Per aspera

Holy Jesus balls, why would I ever open a thread on Warren Ellis’ forum called “I Did Not Need To See That?”
Actually, I know why.  Anyway, no link for you, because if you have to find it yourself, you have only yourself to blame.

Go, vote!  I don’t care what state you live in, whether your vote counts or not, go cast it.
I went this morning, before work, in Quincy, Massachusetts.  The line was negligible, and I was in and out pretty quickly.
My brain still hasn’t fully absorbed that I may just have voted for the first black President […]

I think I’ve made it clear by this point that there’s a poster on the wall of the dorm room of my soul that replaces that iconic Che Guevara face with Larry Lessig’s.This presentation is about trust in government, particularly Congress, and how that trust is eroded when everyone knows that legislators are getting tons […]

(via)

In conclusion, fuck Joe Francis.
-Ezra Klein
To which I would only add:  in the neck, with a sharp stick.

That I dig the crap out of Tilda Swinton.
…Also, I think it’s possible that Jon Stewart is a genuinely good guy.

Robert Farley has made the case that the Air Force shouldn’t be its own branch of the military.  It should be folded back into the Army and Navy, with, according to my basic understanding of his argument, the Army taking over its tactical roles and the Navy taking over its strategic roles (especially w/r/t nukes).
The […]

Anil Dash, to whom I linked downblog, ruminates upon history:
A side note: The most amazing thing about the Ice Cube-as-sitcom-dad evolution we’ve discussed above is not that the Crazy Motherfucker Named Ice Cube is now Disney-ready, but rather that Snoop can get away with wearing these pimped-out 80s-style clothes! Indeed, Eazy E had called our […]

So I guess it’s Mardi Gras today, as well. Um, show me your tits?
Alternatively, tell me stories of voting today, if you live in one of the primary states (and I know I have peeps in Massachusetts, New York, and Illinois who might be reading this).
If you didn’t vote, and don’t want to go […]

I will blog tonight. And every night for the next week. But I won’t necessarily have anything useful to say. For instance, tonight, I just want you to read things that other people have to say. Start with this post on Feministe about a very good Bob Herbert column that has […]

Of the robots, by the robots, for the robots:
The Three Laws of Robotics, by Warren Ellis

This was maybe my favorite segment ever on Sesame Street when I were a lad, and now here it is via the magic of YouTube.

While we’re on the subject of compelling Sesame Street music from my youth, see also.

Attack of the Show has done a valuable bit of historical research:

Why none of their experts bothered to mention the Laugh-Out-Loud Cats, however, is mysterious to me.

John: Robot overlords. You are “pro-robot overlords”.
Tyrone: They bring world peace, universal health care –
John: At the cost of our freedoms!
Tyrone: MY POINT EXACTLY. We’re already giving up our freedoms — our right to privacy, gone. Warrantless arrest, gone. Right to have your vote counted is super-gone depending on the state you live in, right […]