NPR Bits

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. My didn't got the least bit as planned, but it was a lot of fun and the vacation from school was well needed. Back to the grind now and completely swamped, but it's winding down in a few weeks.

NPR has been interesting this week. I listened to a report on SIPR, the secured internal government internet that I spent a lot of time dealing with, but have never heard referred to in a civilian capacity. It was a really weird experience hearing on the radio something that existed in my other life (i.e. the military one). I was so astounded that I called a friend who used to be a coworker just to explain my amazement.

Also, an interesting idea was broached. I didn't get to listen to the piece because I was late for class (shocker) but the basic gist is that if DADT is repealed (fingers remain crossed), what will that mean for openly gay married servicemen and women? If they were married in a state that has legalized gay marriage, will the military be required to honor their union with all the support that it honors heterosexual marriages? And if so...imagine the effect. The military, one of the largest government institutions, is required to honor gay marriage. What other institutions will fall under the same banner? Of course, what of the reverse? If the military refuses to honor a legal marriage, what happens then? Service members can't sue the military, but I think their spouses can...

Other interesting news of the day has lead me to a video game I'm actually excited about. Disney's Epic Mickey! If you haven't heard about this, Disney has recently regained the rights to Oswald the Rabbit, Walt's first commercially successful cartoon character. He lost the rights in 1928 in a fallout with his distribution company and they were just regained a couple of years ago. So the creators of the video game were able to use him. The story is that Oswald and other forgotten or discarded Disney things (amusement park rides, costumes, characters, etc) live in a world called Cartoon Wasteland. Mickey makes a mess, basically, and has to save Cartoon Wasteland. He gets paint thinner and a paint brush as tools. Apparently, he also takes on the personality of the player. If your choices with him are helpful and supportive of the locals, Mickey is helpful and supportive. If your choices are driven on winning the game (and, say, sacrificing the occasional collateral damage), his attitude becomes more cranky, etc. Can't wait!