haran.org

woodhands

noreply@blogger.com (horn) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 07:04:00 +0000

I almost didn't post this,* but I figured I owed at least one post on this largely defunct blog to Paul's (and Dan's) band, woodhands.

Coming off lil' tour in Beijing, next on the agenda for the duo is some sort of video/promo collabo with the Steamwhistle Brewery.

Paul has managed to combine his love of beer and music quite effectively. It's time for me to step up the hip-hop/marine biology game. Not like this though.

*I had a Dicken's of a time embedding this due to the buggy flash player being used on ExclaimTV. Plus I'm pretty sure I could've just emailed the three people who subscribe to my feed.

Eating Healthier

noreply@blogger.com (horn) — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:40:00 +0000

I'm a sucker for puns.

Produced by Free Range Studios for The Organic Trade Association, 2005

meh

noreply@blogger.com (horn) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 02:50:00 +0000

wow, kinda forgot I had this...trying to find that motivation again.
fin.

Timelier

noreply@blogger.com (horn) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 07:04:00 +0000

I'm going to forget on November 9th, so here is an early Deepavali video.

My brain hurts

noreply@blogger.com (horn) — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 21:27:00 +0000

The zany (née: f'd up) antics of the current administration can't get any crazier...I hope. But a 1994 interview with Dick Cheney on invading Iraq really puts things into perspective. Or not. I can't tell any more.

Iggy's Apology

noreply@blogger.com (horn) — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 14:21:00 +0000

Just read this past weekend's NYT Magazine and what do I see? Iggy's mea culpa, "Getting Iraq Wrong"; or "my bad," as we say around the playground. I read it, then read it again, and I didn't know quite what to feel. It felt like an non-apology in the way only Iggy can do, but I wasn't willing to go through it again like I did for "If Torture Works..." (and "Lesser Evils").

Fortunately, Ram linked to David Rees' piece (ahem...),Cormac Ignatieff's "The Road", that did the heavy lifting for me (bless you internets). (note: you shouldn't read this "cyber-essay" until you actually read Iggy's first).

I just loved this part:

In conclusion, this part of Ignatieff's essay should have been called "All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten-- But It Didn't Actually Sink in Until Thousands and Thousands of Iraqis Went to Heaven."

And this:

"We might test judgment by asking, on the issue of Iraq, who best anticipated how events turned out. But many of those who correctly anticipated catastrophe did so not by exercising judgment but by indulging in ideology. They opposed the invasion because they believed the president was only after the oil or because they believed America is always and in every situation wrong."
[...] You anti-war people have got to admit, Ignatieff has you nailed. You dumb-asses who were right about everything for the wrong reasons, instead of wrong about everything for the right reasons. You lose.

How to Create an Angry American

noreply@blogger.com (horn) — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 19:01:00 +0000

- Information Clearing House via Liberal Catnip

No End in Sight

noreply@blogger.com (horn) — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 21:01:00 +0000

No End in Sight, opens July 27th - via Ram

By the Bushel

noreply@blogger.com (horn) — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 20:43:00 +0000

The producer of Sicko on (recently thinned) Mike Huckabee taking shots at Michael Moore (via Time):

Just because he stopped eating Twinkies by the bushel doesn't make that an outline for a national health care plan."

Have a good life

noreply@blogger.com (horn) — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 02:15:00 +0000

You'll all go out and get good jobs. But you'll make your living by what you do in those jobs. You'll make your life by what you give. Have a good life.

Conclusion of commencement 2007 remarks by Dean Kamen at Bates College

Barnyard Ruckus

noreply@blogger.com (horn) — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 03:11:00 +0000

You know you've reached the end of the procrastination cycle when you start blogging again.

This clip is so great for so many reasons. Having a few rabbits in my day, the interaction in the background at around the ~20 sec mark is my favourite. That bunny was so angry but the chicken knew what's what.

This post had almost zero original content to it. I can't even take credit for the title; it's from the video's tags. Anyway, I've watched this clip about 20 times already and it's going to be retired to the rafters with the boxing kitten takedown and the grape stomper.

Law Games 2007

noreply@blogger.com (horn) — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 18:19:00 +0000

Finally recovered and I'm off to NYC this weekend. I'll prolly start taking pictures again.

Oh yeah, 5-peat in hockey. It's a dynasty. Happy New Years!

Switching

noreply@blogger.com (horn) — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 01:19:00 +0000

Let's see if this works with out a hitch...

update: nope. oh well, i'll try again later
update2: hmmm...seems to work. i'll be reorganizing and breaking things while I study.

Barney

noreply@blogger.com (horn) — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 07:25:00 +0000

That's gotta be intentional. The question is why?
Theories?

Phew

noreply@blogger.com (horn) — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 23:06:00 +0000

So Cherniak called it. I'm surprised Kennedy was able to do so well on the first and second ballots. Hopefully he'll take some extra French lessons so he can run in a decade. By switching after the second ballot I'm sure he'll be taking a senior position in the future Dion cabinet. It'll be interesting to see how it all turns out.

I wonder when Iggy's gonna go back to Boston?

Can't Study

noreply@blogger.com (horn) — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 22:51:00 +0000

Not until the results are in.

Parking

noreply@blogger.com (horn) — Sat, 02 Dec 2006 15:54:00 +0000

I back into the spot and leave enough space for 2 more cars...yet my roommate's friends insist on parking in the most awkward way possible. I'd love to know the thoughts going on in that decision-making process.

Finally...

noreply@blogger.com (horn) — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 15:40:00 +0000

I'm still not quite sure what happened during the roll-over to a new server, but thanks to the fine & quick work of the folks at JaguarPC, the site seems to be fixed now.

Rocket Science

noreply@blogger.com (horn) — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 15:29:00 +0000

NASA doesn't fly shuttle missions over December 31/January 1 because they're not sure what would happen [via kottke]:

"Under some weird circumstance ... if we have an 'Oh my god,' and we have to be up there, I am sure we would figure out a way to operate the vehicle safely," said Steve Oswald, a vice president for Boeing Co., the parent company of the builders and designers of NASA's shuttles. "It just wouldn't be flying in the normal certified mode that we are used to flying."

We can send a man to the moon but...

Firefox Problems

noreply@blogger.com (horn) — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 22:08:00 +0000

Earlier in the week Rich mentioned that the site wasn't appearing properly in Firefox. Up until yesterday, I had no idea what he was talking about.

Suddenly, FF2.0 is not loading my stylesheet; the site works as expected in Internet Explorer 7 and Opera 9.

Anyone else having this problem / have a solution? I'm tempted to file this as a bug, but I haven't seen it widely reported affecting other sites.

November Surprise

noreply@blogger.com (horn) — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 02:39:00 +0000

Well, there it is. No they didn't capture Bin Laden. But Saddam has been sentenced to death. Everyone to the e-voting machines and let's get this democracy underway.

update nov 6 @ 8pm: Talking Points Memo gives a bit more insight into the "November Surprise"

The full verdict, a document of several hundred pages, explaining how and why today’s judgment was reached was not released. U.S. officials said it should be ready by Thursday. So why issue the verdict today? U.S. court advisors told reporters today it was delayed mainly for technical reasons. All insist the verdict was not politically timed and that it was an Iraqi decision; there is no reason to doubt their word.

Nope, no reason at all.

Big Tings

noreply@blogger.com (horn) — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 16:15:00 +0000

Ram's in the spotlight over at BlogTO.

Boycott?

noreply@blogger.com (horn) — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 16:11:00 +0000

An internal ABC Radio Networks memo [...] indicates that nearly 100 ABC advertisers insist that their commercials be blacked out on Air America Radio affiliates. According to the memo, the advertisers insist that "NONE of their commercials air during AIR AMERICA programming."

Josh Silver over at the Huffington Post explains why this is a bad thing:

All or most of these firms advertise on politically conservative talk radio programs and/or stations. And the crime isn't even being "liberal." Some of these advertisers have moderate or liberal executives who donate to Democratic candidates and are far from rabid conservatives.

So what is the problem? While "liberal" Air America clearly favors big D Democrats, unlike virtually all other programming on commercial radio and television, it gives airtime to reports that are critical of corporations and the powerful politicians they keep in Washington.

This is the heart of the problem: Air America commits a crime called journalism. Almost none of the so-called conservative radio shows or networks do any semblance of actual reporting. They merely pontificate -- repeating talking points that seem to be emailed straight from Karl Rove's laptop.

Air America does its share of pontificating as well, and we leave it to others to compare its integrity to that of Limbaugh and Hannity. But we can say that Air America journalism occasionally focuses on corporate malfeasance. It examines closely the deeply corrupt relationship between corporate power and government officials.

This is the list of companies, transcribed by Specious Reasoning. The problem is, how do you even start to boycott when it involves the computer you use every day [Microsoft...okay fine, I can switch], the food you eat every day [Kraft Foods (all brands)], or everything else consumed in the world [GE]. I think it might be more productive to write these companies and express your dissatisfaction. I've highlighted the ones that could affect me:

Allstate
American Heart Association
-unknown-
Avon
Bank of America
Bayer (All Products)
BMW Motorcycles
Chattem – Gold Bond Foot Powder
Chattem - Capzasin-HP
Chattem - Phisoderm
Chattem - Selsun Salon Shampoo
Cigna
Cingular
Clorox
-unknown-
Coly
Dear’s Morningstar Foods
-unknown-
Denny’s
Discovery Channel
e-harmony.com
Epson
Expedia.com
Exxon Mobil
Farmers Insurance
FedEx
Foot Action
Frito-Lay
GE
Gillette Venus Razor
Good Year
Heinekin / Amstel Light
Hershey’s
Hewlett Packard
Home Depot
Hormel
Interstate Batteries
JC Penney
Johnson & Johnson
Kohl’s
Kraft Foods
Levi’s
Masterfood USA
McDonald’s
Merial – Frontline
MGM
Michelin
Microsoft
Morningstar
National Cattlemen's Beef
Nestle
Nissan
NYSE
Office Depot
Outdoor Life Network
P&G – Bounty
P&G – Charmin
P&G – Fabreeze
P&G – Ima’s Dog and Cat Food
P&G – Pepto Bismol
-unknown-
Pepsi
-unknown-
Pier 1 Imports
Red Lobster
ReMax
REX Sporting Goods
Rent-way
Robert Haft
Schering-Plough
Sherman Williams
Sony
State Farm
Toys R’ Us
Travelocity.com
True Value
United Healthcare
US Navy
USPS
Visa
Walgreens
Wal-mart
Welch’s
Wrigley
-unknown-

I realize the Canadian arms of these companies may not share the same values so it'll be interesting to see what their response will be, if any.

Kerry's Response to GOP Attacks

noreply@blogger.com (horn) — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 22:28:00 +0000

“If anyone thinks a veteran would criticize the more than 140,000 heroes serving in Iraq and not the president who got us stuck there, they're crazy. This is the classic G.O.P. playbook. I’m sick and tired of these despicable Republican attacks that always seem to come from those who never can be found to serve in war, but love to attack those who did.

I’m not going to be lectured by a stuffed suit White House mouthpiece standing behind a podium, or doughy Rush Limbaugh, who no doubt today will take a break from belittling Michael J. Fox’s Parkinson’s disease to start lying about me just as they have lied about Iraq. It disgusts me that these Republican hacks, who have never worn the uniform of our country lie and distort so blatantly and carelessly about those who have.

The people who owe our troops an apology are George W. Bush and Dick Cheney who misled America into war and have given us a Katrina foreign policy that has betrayed our ideals, killed and maimed our soldiers, and widened the terrorist threat instead of defeating it. These Republicans are afraid to debate veterans who live and breathe the concerns of our troops, not the empty slogans of an Administration that sent our brave troops to war without body armor.

Bottom line, these Republicans want to debate straw men because they’re afraid to debate real men. And this time it won’t work because we’re going to stay in their face with the truth and deny them even a sliver of light for their distortions. No Democrat will be bullied by an administration that has a cut and run policy in Afghanistan and a stand still and lose strategy in Iraq.”

- via funkaoshi

HDR

noreply@blogger.com (horn) — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 22:54:00 +0000

HDR: It's all the rage, and I do love a good bandwagon.

View of the New York skyline from Hoboken:

View #2: