My sister, Connie Beasley, just passed away at around 6 pm tonight. She was 43. #cancer #inmemoriam #rip
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Ideas for e-books
I haven’t posted in a while, but I just wanted to share a few personal ideas for how e-books (specifically those in the ePub format) can be modified for a more attractive and functional visual reader experience. I may expand this list in the future with more items.
E-books as music/video albums: The publication of audio albums online (outside of iTunes) is nowadays conducted through the distribution of compressed archives (i.e., .zip), usually containing a collection of the album’s art alongside the tracks from the album in MP3 or other audio file formats, as well as a playlist file and album notes in plain text format; alternately, this same collection is distributed through peer-to-peer file-sharing networks such as BitTorrent as a .torrent file. However, while it is the most common means of digital publication and distribution of music albums, it is absent of the visual allure associated with the physical music album. As video and audio can be embedded into an ePub document (since a ePub file is simply a zip archive of numbered XHTML pages), I think ePubs can become “visual packages” for music files, in which each MP3 is embedded into any ePub “page”, with lyrics, topical images, and perhaps the associated music video being embedded above or below the music player control bar.
“Spines” or “page frames”: I dunno if this has been tried, but a graphic “spine” or “page frame” on either side of each page would, IMO, help bring visual unity to the ebook while it is being read. The graphic would be a vector graphic image (in SVG format) in order to be as reflowable as the e-book’s text.
To My Sister’s Coworkers at Martin Army Hospital
I want to take the time to jot down my gratitude to the active duty and civilian coworkers from Martin Army Hospital who have stood by my sister, mother, myself and my nephews us through all this and have chipped in through a variety of means to help maintain our household’s stability.
They helped me and Brandon clean up and unbox the new house on post which we moved into in August (which we hadn’t done due to both health and time constraints), they made school lunch easier for RJ, they have kept my mother fed while she has waited alongside my sister for over a month at Columbus Regional, they have helped me and Connie keep up with her online schoolwork, they have pulled strings to ensure that there is a sense of continuity in this household (wherever it may manifest), despite my own shortcomings as a “de facto” caretaker.
They are all amazing people, and I appreciate their involvement in our lives.
Before heading home in the wee hours of the morning, I dropped off my other sister Wanda at the hospital. I went into the ICU with her and her younger daughter, Cedrica, and I talked to Connie for 10 minutes, at least to try communicating with her. I talked about how her coworkers helped us clean and arrange the house yesterday, how things were paid off, how stuff simply, finally, got done. I encouraged her to keep fighting the disease, keep holding on, stay on to come back home. When talking to Cedrica on the way to post about the experience, she said that Connie’s EKG was beating faster while I was talking to her.
From a comment I made to Anne:
“If we LGBTs and Allies go, we’re excusing and abetting “business as usual”. If we stay home and boycott, Russia will still go ahead with “business as usual”. Either way LGBT Russians are screwed in some way. Plus, with far-right assholes from churches, think tanks and political parties abroad (including here in the US) who have confederated themselves (or twisted themselves and each other in angry anti-liberal knots) in “pro-family” material and rhetorical defense of the Russian, Ugandan and other anti-LGBT bills, how does one counter this industry and its bitter product? The only thing I can see as effective is forming an “underground railroad” for LGBT Russians and Eastern Europeans.”
I’m not arguing against a civilian boycott of the games. If moralistic and symbolic, it will at least keep people aware of what is going on. But don’t count on it to be effective beyond that, or in the short term. #lgbt #russia #sochi #olympics #ЛГБТ #России
Last 30 minutes: Connie, my sister, just told us that her recent MRI revealed abnormalities in her back and head. We’re taking her to Columbus Regional tonight, where she will stay for at least three days.
If it’s what we’re fearing, her hysterectomy will be called off and she will continue chemo. If confirmed and left untreated, prognosis is four weeks. She found this out by phone this morning.
Meanwhile, it’s rained for three whole days. She prayed with her younger son and my mother in the living room just now, at his request. I walked out and waited in my room instead; Brandon sat in his. I refuse all expectations, and accept all futures. #4thOfJuly #ComeWhatMay
50 Year Anniversary of Landmark Case for Separation of Church & State
Today marks the 50th anniversary of a landmark case for the separation of church and state – Abington School District Vs. Schempp. The court decided 50 years ago, in an 8-1 decision (do you think that would happen today?), that mandatory Bible reading in public schools was unconstitutional.
Justice Tom C. Clark said of this decision,
“The place of religion in our society is an exalted one, achieved through a long tradition of reliance on the home, the church and the inviolable citadel of the individual heart and mind. We have come to recognize through bitter experience that it is not within the power of government to invade that citadel, whether its purpose or effect be to aid or oppose, to advance or retard. In the relationship between man and religion, the State is firmly committed to a position of neutrality.”
At the time, it was Pennsylvania and four…
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REFUSING MY RELIGION to speak and cover first ever ‘Sunday Assembly’ in the U.S.
Why we Need the Freedom Not to Believe: Lessons from China
While the government of the PRC tends to abuse the human rights of its citizens, one of the few aspects of the PRC’s state atheism which can be appreciated is the explicit constitutional protection of the freedoms to believe and not believe in any religious ideology or observance. This is not protected by most national constitutions.
His choice of venue for suicide, his reasoning for this type of suicide, and his very basis of thinking is exactly the same reasoning and basis for the actions of Anders Breivik, the Norwegian mass murderer. Gay marriage will cause Sharia, White race is dying out by not breeding enough, etc. I’m surprised that he didn’t berate a conspiracy of the evil Jewish Muslim Marxist Hollywood liberal bankster Freemasons for the downfall of Louis XVI in his suicide note. AFAIK.
