Julian Bond on Gay Rights

Julian Bond, board member of the NAACP and political commentator, gave an impassioned argument in favor of full gay rights. The speech is right on the money and well worth your viewing time. Enjoy!

SoMa (Including Several Favorite Spots) Changing (For the Worse)

Let's get rid of what makes San Francisco cool and add some more bullshit! The new SF motto. Read more about it here.

Your Unfaithful Servant

courtesy of Stacy

Joaquin Phoenix Performance Art on Letterman

This has to be an act, but it is a good one:



Your Unfaithful Servant

Bode Miller Unlikely to Go to 2010 Games

My favorite winter sports star and all-around loose cannon, Bode Miller, is telling reporters that he is unlikely to participate in the 2010 games. From the sound of it it is driven mainly by his desire to avoid the bureaucracy and bullshit of U.S. skiing officials. Sad. His one-of-a-kind unorthodox style is a lot of fun to watch.

Unfaithfully Yours

Plans to Ruin Bay to Breakers

Judging by the content of this article it appears that the city is planning to remove everything fun about the event. First Castro Halloween and now Bay to Breakers. I moved up here too late. :-(

Your Unfaithful Servant

Roberto Alomar Has AIDS?

A lawsuit by a former girlfriend alleges that Roberto Alomar is suffering from full blown AIDS and refused testing or treatment for some 4 years while she was dating and living with him. Sad news if true about one of the great second basemen of my lifetime. Read about it here.

Your Unfaithful Servant

3D Neurons

Ever wonder how we get so easily identify three-dimensionality in two-dimensional images? Well researchers have found neurons that respond specifically to geometrical and edge combinations associated with three-dimensionality. The article does a better job than I can so read it here.

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Down with Reply-to-all!

Foolish decision from a silly company. Read about how they hope to save something or other by removing the 'reply-to-all' option from Outlook.

Unfaithfully Yours

Glorious 'Inglourious Bastards' Teaser

Brad Pitt with a bad accent? Check. Promises of violence? Check. Me there opening night? Check.



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I Didn't Know BART Trains Could Collide

But apparently they can.

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Kid Tripping After a Dentist's Office Visit

This resembles what a 10-year-old on an acid trip might look like. Pretty amusing. Check it out:



Unfaithfully Yours

Elephant Pharmacy Closed

Sadly, Elephant Pharmacy is yet another casualty in the economic downturn.

Sad news. I enjoyed the store.

Your Unfaithful Servant

Google Earth Has Applications I Had Never Considered

Swiss cops have found a pot farm using Google Earth. Read more here.

Unfaithfully Yours

Saddlebacking -- Spread the Word!

Just doing my part to popularize a new term for a sex act that the young, misguided Christians the country over practice: saddlebacking.

Thanks, Dan Savage for starting something well-earned by Orange County, CA's Saddleback Church and its pastor, Rick Warren.

Unfaithfully Yours

Some Cool New Songs for Download -- Free

Courtesy of Monica comes a list of 10 cool new tracks that can be downloaded for free (of questionable legality of course).

The one that interested me most was Neko Case. Not as strong as any track on 'Fox Confessor', but it is still her and her wonderful voice. The verse is actually stronger than the chorus.

Your Unfaithful Servant

Gaiman and McKean win Newbery for 'The Graveyard Book'

AVClub covers it here. Neil Gaiman seems like an unusually nice guy and his fantasy storytelling is top notch, especially when he is succinct as in Sandman and children's literature.

Congrats, guys.

Your Unfaithful Servant

Kim Manners, X-Files Director, Dead

It seems like the week for lung cancer deaths, but word is that Kim Manners, director of many X-Files episodes, has died. Read more about his career here.

Unfaithfully Yours

Durex Loves Balloon Animals as Much as I Do

Courtesy of David

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John Updike Has Passed

An American author who somehow seemed like he had always been with us and would always be has passed. John Updike died at the age of 76 from lung cancer. Read more about his career and achievements here.

Unfaithfully Yours

Penile Fracture -- It's Real

Despite having no bones in the penis, it indeed can break. I am sure David can recall an old friend of his from Claremont who managed to break her boyfriend. But if you are curious about the syndrome, please read this interview from SciAm.

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You're Never Too Young

"My mom TOTALLY stresses me out."

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Veronica Mars Film in the Works

Read about it here.

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Forrest Gump Meets Benjamin Button

As all of us who have seen 'Benjamin Button' have remarked that it is eerily similar to a film we have all seen before: 'Forrest Gump'. Funny or Die has put together a trailer that punches up the similarities for all to see.

Fleet Foxes on SNL

A public service to all you Fleet Foxes fans (I don't happen to be one):



Unfaithfully Yours

Love (for Obama) Hindi Style!

Courtesy of Moniji!



Your Unfaithful Servant

Polar Bear and Grizzly Bear Hybrid

Always late to the party, David and I discovered this morning that a polar bear-grizzly bear hybrid was shot and killed back in early 2007. This mating had never been confirmed in the wild prior to this discovery. DNA analysis revealed that the bear's mother was a polar bear and the father a grizzly.

The Idaho man who shot the bear was on a 2 week polar bear hunting excursion when he came upon what he believed to be a polar bear. Then doing what hunters love doing most he shot it.

The bear visited the taxidermist and now resides in the hunter's home. You can see pictures of this interesting hybrid and read an interview with the hunter here.

More on Indie 103's Demise

From Rolling Stone.

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Watchmen -- Go!

Word is that Fox and Warner Brothers have reached a settlement that will allow Watchmen to be released on schedule. Fox agrees to relinquish all distribution rights for the film in exchange for a lump sum payment and share of the box office grosses. Phew! Read more here.

Unfaithfully Yours

New Animal Collective Streaming Now

The new Animal Collective LP 'Merriweather Post Pavillion' is streaming over at Rhapsody. Check it out or if you prefer to have it on your iPod, check your favorite download location since the album leaked awhile ago.

Your Unfaithful Servant

Indie 103 Terrestrial No Longer

One of the coolest major market terrestrial radio stations, Indie 103 in Los Angeles, was forced to go off the air today because they refused to play the corporate game that stations like KROQ are only too eager to play. They will still be available as a web radio station, however. RIP. Read the details here.

Unfaithfully Yours

Bollywood Video Complete with English "Translation"

My buddy Arash sent this my way and I found it amusing. Check it out:



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New Beirut Video: 'La Llorona'

From his Oaxacan EP:



Enjoy!

Your Unfaithful Servant

Terminator: Salvation

Am I crazy for being kinda excited about this film? I think I have enjoyed every recent Bale flick and somehow I hope he can deliver here. Looks like Arnold will be making a cameo.

Although an awful actor, he is an even worse governor, so I welcome his return to acting in any capacity.

Unfaithfully Yours

'Slumdog' Too Gritty and Dramatic for Indian Audiences

Read more here. This article makes the same argument about Indian filmgoers that my buddy Dave was making the other day. He has been working in Mumbai since September and contends that the industry has no interest in making gritty or even fully realized dramas. Some half-assed ripoff of an American film is about as close as they are willing to go. I guess diversionary cinema is the name of the game there.

Your Unfaithful Servant

Porta-Potties Ablaze!

Apparently, a serial arsonist is going around the Russian Hill area in San Francisco and almost nightly setting fire to porta-potties. He has struck again, read more.

Such a weird thing, but in the grand scheme of things pretty harmless as vandalism goes. No injuries have ever been reported.

Your Unfaithful Servant

Mountaineers Have Strikingly Low Blood Oxygen Levels

Researchers from University College London have found that Mountaineers near Mt. Everest have blood oxygen level 1/4 lower than normally find at sea level. The exception are people in cardiac arrest who show low oxygen levels. The acclimatization capabilities of humans are quite amazing.

This reminds me of Julie's research on squid which occupy a hypoxic zone in the oceans where very little can live. The proposal that Julie's research group puts forth is perhaps an evolution in their hemoglobin allows them to function with much less oxygen.

Such a suggestion for adaptation in humans doesn't seem to fit as human adaptation is more rapid than evolution would allow. The mountaineers' bodies are somehow otherwise adjusting to the low oxygen levels. The SciAm article proposes a couple of possibilities.

Your Unfaithful Servant

The Aroma of Love

Two articles covering the role of hormones in social interaction and recognition.

Love can actually reduce a woman's ability to recognize non-mates by scent alone. Even losing their ability to distinguish gender based on body odor.

Interesting Stuff.

(Yes I am having a rough day at work. Being back is really tough.)

Your Unfaithful Servant

Chicken or Egg? Black Holes Appear to Generate Galaxies

Physics has long debated whether galaxies formed around black holes or if they arose together. The evidence is stacking up that galaxies form around black holes.

Just a little something for you into popular physics.

Unfaithfully Yours

A Short History of Bon Iver

Although not a big fan myself, Bon Iver's "For Emma, Forever Ago" is on a lot of people's best-of-2008 lists. I know some readers of this blog who also enjoy it, so for you I present an engaging bio on the man who is Bon Iver.

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Muni Citations on the Rise

Enter through the backdoor at your own risk.

Unfaithfully Yours

Stacey's Books Closing....

Sad news indeed: Stacey's Books the very-close-to-my-work-not-incredibly-well-stocked bookstore that has been in Downtown San Francisco for 85 years will be closing in March. Read more here.

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Maybe the Pope is Onto Something... ;-)

According to "Pope science" all the hormones that women excrete from using the birth control pill are causing male infertility in western countries. Science has a different take. Read here.

Hope the new year is treating you well. It is really hard being back at work.

Unfaithfully Yours

Happy New Year!

Hey Everyone!

Thanks for reading this little blog of mine in 2008. Sorry I took a break at the end of the year, but I was a bit burned out apparently and I honestly wasn't reading much in the way of interesting stories.

This year I hope to increase the output and also personalize the blog a bit more. Hope you enjoy it!

I look forward to you guys checking it out and leaving comments.

Looking forward to an interesting 2009.

Your Unfaithful Servant