Monthly Archives: June 2005

BMEfest quickies

Friday, June 24, 2005

Rachel did a killer job with the event; here are a few quick photos (more later). I'm off to the afterparty shortly! You should have come if you're not here!

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Brief Posting

Thursday, June 23, 2005

Our lawyers are involved in seeking to have 2257 struck down, although it's difficult to say whether the US would come after a Canadian company owned by a Canadian that does a small amount of hosting in the US (most is back in Canada, and the rest will be soon). If there's anything that affects IAM or BME members I'll post it here, but I just wanted to briefly mention that we're on top of it.

In related “fuck all governments and raise a fist” news, the US Supreme Court ruled today that private land ownership doesn't exist in America, and that the government has the right to take anyone's land and give it to megacorporations if they can show that it will be profitable. They can literally take a bulldozer to the house your family has owned for a hundred years if Walmart can show that it's a good location for their parking lot.

So… no civil rights, no free speech, no privacy rights, no property rights…

What's next?

Oh, I remember now — if you're not Christian, you have no legal standing.

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Marijuana Conspiracy

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Saw an interesting article today linked from Rense on “the real reason” that marijuana continues to be nonsensically illegal while far more dangerous drugs like alcohol and tobacco are totally legal without a prescription. The core thesis of this article is that it's illegally solely because it's an untapped wonder product — legalizing it would put the big corporations that “run the government” at financial risk because they're deeply invested in less effective strategies and could not mobilize themselves as new entrepreneurs.

Anyway, I'm heading out in ten or fifteen minutes now to Carlos and Charlies. If you're here in La Paz, consider stopping by, and if not, read that article.

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BMEfest shirts

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

I just picked up the shirt order for BMEfest:


S – XXL shirts in tan, yellow girlie Ts, and orange too.

I've put a couple of them in the washing machine to see how much shrinkage there is on them, as well as to get an idea of how well the screen has been cured (ie. does it crack or wash off). I'm doing a pretty aggressive wash (hot water, not inside-out), but my official advice is wash them inside out in cold water.

Update: After washing the shirt screens still look good and there's no noticeable shrinkage.

The other thing I wanted to say to folks who are here are will be here soon for BMEfest is
   “Say hello!”
If you notice other people who you think are probably from BME/IAM on the street or sitting in a restaurant, coffee shop, or internet café, come over and introduce yourselves. Hell, if you don't have plans for the day, see if they want to do something, or walk over to one of the tour operators on the waterfront and rent ATVs or something… Have fun!

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El bicho

Monday, June 20, 2005

I had the Manta Montage out on the road today here in La Paz. The ING insurance place is nearby so I just drove there, but both times I showed up everyone was out to lunch or napping or something so I can't quite legally drive it yet… Had a nice long show-and-tell talk with some locals that pulled over and wanted to know about the car (and offered to buy it). It's amazing how much you can communicate with a little broken English, a little broken Spanish, and lots of hand gestures.

The front left tire rubs a little when cornering due to an interior panel being loose, there's a strange rattle that I've got to get to the bottom of, and a couple of the gauges don't appear to be connected. Other than that the shift linkage is pretty fucked and it's definitely not easy to change gears. That said, it's got such a great power to weight ratio that you can drop it in fifth and start from a standstill without straining the car… but if anyone coming to BMEfest is a solid mechanic, come by and help me diagnose things!

PS. Damn, does it get hot in that car with the A/C off!

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