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As anyone with access to a media outlet probably knows, the Iowa Supreme Court today struck down a 1998 law defining marriage as between a man and a woman, stating that this goes against the Iowa constitution. In three weeks time (to the best of my knowledge), gay marriage will be legal in Iowa.
Let's leave aside for a moment the issue of whether or not I'm in favor of this development, and look at the ruling itself. The court's statement (which, I find rather ironically, is 69 pages long) is interesting, and I had the opportunity to read it today. As I understood it, the court's ruling was based on the concept that allowing marriage for heterosexual couples but not homosexual ones creates an inequality among parties of equal standing, and this is something prohibited by the Iowa constitution. (I strongly recommend reading the ruling, as I had a great time of it; a link to it can be found on my Twitter feed at http://twitter.com/ghodamus ). The law was struck down accordingly.
It can be argued that this goes against public opinion. Indeed, a large part of the population of Iowa and the nation (although I don't know numbers well enough to say if it's a majority or not) does not support the concept of equal marriage rights for homosexual couples. Their arguments are various, and to be honest I've never found one that I entirely bought into or that didn't have a highly poignant counterargument, but they do represent a significant chunk of the American populace. Given that America is (in theory at least) some form of democracy, the will of the people is often turned into law. So why, I hear the outcry, can the people's will be so blatantly ignored by the supreme court? Why isn't the gay marriage ban upheld?
But you see, that's the thing about constitutions. They are, as I understand them, the foundation upon which other laws are raised. They are also the guidelines by which other laws are deemed valid. A constitution is not subject to popular opinion, except in the most extreme and demanding of cases. They aren't written in stone, but if purposely written they're damned hard to modify, and for a good reason. People's opinions change, the times change, the world around us will change. A constitution provides a firm foundation upon which the rest of things will build, regardless of the occasionally rampant foolishness of mankind.
Moreover, by codifying our standards into a constitution, we create for ourselves a bar that we must legally live up to. Perhaps today's ruling on gay marriage was an unintended consequence of the constitution; it can be argued (and I'd probably agree with this one) that none of the founding fathers of America or Iowa had this in mind when they put quill to parchment. But you see, that's the beautiful thing about these documents. These unintended consequences can force us to rise above ourselves. If you put in your constitution a requirement for equal rights for all mankind, then you are obliged to live up to that requirement whether you like it or not. Where we have gone wrong unintentionally, we have the ability to repair. But when we have done right unknowingly, our own accidental commitment can force us to rise above base intentions.
Perhaps I am mistaken. And if I'm dreaming, then may the gods will me never to awake. But I just fell in love with constitutional government today, and I couldn't be happier.
...we'll see how I feel about it come tomorrow. |
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Time for a new meme, this one taken from ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) cipherpunk. The premise is simple; post into my comments, I'll reply with five things that I associate with you, and you're invited to continue the meme by expounding on those things and repeating the process. Here's the list that I've got.
- Japan
( Nippon Monogatari ) - Geneseo
( Here's to Alma Mater ) - Family
( You know, like Uncle Enzo. ) - Computers
( Beep. Beep. Beep. ) - Firearms
( Or, on the Arms of Bears. )
So, there's my list. Anybody interested?
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Sing with me, and find the key
Bridge the deck accordingly
IBQQR BZXFC FDGOGCurrent Mood:  amused |
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Decided to sleep last night instead of posting. Apologies.
Yesterday:
Didn't sleep very well, was kept up by my cold. Dad and I mostly just hung out. We went to this place called TooJay's for lunch, sandwich joint. Really nice place.
Today:
Ran around trying to find wedding cake toppers for a couple of friends. Struck out on that score. Came back, I made curry, we watched Hudson Hawk. No other real plans.
As may be obvious, we're kinda playing this trip by ear; neither of us has anything we're really dead-set on doing, so we're not going out of our way to do a lot of stuff. Still, there are a few things that we're planning on getting in before we go, mostly in the way of food. Dad and I both enjoy food, and we eat regularly. Apparently there's this really good steakhouse here in the Orlando area called Manny's; we have reservations there next week. We're also planning to hit up a couple of places in Epcot (Germany and Japan specifically) at some point. So I'm sure we'll be able to keep ourselves busy. |
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- I don't sleep well when I'm sick. I also don't sleep well when I'm excited. Thus, while I went to bed at 1 AM this morning, I didn't actually fall asleep until 4, and my alarm was set for 7. Thankfully, the excitement of the journey has done quite well to keep me awake thus far.
- Left Iowa City at ~8 AM, arrived in Rock Island at 9. I didn't strictly need to be there that early, but Mom had mentioned that she would be leaving for work around 9:30, so if I showed up any later than that she wouldn't get to see me. I figured I'd surprise her a bit by showing up. It almost worked; I'd gotten about haflway through Rock Island when she called. But she was still very pleased with the surprise, and made me coffee. I love my Mom.
- Arrived at the airport around 11:30 AM. Deb rode in with me. I briefed her on my car and she promised to take good care of it. (She and Mom also told me that they planned to fix the burnt out tail light in return for their using the car while I'm in Florida. I consider this a fair trade). Checkin went almost smoothly. Apparently, AirTran now charges an extra $15 if you feel like checking a bag for your flight. I feel that this was thorough and utter bullshit, a fact that I voiced to another customer but not directly to the attendant (hey, it's not their fault their company is full of assholes). However, perhaps as some form of compensation for taking up 2/3 of my travel budget before I'd gotten through security, they offered me out of the blue a free upgrade to an emergency row window seat, my favorite spot on the plane (it provides a view AND legroom).
- Got through security with no hassles. Joked to one of the TSA workers that getting into the terminal was like a game of strip poker, but without any of the fun. She laughed, so I figure it's all good. The plane that was going to be my flight had started its day in Rochester, NY, and had gotten a late start because of bad weather in the northeast. My flight arrived and left an hour late, but not really a big deal. I didn't really have a firm shedule to meet. Takeoff from MLI at ~14:30.
- Arrive at MCO ~18:10. Dad was waiting for me at baggage clame. Damn it's good to see him, and a lot warmer welcome than the last time I came down here. I realize that the shell of a man that greeted me from my flight in August was technically my father, but it wasn't Dad. This was much more like him. Got luggage, got into the truck. Hit Cici's for dinner and WalMart to pick up a few essentials, then came back to Dad's place.
- Tucker, Dad's dog, was overjoyed to see me. Guess he hasn't been doing too well since Mel died; Dad works nights and sleeps all day, so he tends to be pretty lonely. He's also probably 12 years old now, and it's starting to take its toll. Dad doesn't plan to get another dog after Tucker's gone. The house is a lot cleaner than the last time I was here; maybe I'll get some pictures. Watched the first half of Sin City with Dad before he turned in; we're both pretty tired. That was about 15 minutes ago. I'm gonna go outside and see if Boo the cat is around, then probably hit the sack myself.
And that's the news for today.
Current Mood: hopeful |
| » Orlando Log, Day 0 |
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(EDIT: This apparently wasn't posted last night for some odd reason, so I'm going to go ahead and throw it on here now along with today's post. Sorry about that. ^_^;; )
Right, so. As most of you know, I'm leaving town tomorrow for a trip to Orlando. This will be the first time I've seen Dad since my stepmother died in August. While I would like to pretend that this is any other visit to my parent's (singular now instead of plural) home, I also have to realize the weight that comes along with this. Dad is still counting the weeks since Mel died; I count it as progress that he moved on from counting the hours and days. I have, however, no doubt in my mind that with a casual glance at a clock he could work the math in half a heartbeat. One of my primary goals on this trip is to try and keep that sort of behavior to a minimum.
Getting away from the serious issues, a week in temperatures that are noticeably above freezing sound positively delightful, and I'm looking forward to the time away. Be the first winter I've spent outside of my home turf (being loosely described as a strip of America no further than 25 miles from Interstate 80, between Des Moines and Geneseo). I expect it will be at least mildly odd, but hopefully a lot of fun.
Accordingly, if anyone wants anything in the way of pictures of the Orlando or Walt Disney World area, feel free to ask. I'm going down there with very little money, so souvenirs are unfortunately out of the question. But I'll try to accommodate as I can, and continue posting (as long as my interest in my journal continues).
Plans for now:- Wake up tomorrow, ~7 AM
- Head out for the Quad Cities Airport, somewhere from 8 to 10 AM (depending on motivation)
- Arrive in Rock Island at my mom's place, somewhere from 9 to 11 AM (again, depending on motivation; the drive takes about an hour)
- Arrive at Quad Cities Airport, noon or earlier. Deb (one of mom's housemates) will be taking my car back to their place so I don't have to pay for long-term parking.
- AirTran Airways flight 387, MLI to MCO, 13:37 (CST) - 17:09 (EST). The seat will inevitably be too short, as I have long legs and couldn't afford emergency row seating. Thankfully, a Mr. Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden will be present to keep me company (many thanks to cipherpunk in that regard).
- Food, hopefully. We'll see what Dad has planned when I show up.
And that's all the news that's fit to print. More info as travel continues.
Jan. 6th, 2009 @ 10:08 pm
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| » Your Taxpayer Dollars At Work |
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I'm accustomed to seeing the government throw money down some vast and uncloggable theoretical toilet, simply for the amusement of watching it swirl in the bowl as it fades into debt. Sometimes I like to be an optimist and pretend that they're doing this purely out of ignorance, that they don't really mean to be pissing away our money, they just don't know a better ritual for the job.
Then I see articles like this one on Game Politics (which I found via Ars Technica), that move from the somewhat mysteriously misguided into the purely banal and incomprehensible. Seriously? "Thou Shalt Not Advertize An Alcopop In A Video Game." Things like this make me very glad that there's a very wide river (and about 60 miles of farmland) between myself an the state of Illinois.
First off, I agree with other commentators in that I can not once remember seeing an alcopop (I cringe when I type that word out of sheer rebellion at its ridiculousness) advertized in a video game. Beer? Sure. Various other drugs? Of course. Drugs that I've never even heard of? I just finished playing Fallout 3, there is nothing that you could name a drug now that I wouldn't be surprised at. But I can't recall the scene in Half-Life 2 where Gordon Freeman took a break from headcrabs to enjoy a nice cold Zima, or that one time in World of Warcraft where I had this quest to turn in 12 bottles of Boone's Farm.
Which brings up another point. World of Warcraft features beer, and hard liquors, and wines. Hell, one of the first quests for Dwarves is to help them make beer. That game was given an ESRB rating of "T", meaning that kids can play the game (and, I'd imagine some could argue, are one of the primary demographics). Where do we draw the line at who is and isn't a "kid"? And why isn't ALL alcohol illegal, and not just alcopops? Maybe they're going on the theory that kids are only doing it because it tastes good, so if we leave them with the alcohols that don't have added sweeteners they'll be less likely to perform an illegal act.
Right. Because all of those pot-heads I kenw back in high school were just doing it for the flavor.
(On a further note, I've come down with a cold 2 days before I get on a plane to Florida, and am apparently channeling some part of the Wrath of Perry Cox into my LiveJournal posts.)
Jan. 5th, 2009 @ 03:02 pm
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| » Boy, My Neck Hurts... |
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Around 12:30 this afternoon, I was heading over to Kum & Go to pick up some lunch. Dan was in the car with me; he'd just come back to pick up some more of his stuff. He's almost totally moved out now. We were sitting at the stoplight at Benton and Mormon Trek. I was about 3 or 4 cars away from the light.
Suddenly there was a large bang, and my entire car jumped forward about a foot. I knew within a couple of seconds that I'd been rear-ended. When I was down in Florida for Mel's funeral, we were all in Grandma's van and somebody didn't stop in time. He only hit us doing about 5 miles an hour, but it was still a good-sized bang; the only real damage was a dent in the rear door of the van. Cambus training kicked in within seconds: shift to park, hazards on, engine off, don't move anything until the cops show up. Dan and I stepped out and surveyed the damage. There was a black Grand Prix behind me, and her license plate was dented up. I had a bit of a scratch on my rear bumper that I didn't think had been there before. No harm no foul, I figured.
Then I noticed the big red Ford pickup behind the Grand Prix. The driver of that one was getting out too, and he looked like... well you know the look someone gets when they know they've screwed the pooch pretty bad? Yeah, that look. The Grand Prix's trunk was now about a foot shorter than it probably should have been in the center. Apparently it was Red Truck's first accident, and he didn't really know what to do. Thankfully, Dan has been involved in almost enough car accidents to know the cops by name. He called the police non-emergency number, and they were there after not too long. I don't think we were there for a full half an hour before it was all wrapped up. Business concluded, I got a copy of the officer's report, and Dan and I decided that we should have lunch at Quizno's instead to celebrate the occasion.
I think the most amusing part of this whole thing was the fact that Dan was pretty sure this was the first car accident he'd been in that wasn't somehow his fault. The headache and neck/shoulder pains I've got are a bit less amusing, but they'll probably be gone in a few days. I'm honestly just relieved to have been in a car accident where I was actually in a car, and not on my bike.
Dec. 11th, 2008 @ 09:09 pm
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| » It Never Rains |
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My dad has Sundays and Mondays off. For the last five and a half years, since I entered college, he and I have made a weekly habit of calling one another. We've always been very close, and we like to stay in good touch with one another. When talking to my dad earlier this evening, I received a piece of information about a member of my family that's gotten me worried, and in more than one way.
My Grandma's sister Jean, who was staying with Grandma for the holidays, collapsed in Grandma's bathroom on Saturday. She was taken to the hospital, and in currently in what was described to me as a light coma. Unbeknown to the rest of the family, Aunt Jean had already had two heart attacks, and some other cardiac procedure as well. This was found on an information card in her wallet. Jean had never told us that this had occurred; even Grandma didn't know, and there are only a very few of this family's secrets that Grandma isn't aware of. I need to call Grandma tomorrow to see how she's doing and if there's any word on Jean.
On an emotional level, this is a big complication. Jean and I have a decent relationship; we're not close, but Jean tends to have relationships on her terms and her terms alone with other members of the family. Most often, she either likes you, or she doesn't, and there's not a lot of changing her opinions on things. So while she and I may not be close, this could be said of her relationships with pretty much everyone in the family. Grandma and I, on the other hand, are quite close, and I know that this can't be doing much good for Grandma's state of mind. This also raises the possibility that I may need to head to Indiana on family business in the near future, which is less than opportune given that finals start on Monday and I'm going to have to bust my ass this week to have a chance of surviving them. It's not a thought that I enjoy, but in my family we put family first. If Grandma needs me there, then that's my priority, and it's gonna be a hard one to override.
But forasmuch as I'm an emotional and considerate fellow, I'm also very calculating and logical. There's a different complication that arises from Jean's current state of health. As many of you know, I am currently about $10,000 short of being able to graduate college next year. I just don't have the money right now to pay for the classes. As it stands right now, I'm not even able to enroll for next semester. Jean was going to be working with me to attempt to cosign for a student loan, assuming I can even still get one this late in, to pay for my tuition. Her current state makes this no longer a viable option. Moreover, even if she were to recover in the near future, I'm not going to be asking her for a damn thing for a good while. Calculating bastard though I may occasionally be, there are some things that you just don't do.
I have one other option that I'm currently aware of that may give me the money that I need for college. It's not an option that I wanted to call on, but circumstances have a way of forcing your hand in matters. Life is made of hard choices, and I'm going to have to bite the bullet and make this one.
I ask everyone reading this blog and this post to please keep my family, especially my aunt Jean, in their thoughts and hearts. While I know that many of my friends aren't the Christian religious type, I know some of you are, and I hope it's not too much of an imposition to ask you to lend her a spot in your prayers; every little bit helps in these sorts of situations. I'll be sure to post more here as events warrant.
Dec. 9th, 2008 @ 02:27 am
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| » Status Update |
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A brief list of the goings on in the life of me.
- Submitted my resume to M****** today. Hoping things go well with that; it would solve a lot of problems and answer a lot of prayers.
- Dan is moving out either tomorrow or Saturday, since Annie has gotten a job back in CR. I'm still trying to track down a new roomie, which will prove necessary if I don't get the M****** job.
- Accordingly, the cable has been cancelled. It's still on for now; apparently, termination orders take about a week to process. So sometime next week my home will lose cable and internet. I should still be able to connect via a local unsecured wireless network, but I can't guarantee stable internet anymore.
- Finals start a week from Monday. That's all I have to say about that.
I am coming more and more to understand why the ancient Chinese saying "May you live in interesting times" is regarded very heavily as a curse.
Dec. 5th, 2008 @ 04:02 pm
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| » Evolution of a Meme |
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Sometime a couple of years ago, when I was first starting to troll in the deeper, darker parts of the internet (the parts that tend to end in -chan), I stumbled onto a simple but effective and annoying meme. This meme was known as "duckrolling". A link that was supposed to be to something relevant to the ongoing discussion was instead replaced with a link to a picture of a duck with wheels on it. It was harmless fun, a basic snub to whatever was actually going on.
In time, duckrolling morphed into a slightly different meme, as memes are occasionally wont to do. The duck on wheels was instead replaced by Rick Astley, whose surprisingly deep baritone voice for such a small white man made the video all the more shocking. In such a way was "Rickrolling" born, and for a brief time this was combined to its original habitats.
But something happened. Rickrolling picked up steam. It rolled off the -chans and into the mainstream. It climed up out of the cesspools of the internet and into the public eye. And now guess what? It's gotten as big as the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.Watching a meme evolve from underground joke to public staple. This is the sort of thing that makes me feel old...
Nov. 29th, 2008 @ 10:49 pm
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| » Fun With Memes |
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Ganked from danthewaffable.
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 4 sentences on your LJ along with these instructions.
5. Don't you dare dig for that "cool" or "intellectual" book in your closet! I know you were thinking about it! Just pick up whatever is closest.
"My name is Harry Dresden, I was wondering if I could talk to you."
"Harry who?" she asked.
"Dresden. I'm a private investigator."
She laughed, and the sound was rich enough to roll around naked in.
Okay, so maybe I shifted to the next paragraph boundry, and added an extra sentence (but do one-word sentences really count?). From Storm Front by Jim Butcher.
Nov. 16th, 2008 @ 04:56 pm
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| » Worthy of Contemplation |
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I noticed something interesting at the end of John McCain's concession speech. They music they used to play him off was the theme from the film "Crimson Tide." Does anyone else think that this was more than casual coincidence?
Nov. 4th, 2008 @ 10:48 pm
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| » Requisite Sharing Of Joy |
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Today has been an awesome day, for two primary reasons thus far. Good enough that I feel it's necessary to share this with the world.
(1) As most of you know, right now at my job we're trying to set up our own voting system. We have the hardware (a new HP touchscreen laptop), we have the software (Pvote, written by Ka-Ping Ye for his dissertation at UC Berkley). What we haven't had yet is our own ballot. The software that came default with Pvote could do some minor ballot editing, but not really any authoring. Ping sent us a copy of his original authoring software, but he warned us in advance that it was something of a slap-dash job; the authoring software wasn't part of his disseration, and he hadn't really bothered to clean it up.
But finally today, after spending the better part of the weekend just pouring myself into this software, I've finally managed to get the authoring suite up and running. It's not a finished deal yet; I still need to learn how to tweak some of the finer issues before we can put a fork in it. But this is a HUGE development. Thanks to this, if we really work at it, we may even have pretty much everything ready to go by this weekend.
(2) I got my midterm back for my Computer Organization class today. For those of you that I haven't told about this, this is a class that has thus far focused primarily on writing code in assembler language. Those of you who know what that is know to be afraid; those of you who don't know what assembler is are probably better off for it. Anyway, the midterm was about a week and a half ago, and I'd felt pretty confident in my performance. However, this particular professor is pretty well known for tough tests. Today we finally got the results.
Total Points Possible: 10
Class Average: 6.5
Highest score: 8.8
My score: 8.8
I have ROCKED today, and now I think I'm gonna go play some Rock Band to celebrate.
Oct. 20th, 2008 @ 07:38 pm
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| » Odd Medical Instances |
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Those of you who have read at least the first book of the Dresden Files will understand what I mean when I say I "pulled a Dresden" at the plasma donation center today.
( WARNING: Contents involve bodily fluids, specifically blood. )
Sep. 18th, 2008 @ 10:59 pm
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| » Updates From The Road |
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Thought I'd take a moment out of my downtime and post how things have been going. I'll stick this inside an LJ cut in case it runs long; don't want to spam anybody's friends lists.
( The Story Thus Far )
Melodie Marie Slayton (nee Heeren) was born 16 January 1964 and died in her home at around 8 a.m. on 4 August 2008. She is survived by her husband Jeff Slayton, her parents Ron and Charlene Heeren, and her children, Mark and Andrea Slayton. We've arranged the visitation for 7-9 on Friday night, with the funeral at 11 a.m. on Saturday. As per her wishes, she's going to be creamated. If anyone has any questions or wishes to offer prayers or condolences, please let me now.
Aug. 5th, 2008 @ 05:06 pm
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| » Out Of Town |
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A quick note, just so everybody knows. I'm currently sitting at gate B10 of MLI (Quad Cities International Airport), getting ready to board a plane to Orlando. Early this morning, my stepmother died. I'm doing okay so far; the reality of things tends not to sink in for me for a little while, so I'm currently stable. Dad's not doing so good though, and I'm really worried about him. Anyway, I'm going to be out of town for a while. With any luck I'll be back for my birthday, in which case there will definitely be something going on. I feel I'll be needing a celebration of life after all of this.
Aug. 4th, 2008 @ 03:54 pm
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| » In Conclusion |
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I know I haven't been doing a lot of posting lately, but I figured that this was an event worth marking. In about an hour, I'm going to start moving out of my current apartment, the place I've lived for three years. This is as long as I've lived anywhere since I was about 8. Most of my stuff is boxed up; we're going to be getting the big pieces of furniture in the U-Haul this morning, and I'll probably be carting boxes in my car later on into the day.
It's weird to think that I'll be sleeping in a different place starting tonight. For as much as I've moved in my life, I'm somehow unaccustomed to it. Guess I just got comfortable where I am; I don't really want to go, but I don't really have a choice.
Oh well. I'm probably just feeling weird because there hasn't been coffee yet.
Jul. 28th, 2008 @ 06:12 am
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| » Falling like rain |
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It's not everyday that mass media brings me to tears, but when it does i tend to think that they've done something right. I strongly recommend to everybody two of the most recent episodes of Doctor Who, "Slience in the Library" and "Forest of the Dead". They're a two-part episode, and they're very good.
Jun. 21st, 2008 @ 02:42 am
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