Linkiddy doo dah

And here is yet another hodgepodge from the past week...

• Bottled water. How do you feel about it? Ripped off? Misled? You should. We got some stainless water bottles earlier this year and they are wonderful -- the openings are big enough to add ice, there are no BPAs in the water we drink, there is no waste for the landfill, and they fit in the bike drink holders. We took them with us on our road trip last month and had no trouble refilling them with ice and cold water at gas stations along the way, and, thanks to our cozies and the added ice, it was so nice to have water that stayed cold for hours after a rest stop.

• This may come as a shock to some, but not all low-income housing has to be ugly.

• Anonymous hugging!

• This remembrance from Pam Spaulding (apparently my brother's classmate at Stuyvesant!) is the best post I've seen since Frank McCourt died last week.

• Abraham & Issac retold.

• I admit that I haven't been consuming much media lately (comcast recently cut us down to just a few worthless channels), but I'm still surprised that since the Henry Louis Gates, Jr. story broke, I haven't heard a single person mention the movie Amos and Andrew.

• On health care: we could be doing a LOT better than we are -- certainly better than BCBS is doing (which is maybe the RNC chair's insurance company -- he's not sure, but he's still trying to kill any chance at reform). Why are some of our representatives dragging their feet? Other systems work. Lewis Black shares some thoughts. And so does Bill Maher (best one ever?).

• I've said it before many, many times, but it bears repeating over and over and over again: the only thing abstinence-only education produces is really freakin' stupid teenagers.

• For the record: calorie labeling is a positive thing. As with many things (including sex -- see above), ignorance can be toxic.

• Here's a shocker: the C-Street Cult (oh, Zach!) story shows no sign of slowing down! Why is disgraced Senator Ensign giving Zach Wamp money? Apparently, it's a secret! Unfortunately, in other marriage defender/marriage non-honorer news (AKA republican sexual hypocrites), Tennessee still picks the winners.

• Jimmy Carter is challenging the Southern Baptist Convention's sexism -- but is he making any sense?

• Pat Buchanan: Why do you keep talking? You're making Lou Dobbs look good. Even Rachel, who often refers to you as "Uncle Pat," thinks you're a misinformed douche.

• Today was Sarah Palin's last day. Top Ten observes the occasion.

• Lastly, this just leaves me gasping for air. And Jimmy Carter thought the Baptists were bad! Ha!

• And finally, I posted this on facebook about a week back, but if you missed it there, you might enjoy it here. I apologize to everyone who attended my wedding, because it wasn't this cool. Neither was any wedding I've ever attended. The bar has been raised.

UPDATE:

Internet News

Congressman Ron Wyden is awesome. Comcast is not.

FCC To Investigate Comcast

From consumeraffairs.com:

Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin says his agency will investigate allegations that Comcast blocks and slows access to the popular BitTorrent peer-to-peer file sharing service.

AP confirms Comcast is crippling indiscriminately

Maybe Comcast can get away with data discrimination while they're the only show in town, but as soon as people have another option -- especially if that option pledges net neutrality -- Comcast could start to feel pretty lonesome. (via americablog)

UPDATE: shame on Comcast!

Back, again.

Well, I awoke this morning to no internet. Again. But this time, I also had no cable TV, and there was a wire lying in the road that looked like it should be connected to my house.

Since there was also evidence that someone (the power company?) had very recently been through to trim the trees, the scenario probably went something like this:

1. When the trees were trimmed, a limb that was holding the wire up was cut down.
2. Without the limb there, the wire sagged down a bit lower than it should.
3. A tall truck drove by, hitting the wire and ripping it off of the side of my house.

I gotta give Comcast props for this one. They sent a guy out on a Sunday who was very nice and got everything reconnected. He also hooked it up to a different pole so that my cable wiring no longer dangles over the road.

So, what'd I miss?

May Day

For some reason, GPS has already celebrated their May Day ritual this year. Since I'm still somewhat crippled by comcast woes, I'm going to take this opportunity to link back to what I think was one of my better posts, about the May Day tradition at GPS: Enjoy!

Comcast Woes

My so-called high-speed internet has been going in and out for three days now (and I'm not alone). Today, it went down for the count and the cable company is finally admitting that there's a problem. They're sending someone out, but not until tomorrow. Until I get back up and running again, it'll probably be pretty quiet here (at the moment, I'm poaching off a neighbor's signal, which I'm grateful to have, but it's awfully slow, and I don't want to bogart the wifi).