The Flatland Chronicles

The Mean Kitty Song | "Hey, Little Sparta"

This is a work of sheer genius:

Be sure to check out the lyrics.   

The author, Mr. Safety, says:

If you have a cat, I'm sure you can relate, lol. I originally wrote the song because I didn't want to do a simple talking blog about my Sparta's little biting problem.... BTW, trying to get a cat to perform for a music video... nearly impossible!   Thanks for watching .

Mr. Safety rescued Sparta.

One more Species Says Good-bye: Watch It Happen

Many people don't realize that we are in the midst of a massive species die-off.  The loss of species diversity may ultimately be more of a threat to the eco-net than global warming.  In the meantime, we're losing so many of the animal  people who share the planet with us.  One reason I miss Steve Irwin so much was because of his optimism:  his conviction that you could change things on a large scale by working locally.

Heart-breaking, this is.  From Celsias ("Cooling the Planet One Project at a Time"). 

[W]e hear of the demise of various species often now, yet for most of us, it falls into a part of our mind relegated for things that are either not relevant to us, or to that area in our brain where we store thoughts we don’t know how to deal with, or that we decide are not our problem. There’s no heartbreak, no tears, no wave goodbye. We’re detached, separate, unfeeling.

Today the BBC ran an article on the Panamanian Golden Frog (technically it’s a toad, but let’s not split hairs). It’s an amazing piece of footage of the final wave goodbye (literally and figuratively) of a beautiful creature few ever came to know. Watch the clip.

The whole species is now extinct in Panama - this was one of the last remaining populations. Its final wave was in our programme. — BBC

Blogcombing: "Central Sanity"

EX-cellent. At the centrist political blog Central Sanity, one of my first political blogs, Bridget Magnus has posted a list of Headlines for the New Year.  Here's a taste:

Headline I least expect to see in 2008: Both parties realize election cycle too long; primary season designated as the April before a November election; campaigning prior to New Years Day prohibited.

Being sick to death of all the candidates---especially the ones I actually like---I can only nod and shed a tiny tear.   These gravely over-exposed people will deserve it when the whole country, in a massive revulsion over having seen and heard them too much for too long already, decides as one to write in someone no one expects, such as Unity spokesman Sam Waterston (hey, why not Sam Waterston? He's a better actor than Fred Thompson and plays a prosecutor who's tough but fair in Law and Order). 

Read more headlines.....

Random Link O' the Day: Bad Plastic Surgeries Part 2

< Get "Atia" by Damozel  | As long as we're on the subject, I found this site via Stumbleupon and I've never been able to get it out of my head.

Physical vanity is not a major fault of mine, but I admit that I recently looked into the cost of repairing extensive sun damage on my shoulders and around my neck.  The laser surgery would eliminate the blotchiness and even restore the collagen (be damned if I know how that words).  Anyway:  $800 a go, and I could maybe rise to that, but it would take five goes.  For $4000 my husband and I could do a lot of things we'd like to do.  It would buy a couple of  tickets to England  and---with the current exchange rates---maybe pay our expenses (for example).

Blogcombing "On a Limb with Claudia": Bad Plastic Surgeries

<Get "In re: Servilia" by Damozel |  Another of my favorite blogs (as you'll see from the list on the left...) published this submission to "Thursday 13" (world's most awesome meme) several weeks ago and I just CANNOT get it out of my head: Plastic Surgery shouldn’ts.   

"Ok, I’m a native California," the note begins.  "In fact, I’m a fourth generation native Californian. Which is to say that I have seen a lot of plastic surgery in my life. Hell, there’s a woman who claims to have raised me but I don’t recognize her… at all."  This is one of the most awesome openings of an Thursday 13 post ever.

Jon Swift: "When Steroids Are Banned, Only Cheaters Will Have Steroids"

<Get " Spring & Summer" by Damozel | Jon Swift is the favorite political blogger, bar none, of all of us at BN-Politics.  But this post is not exactly political, so I thought it would do nicely for the chronicles.  It's on baseball but is deeply infused with those sensible conservative principles which Jon Swift exemplifies.  It is also---incidentally---a caustic satire on the favorite argument of the gun lobby.  OK, so it is sort of political.  I wanted it for my personal pages.  Is that a crime? Is it?

Random Link O' the Day for 27 April 2007. Swiftian Literary Criticism ("I Have Not Actually Read this Book But...")

Though Mr. J. Swift  modestly concedes that his book reviews "have been quoted throughout the blogosphere"[links in original], I say you can't link to a good thing too often.   

Alas, Amazon didn't appreciate the unique merits of the Swiftian review style. 

Father/Daughter Dynamics: In Defense of My Hero, Alec Baldwin.

Can I just say, I adore Alec Baldwin?  Partly because I admire the way he thinks and speaks.  I didn't know this till quite recently, when I saw him on Real Time with Bill Maher.  I was bowled over.  (How Hot--I mean, "presidential"--- is Alec Baldwin?  Sorry; I mean:  Real Time with Bill Maher:  Episode 88. )

And then there's 30 Rock.  It's quickly become tied with The Office as my favorite show.  Baldwin is amazing as Jack Donaghy.  He is the reason why the show works. 

The Kathy Sierra Incident and the Standard of Discourse on the Internet. A Simple Solution.

The shit-storm over Kathy Sierra has got everyone up in arms, including me.  Reported in Salon by Lynn Harris, the story is in some ways a routine little tale of some little cur crossing a line that gets crossed so often on the internet that we've all reached the point where our first reaction is that victims such as Sierra should (to use Harris's term and Harris's link) "cowboy up."  I admit that this was my first reaction.  And that is exactly why I am so angry now.

In fact, the more I reflect on it, the angrier I get.  A prominent female blogger receives death threats, victimized----for no particular reason---by one or more of the little internet bullies who hide behind their anonymity for the purpose of inflicting humiliation and pain.   My anger isn't over the Sierra incident except as one example of the extent to which we've all allowed ourselves to become inured to and to treat as routine behavior that no civilized person should be expected to view as tolerable. 

What happened to Sierra is explained here here by Sierra herself and in more detail by Joan Walsh at Salon.     And apparently there is backlash on the "free speech" rights of others , as if the right to express one's political and religious views without fear of government reprisals gives blanket protection to the vicious slurs, threats, and libels of internet bullies operating behind the shield of their anonymity.  .

Of course, anyone who's spent any amount of time on the net encounters this sort of person at some point.  According to Andrew Keen of ZDnet, the techie universe is particularly rife with them (Really?). 

[quote begins from Zd.net, Andrew Keen, "Tim O'Reilly's Code of [Mis]conduct"]

[T]he problem is that the blogosphere has been colonized by a type of technophile male whose dialectic method is insult rather than polite argument. And this rotten culture of anonymity has spawned a contemporary Internet of social deviants, loonies, perverts and get-a-lifers (not to mention weird Second Lifers). The consequence is digital miasma — what Timothy Garton-Ash called the "cyberswamp...."

(quote ends; link is in the original)

Wednesday 21 March 2007 meme from "Iterations." 12 Centrist Blogs and Websites.

Here's the current meme principle at Iterations, a new meme site (consider joining the game!)  The principle for this week is the sort I like best--completely unstructured, so long as it creates 12 iterations on a common theme. 

I decided that for today I'd publish a list of 12 blogs and websites that support the political goal of trying to find unity and moderation in the discussion of politics and of thinking through the issues rather than reacting to them reflexively.  While no one can always achieve this, I think it's important that a number of people are trying to find the middle ground. 

MY ITERATION FOR ITERATIONS, ROUND 4 (ROUND 1 FOR ME):  12 BLOGS AND WEBSITES THAT SUPPORT A POLITICAL PRINCIPLE OF FINDING THE MIDDLE GROUND.  All blogs and sites listed here are currently active.  I've only just begun to explore the centrist blogosphere, but all of them look as if they have legs---big stomping legs and a mean backwards kick---and an interest in discussing issues rather than assuming positions.  Enjoy!

1. Midtopia.  "A Vision of How the World Would Be if the Moderate Middle Prevailed.
2. The Moderate Voice.  "Irreverent comments, analysis, original reporting and links on important stories in the news, written by a team of writers with varying centrist perspectives. Founded by editor and veteran journalist Joe Gandelman, a political independent and moderate who is also a professional ventriloquist."
3. Neomugwump.  "The rants, musings, and stray thoughts of an independent-minded Republican."
4. The New Donkey.  "The sharp edge of the vital center."
5. Donklephant.  "Big Teeth.  Huge Ass.  Surprisingly reasonable."
6. Central Sanity.  "Supporting the Rebellion of Reasonable People in an Unreasonable World."
7. Centrisity.  "Centricity---The State or Quality of Being Centric; Centricalness...Being Right, even Tho You Lean Left.
8. The Moderate Independent.  "Not Left, Not Right, Just Right."  Satire and more!
9. Centerfield.  "A Weblog of Centrist Voices in American Politics." A NUMBER OF CENTRIST BLOGGERS POST AT THIS SITE.  It's a great starting point and resource for those exploring the centrist way.
10. Moderate Voters.Org.  ""Moderate" is not a 4-letter word."  News and commentary.  Includes bonus page of  famous historical quotes in support of political moderation.
11. The Radical Middle Newsletter. "Thoughtful idealism, informed hope."
12. UNITY '08.  JOIN THE PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT TO TAKE OUR COUNTRY BACK.   (An online movement to bring people from both parties together to choose candidates who will focus on solving problems rather than on partisan politics).

To read other people's iterations, go to the Iterations website (link posted above).