I swore to myself: no more political posts. I’m not sure if I’m breaking that today or not. I really feel that this is more of a last ditch attempt to speak up for Democracy. I’m running scared. Today is the stark realization that a significant portion of the country could give a shit about democracy so long as the side that seizes power is their side. Convinced of their own divine rightness and entitlement to elevation above others, they’re rooting for the destruction of the fabric of our society.

Spying on American citizens without the benefit of oversight, congressional or judicial, has nothing to do with fighting terrorists. The executive branch has those tools already. It’s been reported over and over and over: they have the power to spy the instant they feel the need, they just need to get authorization within 72 hours from a court that doesn’t know how to say ‘no.’

“Well the calls all involved foreign entities.” No, they didn’t. We’re finding that out today.

“But we only spied on terrorists.” Like the ACLU and PETA, apparently.

“The fourth amendment isn’t all that important.” Until they come knocking on your door anyway. I suppose you won’t mind if the executive branch arbitrarily suspends the second amendment too? You can turn in your guns on the way out.

What I am saying is this: this is a direct attack on democracy. On the foundation of democracy. If a Democract did this I would be equally outraged. Bush must be impeached and yet he won’t. Not only will the Republicans in Congress not do their duty, neither will the media. I sit in horror as I watch the country I love being destroyed by apathy and inertia. And Bush.

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Okay, maybe I’m overdoing it a bit. It depends. Have you ever needed to pull complex data from a media file? Maybe the ID3 data? Maybe the width and height so you can display the object properly?

Then check out this getID3 script.

This thing is flat out amazing. I used it to get the width and height of a Quicktime movie that I needed to embed into a web page. Because it was for a site where people would be uploading a bunch of different media files and because I couldn’t rely on them to know the width and height of every file, I needed to get the information on the fly.

What it gave me was a wealth of information above and beyond just the width and the height. Here, for your viewing pleasure, is the array it returned (minus a big chunk of nested variables that, to me, looked like random data spit out by an overzealous loop):

$obInfo = Array (
[GETID3_VERSION] => 1.7.4
[filesize] => 7828770
[avdataoffset] => 9758
[avdataend] => 7828770
[fileformat] => quicktime
[audio] => Array (
[dataformat] => quicktime
[codec] =>
[sample_rate] => 22050
[channels] => 2
[bits_per_sample] => 16
[lossless] =>
[channelmode] => stereo
[streams] => Array (
[0] => Array (
[dataformat] => quicktime
[codec] =>
[sample_rate] => 22050
[channels] => 2
[bits_per_sample] => 16
[lossless] =>
[channelmode] => stereo
)
)
) [video] => Array (
[dataformat] => quicktime
[resolution_x] => 360
[resolution_y] => 240
[codec] => Sorenson Video
[bits_per_sample] => 24
[lossless] => [pixel_aspect_ratio] => 1
[frame_rate] => 15
) [tags] => Array (
[quicktime] => Array (
[title] => Array ( [0] => PrizeWhores Trailer )
[author] => Array ( [0] => Jenn Garrison )
[copyright] => Array ( [0] => Jenn Garrison )
[information] => Array ( [0] => www.prizewhores.com )
)

) [comments] => Array ( [language] => Array ( [0] => English ) )
[encoding] => ISO-8859-1
[filename] => pwtrailerqt.mov
[filepath] => /path/to/files
[filenamepath] => /path/to/files/pwtrailerqt.mov
[mime_type] => video/quicktime
[quicktime] => Array (
[time_scale] => 600
[display_scale] => 1
[video] => Array (
[resolution_x] => 360
[resolution_y] => 240
[codec_fourcc] => SVQ1
[codec_fourcc_lookup] => Sorenson Video 3
[codec] => Sorenson Video
[color_depth] => 24
[color_depth_name] => millions (24-bit color)
) [audio] => Array (
[codec] => [sample_rate] => 22050
[channels] => 2
[bit_depth] => 16
) [comments] => Array (
[title] => Array ( [0] => PrizeWhores Trailer )
[author] => Array ( [0] => Jenn Garrison )
[copyright] => Array ( [0] => Jenn Garrison )
[information] => Array ( [0] => www.prizewhores.com )
) [free] => Array (
[name] => free
[size] => 1040
[offset] => 8702
) [wide] => Array (
[name] => wide
[size] => 8
[offset] => 9742
) [mdat] => Array (
[name] => mdat
[size] => 7819020
[offset] => 9750
)
[encoding] => ISO-8859-1
)
[playtime_seconds] => 146.81333333333
[bitrate] => 426065.49813823
[tags_html] => Array (
[quicktime] => Array (
[title] => Array ( [0] => PrizeWhores Trailer )
[author] => Array ( [0] => Jenn Garrison )
[copyright] => Array ( [0] => Jenn Garrison )
[information] => Array ( [0] => www.prizewhores.com )
)
)
[playtime_string] => 2:27
)

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A study recently published by Science Daily states that moderate drinkers, those who average around a drink per day, are 54% less likely to be obese. They go on to state that that is counter-intuitive. Bah.

So much of what I see around me can be explained by common sense without the need for expensive studies. You don’t get a beer gut by having a drink a day, even if it is beer. Nevermind the fact that the study made no distinction between they types of alcohol, which can have wildly different amounts of calories, carbs and sugars.

That’s not the common sense part though. No. The common sense part is this: if you have the ability to limit how much of an addictive substance you take, then you most likely have the ability to limit less addictive substances like food.

Genetics plays a fair part in one’s body type as well. It isn’t nature vs. nurture people, it’s a combination of both. Always has been, always will be. So if 46% of moderate drinkers aren’t thin, I’m willing to bet at least some of them may be genetically predisposed towards a heavier build.

I know a little something on this subject, growing up I could smash two large pizzas together and wolf them both down in minutes, but by the time I graduated from high school I was 6′2″ and still only weighed 138lbs–tell me that wasn’t genetics.

I would hazard a guess that the 54% number would go up to around 70% when you take that into account. That’s 70% of people who are eating healthy despite the fact that they have a drink per day! Shocking, I know.

I wonder how much their completely worthless study cost? They didn’t consider any factors outside of alcohol and didn’t even consider the relevant facts about alcohol. My analysis cost nothing and is every bit as valuably as theirs.

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This is a letter I just wrote to Hillary Clinton* regarding federal game legislation she is cosponsoring. Hat tip to Chris Kohler over at Wired who posted about the legislation on his Game|Life blog.

Senator,

I am not one of your constituents. I live in Texas. However, I am a liberal and I assume you will be looking for my vote in 2008. Please don’t deny it, we can keep it just between us, you don’t have to acknowledge anything.

I’ve been very concerned watching you take stands that smack of a politician rather than a person doing what they believe. Perhaps I’m wrong, but that’s how I see it and I’m the voter.

I’m appalled by the proposed federal game legislation. Enough so that I felt the need to contact you. This will be the first time I’ve emailed any senator. I have a question:

Since when do Democrats support limits on free speech?

Why are games singled out, while movies, television, and music are left alone? This is what really smacks of political opportunism. It’s a “hot button” issue so you feel the need to jump on it. Again, maybe I’m wrong. I’m just calling it like I see it.

Let’s address the issue both ways.

As a political issue it’s a bad one. Ignore what your advisors are telling you. Have you seen the last, oh, five elections? The middle-of-the-road, Republican lite strategy will lose my vote and a few million others very quickly.

I am the average “gamer”: I am a 32 year old white male. I have an above average income and a house in the suburbs. My wife and are I trying to have our first child. My favorite games are Civilization IV (a strategy game that includes history–you would approve) and Grand Theft Auto (yes, the one that started all of the controversy). Contrary to idiotic assumptions, I have no desire to commit crimes, even after playing the game.

Funny thing about the average gamer being a man in his early thirties: the average gamer is also now a voter. You might want to start considering that.

Now let’s address the issue apart from the political aspect. Rating systems are already in place. They serve the same function that they do in movie theaters and on cable television. The new generation of game consoles have content management features that parents can use the same way they use V-chips in television sets.

It is not your job, or the job of any part of government, to be my nanny. By attempting to protect kids, that is what you are doing: treating every man, woman, and child in this country as a child, regardless of age. Leave parenting to the parents. It is their responsibility to raise their children and to take an active part in the lives of their children.

The proposed legislation is also a direct attack on freedom of speech. One can only assume the required FTC investigation will find exactly what it wants to find: a “pervasive problem” with the ratings that will grant it carte blanche to set content standards. That is a scary phrase, “content standards.” I could do the obligatory Nazi comparison and point out that they had “content standards” when it came to books. That would be too easy though, wouldn’t it? Every oppressive regime has always had content standards so why single out the Nazis. Maybe with your support, this bill could be the beginning of a new China, err, America. Chimerica!

Yes, I’m aware this is not your typical tepid message or fiery ranting. Hopefully, by injecting a little bit of (sarcastic) humor and intelligence into it, it will actually be read by somebody in a position to talk to you (I don’t presume that you read your own email address) about it.

You’ll need to do some convincing to win my vote in 2008. You can start by backing off of this legislation. Senator Lieberman has long been an opponent of free speech and his name on the ticket in 2000 led me to vote for Ralph Nader. I would say that I’m not proud of my vote, but I chose the best option that was available. That may be the saddest part because I think Al Gore is a great man and would have been a great candidate had he not saddled himself with such a bad running mate.

Hmm, there I go talking about the political aspects of the legislation again. Well, you are a politician, so I guess that’s okay.

Sincerely,

Chat Clussman
Concerned Citizen and Registered Voter

I heartily recommend that anybody concerned about free speech or that wants to choose for themselves what they watch, read, play, or listen to, to write Senator Clinton and make your opinion known as well.

Also, I want to point out that the above is the exact text that I sent to Hillary. However, I may have fibbed just a little: I actually am a bit embarrassed about voting for Nader in 2000. Before anybody lynches me, I’m obligated to point out that Bush beat Gore by 21 points in my state and Nader only received 2 points (137,716 votes according to CNN).

* I guessed at the email address based on the fact that every senator with a published address used the same format. Clinton’s senate page has a contact form that requires you to sign your life in blood to the Democratic party in order to send a message to her and I didn’t particularly feel like doing that.

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