The Melon Online

Website going down tomorrow morning!

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 18:07:47 -0800

Hey folks, just reminding everyone that The Melon is going down tomorrow morning so we can update to our new format. We'll be re-launching on Monday, October 6th.

September 13 Anti-Palin Rally in Anchorage; Biggest in Alaska’s Recent Memory

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:34:47 -0800

A couple weeks ago, right after Sarah Palin delivered a speech at Anchorage’s convention center, a group of community organizers led a grassroots effort to convey their disapproval of Palin. The “Alaska Women Reject Palin” rally was held outside the Loussac Library, the subject being that Sarah Palin is a poor representative of Alaskan women and men. A group of friends originally concocted the idea, spreading news of their proposed gathering via flyers and notices in the newspaper. To their great surprise, hundreds of people showed up in support, sporting homemade signs. An organizer walked the crowd with a counter and claimed up to 1400 or 1500 people (and a little less than a hundred counter-protestors) came to protest Palin.

The news was poorly covered in states other than Alaska.

VP Debate Live-Blog

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 17:30:54 -0800

(Electric Elliot's live-blog after the fold. DON'T FORGET TO REFRESH FOR UPDATES.)

The New Melon - October 6th, 2008

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 13:20:54 -0800

The New Melon Trailer from The Melon on Vimeo.

That's right, on October 6th, 2008 The Melon will be unveiling its new and improved website interface. Not only are we proud to bring you a whole new look, but we're pleased to present an enhanced interface and new and innovative features. Let's just say The NEW Melon can only be described as "b'dass."

In order to switch over to our new site, The Melon will be shutting down on Saturday, October 4th before re-launching on October 6th. We'll be posting right up until Saturday so keep stopping by for up-to-date coverage.

On October 6th, taste a whole new Melon.

Congress is doing some other stuff you may care about

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:03:19 -0800

Besides the big financial bailout package, Congress is doing some other things you may be interested in. One of those things is the descriptive and oh so eloquently named Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008. The short version this story, is that SoundExchange, a subsidiary of the much-maligned RIAA that collects royalties, decided to double the royalty that Internet radio stations would have to pay to play their music. This would pretty much destroy Internet radio, by either putting all the companies out of business or by forcing them to add so much advertising to their websites that you'd never want to go to them. The deadline for the talks between SoundExchange and the Internet radio companies has been coming up pretty fast and with no compromise in sight, SoundExchange's new rate (as ratified by the Copyright Royalty Board) would stand.

Don't Vote

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 22:12:00 -0800

Live-Blogging the VP Debate

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:22:19 -0800

Shark + Barracuda + Electricity = Fish Sticks

This Thursday, for the first time in the history of the universe, The Melon's Electric Elliot will be live-blogging the Vice-Presidential debate. Who's winning? Who's losing? Can one really win a lose a debate with this magnitude of pandering? One thing is for sure, with Electric Elliot at the helm (yes, I'm speaking in 3rd person) everyone will be burned.

Join me at 6pm PST and for an hour and a half of pure verbal murder on these Veep hopefuls. Who came up with Veep anyway? Isn't VP abbreviated enough? F*cking media idiots!

Liquidity Trap --> Recession

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 18:40:40 -0800

What is a Liquidity Trap?

A liquidity trap happens when interest rates come closer and closer to zero, and thereby changes in the money supply are very ineffective at stabilizing the economy.

If at first blush that does not make sense, another way to put it is like this.

Barak Obama Reggae Song by Cocoa Tea

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 10:57:45 -0800

I still can't imagine why this song isn't already an international phenomenon.

Hill Watch - Ep 1: Firearm Training for Kids

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 09:02:00 -0800

If you thought The Melon had a "facination" with Robert "The Traveller" Hill, maybe you were right. The Melon is proud to present a new segment recording the work of one of our favorite Tacoma activists Robert "The Traveller."

In this week's episode, Jesse Hill, candidate for Pierce County Sheriff, addresses the Tacoma School Board about firearm safety training for students. For more information about Jesse Hill's stance on gun control, check out our interview with him.

Tacoma School Board Meeting 09/25/08

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:27:41 -0800

This week's agenda: http://www.tacoma.k12.wa.us/information/schoolboard/Documents/20080925-A-1.pdf

Our apologies for the delay.

Delay in School Board Footage

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 08:15:38 -0800

For those wondering why we haven't post the latest footage from the Tacoma School Board Meeting, we're having some issues uploading and are working on possible solutions. We're going to push for by the end up this week to get the video up. Our apologies for the delay.

Where the Sidewalk Ends

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 08:01:00 -0800

Zoning laws are belaboring many Seattle residents, as the city struggles with urban planning in Washington State's largest city.

Since 2000, the City of Seattle has grown by 30,000 in the city proper, and even more in the greater Seattle area, making the Emerald City the third fastest growing city in Washington state.

US Government working on "Pre-Crime Detector"

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 10:30:00 -0800

In another installment of "Holy shit, are we really doing that?!?", today I bring you news of US Department of Homeland Security's Project Hostile Intent. This is a series of cameras, infrared detectors, and other sensor devices that scan a crowd and look for, supposedly, people who have hostile intent. Really, the scanners are looking to see if people seem overly nervous or frightened. The goal is to find terrorists in a crowd before they actually do anything. Just think what happens when we install these in airports. Everyone who's nervous and running late for their flight is going to have cops come up and question them extensively while they're trying to make it to their flight. Everyone who loses their bag is going to have to deal with an hour of police questioning before they can start the long process of recovering their luggage.

PETA Does it Again

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 23:36:17 -0800

In what hits a 5 in my dumb shit-o-meter everyone's favorite animal rights organization (who has done some wonderful things) has once again acted a fool to prove a point. PETA has requested that Ben & Jerry's (of Ben & Jerry's Ice cream) replace all of the milk used in their ice cream with human breast milk. According to PETA, that would treat humans equal to the cattle and would benefit people because of the nutrients in breast milk. PETA notes that drinking milk from one animal over another isn't actually that different, so not that weird. As far as weirdness goes, I couldn't agree more. Drinking milk from cows is incredibly odd. I mean, we're talking about an animal that eats its own shit and we're drinking milk from it (I used to do stand up comedy and the cow milk routine went on for about five minutes.)