to sleep, perchance to dream

sleepLittle FE-co the wonder dog, and Dr. Peyo need the story continued!

in other news…. LJ is taking a devil of a time to refresh across the databases…I can’t see my last 2 entries, yet.

Dorky Trivia of the day –

I compose 5.8824626865671641791044776119403 posts a day on average, given that I’ve held this LJ for 536 days, at 3152 entries total. With that, I bid thee good night.

Scotto am nosy.

In Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Virginia, Iowa, Kentucky, Nevada, New Mexico, and Wyoming, once you’ve been convicted of a felony, you’ve lost the right to vote — for life. Delaware was on that list up until June, when they restored voting rights to all felons (other than murderers, sex offenders and those convicted of felony bribery) five years after the completion of their sentences. Massachusetts voters, on the other hand, will soon be voting on a bill that would take away the voting right of convicted felons.

In all, forty-six states plus the District of Columbia restrict the voting rights of felons in some manner.

The actual logic of taking away these voting rights is elusive: Keeping a child molester away from children after his sentence is complete makes sense. Not allowing an embezzler to work in a bank is logical. Taking away a murderer’s voting rights… well, I’m not sure what a murderer is doing released from prison in the first place, but that’s neither here nor there.

And of course, this being the United States, we can’t escape the racial angle: This year, one out of every eight Black men of voting age — 1.4 million in all — will be unable to vote. In Florida and Alabama, the figure is closer to one-third. Jesse Jackson refers to disenfranchisement as “taxation without representation”, and says it goes against what the civil rights movement stood for.

Rock the Vote

the one I like?

BALLOT TITLE: Florida Transportation Initiative for statewide high speed monorail, fixed guideway or magnetic levitation system.

BALLOT SUMMARY: To reduce traffic and increase travel alternatives, this amendment provides for development of a high speed monorail, fixed guideway or magnetic levitation system linking Florida’s five largest urban areas and providing for access to existing air and ground transportation facilities and services by directing the state and/or state authorized private entity to implement the financing, acquisition of right-of-way, design, construction and operation of the system, with construction beginning by November 1, 2003.

evil newsies

Pussy Spy
It should have been the perfect spy. But the CIA’s attempt to use a surgically altered cat as a covert bugging device fell at the first hurdle – when it was run over by a taxi.

Nicknamed “Acoustic Kitty”, the audacious scheme was one of a number of bizarre projects dreamt up by military scientists in the latter days of the Cold War, according to documents newly released by the US National Security Archive. A domestic cat was wired up with control and transmission equipment designed to turn it into a mobile “eavesdropper” capable of listening in on conversations by using its tail as an antenna.

Two sides to the same story –

Are Green Party Members Now Terrorists?

Armed government agents grabbed Nancy Oden, Green Party USA coordinating committee member, Thursday at Bangor International Airport in Bangor Maine, as she attempted to board an American Airlines flight to Chicago.

“An official told me that my name had been flagged in the computer,” a shaken Oden said. “I was targeted because the Green Party USA opposes the bombing of innocent civilians in Afghanistan.”

Oden, a long-time organic farmer and peace activist in northern Maine, was ordered away from the plane. Military personnel with automatic weapons surrounded Oden and instructed all airlines to deny her passage on any flight.

Here is a different take on the same story. While counterpunch is good for finding stories, they tend to be no better than annanova when it comes to sticking to the facts… another reason not to trust everything you read, even in the news.

Models caked in chocolate ooze down catwalk

It’s slinky, it’s sexy, but above all, that side-laced miniskirt and barely-there bustier top being paraded on the catwalk are truly edible.

World-renowned French fashion designers indulged in their passion for chocolate this week, ditching their usual chiffons and silks in favour of mouthwatering ingredients in what has become a yearly celebration of the cocoa bean.

last but not least –

Daler Mehndi’s Homepage
Flash animations, Indian pop music AND brightly colored turbans? Oh, yes.

more of his videos are here

real video…. cracks me up. so fun!

gamine & eminence grise

gamine gam-EEN; GAM-een, noun:
1. A girl who wanders about the streets; an urchin.

2. A playfully mischievous girl or young woman.

Gamine comes from the French. A boy who wanders about the street is a gamin GAM-in.

eminence grise ay-mee-nahns GREEZ noun, also, gray eminence
plural eminences grises ay-mee-nahns GREEZ

One who wields unofficial power, often secretly, through someone else.

From French Ă©minence grise, literally gray eminence.

Clothes Make the Man. So goes an old saying. While we know it is what is inside that really counts, there is a grain of truth in the statement. And in many cases, it is the distinctive clothes that turn out to be defining marks of some. We all are familiar with redcoats (British soldiers) and blue stockings (women with intellectual interests). This term provides another example where clothes are used as a symbol for a particular type of people.

Francois Leclerc du Tremblay, aka PĂ©re Joseph (1577-1638) was a French monk and secretary of Cardinal Richelieu. However, the monk was more than just a secretary. He was the Cardinal’s confidant who governed the diplomatic negotiations on his behalf and encouraged French participation against Protestant forces in the Thirty Years’ War. The Cardinal wore a red habit and was known as Eminence Rouge. The monk, on the other hand, went with a gray shade, and accordingly, his title became synonymous with people exercising unofficial influence.

gamine & eminence grise

gamine gam-EEN; GAM-een, noun:
1. A girl who wanders about the streets; an urchin.

2. A playfully mischievous girl or young woman.

Gamine comes from the French. A boy who wanders about the street is a gamin GAM-in.

eminence grise ay-mee-nahns GREEZ noun, also, gray eminence
plural eminences grises ay-mee-nahns GREEZ

One who wields unofficial power, often secretly, through someone else.

From French Ă©minence grise, literally gray eminence.

Clothes Make the Man. So goes an old saying. While we know it is what is inside that really counts, there is a grain of truth in the statement. And in many cases, it is the distinctive clothes that turn out to be defining marks of some. We all are familiar with redcoats (British soldiers) and blue stockings (women with intellectual interests). This term provides another example where clothes are used as a symbol for a particular type of people.

Francois Leclerc du Tremblay, aka PĂ©re Joseph (1577-1638) was a French monk and secretary of Cardinal Richelieu. However, the monk was more than just a secretary. He was the Cardinal’s confidant who governed the diplomatic negotiations on his behalf and encouraged French participation against Protestant forces in the Thirty Years’ War. The Cardinal wore a red habit and was known as Eminence Rouge. The monk, on the other hand, went with a gray shade, and accordingly, his title became synonymous with people exercising unofficial influence.