Michael Mahler's Ditherings

Erie Bloggers get together this Tuesday

2008-05-09T12:26:06Z

Once again, I am looking forward to the monthly Erie Bloggers get together, which is coming up this Tuesday at 7 PM at the Marketplace Grill. Full details are below!

What:	Erie Bloggers Meetup Social group for those who blog, or those just interested in blogging. All are welcome. For more info, contact Michael Mahler at (814) 456-9833 or info@eriegaynews.com. Also check out http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eriebloggers. Photos from past get togethers are at http://www.flickr.com/groups/eriebloggermeetups/pool/. You can also check out our Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2424694287 or on MySpace at http://groups.myspace.com/eriebloggers.
When:	Tuesday, May 13, 2008 7:00 PM
Where:	Marketplace Grill Modern Tool Square 319 State Street Erie, Pennsylvania 16507 United States

Technorati Tags: Erie Bloggers

Limbaugh comes out for Obama « - Blogs from CNN.com

2008-05-08T11:21:07Z

Let me see if I have this correctly: Limbaugh pushes his Dittoheads to cross lines and vote for Hillary to keep the Democratic primary going, and now, just when it is clear that Obama will be the Democratic Party nominee, he tries to get us to believe that it was Clinton that he thought was the stronger candidate all along? We are expected to believe that a right wing Republican pushes his lackeys to support the person he thought was the better candidate?

Is there anyone stupid enough to fall for this line of crap from Rush? Will someone just harpoon this jackass and get it over with?

Limbaugh comes out for Obama
Posted: 05:26 AM ET

Limbaugh now wants Obama to be the Democratic nominee.

(CNN) – He has publicly urged Republicans to vote for Hillary Clinton to keep the divisive Democratic nomination fight alive, but talk radio host Rush Limbaugh said Wednesday it's Barack Obama who he really wants to be the party's nominee.
"I now believe he would be the weakest of the Democrat nominees," Limbaugh, among the most powerful voices in conservative radio, said on his program. "I now urge the Democrat superdelegates to make your mind up and publicly go for Obama."

CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time Blog Archive - Limbaugh comes out for Obama « - Blogs from CNN.com

Greece Sued Over Sectarian Prayer

2008-05-08T04:03:32Z

Hmm! This is Greece, as in a suburb of Rochester NY. Oddly enough, my mother grew up there in a house my grandfather built. We also lived in the house (87 Apollo Drive) when I was about 10 or so.

Interestingly enough, the Christian religious freedom group Alliance Defense Fund has come to the Wiccan's defense. They probably understand that the same rules would apply to their tradition.

I feel conflicted; it is neat that my faith was represented, but I still feel that sectarian prayer is not appropriate. Most mainstream religious folks don't have to experience listening to some other faith tradition's prayers in this context.

On the other hand, if you are living in a place named Greece, isn't it rather appropriate to pray at Athena and Apollo??? ;)

In just a few seconds' time during the April Town Board meeting, Jennifer Zarpentine made Greece history.
Zarpentine, a Wiccan, delivered the first-ever pagan prayer to open a meeting of the Greece Town Board.
Her hands raised to the sky, she called upon Greek deities Athena and Apollo to "help the board make the right informed decisions for the benefit and greater good of the community."
A small cadre of her friends and coven members in the audience chimed in "so mote it be."

Greece Sued Over Sectarian Prayer
Wed, 07 May 2008 22:29:13 GMT

Drenched Fur stuff

2008-05-08T03:35:38Z

It was a pretty full evening for me. The Drenched Fur committee met to explore some possible new ideas for next year. Some very exciting stuff and we hope that next year will be bigger and better! (Given some of the unpleasantness that coincidentally happened to me this year that was not effectively related to the event, it pretty much could only get better.)

Gary also gave me a CD with the photos that Rob took, which I dutifully posted when I got home.

The photo gallery is here.

Technorati Tags: Drenched Fur,Bear

ABC News: Josef Fritzl: "I Am Not a Monster"

2008-05-07T15:02:34Z

What a horrible and sick individual! Can I just say that as a sound bite, "I could have killed them all, and no one would ever have known, no one would ever have found out," doesn't particularly work well. Keeping your own daughter a captive for 24 years and fathering 7 children with her, several of whom never saw sunlight, is pretty much most people's idea of being a monster. There IS no good way to spin this, dude.

Josef Fritzl: "I Am Not a Monster"

Austrian Father Breaks His Silence, Criticizes Media for Dubbing Him a Monster

By CHRISTEL KUCHARZ
PASSAU, Germany, May 7, 2008

Josef Fritzl, the Austrian man who fathered seven children with his daughter while keeping her imprisoned in a windowless dungeon in his cellar, has complained about poor media coverage of the case.

His criticism of the international media's reporting was published in the German tabloid Bild Zeitung.

"I could have killed them all," reads the front page headline of today's Bild Zeitung. And Fritzl, dubbed a monster by the Austrian media, told his lawyer, Rudolf Mayer, "I'm not a monster," according to today's report.

Fritzl is sharing his prison cell with another man who is serving time for taking part in a shooting incident. The men have a TV set and a radio available to them in their cell.

Fritz's lawyer has been seeing him and, according to Bild Zeitung, his client has complained to the lawyer that media coverage has been "unfair" and "completely one-sided."

"I could have killed them all, and no one would ever have known, no one would ever have found out," he reportedly told his lawyer.

Fritzl has confessed to locking up his daughter for almost 24 years, and fathering seven children with her during that time.

ABC News: Josef Fritzl: "I Am Not a Monster"

Technorati Tags: Josef Fritzl

PA SB 1250 has been tabled!

2008-05-07T00:00:08Z

Wahoo! I talked with someone last night who had gone to the very successful rally in Harrisburg against the proposed PA Senate Bill 1250, the so-called Marriage Protection Amendment. SB 1250 would not only enshrine discrimination in terms of equal marriage rights against same sex couples into Pennsylvania's constitution, but it would also bar civil unions from ever being recognized, which about 2/3 of Pennsylvanians support, according to a recent survey. (And attention any straight readers of this blog: if you are that afraid that you might mistakenly marry someone of your own gender, I can write you an excuse slip, or maybe give you flash cards to help you remember who are attracted to. According to some right wing types, this is a problem for some heterosexuals. Who knew?)

So, this horrible bill is off the schedule, which is great news! Not sure where things stand in the house, but in order for an amendment to become law, it has to go through both chambers in 2 consecutive periods.

I also heard from the person who went to the rally that the lone counter-demonstrator was pretty pathetic. (Hint: She is a Whack Job and has abysmal fashion sense.)

Technorati Tags: PA SB 1250,equal marriage rights,Pennsylvania

Dungeons and Dragons meme, via Eden

2008-05-05T20:50:09Z

Hmm, interesting. Is there anything geekier/nerdier than a meme about Dungeons and Dragons? I shudder to think. Some of the questions were sort of hard for me to answer, as neither choice was correct.

I Am A: Lawful Good Human Paladin/Sorcerer (3rd/2nd Level)

Ability Scores:
Strength-10
Dexterity-12
Constitution-12
Intelligence-17
Wisdom-14
Charisma-14

Alignment:
Lawful Good A lawful good character acts as a good person is expected or required to act. He combines a commitment to oppose evil with the discipline to fight relentlessly. He tells the truth, keeps his word, helps those in need, and speaks out against injustice. A lawful good character hates to see the guilty go unpunished. Lawful good is the best alignment you can be because it combines honor and compassion. However, lawful good can be a dangerous alignment because it restricts freedom and criminalizes self-interest.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Primary Class:
Paladins take their adventures seriously, and even a mundane mission is, in the heart of the paladin, a personal test an opportunity to demonstrate bravery, to learn tactics, and to find ways to do good. Divine power protects these warriors of virtue, warding off harm, protecting from disease, healing, and guarding against fear. The paladin can also direct this power to help others, healing wounds or curing diseases, and also use it to destroy evil. Experienced paladins can smite evil foes and turn away undead. A paladin's Wisdom score should be high, as this determines the maximum spell level that they can cast. Many of the paladin's special abilities also benefit from a high Charisma score.

Secondary Class:
Sorcerers are arcane spellcasters who manipulate magic energy with imagination and talent rather than studious discipline. They have no books, no mentors, no theories just raw power that they direct at will. Sorcerers know fewer spells than wizards do and acquire them more slowly, but they can cast individual spells more often and have no need to prepare their incantations ahead of time. Also unlike wizards, sorcerers cannot specialize in a school of magic. Since sorcerers gain their powers without undergoing the years of rigorous study that wizards go through, they have more time to learn fighting skills and are proficient with simple weapons. Charisma is very important for sorcerers; the higher their value in this ability, the higher the spell level they can cast.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

Dinner with friends

2008-05-05T00:09:28Z

As is our monthly habit, Deb and Mike (the other two Erie Gay News staff) and I went out for dinner. We decided to give the new Raj Mahal a try, which was fairly good. At one point, the server came out with small plates, set them down, and then remembered that we had ordered something else and immediately took them back for larger size plates. This is horribly un-PC, but I inwardly smiled thinking of the phrase "Indian giver."

Wimping out

2008-05-04T03:50:31Z

Sigh. I had planned on going to Brushwood this afternoon for the open circle/Beltane, but it looked like the rain wasn't going to drive up. I had headed out, but around E 38th St on the Bayfront Connector, I decided to just pack it in.

I was also going to go out, but I was playing around with geek stuff for the web site, so I ended up bagging that as well.

Contest and gay geek stuff caught up

2008-05-03T03:00:42Z

I think I am finally caught up with the modifications to the Erie Gay News site.

We launched a contest today for the Big Gay Sketch Show Season 2 DVD. I had a bug in the contest code before, which got fixed. We have had nearly 90 submissions just within the first 24 hours or so, from across the country. Way cool!

I also have the enhanced Pride registration page at the site. We had our first registration for multiple sub events, so it seems to work okay.

I have some more stuff to catch up on. Womynspace has been getting active, and I have to post some of their events and synthesize some notes into an article. They also asked about developing their own site.

Happy Beltane!

2008-05-01T16:56:18Z

Wishing everyone a very happy Beltane! It is one of my favorites of the 8 holidays. I am planning on going to the open circle/Maypole at Brushwood on Saturday, which is sort of an annual tradition.

I have a co-worker who is aware of/interested in Pagan stuff and IM'ed me to wish me a happy May Day. I IM'ed back about the event at Brushwood.

Technorati Tags: Beltane,Brushwood

Happy birthday, Mom!

2008-04-30T14:48:05Z

Just a quickie to wish my Mom a happy birthday. I have a truly excellent and nifty mom, and I am very fortunate to have been raised with the values that were stressed.

Still working on enhancements to Pride registration

2008-04-30T03:00:24Z

Okay, this is probably deathly dull, but there has been some progress on enhancements to the Pride registration page (it's not online yet.) I am breaking out volunteer shifts into a child table and also sub events. It's a ton of work, but it will make things in the future really easy to handle.

Drenched Fur wrap up meeting and Pride Registration changes

2008-04-29T03:00:12Z

The Drenched Fur wrap up meeting went okay, if a tad long. At the end, the guy that Gary is seeing was IM'ing and said something about us discussing using the colors of blush and bashful. I shot back with pink "is my signature color", because I caught the quote from Steel Magnolias. I also told Gary to tell his other half that he was "evil, and must be destroyed."

Separate from that, I am also considering adding some functionality to the Pride registration page. Since I am doing a combined page for the Pride Picnic on June 28 and the March/Rally on June 29. I am looking to add sub events, so that we could have 1 registration page with potentially check boxes/more info for sub/component events. I am also looking to possibly move the volunteer stuff into a multiple check boxes, rather than a drop down thing. I usually try to design stuff so that I can easily expand stuff later. When I modified how I handled email list sign up, it made adding additional lists a totally automatic thing for sign up.

Gay geeks are a scary thing.

Technorati Tags: Drenched Fur,Steel Magnolias,Erie Gay News,Pride Picnic

A minor personal goal

2008-04-28T03:56:31Z

I have been meaning to cook from scratch more. I try to eat somewhat healthily, but I do feel like I am taking better care of myself when I make something that isn't just thawing something. So, this marks the third week in a row that I have done that. The usual routine is that I cook on Sunday and then have left overs through the week. I don't have a huge repertoire, but I usually do fairly well.

Carbonara Mostaccioli

Serves 6, cooks in less than the time it takes to boil pasta, reheats wonderfully in microwave and is hard to screw up.
Yields: 6 Servings

Ingredients

1 pound Mostaccioli
3 tablespoon Butter
2 cloves Garlic minced
1 bunch Green onion chopped
1/4 pound Ham diced
6 Plum tomatoes seeded
1 cup Whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon Red pepper flakes
Black pepper to taste
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 pound Peas

Instructions
1. Boil salt water for mostaccioli. Chop everything. Cook pasta according to directions.
2. While pasta cooks, heat butter until it flashes over medium high heat. Throw in garlic and heat just until it turns golden.
3. Immediately throw in onions and ham and cook just until onions start to wilt (5mins?).
4. Add tomatoes, cream and spices and cook until tomatoes begin to soften and fluid thickens slightly.
5. Remove from heat, add cheese and toss with drained pasta. Eat.
Try with chopped, cooked asparagus.
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