I'd like to thank "Mikes DELETED" from DELETED@yahoo.com. Mikes spammed me repeatedly with messages trying to convince me to supporting Prop 8. (Prop 8 would amend California's constitution to eliminate the right of gay couples to marry, and in doing so invalidate existing marriages.) Up until this point I'd figured I should stay out. After all, it's a California issue, and I live in Wisconsin. But Mikes's spam annoyed me and got me fired up about it. If Mikes thinks it's appropriate to spam out of state people, I think it's appropriate to meddle in Mikes's state. So congratulations, Mikes. In your attempt to get support for "Yes on Prop 8," you instead convinced me to donate to "No on Prop 8." I wish you and the rest of Yes on Prop 8 the worst of luck.

While I'm at it:

Copy this sentence into your livejournal if you're in a heterosexual marriage, and you don't want it "protected" by the bigots who think that gay marriage hurts it somehow.

Normally I find such memes annoying and occasionally outright insulting, but this one rings true for me. It comes to me via billzilla.

On that note, that you can amend your state constitution with a simple majority vote is just one more brick in the Great Wall of Why California's Politics Are Insane.

Edit 2008-11-25: I noticed today that Mikes didn't email me entirely out of the blue. We had exchanged a few messages a few years ago about a programming question. However, he also emailed everyone in his address book, including both email addresses he had for me. There is no possible way this was a targeted message. This was unsolicited bulk email, and thus spam. However, out of respect for him as someone I had a perfectly aimable technical discussion with, I've redacted most of his name and his email address.

New rule: if you're on a talk show, talking about the California's Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage, and you say something to the effect, "They ignored the wishes of the 60% of Californians who voted to ban same-sex marriage in 2000," the host of the show shall be required to punch you in the face. If you think that courts should consider, even for a moment, the majority preference, you clearly have no idea what the purpose of the state Supreme Court is and should shut your pie hole.

If you argue that banning same sex marriage isn't sexist or religious, but instead the state encouraging childbearing so our population doesn't shrink, you might also need face punches administered. If you honestly believe this, you need to explain why it's legal for sterlized men and women to wed. Also, if you're really afraid that our country is about to shrink, check the numbers. We're expecting 4.3 million new births, but only 2.5 million deaths. We're not in any danger of having a shrinking population. Also, what's the point? Do you think that if same-sex marriage is banned, they'll decide to marry someone of the opposite sex and have kids?

Bleh. Too many stupid people on the radio.

I have, on occasion, had cheese from California. On each occasion, it's been sad cheese. My brother, who moved to California from Wisconsin last summer bemoans that he can't get good milk out there. He's tried various brands, mainstream, specialty, and organic, but compared to Wisconsin milk, it sucks.

A friend of mine whose father works in the dairy industry says the problem is the cows. In Wisconsin we apparently generally raise cows for flavor of milk, while in California they generally raise cows for volume of milk.

Our local Brennan's grocery has a hand painted sign on their wall that reads (roughly):

World Championship of Cheese
Wisconsin 18	Gold Medals	California 0
Whose Cows are Happy Now?

Curious about the accuracy of this claim of Wisconsin cheese supremacy, I've pulled the information from the official site from 1995 through 2007 and organized it below. Note that the odd numbered years are United States championships; thus no other countries are represented. I've also not counted the grand prizes, as the winners in those positions finished in the first place of their own classes.

Here are the first place finishes. California does regularly win a handful of awards, but it's clear there are only a small number of cheesemakers in California who really care about making great cheese. California may be the state that produces the most milk, but Wisconsin is where you're going to get the best milk and cheese.

Here are the totals for first through third place: