The International House of Bacon

* I have lots of reasons to like Mike Lowell, but this doesn’t hurt, either. A class act through and through, he’s the type of guy you want to root for. I’m so excited for this season.

* My conspiracy theory as to why Obama’s largely masking his platform with inspirational quotes that belong on pictures of kittens? the fact that he’s probably the most liberal candidate to come this close to the Presidency in my lifetime. That doesn’t jive with the center.

* I’m glad that the New York Times was able to take some time out of their busy schedule to go after Obama’s economic hypocrisy. Oh, wait, they didn’t - they were too busy implying McCain’s having an affair with a staffer/lobbyist. Bang-up job there, Grey Lady. Great sourcing, too, really.

* Two movie notes:

a) Not a huge fan of Where the Wild Things Are. I skipped the picture book phase of my learning to read portion of the program, and so I never got to read it when it might have made any sort of lasting impression. With that said, I wasn’t at all interested in the Spike Jonze film interpretation until I read how poorly it’s testing. It seems like he’s either missing the boat and making an adult film, or (my broader suspicion) Warner Bros. forgot that the book isn’t 100% for kids anyway, and there’s no way not to make a book that ends with the monsters yelling “Oh please don’t go–we’ll eat you up–we love you so!” This could end up being absolutely phenominal.

b) A World War Z movie? While I always harbored a desire to film this myself someday, I’m pretty excited by the prospect.

* Via Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist, someone’s gonna be getting fired over this one.

* If I only had about $5m in expendable cash….

* Required reading alert: The Impossible Dream of Energy Independence at Reason.

* An interesting story making the rounds is that Lawrence Lessig, lawyer and copyleft pioneer, is considering a run for Congress. I’m not really a big proponent of copyleft/Free Software Foundation positions, and I think that having a person with those points of view in power could seriously undermine our ability to keep innovative technologies and ideas in the United States. With that said, it would be a very interesting campaign, as Lessig could quite possibly become the first true internet candidate in the sense that he’s well-known around tech circles and the types of philosophies he pushes garner quite a bit of enthusiasm. Then again, he could be the next Ron Paul.

* Gov. Lynch makes his case against re-election in November. God, if I didn’t know of Deval Patrick, I’d say that New Hampshire has one of the dumber governors in the nation.

* What does it say about me that I’m seriously considering this for myself?

* This is an interesting wrinkle: If the Supreme Court somehow rules against individual gun rights this spring, it’ll break a compact with Montana. That’s crazy stuff.

* I agree with this.

* Mark Cuban is awesome.

‘Tis all for now.

Good times. I have a ton of stuff piled up - I wish I could say I was busy this weekend, but I won’t lie - I spent most of it playing Blue Dragon. If you’re reading on the LJ side, I’m getting intermittent comment notifications, so if I haven’t replied to your comments from earlier, it’s because I only saw them about 20 minutes ago.

* The closest thing to zombies of late. Personally, I’d consider myself blessed in a few ways.

* The rumored number two porn collection in the world doesn’t actually exist. One less reason to visit Cambridge University, I suppose.

* Reason covers the Hugo Chavez disaster. To me, the Chavez situation continues to be one of the great disasters of the world currently - not nearly as bad as the situations in Africa and the Middle East, but a horrible situation that should really get more honest coverage.

* Attention, Democratic voters who subscribe to the “the world hates us because Bush’s diplomacy sucks” meme: claiming that a world leader lacks a soul isn’t going to repair that. And I don’t especially care if she’s right (because I’m inclined to believe she is) - that’s not how you deal with it.

* A fun link for video game fans, especially those with any fond memories of the Ultima series: The Many Deaths of Lord British.

* Larry Kudlow reminds us that if a recession really is coming, it ain’t there yet. Expect the media to continue to push the issue regardless, however - they haven’t been honest about the economy in years, so why start now?

* A great story about the guy who moved into a homeless shelter with $25, and came out a year later with an apartment and $5000 in cash.

* Cato demonstrates the reality surrounding part of Hillary Clinton’s health care plan. Oops!

* England floats a smoking permit. The mind reels.

* I hate the Dolphins because I’m a Patriots fan, but I’ve always liked Zach Thomas. He’s set to meet with the Pats this week, and the thought of it excites me to see him in a New England uniform.

* Sometime last year, you’ll remember a video circulating from 1994 about Dick Cheney’s position about war in Iraq. Namely, that he was against it for reasons many believe actually occurred during the last few years. Of course, it’ll be interesting to see people spin the video of Bill “I was always against the Administration’s war” Clinton making the case Bush should have made. Video here. If we did it right the first time, or if Clinton actually acted as he should have in 1998, it’d be very interesting to see where we’d be today, 10 years later.

* A great spring training prank by the Phillies.

Dunno if I’ll get another post out today, but who knows.

Things apparently got away from me this week.

* I’m a week late on this, but an interesting piece in The Washington Post about how exorcisms are making a comeback.Not shocking, this sort of thing regained prominence under John Paul II. Someday, I’ll have to go into detail as to why I’m not a big JPII fan.

* A “so sad, it’s funny” story: Chairman Mao offered Henry Kissinger 10 million Chinese women in 1973. Perhaps more shocking is that Kissinger didn’t take the offer privately…

* When I first saw this video, it had around 400 views. We’re now past the 300k mark (I told you things got away from me), and it’s a great video. Next time you wonder why I generally don’t trust the police, show them this lunacy:

The kicker is at the end, where he becomes concerned of it getting on the internet. The good news is that he’s been suspended pending investigation, but I expect him to be fully exonerated, because that’s what happens.

* Move that Doomsday Clock minute hand: we may have our first LOLcat marriage proposal.

* A funny e-mail to Jonah Goldberg: Is Barack Obama Angel’s Jasmine? If you don’t get the reference, rent the last few seasons of Angel and get back to me. If you’ve forgotten, Jasmine was the goddess played by Gina Torres, who essentially mesmerized everyone with her demoness wiles. For the record, very uncanny.

* Check out this post at Reason regarding SpeechNow and their attempts to organize as a 527, and then tell me with a straight face that our campaign rules make sense. I dare you.

‘Tis all for now.

1) Essentially, since Thanksgiving, I’ve been mired in a Team Fortress 2 addiction like none other. Not counting the time I’ve spent playing Portal or Half Life 2, I’ve probably spent between 80-85 hours playing TF2. The last time I hit a wall quite like this, it was Quake II and I was still in high school. I really do love the game, but my addiction is finally breaking…

2) …just to be replaced with Blue Dragon. I got into it a bit, then picked up TF2, and never looked back. Diving back in makes me realize how much I’d been itching for a good traditional RPG. The one annoyance is save points - I used to be in the camp that save points were nice quirks for games, but when it’s 11:45 at night and you just wanna go to bed, finding a save point in the middle of a flying fortress is terrible. Beyond that, though, the only other fault with Blue Dragon is that I’m not finding it to be incredibly challenging. I may be a wee bit overpowering due to some leveling I did lost in one cavern, but, I mean, whatever happened to Atma Weapon-type bosses that could still kick ass and take names if you weren’t strategic with your choices regardless of your strength?

3) I tried Heavenly Sword at Target a few weeks ago. Frankly, the one thing that might have convinced me to get a PS3 was hugely disappointing (mmm, hack and slash), and I’m glad I don’t have to think about it anymore.

4) Lost Odyssey comes out today. Right now, I’m telling myself to finish Blue Dragon and Eternal Sonata, minimum, before diving into a new RPG. Because at some point, I’ll need to play Enchanted Arms and Dead Rising, too.

5) Of course, all of this means poor Super Mario Galaxy is being tossed aside for my gaming time. Which is sad - I like the game a lot! There’s something super-annoying about the fact that the game e-mails me, though. Grr.

That’s all for now, I think. I could go on, but my head hurts.

* Depending on who you talk to, the Boston Public Library DRM protest was either a complete flop or an interesting diversion. I’m still of the position that the old way of protesting (marching, waving signs, etc) is dead in a nation with a 24 hour news cycle and an up-to-the-moment blogosphere, but this was destined to fail to begin with. After all, do most people who use a library know what DRM is anyway? And if they do know, do they really care? Probably not.

* Go figure, the New York Times of all publications prints an interesting look at the American Middle Class.

* If there’s any evidence that regulatory measures have gone completely haywire, here’s a story about a topic dear to my heart: the right of Los Angeles vendors to sell hot dogs wrapped in bacon.

* At Cinematical, a cool collection of photographs celebrating Alfred Hitchcock films. I love stuff like this. Also, a while back, they posted Disney animated recreations which are pretty cool.

A quick follow-up to the post from yesterday, it’s worth highlighting:

Scot Colford is the Applications Manager at the Boston Public Library. His position is essentially similar to mine - DRM is annoying, but it gets more materials to more people. He left a comment to direct people to The Boston Public Library’s digital blog, and it’s worth reading for the other side of the coin.

Preface: I do not consider myself an expert on all library systems, or even everything that’s out there and available for libraries to use. I’m speaking more from experience and knowledge than any sort of all-encompassing position, so keep that in mind.

Apparently, an anti-DRM protest against the Boston Public Library is scheduled for this weekend. DRM, for those who aren’t aware, is shorthand for Digital Rights Management, which is the system most major companies use to restrict content access of digital media. It’s what keeps you from installing the same disc of Windows on two computers, what keeps you from playing songs from iTunes on a SanDisk, etc. I’m not a huge fan of DRM, but the simple reality is that many companies are, and thus we’re stuck with it for the time being.

The protest we’re seeing is one mostly out of ignorance, unfortunately. Should DRM-enabled material be used at a library? Maybe that’s your position, but consider this - it’s ultimately not your library’s decision:

* If your library lends DVDs, the copy-protection scheme is not optional. Studios install those.

* If your library allows for downloadable audiobooks (probably through the Overdrive system), the DRM there is solely so the major publishers can get on board without having to worry that their audiobooks will be posted up all over the internet.

* If your library has music CDs or books on CD, any DRM you encounter is, again, at the behest of those producing the media, not those lending it.

If you’re going after your public library for having DRM-enabled materials, you’re essentially telling the library that you want them to be on the cutting edge of technology for materials, but you don’t want them to allow you to access it. The reason your library has downloadable audiobooks and DVDs is because people want them, period. Get rid of the DRM-enabled materials, and you’re essentially getting rid of a lot of the materials that the library is offering.

A better protest would be to start harassing the publishers about it - those groups are the ones that are looking for DRM on their audiobooks. Harass the movie studios - they’re the ones that insist that DVDs remain encypted. Harrass OverDrive - they have the oomph to get them on board, and they’re making the decision to offer DRM to get more materials in your hands. Don’t protest the library - they’re offering you a newer service that may be imperfect, but is better than not having it at all at this stage.

Again, this may not apply at every library, but think before you act.

A year ago today, my wife and I signed the paperwork for our condo in New Hampshire, and made fleeing from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts official. On the same day was the silly Mooninite scandal, where the Adult Swim marketing scheme wreaked havoc over an amused populace.

A year later, I still regret nothing.

* From Shawn, quite possibly the best video ever. The Onion does it again.

* California’s version of government health care was soundly rejected this week. Good for them.

* Australia’s left does what even our right couldn’t accomplish, cutting taxes AND spending at the same time. Why can’t we be this smart?

* The big news of the morning? No, not that Rudy lost big and that he’s likely to endorse McCain (more on that later), but that John Edwards has dropped out. Good riddance, and this probably locks up the nomination for Obama.

* Gaming geeks: Check out the new proposed Team Fortress 2 achievements. Via Something Awful’s photoshop contests.