blivet 2.0

Our big beautiful Bruce has been missing since Sunday. He is declawed (he came that way from the shelter) and very docile and trusting. He must have slipped out of the back door. I fear I will not see him again, despite his ID chip.

It hasn’t really sunk in with Ian yet, largely because Bruce is fairly reclusive. His idea of being social is sitting on the other end of the couch while ignoring you. Sigh.

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• A Terrible and Silent Crisis: The Destruction of the American Working Class: How to Save the World
  Dave Pollard reviews Joe Bageant’s Deer Hunting With Jesus which explains through personal stories his brutal assessment of just how strong the class system in the US really is, why the classes are and always have been at war, and why that plays perfectly into the hands of the right-wing political and economic interests there. [via Mark at wood s lot]
  (tags: via:mark sociology politics middle+class bush)

A very happy birthday to Mark, who does wood s lot. Still sáns apostrophe.

• » Cookie Security in WordPress 2.5 boren.nu
  “WordPress 2.5 introduced a user-definable constant called SECRET_KEY. If you upgraded from a previous version of WordPress you probably won’t have these lines in your wp-config.php.”

  It’s worth a shot!

  (tags: security wordpress webdev)
• SciTechBlog: Blog Archive - The Brightest Spots on Earth « - Blogs from CNN.com
  “NASA awards the dubious distinction of the Brightest Spot on Earth to the Las Vegas Strip.” If it’s a dubious distinction, we’re all about it. You can see the Strip > 120 mi away.
  (tags: light+pollution NASA las+vegas)
• Down for everyone or just me?
  go ahead and find out
  (tags: via:doug internet tools monitoring utilities)

• Life-changing books: Recommendations from 17 leading scientists - opinion - 10 April 2008 - New Scientist
  [via Garret at dangerousmeta!]
  (tags: books science reading via:garret)

I’m getting “406 Forbidden” errors which I think are being caused by an (earlier today) upgrade to Bad Behavior 2.0.15. I’m not certain, but I think so.

[2 minutes later:] Yep, backing off to v. 2.0.14 allows me to publish and edit posts again. I’ll wait for v. 2.0.16.

The original location for Frank and Fina’s Cocina will close on April 26, 2008.

OK, you rock rats, I’m relying on google to spread this. Well, that and Climbing Magazine, too.

Perhaps the finest locally-owned, non-franchise Mexican/Yucatan restaurant in Las Vegas, NV will be closing on April 26, 2008. Forever!

If you have the chance, stop by and say “hi” to Frank, and tell him I said so. You know he will appreciate it. And tell him to say ‘hi’ to Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, as well. /Jake!! Are you hearing this!?!?!?!/

Sniff!

This is the end of an era.

I love Joe Bageant…

Rage Fatigue, Plastic Dirt and Happy Hour in America
The Audacity of Depression
Joe Bageant

I am not kidding when I say rage fatigue victims have fallen into an ongoing mid-level depression. (Looks to me like the whole country has, but then I’m no mental health expert.) The less depressed victims can be found lurking near the edges of the Obama cult, consoling themselves that a soothing and/or charismatic orator is better than nothing. Obama may yet be borne through the White House portico by a Democratic host of seraphim, but he cannot do much without the consent of a bought and paid for Congress. Only George Bush can do that, and we can only hope God broke the mold after he made George. And like whoever else wins the presidency, Obama can never acknowledge any significant truth, such as that the nation is waaaaay beyond being just broke, and is even a net debtor nation to Mexico, or that the greatest touch-me-not in the U.S. political flower garden, the “American lifestyle,” is toast. But then, we really do not expect political truth, but rather entertainment in a system where, as Frank Zappa said, politics is merely “the entertainment branch of industry.”… (more) [via mark woods]

• Obama supporters, feminists, young voters, Hillary Clinton | Salon Life
  “Hey, Obama boys: Back off already! Young women are growing increasingly frustrated with the fanatical support of Barack and gleeful bashing of Hillary.” Some men as well. Me, for instance.
  (tags: clinton obama 2008+election femminism racism)
• Dick Cheney was never a “grown up” | Salon Books
  A hard look at how one man changed the face of neoconservatism. By Sidney Blumenthal
  (tags: cheney bush neoconservatism Blumenthal)
• Django | The Web framework for perfectionists with deadlines
  “Django is a high-level Python Web framework that encourages rapid development and clean, pragmatic design.” [via Doug]
  (tags: programming python reference django tools webdev development code opensource scripting via:doug)