I have been displeased with the back-end operation of Mount Sutro for some time now. I had made plans a while back to overhaul the software I use and to rewrite my custom code. It never happened. Well, I have decided that I am sufficiently displeased enough to assign some time to this task. The last major code change was done in September 2002, one year after I started publishing the site. Though the purpose and direction of the site have changed over the course of the past three years, the underlying way it operated has not.

Starting this week, I will be redeveloping Mount Sutro from the ground up. Instead of posting the blog (currently sub-titled "One Last Breath") to the phpBB-powered Forum and syndicating it on the main page via PHP script, I am going to install and customize a more suitable publishing application. WordPress and Textpattern are my top two candidates for this task. A retool of the Forum is planned. I continue to be happy with the performance of Coppermine, the software driving the Gallery, so aside from a fresh install (new version) and tidying up of my custom code, no changes are planned there.

I have no plan to entirely redesign the visual look and feel, but some changes will be made. Invalid links will automatically be redirected to their new destinations or to a 404 page containing a search feature and site map.

I welcome any comments and suggestions.

It was a nice and laid-back day wherein I did very little productive. And it was good. I just got back from dinner at Charley's Steak House (full review soon). Suffice it to say, the meal was quite enjoyable and our waiter was someone I know. He gave me a free tiramisu for my birthday. Now, before the entry sounds any more like a LiveJournal, I am going to go have a few beverages at Saint Andrew's Tavern.

Cannabis grandmother's book hopes
[original article]

A grandmother on a drugs charge who cooks treats using cannabis has written a book about her activities which she aims to get published.

Patricia Tabram, 66, of Hexham, Northumberland, bakes cannabis-laced biscuits, soups and casseroles for herself and friends.

She hopes her book called Grandma Eats Cannabis will be in print soon.

Ms Tabram appeared in court this week after admitting possessing cannabis with intent to supply.

Proceedings were adjourned to allow for the preparation of reports and she was remanded on bail until 11 March.

The grandmother-of-two began cooking for friends using food laced with the illegal drug after being introduced to it last year.

Police raids

Mrs Tabram, a former chef, said: "I suffer from depression, whiplash in my neck and back pain. I went to bed and the next morning I felt so much better. I didn't know what I had taken so I asked my friends. They said it was cannabis.

"But I don't like smoking so they said I could cook with it."

But Northumbria Police were tipped off and twice raided her house in May and June last year.

They seized 31 cannabis plants growing in her loft and another one from her hallway table.

She said: "When the police came to my door I invited them in. I told them to look in the loft and I offered them some tea and biscuits."

Mrs Tabram, whose home contains cookery books and books by convicted drug dealer Howard Marks, is hoping Marks' publishers will take on her book.

It is easy to forget how nice the weather in Florida is whilst the rest of the country enjoys blistery winters. The following quote from the Library of Congress website made me giggle just now:

The Library will close today, Saturday, January 22, at 2:00 due to snow.

Fun, fun!

To whom it may concern:

I just connected to your wireless network connection and used it to browse the web. I only went to Yahoo! this time, but next time I might download music. I wish I could see the surprised look on your face when the MPAA agents break down your door and haul you to the clink.

No, but really, you should do something about this. Your SSID is MSHOME and your router's MAC address is 00 0D 3A 2D 07 0B. If you do nothing else, change your SSID and discontinue its broadcast. You need to add a network key to secure the connection, though. You stopped broadcasting before I could try, but I bet you twenty dollars I could log into your router from here and make changes (because you kept the default password).

Please protect yourself and your network!

I find the accusations detailed in the following BBC news story unfathomably ridiculous.

US right attacks SpongeBob video
[original article]

US conservative groups are up in arms over a music video featuring children's TV heroes such as the cheerful cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants. Focus on the Family and other groups say the video – a remake of the Sister Sledge hit, We Are Family – is a vehicle for pro-gay propaganda.

The video's makers plan to mail it to US schools in the spring to promote tolerance and diversity. They say the attack is based on a misunderstanding.

The video also features children's favourites like Bob the Builder, along with characters from Sesame Street and The Muppet Show.

But James Dobson, founder of right-wing Christian group Focus on the Family, singled out SpongeBob at a black-tie dinner in Washington in the run-up to President Bush's inauguration, the New York Times said.

SpongeBob – who appears on the children's cable channel Nickelodeon – is seen as an icon for adult gay men in the US, apparently because he regularly holds hands with his sidekick Patrick. His creators deny that he is gay, but he is not the first such character to cause controversy.

In 1999 conservatives claimed handbag-carrying Teletubby Tinky Winky, an import from the UK, was a bad role-model.

'Easy lesson'

Nile Rodgers, who wrote the song and is founder of the We Are Family Foundation (WAFF) which released the new video, says it is intended to help teach children the values of co-operation and unity.

"We believe that this is the essential first step to loving thy neighbour," he said. "And the fun and exciting format makes it a lesson that's easy for children to learn."

But conservatives say it sees the video as a cunning attempt to promote homosexuality. They point to the fact that the WAFF is linked to a pledge being promoted by some liberal groups which includes a recognition of tolerance of sexual identity.

"We see the video as an insidious means by which the organisation is manipulating and potentially brainwashing kids," Paul Batura, a spokesman for Focus on the Family, told the New York Times.

Mr Rodgers said the groups may have confused his foundation with an unrelated organisation with a similar name that supports gay youth.

WAFF spokesman Mark Barondeso told the newspaper that anyone who thought the video promoted homosexuality "needs to visit their doctor and get their medication increased."

I must have let my subscription to the "Convert the World" newsletter lapse, because all this agenda talk is new to me. The Focus on the Family group must have nothing better to do then come up with these absurd analyses of cartoon kids programming. So SpongeBob and Patrick hold hands, right? Hello, this is a program for children. Children hold hands with their friends. How can people so instantly jump from a simple friendly hand-hold to homosexual agenda?

The basis of the conservative view that homosexuals are promoting an agenda to gain "special" rights and brainwash the balance of the population is intrinsically flawed. The only agenda I see in action is similar to the one Doctor Martin Luther King, Junior embarked on in 1955 when he staged the city-wide boycott of Montgomery, Alabama's public transportation system in response to the Rosa Parks arrest.

Irrelevant of anyone's personal feeling on whether or not homosexuality is moral, unnatural or dirty, it was the intention of the founders of this country that every citizen had the unrestricted ability to conduct their lives as they see fit. As such, rules were established to ensure equal treatment regardless of those beliefs. While it has taken a considerable amount of time to attach these rules to minorities such as African Americans and women, it was eventually done because it was the right and equal thing to do.

I am not seeking any "special" rights. I want to be able to receive Federal tax benefits should I choose to officialize a long-term, loving relationship with another human being. I want that person to automatically receive the legal privileges as a next of kin and to have the final say in matters exclusive to the union. I do not want to have to worry about being terminated from job where I perform above and beyond all expectations because someone has a problem with who I happen to be romantically attracted to in my private, personal, non-work related life.

Someone please explain to me how those requests are "special" in any way.

I do not identify myself by my sexuality. I exist as a human being and therefore should be judged by my actions, not who I date. That is nobody's business but my own and personally not something I feel the need to advertise. I will not hide the fact, however. Why should I bother? I do not hide the fact that I have grey eyes or that my right hand is dominant. In the larger scheme of the universe, those attributes hold the same weight as sexuality: very little to none.

And even if you do not choose to accept that argument and still hold the opinion that homosexuality is something one consciously selects, why still should it matter? Does my choice to purchase a Honda vehicle over a Ford vehicle somehow make me inherently different from someone who would select the Ford over the Honda?

In closing, if you think I am going to go to hell for having committed unequivocally detestable sins against god and nature, so be it. I am not planning on finding out if you are correct in the near future, so in the meantime, I am the same as you and deserve the same rights and privileges. Period.

UPDATE

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Related Article: Best Gay News Blog: Mount Sutro