I’d like to send out a big thanks to the asshat who left the giant thumbprint on my most recent Netflix DVD.
I hafta remember to whipe those things off before I try and play ‘em.
Monthly Archive for February, 2007
Jordan’s latest video:
good job jordan
I never reallythought about it before, but Apple has developed different versions of their “I’m a Mac…” TV ads for different countries. Makes sense. While the Japanese ones are completely unintelligible to me, the UK versions come with extra capers, monkeybusiness, and larking about.
- I think I have too much stuff, but it’s all stuff I want to keep.
- I need to do laundry.
- Bruce the pharmacist is leaving, which sucks, and I’m growing deeply unsatisfied yet again. Shall I ever be happy?
I guess that’s it for now. Busy weekend coming up.
Don’t miss this year’s John Frum parade celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the John Frum cargo cult.
Also check out this article & pictures from Smithsonian magazine.
Steve Schalchlin pointed out the 10 year anniversary of Youth Guardian Services, so I thought I’d post this article I wrote about their, well, heroic founder, Jason Hungerford.
(Lots of heroes on this blog lately)
I also wanted to post a VERY PROMINENT LINK TO THEIR DONATION PAGE so they can get some help for the very important work they do.
From Oasis Webzine October 10, 1997
Jason Hungerford, 20, of Manassas, VA
By Paul Pellerito
Oasis Staff Writer
The Internet has done a lot for 20-year old Jason Hungerford, but what he is doing for it may be even more important.
Hungerford is no stranger to the power of being online. Like many queer youth today, he had his first tastes of coming out on the Internet, and it helped him come to terms with who he is.
Hungerford was out to many of his friends in high school, but even though they accepted and supported him, they weren’t gay. He needed a place where he could feel welcome, so he reached out.
What he grabbed onto was the PFLAG-Talk mailing list, a list for, but not restricted to, people involved in the group Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. Hungerford soon found himself to be the only teen on the list, and after lurking for months, he finally felt it right to post something.
“I felt, here are all these people talking about young people; however, there are no young people on this list to give their side of it. So I spoke up, introduced myself, and shared my thoughts.”
He soon started telling readers of the list about his efforts to get his school to recognize its gay students. He had been sending stories of teens that were suffering in schools to the administration of his high school, always attaching anonymous notes asking why nothing was being done. These letters spawned meetings at his school, and eventually the administration became more aware of their queer student population.
This was the first in a string of victories that Hungerford brought forth for his gay peers.
Out of the stories of his silent activism came an idea. Why not have a list for people who want to make their schools safe? So in April of 1996, after many suggestions and encouragement from the PFLAG-Talk list, the Schools list came into being with Hungerford as List Owner.
Soon after, Hungerford started getting more e-mail from depressed teens, and after helping these people, the numbers of e-mails continued to increase.
“I couldn’t stop helping people,” he says, but the e-mail became too large a part of his life. He started to neglect the real world, and realized that something else would have to be done.
He realized that if he could “connect this person with these other people who felt the same way” then it would be better for all involved.
“I’m still alive because of the Internet,” said Hungerford, knowing that there were others that could say the same thing, and others that wouldn’t get the chance to if he didn’t do something. So at the end of January 1997 he, along with help from his friends and the Critical Path AIDS Project, launched two youth-only lists. There is one for ages 13 through 17 and another for ages 17 through 21. Hungerford will also be launching another e-mail list on National Coming Out Day. The new list will be for youth ages 21 through 25. The two current youth lists have a total of over 350 subscribers and the Schools list has 175.
As these numbers grow, so do the numbers of queer youth who are being helped, all because of Hungerford, who uses the appropriate tagline of “Internet Youth Guardian.” While he seems to be modest, he also has an understanding of what he is doing. A lot of Oasis readers are in the same position as Hungerford when he was first accepting himself. I asked Hungerford what advice he would give to the queer youth of America. He offers this:
“First, don’t be afraid. Even though it may be hard to accept who you are, if you’re afraid they’ve got you. If you’re not, then no one can touch you. Start loving yourself a little more, and your life will become happier. The moment I stopped fearing who I was, was the moment I started to value myself and my life and was the moment my life started getting a lot happier.”
Hungerford also says that he had thought about suicide before, but “If I would have killed myself, I would have, without knowing, killed all those other people I’ve helped. Knowing that is what keeps me going.”
Colts won 29-17!
I counted FIVE ads with men without shirts.
And about twenty with men without hats…
(the previous post is under revision)
I just wanted to make the observation that during this years’ Super Bowl there have been THREE commercials showing men with their shirts off… but we get five seconds of boob and it’s a crime…
btw GO COLTS
Hail Columbia and the Heroes of STS-107
Image above: STS107-735-032 — The STS-107 crewmembers pose for their traditional in-flight crew portrait aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. From the left (bottom row, red team) are astronauts Kalpana Chawla, mission specialist; Rick D. Husband, mission commander; Laurel B. Clark, mission specialist; and Ilan Ramon, payload specialist. From the left (top row, blue team) are astronauts David M. Brown, mission specialist; William C. McCool, pilot; and Michael P. Anderson, payload commander. Credit: NASA
“She along with the crew had her life snuffed out in her prime. Just as her crew has, Columbia has left us quite a legacy….hail Columbia.”
—Captain Robert Crippen (Pilot, STS-1)
I have a little bit more to say about this mission and tragedy than Challenger (and Apollo 1, from January 27) because on January 16, 2003 at 10:39 I was able to see something I had wanted to witness since I was a little kid: a shuttle launch. I learned about the crew—I was interested to find that Ilan Ramon, Israel’s first astronaut, even shared my birthday—and their science mission, and was even on the KSC tour bus with Rick Husband’s wife and kids.
I’ll never forget a little girl’s proud voice saying, “My daddy’s the commander!” and wondering what it would be like to be a little kid whose daddy was an astronaut.
So February 1st will always be a sad day for me; whilst I remember seeing Challenger on television I will always feel a personal connection to this crew and to Columbia, who were fated not to return to us.
More:
NASA Human Spaceflight Crew Memorial Page
NASA History Office Memorial
NASA Shuttle Mission Archive
Shuttle Columbia and Her Crew
Mars Rover Spirit Honors the Crew of Space Shuttle Columbia
And, eerily, you can hear the final Wake Up Calls for the crew (RealAudio .rm):
- Red Team – “Scotland the Brave” by The Black Watch and the band of the 51st Highland Brigade (for Laurel Clark)
- Blue Team – “If You’ve Been Delivered” by Kirk Franklin (For Michael Anderson)
