Just say no

Here in Gainesville, a debate is raging. On Tuesday, voters will decide whether to pass Charter Amendment 1, which would end the city's prevention of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Unfortunately, some people still aren't aware of the fact that our sexual orientation and gender identity come from within us and aren't choices. Some still aren't aware of the tremendous suffering that many people go through due to exclusion and outright hatred from others.

The folks who got this amendment on the ballot say it's to keep men from claiming a female gender identity so they can go into women's restrooms and assault women. Sounds pretty tenuous, doesn't it? A fellow student points out that one of the pro-1 advertisements is self-defeating. It uses actual security camera footage of a man entering a women's restroom to spy on a woman. The ad doesn't mention that the perpetrator didn't actually claim to be transgendered. The real message here is that unsavory types will do what they can to go after women whether it's legal or not.

Actually, early voting has been going on, so I've already voted no on 1. The anti-1 group was providing rides from campus to the city's early voting location, so I took advantage of that on Friday. On the way to the polls and back, I met a number of kind folks who were in favor of civil rights for LGBT individuals. I just hope these people outnumber the others. We'll find out on Tuesday.

Yesterday was a nice day, so I went out and took some panoramic photos around campus. My magnum opus was a photo of the football stadium, which I've uploaded to Wikimedia Commons for use on Wikipedia.

When you search for other people's names on the Internet, you can find out a lot about them. Today, while I was Googling my name, I found out something about myself.

In my junior year of high school, I was told that, based on my PSAT score, I had been recognized as a National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist. But my school never contacted me about any further developments, so I never had a chance to win the scholarship. Even so, I mentioned my National Merit Semifinalist status on this blog (multiple times, actually) and even in my resume. Thanks to Google, I've unearthed an issue of my high school's newsletter that says I was recognized as a Commended Student by the program. The National Merit people say:

Commended Students are named on the basis of a nationally applied Selection Index score that may vary from year to year and is below the level required for participants to be named Semifinalists in their respective states. ... Commended Students do not continue in the competition for National Merit® Scholarships ...

Funny that the school administration was reading this blog the whole time but never bothered to correct me.

The length of each dashed line on each road in the United States is mandated by the federal government. How long are those lines, anyway? The answer may surprise you. (Via J-Walk Blog)

I've always thought about doing this, but I'm afraid I'd creep myself out: Sleep Talking on the Mic. (Via waxy.org)

Since Google sends its Street View cam out to so many places, there's a good chance that it'll capture lots of crazy moments. (Via The Presurfer)