Cultra Chosen To Replace Rutherford In Senate | Progress Illinois

When he takes office as Illinois' new Treasurer, State Sen. Dan Rutherford (R-Chenoa) will be replaced by State Rep. Shane Cultra (R-Onarga) in the General Assembly. GOP chairmen representing the nine counties in Rutherford's 53rd District selected Cultra to serve the remaining two years of Rutherford's term. No word yet on who will replace Cultra in the House.

via progressillinois.com

OK, I have to offer a mea culpa and give some props to Dan Rutherford--whom I very much should have listed among our endorsements in the pre-election issue of Out & About Illinois Magazine but didn't. Dan is one of three Republicans who broke rank with their party to vote for the amendment adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the Illinois Human Rights Act five years ago. Here is my chance to say sorry and make amends.

Cardinal George Comes Out Against Civil Unions | Progress Illinois

Cardinal Francis George, the head of Chicago's Roman Catholic archdiocese, came out against the civil unions bill (SB 1716) that is making its way through the Illinois House. In a statement, Cardinal George said, "Everyone has a right to marry, but no one has the right to change the nature of marriage." House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) told the Sun-Times last week that the legislation had a "good chance" of passing the lower chamber.

via progressillinois.com

I'm not at all surprised by his position. I'm disappointed that he feels the need to bother making a big deal about civil unions, which are not even full marriage and don't even afford us full equality. I'm still really confused about what NOM and the far right would have us do. They SAY they respect and tolerate gays and lesbians, they SAY they don't want to support our mass murder or our imprisonment (yet many on the right do just that in Uganda) but they don't want us to have healthy, long-term, committed relationships. Would they rather it be the 70s? Sigh.

Opera 11 Beta Introduces Tab Stacking

Opera 11 beta is out with a new way to organize tabs, called tab stacking. The feature lets users organize their tabs into groups as they see fit. Simply drag and drop a tab onto another and a “stack” of tabs is created, which users can expand by clicking on an adjacent arrow. The feature will come in handy for those who tend to have a lot of tabs opened at the same time. With tab stacking, users can save tabs for later perusal or organize them into categories, saving space on the tab bar. Opera already has the most versatile tab management features among desktop browsers. Users can expand the tab bar to see tabs as thumbnails, open a private tab that leaves no browsing information behind and manage closed tabs.

via mashable.com

Very cool

Vatican: Use Condoms If You Have HIV - Even if it also will prevent babies

Prostitutes could use them to curb AIDS infection

(NEWSER) - Pope Benedict—he who not too long ago said condoms make the AIDS crisis worse —now thinks they're not such a bad idea all the time. ("Stunning development," says AP , noting the church's opposition to artificial contraception, while Reuters sees it as a potential "sea change" in Vatican thinking.) In a series of interviews with a German journalist, Benedict gives an example of a prostitute—the AP specifies it as a male prostitute—using one to prevent infection. More»

via newser.com

Bout time. After years of making the AIDS crisis worse in Africa by discouraging condom use--even in married couples where one spouse is known to be positive and the other is known to be negative (no joke, this is the church's position), the Vatican is finally starting to give a bit better advice on HIV prevention. Thank God.

Iranian Lawmakers Move to Oust Ahmadinejad - Assembly seeks to impeach president

(Newser) – It looks like Western governments aren't the only ones fed up with the antics of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iran's parliament planned to impeach the leader, but was prevented from doing so by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing reports in Iranian media. Lawmakers accused the president of 14 counts of violating the law, including illegally importing gasoline and oil. Lawmakers are attempting to collect the 74 signatures from members of parliament necessary to openly debate impeachment, although Ahmadinejad can't be removed without Khamenei's approval. US officials say the divide within the regime has deepened as sanctions start to bite. "There are clear rivalries within the Iranian government and multiple camps around Ahmadinejad, Larijani and others," a State Department spokesman says. "Those tensions have certainly been exacerbated as Iran feels more pressure from sanctions and political isolation."

via newser.com

Looks like EVERYONE is ready for regime change in Iran. Including Iran.

FCC May Allow You to Send Text Messages to 911

For many young people, texting might seem like a more quick and intuitive way to communicate thank picking up the phone to make a voice call. And for some people in some circumstances, this relatively new technology may be the only way to communicate. Several U.S. government agencies have for some time been considering how to plan and implement the next generation of 911; the plan has been to incorporate SMS text messaging, images and even video into emergency requests to get “the right information to the right people at the right time.” Now, several outlets are reporting that the FCC is pushing for more technology for 911 — technology that would lead to better, faster responses from emergency workers. In fact, the FCC even says 911 could be automatically notified of possible or likely emergencies by sensors, from OnStar to home alarms and many more. The “Next Gen 911” project, which, according to 911.gov, is actually under the auspices of the Department of Transportation, “draws on the expertise of public safety experts to identify and prioritize digital data, potentially available to first responders… which could best improve their safety and performance,” according to the Transportation Safety Advancement Group, the organization that is tasked with carrying out these changes.

via mashable.com

Good idea.

Mikey trying on clothes for T-Day in Detroit

He's modeling different outfits over Skype.  This has gone on the last 30 minutes. We've got one outfit picked.

We'll try again with Flash

SameSexSunday YouTube sidebar widget.

A SameSexSunday sidebar widget

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://cdn.widgetserver.com/syndication/subscriber/InsertWidget.js" ></script><script type="text/javascript">if (WIDGETBOX) WIDGETBOX.renderWidget('8b049266-9593-46e0-9c68-bbc8f919e669');</script><noscript>Get the YouTube Sidebar Widget widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox! Not seeing a widget? (More info)</noscript>

Latest YouTube Video widget

See my latest YouTube Videos

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://cdn.widgetserver.com/syndication/subscriber/InsertWidget.js" ></script><script type="text/javascript">if (WIDGETBOX) WIDGETBOX.renderWidget('921c066d-c706-40dc-b2f2-c73ce1c00f54');</script><noscript>Get the YouTube Widget - 4.0 widget and many other great free widgets at Widgetbox! Not seeing a widget? (More info)</noscript>

Email me.

Rock on. Watching hulu.com, textin in a blog post! :)

An experimentation with Google embedded docs

I tried this out, hopefully it works:

Vegan bacon in the toaster oven? It happened.

So after so much frustration of burning the hell out of the bacon in the skillet every day, I thought I'd try the veggie bacon strips in the magic toaster oven (the one that I found wrapped in a blanket in a basket on my doorstep).  Low and behold, I put it on "toast" and watched it carefully.  In about 3-4 minutes, it was crispy (mostly) and golden, but not burnt.  Awesome.  It was still a bit gooey in one part, and a little TOO crispy in some areas, but mostly the bacon was as it should be--and not rubbery like the microwave makes it.  Next I'll play with temperatures.  But so far, this was a good experiment. 

Americablog Gay: Kamala Harris Likely to Replace Jerry Brown as California's AG

http://gay.americablog.com/2010/11/draft-kamala-harris-likely-to-replace.html

How does Posterous handle links?

I'd like to test how Posterous handles URLs, so here are just a few I'd like to share with you.

http://bilerico.com
samesexsunday.com
www.advocate.com

Testing how each of these URLs show up in Posterous posts when no tags are attached.

HTML code test for posterous

This is cross-posted at Ameriqueer and Philreese's posterous

This is an HTML code test--does it show up as code-gibberish or links?  We shall find out!

So sad...

I guess that's just the way the wine glass crumbles..

So sad...

I guess that's just the way the wine glass crumbles..

OK. I gotta say, I REALLY like Posterous.

Tres tres powerful.  Weak web-based post editor, but otherwise pretty kick-butt.  You should check out samesexsunday.posterous.com--its a page I set up for SameSexSunday that will autopost everything we do on all of our social networks (and consequently, all of MY social networks as well!). 

For the moment, I wanted to test this out a bit--let's see if the YouTube embed code works on Posterous, or if this is one of its limitations.

This is my favorite song ever.  Not my favorite video.  Just favorite song:

Can you see it, or is it all just code?

On the bus, first video

Download now or watch on posterous

VIDEO0002.3gp (1307 KB)

Just testing...

-Phil Reese sent from my Android phone. please excuse any typos!

On the bus, first video

Download now or watch on posterous

VIDEO0002.3gp (1307 KB)

Just testing...

-Phil Reese sent from my Android phone. please excuse any typos!

At the Terminal. Testing Posterous

Wondering if this'll work.

this is a text update

I'm testing Posterous out

Testing, testing.  1... 2.. thr--why does everyone always do "Testing, testing 1-2-3" when they're testing out something new anyway?  And why do all new blogs start out with "Hello world!" Mysteries.

News Analysis - After Vote, Debate Shifts to New European Leader - NYTimes.com

News Analysis - After Vote, Debate Shifts to New European Leader - NYTimes.com:

"LONDON — Ireland’s vote to ratify the European Union’s Lisbon Treaty has finally cleared the way for the creation of a powerful new president, intended to elevate the 27-nation bloc’s standing on the global stage.

But do European leaders actually want one?

Ahead lies a difficult discussion about how much power and influence a new European Union president should have and whether the post should fall to a political star — like former Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain — or one of his grayer, more technocratic rivals.

The leaders of member countries will decide, probably this month, and their decision could determine whether the union really seeks the bigger role it says it needs to try to match the influence of the United States and that of rising powers like China, Russia, India and Brazil.

The Lisbon Treaty, which aims to streamline decision-making and reform the bloc’s ramshackle structures, lays down a two-and-a-half-year term for a full-time president of the European Council,"

This is GREAT news! GO EUROPE!

Think Progress » In just one hour, Sotomayor asked more questions than Thomas has in years.

Think Progress » In just one hour, Sotomayor asked more questions than Thomas has in years.:

"McClatchy also observed that in just an hour, she actually asked “more questions than Justice Clarence Thomas has asked over the course of several years.” Thomas has gone three years straight without posing a question during oral arguments."

Why would he need to? When you share a brain with Justice Scalia, you don't have to talk--you speak as one!