinguish religious practices from insanity? Are we so afraid to offend our neighbors that we’ve stopped questioning abuse when done in the name of religion? Does it take a death for us to wake up and see the danger?

What’s worse is that the District Attorney is still debating whether to press charges. I see no other way to interpret this tragic event than gross negligence by the parents. What a shame. . .

Filed under culture : Comments (2) : Mar 27th, 2008

Gay Scientists Isolate Christian Gene

Consider : why is this treated as farce, but it’s news when it’s the other way around?

Filed under culture : Comments (3) : Mar 27th, 2008

Torture doesn’t work

Not only does torture run counter to national law, international law, and our internal moral compass, it also doesn’t work. But don’t take my word for it, here’s a former FBI interrogator on the subject:

Filed under politics, war : Comments (0) : Mar 26th, 2008

A N I M O T O is A M A Z I N G

In the last 24 hours, I’ve fallen in love with animoto. So much so, I’ve actually paid to get the unlimited service (you can make 30 second videos for free, or spend $30 and get unlimited videos for a year).

What a refreshing take on the boring old photo slide show. This blows the favored Ken Burns effect right out of the water. I’ll never make my friends/family sit through a boring iPhoto slide show again!

Here’s another one I put together.

Now what we need is Yahoo! to swoop in, purchase animoto, and roll it into their Flickr offering. (I would be shocked if Google & Yahoo aren’t already in talks to purchase this little upstart!)

Filed under sites i like, technology : Comments (4) : Mar 21st, 2008

A N I M O T O

I was referred to a very cool new Web2.0 service today : animoto.

You input some photos (upload or transfer from Flickr, Facebook, etc.); input some music (upload or choose from their library) and it outputs a flash video. It’s very quick, very painless, and very flashy. Check out my first attempt below.

Filed under technology : Comments (3) : Mar 20th, 2008

Prostitution

Elliot Spitzer brought extremely public shame on himself and his family by admitting his involvement with a high-class prostitution ring in New York. He’s voluntarily left the gubernatorial office (under threat of impeachment) and has likely given up a future in public politics. The popular news outlets have had a field day covering the story, but I have yet to hear someone ask the obvious question : why is prostitution still illegal?

Before you call me dirty names let me clear the air : I am personally opposed to the practice of prostitution. Having just traveled to Amsterdam (with very public brothels) I can categorically say that I am opposed and somewhat grossed out by the whole idea. That said, I don’t see why my personal opinions on the matter should trump the personal opinions of others, including those who may be in favor of the arrangement.

At its base, prostitution is a voluntary exchange of money for services between two adults. Where it’s legal (including Amsterdam and parts of Nevada) it’s regulated, safe, and clean. Again, I’m not eager to partake myself, but it’s really none of my business.

By contrast, where prostitution is illegal (including most of the U.S.) it is practiced in the shadows, alleyways, and dark hotels. It’s not safe or clean, STDs abound, and working women are frequently abused by a pimp, a john, or both.

In my mind, the measure of a strong democratic society is the ability to uphold our highest principles even in the face of apparent wrong. In this case, the freedom of association and free enterprise has been trumped by some arbitrary moral code. Sadly, this is but one example of such a case (our war(s) on homosexuality and drugs come to mind). I hope that some day we can correctly identify the costs and benefits of legalized vice and make it safer world for all.

Filed under culture, politics : Comments (0) : Mar 14th, 2008

Judge Johnson

My dad is a really cool guy. Today he was interviewed on Minnesota Public Radio regarding the state budget mess. Click below to listen (there’s a 4 second pause at the beginning).

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Filed under politics : Comments (1) : Mar 13th, 2008

Server outage

Hi friends. I had a server outage recently that interrupted all web services. Apologies to everyone who was greeted by unfriendly outage pages.

As a little backstory, I use a hosting service called Nearly Free Speech. Their billing system is great–you only pay for what you use–but evidently their disaster recovery plan is a little slow to execute.

If you’re running a blog or another website I’d encourage you to take a look at NearlyFreeSpeech.net and their services. Other than this last outage, I’ve been very happy.

Filed under technology : Comments (0) : Mar 10th, 2008