I need to take a step or two back and take a look at what is going on in California today, with the State Supreme Court ruling that Prop 8 is not unconstitutional, but that existing same-sex marriages are valid. So this creates two classes of people in California, gay people who cannot get married to another member of the same sex, and those who already are.

The thing is, though, that the Supreme Court did not really rule on the gay marriage issue, except to say that the marriages performed before Prop 8 were valid. The ruling basically was that the proposition was properly implemented and did not restrict the rights of the citizens of California. Unfortunately, the Prop 8 folks had really good lawyers guiding the process.

The problem is, though, that it does restrict the rights of the citizens of California, especially when compared to the rights granted in a growing number of other states. When you look at states like Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, Connecticut and Iowa (Iowa? man I would have so lost that bet), and possibly soon New York and New Jersey, there are rights granted there that are specifically prohibited in other states. California is unique, though, because it allows already existing marriages to remain valid but prohibits more of the same.

Despite what the opponents will tell you, this is the same as miscegenation. The states are legislating who is allowed to marry. The same arguments were made when those laws were eliminated as well, including biblical arguments. “but wait, one does not choose their race! You choose to be gay or not!” OK, then we step away from race and move to religion. I was raised in an Irish Catholic family, but married a Jewish woman. Now, let’s pretend the argument that homosexuality is a choice is even close to being remotely true (protip: it’s not), and compare it to religion. If it was proposed that mixed-religion marriages should not be allowed, people would be up in arms. Funny part is, many of the same arguments apply. According to the Bible, it’s not allowed. In fact, under current Jewish guidelines, it isn’t allowed, and not considered valid, and most rabbis will not perform the ceremony.

So it all boils down to this, currently bigotry is the rule, and that is why people oppose the concept of gay marriage. If your views are based solely on religious grounds, you could make the argument that you are not bigoted, btu then you invalidate your argument for a civil law against it because then you are legislating your religious views, and guess what that violates? (Hint: it rhymes with Flu Dress Restitution)

This will not be the end of the story in California, by any stretch, but I have the feeling it will end up becoming a Federal issue, possibly Constitutional. I hope it does, really, because frankly I am getting very tired of a bunch of Mormons throwing a ton of money at the issue, and just tired of listening to the radicals on both sides showing everyone the nailholes on their hands and feet.

What the hell is that in the box?

BEER BEER BORK BORK

AMERICA!

Since it was realized today that it was the anniversary of the MISSION ACCOMPLISHED banner, we celebrated with the following playlist on the office stereo:

Quote d’jour

From Greg Peters: “I saw that link but can’t remember if it was in a TWEET, a BLORP, a FLEEGLE, a PEEHOLE, or a FLOOP, BINGLE, JOEBLOW, or maybe a DINGLEBLOG”

Saturnalia

A collection of Cassini Images that are some of the most amazing pictures of one of the most fascinating planets in our solar system.

A JAVA MCDOODLE? GREAT!!!

As I settle in to a new QA gig, I feel obligated to once again point out the seminal reference for QA professionals everywhere, Tristan Farnon’s Liesuretown comic, “QA Confidential”.

So much of my personal philosophy is summed up by Liesuretown. I suggest reading all of the comics there, unless of course you are easily offended by vulgar language, scatological humor, possible racism and sexism, and the use of plastic bendy creatures in comics.

Back to work

It’s been a long time since I blogged much, I’ve partially written a few things, and then when this domain got listed by Google as an attack site for a long time, it took whatever motivation I had away. I almost didn’t even renew the domain, though I have had it for almost a decade now. I tried a couple of things here and there, I started a couple of other sites, tried to get myself going on a couple of other projects, got insanely busy at work with a project that ultimately was cancelled just before the public unveiling. That one really hurt, after a lot of work by a ton of really talented people went into making what would have been a hell of a product and I think would have changed a lot of the way people listen to music on the internet, the rug gets pulled.

It’s the nature of business, and in this economy especially, but that didn’t stop it from stinging. There was also a bit of an uphill battle against an established web community that was already against us without ever seeing or really knowing the product, but rather basing it off of the history of a couple of projects some of the guys working on this one had been a part of. That alone helped demoralize us a bit, where we would read people write all sorts of screeds against us, without having the slightest friggin clue what we were doing.

So the company gets shut down, and I am out of work at the beginning of February. “Well,” I said to myself, “now maybe I can get back into the blogs again.” I make some plans start to put them into motion, and then get the idea from a friend about some ways to possibly turn some of them into a business. So my other plans get put on hols while I look into that, and at the same time, job-hunt.

I want to take a minute now and talk about how kickass my friends and network are. In the span of a couple weeks, I had three interviews lined up. In six weeks, I had an offer on the table. Almost a record for me, but back when I was laid off from Groove, I had an offer in four weeks. But I interviewed in six different places, talked to a few other places on the phone and in email, and not once did I use a recruiter or Monster.com/other job sites. Not that the recruiters I work with don’t rock, but it’s just the nature of the job market now, all who ya know. In fact, in this gig, the VP of Technology was a VP and my grandboss in my last job.

Anyhow, so now I’m working again, commuting to an office for the first time in two years. It’s a tough adjustment, but I’m actually enjoying it a little, because I’m forcing myself to walk around the city more, and all the stairs on the T are good for me. There’s the dark side of the commute, though, is I am forced to remember just how diversely and mind-numbingly stupid other people commuting are. I predict by the end of the summer I will have a cow catcher and rocket launchers installed on my car.

But now at least I have a gig, the mortgage gets paid, and am resolving to try and pick up the sites again. We’ll see how that goes…

OK I lied

I finally got my name taken off the blacklist from Google and Trend, so now I can use this site again. Frankly, I prefer it. I’m going to keep caputsterci, but change it a little, and make this my blog again.

See ya…

So this is the last post to Geekdroppings, at least as my blog. I have given up the fight against the various companies like Google and Trend who keep listing this site as an attack site. Apparently there was a vulnerability in Wordpress that was exploited once, and some meta tags for a spam site got embedded in one post. I caught it, fixed it, and closed the vulnerability, but 90% of the people who visit this site get a warning and a block. So I’m closing up this shop for blogging and moving my gaming and geek stuff to Massive Crits and now am starting a new site, featuring my disdain for my fellow man! Caput Sterci will be where I rant and point out exactly why I feel misanthropy is the way to go.

Thanks for reading this for as long as I have had it, I just am tired of fighting with Google, who is determined to make sure I am listed as an attack site.