YatBazaar

One of the things that makes New Orleans great is our love for music and one of the two great musical weekends of the year has arrived.

With the election being May 1st and today being the last day to early vote I encourage you enjoy a great day of music and food but only after you early vote!

If you live in the following zip codes you are likely eligible to vote in this election:

70119 - 70130 - 70113 - 70112 - 70116

You can early vote today from 830am to 600pm at any of the three following locations:

Registrar of Voters office - Located at City Hall, 1300 Perdido St., #1W23, New Orleans, LA  70112, phone no. 504-658-8300
Registrar of Voters Branch Office - Located at 225 Morgan St., Rm. #105, New Orleans, LA 70114, phone no. 504-658-0382
Voting Machine Warehouse - Located at 8870 Chef Menteur Hwy., New Orleans, LA 70127, phone no. 504-942-8313

If you'd like to join us this weekend going door to door you can meet us today (SATURDAY) and tomorrow (SUNDAY):

Perry for State Rep HQ
1507 N. Miro St.
New Orleans, LA 70119

SATURDAY (Lunch provided between shifts) -
10am to 1pm
2pm to 5pm

SUNDAY -
2pm to 5pm

Have a safe and fun Jazzfest - but make sure you early vote!

Thank you,

 James Perry

DISCLAIMER: I have no affiliation with the Perry campaign.  Come to think of it, James has never even so much as bought me a cup of coffee.  I'm proud to support his campaign and have donated money to the effort.

(cross-posted to Yatmedia.com)

I got an e-mail from a mailing list/group I follow but am not active with this morning. Seems the group is re-designing their website and they're looking for a professional graphics person to make a logo for them.

For free.

Well, they're willing to give them credit on their webpage. Here's the offer:

For designing our logo, we'll give you credit on the homepage + a link to your site.

The site currently has 8,700 members + a widget that's installed on more than 1,300 web sites which has have more than 348,000 views...

Those aren't bad numbers. This is a social media/social networking group who point-blank advises their members not to build a social network without profiting.

Let's assume they're following they're recommendations, and they're making a dollar/euro/yen or three off of their efforts. A professionally-created logo shouldn't cost more than $200-$300. If they're monetizing a network of that size a couple hundred bucks doesn't sound like a major sacrifice.

Let's say these folks aren't following their own recommendation. Even if they asked all 8700 members for $5, let's say they got a 1% response. They could easily write the check to the graphic designer.
ls willing to volunteer/donate their time and skills to the right project. When you're in it for the money, as clearly these folks are, however, expect to pay.

When I tweeted my frustration on this subject, my Twitter-friend Jason (@MarblesXIII), sent me the link to this video. Pretty much sums it up!

Whenever I see an article about Michelle Duggar, I see this graphic:

So, one of those "Quiverfull" groups is giving this nut a "mother of the year" award.

I suppose it's inevitable when a high-profile athlete or celebrity is accused of sexual assault that some will come out in defense of that celebrity by making light of rape as a concept.  After all, lowering expectations is a regular tactic used in public relations campaigns.

That said, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that #itaintrape became a "trending topic" on Da Twittah, but it's still horrid.  Cathy Gunderson sums it up better than I ever could:

Every day, another woman walks in Amy’s shoes. Or Hannah’s shoes. Even now, two and a half decades after my own experience, every day a victimized woman is afraid to tell. And why should she tell if the result is being branded with her own stigma? When the forces in place designed to help her don’t believe her? When tomorrow she winds up the butt of an insensitive, vulgar Twitter joke? “Amy” had her own fictionalized vengeance, and in doing so she absolved me of some of my own guilt.  In the real world, solutions don’t come so easily.

I have no tolerance for rape jokes, even prison rape jokes about Newt Gingrich.

I was looking for a good vid of "Don't Bogart That Joint" to mark the occasion, but none from the heyday of Little Feat...so here's something most excellent:

George W. Bush, 28-August-2005

(post on the pilot is here)

Episode 2 of "Treme" solidified my hope and desire that the show will go beyond just scoring quick points and establish itself as a series with multiple seasons of staying power.  Character development began in earnest this week, and the all-too-human strong and weak sides of the people of "Treme" started coming out.

(click "Read More" below to continue - spoilers abound!)

We finally watched Treme last night. I had to wait from Sunday for two reasons. First, prior to Monday, we weren't subscribers to HBO. I fixed that Monday afternoon by calling Cox and having them flip the switch. Second, I told my 15yo that I'd wait for him to watch it. With homework and such, it had to wait for the weekend. In case anybody's curious, "HBO On Demand" works.

(click "Read More" below to continue - don't want to spoil the show for anyone)

The database shit the bed and I had to restore a backup. Didn't lose all that much, so we'll trudge forward.

Even though I respect a principled stance on pro-life issues, I must respectfully disagree with Archbishop Greg Aymond of New Orleans, In this week's Clarion Herald (NOLA's Catholic weekly), Abp. Aymond says (pdf):

It is disappointing that the Catholic Health Association supported the bill. The end – providing access to health care for more people – does not justify using our tax dollars to fund abortion.