Hello, Orwellian Nightmare

From stultiloquentia, via twistedchick: something to really get upset about, and to TAKE ACTION. NOW. Please.

The Senate is voting tomorrow on immigration legislation that includes a snuck-in version of the REAL ID Act, which would require everyone in the US to get special 'national identification' to get a job, get on a plane, or do pretty much anything in real life. This would be an unfunded federal mandate for states to enforce, meaning that the fed isn't sending any money and people would have to pay through the nose for this program. This is another way for the government to keep tabs on everything we do in our lives -- and charge us for it as well.

This webpage has information on what's at stake, what it will mean to you, and what you can do -- including a fax you can send your Senators today.

You Mean the Heart Shape Didn't Always Mean 'I Love You'?

Okay, here's a cheerier, or at least more interesting, link for the day: ancient herbal contraception, so popular an import/export item that it was even minted on coins. See, this is why I have such a fetish for reading nonfiction - you're always turning up whack stuff like this, reminders that the residents of the ancient world weren't naive, uneducated, superstitious, or stupid, but pretty much just like us (except for the assumptions about societal norms - the more you read up on the ancients, the less that "it's always been a man's world" mindset starts to smell like a retcon). It's humbling, really, to realize how much humanity tends to learn and then forget again.

In other news, on Mythbusters, they're testing to see if you really can get shocked through the telephone during a lightning storm. I used to get regularly warned about that when I was little, with the old rotary phones.

I wonder if I should go to their website and ask them to test whether old-fashioned denim blue jeans really can be shrunk to fit. That's about the only thing I can think of that I haven't seen them test. They've checked to see if a rolling stone gathers moss, for gossakes. (It doesn't.)

I Am the Mouth of Sauron's Voiceover

Dammit, dammit, dammit!, to echo my icon. LJ's nagging me about renewing my extra icon space in the next week or so, and as the recent issues with LJ make me loathe to spend more money on their lameness, I'm debating like crazy whether I can get by with fewer icons. Probably - I'm not using the full complement now, but I don't remember how many come with a normal paid account. Fifty? Gah. Who would've thought that having many, many icons would become such a necessity?

I'm spamming today. I guess I'm feeling cranky and talkative.