The Video

Here it is - the result of over a year of obsessive editing and rendering on my computer. Over two years ago I tried to play a .wma file on VLC player, but instead of hearing music, I found myself mesmerized by pretty colors. So instead of packing for my trip back to college, I obsessively sat in my room (there was also a New Years party I was neglecting downstairs) and took screen vids of the flashy images.

The next few weeks I started making patterns in Final Cut, increasing the complexity to the point that I couldn't focus my eyes for hours at a time. My roommates remember - I did nothing else, late into the night. I layered in audio later - most of the tracks stem from the HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy Book on Tape and my brother playing guitar a la Audacity.

I don't know how good it is, but my best friend back home said it blew her mind. Of course, she later told me she'd been tripping on acid at the time, so...yeah. But still.

- Eaflaps

P.S. Please don't have seizures. And you should watch on YouTube full screen with audio cranked.

Defending marriage...against people who want to get married

Generation Mr. Rogers Episode 3: Seward's Folly

Jacob and Shilpa cover the amazing and awful parts of election night. Plus, we discuss how Alaska is crazy- I think this might be a theme for this video blog.

Bush Admin="Hiring a Vegan to be your Butcher"

Stephen Colbert called Rachel Maddow "the Queen of Cable!" in his interview:



I love the geeky glasses. Way to go, Maddow!
...and here she is on the cover of The Advocate in amazing-newscaster suspenders:-RS

Dear Michael Crichton,

Thank you for your imagination and thank you for making obscure science and philosophy so freaking thrilling. Because of you, we will always fear blood clots and door-opening velociraptors .

You will be missed dearly.

-The Awkward Conversation Blog

Prop 8 Reactions

I was going to write some sort of rant in this post. However, before I could, I ran into Earflaps who was listening to earnest and sweet music. So today, instead of fighting with rants, I'm going to fight with love. Take that Proposition 8!




Richard Land, director of Southern Baptist Convention and friend/adviser to Bush said the following back in 2003 regarding gay marriage:
"In a representative democracy like the United Steste, if we believe that certain lifestyles should be affirmed and other lifestyles merely tolerated, we have a right to have that made into law. And that's not called a theocracy, it's just called a representative government"

Really? Is that what American democracy is about? Majority rule? What are your reactions?
Heres what Keith had to say:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27650743/
-RS

Generation Mr. Rogers 2

Jacob and Shilpa are back. They're here, on the eve of the Presidential Election, to talk about how Democrats are caught up in conservative rhetoric.

Topics discussed include: Gay rights, Iraq war and the economy.



Feel free to leave comments!

New Episode of Gen. Mr. Rogers, Coming Soon!

We know you're all on the edge of your seats waiting for a new episode of "Generation Mr. Rogers" - fear not, it's coming tonight.
To hold you over until then, here is what Fox News thinks about this whole Mr. Rogers thing:



Spacesocks would agree that they're stepping into another big-old logical fallacy: Correlation does not imply Causation.
Video Bloggers Jacob and Shilpa, however, were thrilled that Fox News called them "ruined."

To them, it means they're doing something right.

Insults ≠ ad hominem fallacy

Hate to go all logic-nerd on you guys (well, actually I don't, but whatever).

Anyway, I recently ran across a misuse of the term "ad hominem attack," and I thought it would be nice to broadcast how the term ought to be used.

The argumentum ad hominem is an informal fallacy. It goes something like this.
A: "Spacesocks says that in a true ad hominem, one attempts to undermine another person's argument by attacking the character of the person making the argument, rather than by addressing the substance of the argument."
B: "That can't be true, because Spacesocks is a liberal elitist. She wants the government in charge of our health care! Clearly, you can't believe a word she says."

It's true that ad hominem arguments almost universally involve insults, but not every insult is fallacious, even in a rhetorical context:
A: "Michele Bachmann thinks we should investigate members of Congress to identify the ones who hold anti-American views."
B: "Michele Bachmann is completely nuts."

What's the difference, you may ask?

In an ad hominem argument, one uses one's judgments about the arguer as a basis for condemning a position

In a non-fallacious insult, one uses judgments about the validity of a position as a basis for condemning the arguer.

The Harder They Fall, One and All

It seems like all my time spent talking about the elections these days are with young Dems who don't want to 'jinx' it by showing optimism.
I thought this article in the New York Times explained that this sentiment is widespread among Obama supporters. This cute article had me at the title and won me over with the great pictures of hesitant Democrats:


If nothing else, Obama supporters should win for being adorable... and not wanting to shoot moose.

Anyway, this article especially struck a chord because I was recently subjected to the self-indulgent and infinitely depressing Micheal Moore documentary, Slacker Uprising.
This is a movie about the Bush-Kerry race- with Micheal Moore traveling across the country with celebrities and propaganda- trying to get young people/"slackers" to vote. His efforts were challeneged by the Bush campaign (they said that bribing people to vote with free underwear and ramen noodles was illegal)- but Moore prevails with his free speech.
This movie was pretty much a downer - I watched it because it was free on iTunes and a girl wanted me to watch it with her... she was a really really really cute girl. Because of this, I was able to make it through the whole movie without crying.

Kerry lost. The slackers didn't make a difference. Today is different, though.

Obama is actually more charismatic than an Ent and change is in the air. I can smell it.
*knock on wood*
This isn't up to the jinx laws, people- it's up to us and voting... and we finally have a candidate who doesn't need Micheal Moore to get people's attention...
(though if Obama wants to send Scarlett Johansson to our school again, it wouldn't hurt.)

-RS