Ron's Log

"This Film Is Not Yet Rated"

Being released tomorrow in Los Angeles and New York, This Film Is Not Yet Rated is a documentary about the secretive MPAA ratings board, those people who find sex so very much more offensive than gory violence, and who cringe at the sight of male nudity, but who find female nudity to be routine. Kirby Dick, the film's director, hired a private investigator to track down and tail the board members.

The film is, indeed, being released unrated to avoid an NC-17 rating.

42 Year Veteran of National Park Service Dies

Stanley T. Albright, who died on August 18 at age 74, was the nephew of Horace Albright who is recognized as the "co-founder" of the National Park Service.

Stanely Albright was state director of the National Park Service in Alaska in the 1970s, where he laid the groundwork for the protection of 44 million acres, thereby doubling the size of the national park system. In the 1980s he served under James Watt and worked to protect the NPS from the worst ravages of the Reagan administration. The jewel in his crown (we think) was his key role in the passage of the 1994 California Desert Protection Act which created Death Valley National Park, Joshua Tree National Park and the Mojave National Preserve. He wrapped up his career with the park service as superintendent of Yosemite National Park from 1997 to 1999.

All Around California

Hugs For Hungary

Nándor Gyöngyösi, Mr. Gay Hungary, has won the title of Mr. Gay Europe. And on top of all that, he gets a trip to Palm Springs in October for the Mr. Gay International contest.

BTW, if you go check out the few city finalists that are currently lined up for the October competition, you will see the usual sort of thing...except for Mr. Anchorage. It looks like that Alaska city will be sending an actual MAN! He's only 24, but check out that shoe size.

Last Night in DHS

The three dinosaurs on the city council systematically removed Mayor Bias from all of his roles except the Mayorship itself, last night. It's not enough that they want to take the city down the tubes, they don't want anyone saying anything against them as they do it. They also decided not to fill Gary Bosworth's empty seat before the election for his spot next March.

But, in a very reassuring display of unanimity, the full council (4 of them) voted to affirm Karl Baker's appointment to the Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District.

Councilman Hank Hohenstein, after the vote Tuesday night, said he recommended that "the city manager contact the bug people immediately and get Mr. Baker's name put on the masthead immediately."

The district, apparently forgetting their role in a democratic (or would it be republican, in this instance) system, may STILL waste taxpayer dollars fighting Baker.

After requiring the full City Council to appoint Baker, [board president John] Fuschetti indicated Tuesday the district may not accept the council's decision.

"We may continue to proceed further in not accepting their appointment," he said.

When asked what the district may do now, Fuschetti replied, "That's up to our attorney."

The city council also found time to rename Indian Avenue to North Indian Canyon Drive

Hybrid Mini

PML Design has taken a standard Mini Cooper, ripped out the engine, transmission and brakes. "These components were replaced by four of our electric wheels, a lithium polymer battery, a large ultra capacitor, a very small ICE with generator (so small it almost fits alongside the spare wheel), an energy management system and a sexy in-car display module." The result is a car with a top speed of 150 MPH that can go from zero to 60 in 4.5 seconds, with a total range of 932 miles. Even more importantly, it allows MORE space inside the car...but you probably still won't be able to haul a refrigerator in it.

The car's official web page is here.

CMEN Photos

I've just created a CMEN group on Flickr where we can share photos from the CMEN west coast gathering. Please join if you'ever attended a CMEN gathering or plan to do so in the future.

Questions? Answers?

I never even heard of Yahoo Answers before, but CNNMoney.com says it's become the second most popular reference site on the web. The site has the answers to some profound questions, such as:

• didn't it KILL you that Harry Potter didnt' open the stupid mirror that Sirius gave him...?
• How do you start your day off?
• Is it possible for great looking people to smell bad? Or are they equipped with a natural great scent?
• Does anyone like stories about Roy Orbison being wrapped tightly in cling-film?
• I have something growing on my maple tree.What should I do? What is it? How can I save it?Who do I contact?
• I'm trying to make a catdog....?

Indian

The DHS city council tonight will consider a proposal to change the name of part of Indian Avenue to North Indian Canyon Drive. The same street in Palm Springs is called Indian Canyon Drive...but I'm not sure if that name extends all the way up to the Palm Springs city limit which is north of I-10. If the proposed name change is approved, the two segments will still be separated by a stretch called simply "Indian Avenue." In any case, everyone will continue to call the street simply "Indian" as they do, even in Palm Springs.

But more importantly, the Desert Sun's article once again repeats their urban myth (I think they're the only ones who repeat it) that there are only three roads between DHS and the rest of the Coachella Valley. The Desert Sun says they are Indian, Palm Drive and Varner. Since I've hit on this issue before, maybe I should lay out the other alternatives. The most obvious is to take any road west (Indian, Pierson or Dillon) to Route 62, and south on 62 to I-10. You can take that out west to 111 or east to any other road. And then there's Dillon Road going east, which leads eventually to Coachella, or you can turn at 1000 Palms Canyon and go to La Quinta or Thousand Palms.

Hacking Diebold

Marty Kaplan shows you how to hack a Diebold voting machine. You'll need a phillips head screwdriver and a USB flash drive. He shows you everything you need to know...EXCEPT what format the fake voting tally on your USB drive should be in. You can't just put a jpeg of your candidate on it, I guess.