In light of Judge Walker's ruling on Proposition 8 here in California, and the many, many comments I have seen in various blogs and forums, I'm going to paste in something that I found on a forum that I think is both relevant and revelatory:

Hear, hear.  As Winston said, democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the other kinds.  Basing a society solely on what comes down to majority rule is ludicrous.  Even the Founding Fathers knew that and they were a motley collection of slaveowners, misogynists, moneygrubbers, and practitioners of poor oral hygiene.  

I personally felt compelled to add:

I also find it interesting that the people who shout the loudest about Freedom for the Individual and Rule of Law are often the first to shout Secular Immoraiity and Activist Judges when it involves a freedom they don't agree with...

You didn't hear much grousing from the gun enthusiasts when the Chicago handgun ban was overturned, did ya?

1. Thursday, the thermometer tops 103 Fahrenheit.
2. Maribeth calls me: power surges have knocked out our A/C at home. Boo hiss.
3. At the office, the lights flicker briefly but the power stays on.
4. However, the office A/C, while still blowing air, is not cooling.
5. The temperature, previously set at a comfortable 73, is now 80 and rising.
6. A check of circuit breakers reveals nothing amiss (at least, to my untrained eye)
7. Having taken the bus, I leave after work to the bus stop about a quarter mile away.
8. It starts raining. Heavily. Accompanied by thunder and lightning.
9. I get soaked.
10. Arriving in Mojave, it’s still raining hard. I seek refuge at Carl’s Jr and wait it out.
11. I walk home.
12. I check our circuit breakers. Yep, Nick missed one. A/C is back.
13. Friday, I drive to work.
14. Amazingly enough, the A/C is working here, too.
15. However, all the computers are off; obviously, there was a power outage the night before.
16. My computer does not turn back on.
17. After trying every trick I can think of, I take it to LawyerBoss’ favorite repair place in Lancaster
18. It’s dead. “Alfred Let’s Go Shopping.”

Dell has come out with a tablet device...called the Streak.

Huh??  Whose brilliant idea was this?

I may have to give a Mighty Marvel No-Prize to the True Believer who comes up with a parody of the old Ray Stevens novelty tune.

I’m not on Facebook.  I just wanted to put that out as a disclaimer.  Frankly, between this LiveJournal page, Twitter and the various forums I haunt, I spend more than enough time online as it is.  Just ask my wife.

Actually, she is on Facebook, and she loves it.  It has enabled her to reconnect with some of our old friends down in L.A., such as kingkami , jakecaffey  and deannab  and some other friends of hers from her before-time.  She also peruses the Facebook pages of some of her favorite authors, such as Tamara Thorne.

She’s been trying to get me to start up a Facebook page, but I’ve been resisting it thus far.  There’s a bit much of the “one of us, one of us” meme that kinda creeps me out of the whole enterprise. 

Then, I've heard several podcasts, most notably Leo LaPorte's Tech Guy, that reported that FaceBook's privacy settings aren't as reliable as previously thought.  Think that posting about losing your virginity can't be read by Mumsy?  Guess again.  In fact, what really may put the screws to FaceBook and end its reign as the 800-lb. gorilla of cyberspace was a comment on a podcast to that effect, that younger people might not want to have their parents on the same social network.

This reminded me of a comment that Alice Cooper made some thirty-odd years ago, about what really killed the disco craze: no kid wants to be dancing in a club and find his parents dancing right next to them.

This is what happens when Mom and Pop discover the net: the Wild West goes bye-bye.