HeresTomWithTheWeather

Travis County voted against Prop 2:

For: 54,198 (40.04%) Against: 81,144 (59.95%)

but, the rest of Texas (excluding Travis) approved Prop 2 by a landslide:

For: 1,658,625 (78.51%) Against: 454,109 (21.49%)

The Houston Chronicle quotes Rep. Warren Chisum: "That's where the victory was won, from the pulpits of the state of Texas" If Chisum's remark is true, then, in general, the majority voters presumably justified their decision with a moral argument based on scripture. The article continues:

Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said the outcome was not unexpected. "When you put a fundamental right of a minority up for popular vote, it's almost impossible to win," said Foreman.

History has shown that to be true, but there's even a bigger hurdle. Gay marriage is public. It is out in the open and it is cheap for people to attack. Even though pornography is similarly condemned by the pulpit, it is too expensive to attack because it is done in private. So, pornography is protected by its private nature and this opens up the possibility that those who are condemning gay marriage in the voting booth may be hypocritically engaging in behavior that is also condemned by the pulpit, albeit with much less vigor and political will.

We can easily look up this data. As it turns out, as of today, according to Alexa.com, there is a virtual tie in traffic between foxnews.com (ranked 199) and pornaccess.com (ranked 200). Conclude what you will.

Tonight was trivia night at the Red Hook Brewery in Woodenville. I learned that Abbey Road was originally going to be called Mount Everest and the one song in the film The Wall that was not on the album was When the Tigers Broke Free. Our table came in 3rd place. Did you know that in addition to playing piano, Fiona Apple is credited with playing the optigan? I didn't either. I was the weakest link tonight.

Walmart has been especially generous to our community. In the same spirit, may I suggest joining others who have bought copies of Walmart: The High Cost of a Low Price and have played them in Walmart's DVD showcase areas. If you are feeling generous, here are the Walmarts in the Austin area.

The astronomical momentum of myspace.com is fascinating. The founder spoke at SXSW Interactive 2005 and he attributed their growth to the pictures. That's certainly a part of it but there is something deeper.

The LA club scene was the catalyst for myspace. What imagery does that conjure up?

Look at my skin shine, look at my skin glow. Look at my skin laugh, look at my skin cry. When you can't even sense if they got any insides. These people so pretty in their ribbons and bows - from Bob Dylan's Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie

Applying the measuring stick used by mass media (and the schoolyard), the LA club scene represents the best our country has to offer...youth, glamour, money, but most importantly Universally Self Absorbed (USA) people. Consider the site design. Upon logging into the site, the most valuable screen real-estate is reserved for a photo of yourself and options to see your profile page as it is seen by others, edit that profile, change your photo, etc. The genius of myspace.com is that they are exploiting our vanity. Unfortunately, there seems to be a little bit of LA in all of us.

Of course, myspace.com is not unique. You can think of dozens more whose billions in bottom line depend on USA people. LA. The origin of all meaning. ;)