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| March 19, 2005 |
The day began with my notice of some old
Hollywood war picture on one of the monitors
at the gym -- no sound, but I eventually
identified "The Dirty Dozen," which was among
my initial exposures to WWII, along with the
TV show "Combat" -- the latter is reminiscent
of the book I'm currently reading, A Walk
in the Sun by Harry Brown, which concerns
an American platoon's mission in Italy. Aprés
workout, it was off to "Der Untergang" -- whew,
Gotterdämmerung, big time. Not to be
missed if you're into this sort of thing,
and it establishes the theme for all of
today's linkage.
I've heard that certain ignorant voices
try to denigrate experiments in egalitarian,
collective governing by saying "Hitler was a
Socialist." Well, his movement called itself
National Socialism, true; but that hardly
made it socialist. One can factually
state, however, that Hitler was a Catholic.
Read all about it at
Hitler's
Christianity by Jim Walker.
To deny the influence of Christianity on Hitler and
its role in World War II means that you must ignore
history and bar yourself forever from understanding
how this atrocity occurred.
Don't miss the site's photo
section -- and for some color imagery of the more general theme,
Nazi
postcards are available.
The
anti-tobacco campaign of the Nazis is Robert N.
Proctor's report on
a little known aspect of public
health in 1933-1945 Germany.
Anti-tobacco activists pointed out that whereas
Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt were all fond of
tobacco, the three major fascist leaders of
Europe -- Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco -- were
all non-smokers.
Sounds like an argument FOR smoking, to me.
Finally, not the Führer, but one of his fanatical
followers, who wound up the same way, pointing a gun at
her head -- I just read Breakfast at Tiffany's,
where the name Unity Mitford is mentioned in passing
(since the book is set during the war, unlike the movie). Who?
Her
Wikipedia entry says her family nickname was
"Baa-Baa" so her Nazi sympathies led some of her
friends to call her "Baa-Baa Blackshirt" (which
is vaguely familar, can't say just why).
|
| March 18, 2005 |
|
'The homeless' occasionally annoy me, but not
often, and sometimes I'm struck by a ray of
compassion -- then I give 'em coins, or even
pause for a bit of unpredictable discussion. (Only
the true crazies are frightening, and they're
easy to identify and avoid.) The supposedly
Christian Republicans, so stingy with their
money, lack any empathy for street people,
snarling "Get a Job!" -- but to me, they're
not undesireable, just on the fringe, living a
liberated, vagabond lifestyle, embodying an
aspect of the counter-culture, which was
a big influence during my formative years -- as
Janis and 'Stofferson were singing at the time,
Freedom's
just another word for nothing left to lose.
So, how do people wind up on
streets, "sleeping rough," as the British say?
And why do they stay there, what with various
social and faith-based organizations offering them
alternatives and possible escape? Here's a
couple pages delving into the why of the down'n'out:
Bob Parson describes
How
kids get trapped on the streets, and
Home
Truths is a special in The Guardian
about Alexander Masters' new book,
Stuart: A Life Backwards.
|
| March 17, 2005 |
Welcome
to Canada is an article in the current issue of the
right-wing Weekly Standard in which journalist
Matt Labash ventured up north to explore the phenomenon of
new political refugees from the States. After reading
Hunger
for Dictatorship in the American Conservative
I'm ready to emmigrate, myself. 'Course, I have been,
for some time; but inertia is so far too strong -- I need
some personal disruption to get me on the move.
NASA is requesting proposals for a shuttle replacement they're
calling the Crew Excusion Vehicle, or CEV. So far they've
only released specifications, and it's sounding like another
rocket-plane, but Don Nelson's looked at the numbers and says
Administration's
Space Goals Won't Fly. Supposedly this will be the vehicle
to fulfill the shrub's dream of manned landings on the Moon
and even Mars, but those objectives seem unrealistic for the
CEV -- and what's especially ridiculous is the ISS is operational
now, an ideal on-orbit location for assembling the components of
viable interplanetary spaceships, using construction skills our
astronauts has been developing for years -- but according to
this
update in The Economist American involvement in
the space station might decrease to zero!
|
| March 15, 2005 |
I observe these yahoos driving around with bumper
stickers that say "Proud To Be An American" and despair
at the ignorance running rampant throughout the land.
Reading about how we torment prisoners in
our gulags, in grotesque exageration of misplaced
vengeance, my own sentiment is "Ashamed To
Be..." -- no more so than when I'm reminded of
the incredibly sad story of young California native
John
Walker Lindh. Nobody's more deserving of some
compassion[ate conservatism] from our so-called
Christian leaders than he.
In today's paper Jon Carroll
held
forth on torture and the TV show called "24"
(of which I'm naturally oblivious, as I avoid all
broadcast television).
|
| March 14, 2005 |
The
Toothpaste Election, by Noam Chomsky. Also, shortly after
Election Day, this anonymous e-mail was making the rounds:
Not to worry. With the Blue States in hand, the Democrats
have firm control of 80% of the world's fresh water,
over 90% of our pineapple and lettuce, 93% of
the artichoke production, 95% of American's export
quality wines, 90% of all cheese production, most of
the US low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and
condors, all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools, plus
Stanford, Caltech and MIT. We can live simply but well.
The Red States, on the other hand, now have to cope with 92%
of all US mosquitoes, 99% of all Southern Baptists, 100% of
all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University,
Clemson and the University of Georgia. A high price to
pay for controlling the presidency.
The
Harold Series, part of a Crockett Johnson fan-site.
|
| March 13, 2005 |
Today was the last day of the annual San Jose Film Festival,
Cinequest. In years
past I've only caught at most one of their offerings, but due
to the paltry selection currently available at the cineplex,
over the course of two weekends I attended five of
the screenings, and they were all excellent (some features with
the added bonus of cast and crew going up front afterwards,
for some Q&A with the audience). Here's what I saw:
1. Wetback (the Undocumented Documentary).
The film-maker tags along with two men heading north from
Nicaragua, destination: Canada (although the movie ended
once they reached the USA). The Mexican transit was the
scariest, and who's ever actually seen people swimming across
that river? (We call it the Rio Grande but south of the
border, it's known as Rio Bravo.) Amazing footage.
2. The Cleaning Lady. Low budget, shot on
location in San Francisco, oddly appealing due to the cast.
She wants to study medicine and health care but her layabout
husband gambles away her nest egg. Infidelity and amnesia
figure in the plot.
3. I, Curmudgeon. Interviews with a dozen
grumpy people, including some famous names like Fran Lebowitz
and Harvey Pekar. A pleasant surprise was the unadvertised
inclusion of
Larry
Josephson, who I listened to regularly on public radio,
when I lived in LA. With few exceptions I'm in complete
agreement with his rule, Josephson's Law:
New is
Worse.
4. The Almost Guys. A kidnapping comedy
involving repo men in LA, with such mainstream appeal I can't
believe it won't eventually get some distribution. Haven't
seen Robert Culp in 20 years (when he played the mayor of
New York in "Turk 182") -- his crusty old character of The
Colonel was sidekick to writer/director Eric Fleming, who
also played the protagonist, a divorced father with a
predilection for tube socks. (In a 'plate of shrimp' coincidence,
they're also the subject of
this
week's Slowpoke -- don't miss!) A bonus was the venue,
my first time inside the newly re-opened and lovingly
restored California Theater, a downtown San Jose movie
palace even more lavish than the Stanford, that repertory
cinema in Palo Alto where I often see old films.
5. Duck. (Audience demand for this film was
so great, they added another show). Wonderfully moving story
of a widower in near-future LA who's adopted by a duckling,
which he names Joe. Music by Leonard Cohen and the Eels, and
starring Philip Baker Hall, familiar from the annoying but
memorable "Magnolia" -- he was the game-show host.
|
| March 12, 2005 |
Update on Bobby Fischer, languishing in a Japanese
prison --
Iceland
is offering him asylum.
LA Weekly interview:
At
home with Tommy Chong. Lots of overlap with
his
appearance on Fresh Air last month, except for the
Dennis Miller stuff. (Not familiar with the latter,
although I'm pretty sure he's that foul-mouthed,
non-funny 'comedian' who was on a tape somebody sent me,
which I couldn't get through, and eventually threw away.)
Celebrity
Atheists List -- also includes Agnostics, and the
Ambiguous. (Uses that stylesheet trick I used to
employ, which inhibits link-underlining; therefore
it may not be immediatly obvious that details are
available for each name.)
|
| March 10, 2005 |
Yakusha
is a DC-area photo-blog, by GU student Grayson
Shepard. Made me homesick, until I noticed how
everybody's still bundled up in the current pictures.
Here in NoCal, things are positively balmy -- they're
already having picnics in the park across the street.
(It's obvious my own enthusiasm for posting a daily
photo has petered out, although be assured you'll still
see images here, as I come across things remarkable.)
Fan
Death is a site documenting Koreans' dread
of mechanical air circulation in sealed rooms. It
also discusses their weird notion that snipping the
frenulum improves one's ability to speak English.
A new Space Race developing, between the Chinese and
the Japanese? Read about it
in
the Guardian.
Two sample posts from last year, at Rigorous Intuition
(its tag line:
What You Don't
Know Can't Hurt Them):
Suicide?
Don't Fall for It, and
Ten
Things We Learned in 2004 about 9/11. As for the
shrub's ongoing fracas, Tom Engelhardt provides an
enlightened assessment in
Which
War Is This Anyway? Are We in World War IV? Short
answer: definitely not -- that's just a metaphor, useful
in propaganda.
|
| March 8, 2005 |
Lively
AxMeFi
discussion today about the blessings one
receives after sneezing. I'd been preparing my own
question on this very topic, but somebody else got
there first. (Did I still participate? You betcha!)
His question was, is a Thank You required; I just
wanted to know why it's done (among other things).
Somebody pointed to a Wikipedia entry describing
the custom's medieval origin, during the Black Death.
Making
Sense of America's Strutting, in a
Psychoanalytic Kind of Way -- a
BuzzFlash interview with Stephen J. Ducat, author of
The Wimp Factor: Gender Gaps, Holy Wars, and the
Politics of Anxious Masculinity -- brilliant!
The shrub's regime today seems always out to prove
something. They will fight any war (with or without
allies). They will ram through legislation (with or
without the Democrats on board). They will eliminate
supportive social programs (since only wimps need
"safety nets"). In other words, their America is a
John Wayne/Rambo/Terminator figure. But why?
Edgar
Derby's Dead, by Andrew Christie -- sigh.
|
| March 7, 2005 |
Special
in the Guardian, a visit with
R.Crumb, plus assorted sidebars.
A collection
of b&w beatnik photos from Venice Beach, in the 1950s.
In Wired,
Revenge
of the Right Brain, a selection from
A Whole New Mind by Daniel H. Pink.
Not to be missed if you fear for your job,
because of globalization.
|
| March 6, 2005 |
Been a while since I surveyed new products, so here
goes. Proud of your porcine attributes? Complete the
look with a Snout
Mug!
A fly-swatter is one of those devices I see no reason
for electrifying (same with the can-opener, and pencil
sharpeners), but some people feel differently, and for
them, the
Electric
Fly-catcher is now available.
Saw a building like this in Times Square, in December:
thumbnails
of a galleria in Seoul, covered with LEDs and colored lights.
(If it's new to you, or the term conjures up visions of those
enclosed
streets in Milano, be advised that 'galleria' is
now a name for high-end shopping malls -- a bunch of
'em are sprinkled around the LA basin.)
A source for
Stick
Family Stickers -- apparently, this fad started in
Mexico City.
Not a product, but an idea:
Tired of all the NOISE? Come to the
Quiet Party!
Maybe you'll even find love through silent
dating! This sounds great, to
me -- I especially like the idea of a No Talking
situation, with flirting via the passing of
little notes.
Not new; I've observed this stuff up on ledges
and under eaves, but now I know who makes it:
Nixalite
Bird Control Products. I myself have avian
issues but I think a rifle is the control product
required, for the damn crows, cawing in the
morning -- or maybe some biological warfare
is indicated, I hear the West Nile virus has
decimated their population, back East. No good, though,
since that would affect other birds, and anyway
the firestick option would be a lot more satisfying.
|
| March 3, 2005 |
Today is the 90th anniversary of the founding of the
National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, which
morphed into NASA in 1958.
(Detailed
NACA history.) The three NACA bases were Langley
(in Hampton Roads, Virginia); Lewis, near Cleveland (which was
renamed Glenn, for John, in 1999); and the Moffett Field Lab
which became known as Ames, where I work. Many of the
buildings here are so old, they retain NACA markings -- the
NASA
logo is well known, but who's ever seen the NACA? Those
three old bases are currently engaged in budgetary battles -- they
lack specific missions, unlike their more modern counterparts (for
example, Houston and the Cape) and are having trouble creating new
work. The old-timers say, They're taking the first "A" out of NASA!
This was the theme of Saturday's front-page story in the
SJ Mercury:
Federal
budget blueprint threatens jobs at NASA/Ames. The Orlando
Sentinel had an article Monday with more information, and a
broader focus:
NASA
funding waning for aeronautics research.
Hunter
Thompson suicide story changing -- inconsistencies are making
some wonder if he was the one who pulled the trigger (like, he
didn't leave a note). For ongoing linkage about this, check Mack
White's ever-excellent
Villa
of the Mysteries (even though it seems he's shed that
name, for his weblog).
Recommnded: Jim Kunstler's
latest,
on the trouble with the Born Again -- the feedback adds important
commentary. His previous was also link-worthy, but I didn't
since its format was screwed up, until the next one arrived
(but you can find it, once you're on his page).
|
| March 1, 2005 |
Calvin
and Hobbs. Every strip -- incredible!
Latest Krugman
column
discusses What's the Matter with Kansas, the battle
against Social Security, and the AARP.
|
| February 27, 2005 |
The new Central Cupertino Library has this splendid
wall of a salt-water aquarium. (That's a false
thumbnail: links to another image, though both of the
same place.)
My pregnant office-mate finally checked out Friday,
delivery estimated in a week or two. Due to work-place
dynamics, 'twas up to me to arrange her shower, a
first -- I'd never even been to one before,
much less coordinated such an event. After collecting
the gift-kitty I made the scene at Toy'R'Us, buying a
high-chair and a non-infant car seat (for later);
purchases made based on advice from other women at
work, and the party was a success. Thanks, ladies!
My
second AskMeFi post, on the string
cow orker.
Bill Maher
says
the religious have a neurological disorder which stops
them from thinking. Also, "Diamond" Jack Holgroth has a
proposal
for a US flag updated to affirm the idea of One Nation
Under God.
An online confessional:
Not Proud -- a
Smorgasbord of Shame.
|
| February 25, 2005 |
So, Hunter S. Thompson, dead; glad I got to see him
do a lecture at the U of M in '74. (I recall
his request at the beginning for a roll of toilet
paper -- the PA was causing feedback, his
solution -- lodge the microphone in the roll.) A couple
months back I was reminiscing about reading Fear
and Loathing when it was first published, in
Rolling Stone, back in high school. That
novel was where I first encountered the concept of
White Noise as sleeping aid. This is the last sentence
of a chapter in Part One:
I walked over to the TV set and turned it on to a dead
channel -- white noise at maximum decibels a fine sound
for sleeping, a powerful continuous hiss to drown out
everything strange.
(Why white? It's a mix of all frequencies at
equal amplitude. With an equivalent mixing of light, you'd
get white; hence. I've also come across Noise mixes
scienteefically labeled pink, brown, and blue, but
they all sound 'white' to me.) Also recently (last
month), I held forth on the well-known
novel
with this title, as well as a new, unrelated movie,
which apparently featured people hearing the voices of
ghosts in the Noise, something I find not-implausible.
There's only three ways to generate this rushing sound,
which I use like everybody else, to mask ambient noise,
suppressing distractions, in order to induce sleep. These
three methods include either the playing back of recordings,
or true generation, either electronic or mechanic. The
mechanical
devices sound harsh to my ear -- like a raspy buzz,
instead of a waterfall; and they lack a volume control, so
are to me completely unuseable. They're also much less
expensive than the electronic, which still seem to go for a
little over $100, what I payed in 1983, when I acquired my
'Sound Conditioner' from Edmund Scientific. (I know parents who
habitually place the cheaper buzzers at their childrens' bedsides.
Mistake, I think: their bedrooms are already plenty quiet, and
kids fall asleep naturally anyway, even in noisy
environments -- they don't require adult sleep-aids, not
yet. Instead, I believe it's all about erecting a parental
Cone
of Silence -- but what about later, after the kids have become
conditioned to this?) As for the recordings, by the time I'd acquired
my Edmund unit, I already had several of the sound masking records
offered by Syntonic Research in their "Environments" series, but
being LPs there was always that interval of silence every twenty
minutes, when the phonograph was set on auto-repeat; plus the vinyl
scratches, which spoiled the whole effect. Nowadays many companies
produce 'nature sounds' recordings, but here's something new:
Pure
White Noise CDs. Hmmm -- why is more than one necessary? Well,
they're not all "pure" -- in fact, there's quite a variety (all
of which have sample sound files available). One of the
disks is titled "Radio Static"; hard to believe there's demand
for such an item, but maybe it's of value -- I remember
my night in a Copenhegan hotel room, positioned next to the
noisy elevator, unfortunately -- recalling Hunter Thompson's
TV, I tried to improvise with the in-room radio, but all
of the static I found was contaminated: faint voices were
always audible... ghostly voices?
More Hunter Thompson:
Tom
Wolfe and
Ralph
Steadman remember,
today's
news that the trigger was pulled during a phone
converstation with his trophy wife(!); and his
connection
with the 'Jeff Gannon'/J. Guckert White House security
scandal.
|
| February 24, 2005 |
After a hiatus of more'n a year, Jorn's posting to
Robot
Wisdom again! (His is the original weblog.)
Excellent! New
DFW
interview about The Artist and TV (at least,
initially -- it's long, and I've just started).
|
| February 22, 2005 |
Photo: a large 'discos Latinos'
store in the Mission district.
Elephants
paint on the canvas -- can there be any doubt of these
beasts' intelligience?
To answer my question, Who would be watching televised football
in 1941, I read up on
The
History of Television. Says commercial broadcasting began July 1,
1941. Must've been a novelty for the very rich, until after the
war. Also at that site: photo of the modernistic German-made
KUBA
"Komet" console from 1961.
|
| February 20, 2005 |
|
More sordid DPRK details in Der Spiegel, "The
Tyrant and the Bomb" in two parts:
1,
2.
(Wednesday was his birthday.) Gettin' scarey now, since
we're in range here in NoCal! Let Improv Everywhere: We
Cause Scenes take your mind off things with
Agent
Simmons in the mens room at the Times Square
McDonalds.
|
| February 17, 2005 |
NASA-Ames researchers claim evidence of
Life
on Mars!
Red Star Radiosite:
Soviet
Antique Radio Gallery.
My first AxMeFi post:
Moleskine
- Why the Fuss?
The M & O Subway was a private line in Fort Worth
connected Leonard's department store (which eventually
grew into Tandy Center) with the parking lot, and
shut
down in 2002 after running 39 years. Their original
rolling stock was retired DC Transit trolley cars, also
they had PCC (like we still have in San Francisco),
plus some contemporary boxey.
(photo gallery)
Rrr -- they're installing a traffic light on my street,
down the block at the intersection with the road... the
inexorable March of Time. Plus -- I heard the neighbors
(with whom I have only a nodding acquaintance) call the
white cat "Q-Tip." I kinda like it.
|
| February 16, 2005 |
Cloudy this morning, driving past the biggest wind tunnel -- this is
the one visible from out on the 101, the structure vaguely like
a Drive-In.
At
home with Roger Ebert.
In the news: BBC slideshow of
Madrid's
Towering Inferno (and what the building
looked
like, before). Also, the last Doggie Diner head (featured
here just a few weeks ago) was
installed
in a new permanent location a block east, in the Sloat
median; and a
Hello
Kitty crop circle was commisioned by Sanrio.
Also at the Flea Market, Laurie muttered something about Tom of
Finland when Geoff tried on a black leather hat, and I started
laughing. When I described the artist and his signature style,
Geoff wanted to know how I knew about him? Anyway, back when
I was first made aware of Tom's of Maine toothpaste the
Finlandia Tom also came to mind, as it did with Dorothy -- check
last week's Cat and Girl,
Tom
Tom Club.
|
| February 14, 2005 |
At the Flea Market Saturday I got an old
Life magazine -- just barely pre-War, the
October
6, 1942 issue. Not only
are there ads seven pages apart for two
different companies selling packaged donuts
(Jane Parker 'Dated' and Doughboy Donuts), but
this shot of a TV is from a full-pager paid for
by the "United Brewers Industrial Foundation."
The big caption is
Defeat and victory...both grow sweeter with a
glass of kindly beer or ale.
I just wonder who these two old guys were, to be
watching televised football in 1942. Captains
of Industry? College Deans? (Click the
thumbnail if you don't see them.)
Yesterday I mentioned Ward Churchill, but without
comment. His essay seems reasonable to me, actually;
but I can't explain why near as well as Eliot does in
this
FmH post (which begins with a link to said essay,
although he would prefer to call that a 'blink').
The
Torii at Central Park compares 'The Gates' with the
Fushimi-Inari Shrine in Kyoto, exactly what I thought
when I first saw the pictures. For more photos from
Central Park (at the unfurling) see kottke's
slideshow
(and I'd echo what he said about the recent
Neal
Stephenson interview). One final reference from
'blog'dom: Xeni Jardin of BoingBoing has a
column
in Wired about the new Battlestar
Galactica, which Andy has me watching -- it's
quite good, when it is.
|
| February 13, 2005 |
More often than not this white cat is hanging
'round -- sometimes even staying overnght,
although I've yet to set up a litter box
(and won't). There's a mirror in the background,
notice the photographer? This cat's rear belly
was recently shaved, leading me to assume that
somebody had him fixed, so he's not
my cat (although I do feed him).
The Futurama is coming true! Underwater hotels:
Poseidon
will be the world's first sea floor resort
complex.
But instead of via submarine, you'll get there
through a tunnel.
A Slate article summarizes the Ward
Churchill affair --
Why
Is Bill O'Reilly chairing our faculty
meetings?
|
| February 11, 2005 |
Dr Jack Hyles uses the Bible to prove
Jesus
had short hair. If this is true, how will we
recognize Him, when He comes back? Won't look like
any of the pictures... Also,
Jon
Carroll considers The Rapture.
I've been learning how pleated pants are so
1980s (or 30s, depending on your perspective). Imagine
my horror when an inventory of my wardrobe revealed that
ALL of me trousers are pleated. Didn't used to be, but
it's a look I got used to, and wearing 'em makes me look
and therefore feel like Bogart, in an old Warner Bros
picture. They're so roomy and comfortable -- reminds me
also of a late 60s faddish-style possibly only happening in
suburban DC, or maybe even just Prince Georges County.
There was a delay before hippies became cool -- residual
styles of the fabulous 50s/early 60s were mixed with
Afro-American influences from downtown, forming
something called "South-East." In contrast to the
'collegiates' with their button-down shirts, slacks and
penny loafers or suede desert boots, the guys lacking in
academic zeal in my middle school (or what was then
called Junior High) wore an ensemble including a solid
or textured Ban-Lon shirt, work pants, and low- or
high-top Chuck Taylors ("Chucks!" Then only available
in black or white.) Options included greased-back hair; thin, ribbed nylon
socks, and a 'Peters' (or in the colder months, black
leather) jacket. I never had the jacket (didn't ever
want a Peters [that was the name on the label] -- a
black, pale blue or yellow windbreaker), but years later
I was actually considering getting a black leather
jacket, and the more worldly Tony talked me out of
it, due to the type such a garment would attract. (The
Hyattsville hoodlums, who all dressed this way, bragged
about wear they'd 'lifted' their "leathers.") The work
pants, 'baggies' or "works" (which are probably still
available) came in three colors: gray, navy blue and
janitorial green, the most fashionable. The identifying
feature of these drawers was their fat belt loops and
blocky, loose fit. If you dressed like this the only
sounds possible were 'Soul' music: rhythm & blues
and Motown -- what they played on WOL and WOOK. (The
new psychedelic music or anything by white groups wasn't
tolerated.) And what about the girls? Frizzy, teased
hair, various dresses or skirts at or about the knee,
the same jackets, and sometimes white gym socks layered
over their nylons, which were still kept in place by
garters. This was just before dress codes relaxed, and
the girls were allowed to wear pants, which happened
in high school, and almost immediately the counter-culture
Age of Denim began.
|
| February 10, 2005 |
Two good essays, one short (just a column,
really) and one long: William Marvel
contrasts
the Civil War with Iraq, and in the New York
Review of Books,
Europe
vs. America by Tony Judt.
More about that 'Talon News' shill planted in White House
press conferences, noted here last week: he's been
unmasked.
(Much more about this at the
Daily Kos.)
Check that shiny new Wisconsin quarter in your
pocket change: it could be worth over $500! There's
variations
in circulation -- their ear of corn has an extra
leaf. That article doesn't mention it, but I heard
these are all "D"s from the Denver mint.
According
to John Dean (or maybe he's just quoting Woodward),
'Deep Throat' is deathly ill, and will be identified
soon; but the article lists seven candidates, none of
whom is 41.
|
| February 8, 2005 |
Was
Bush Sr Deep Throat?
Another historical enigma solved, probably:
The
soldier, his sweetheart and the suicide of Hermann
Goering describes how he managed to check out at
Nürnberg, in the same cyanide fashion as Himmler, Eva
and the Goebbels kids, a year'n a half earlier. This
is the type of revelatory deathbed confession we'll
be hearing in years to come, concerning the Dealey Plaza
event
of November, 1963.
Made a MiniDisc of Broadway showtunes recently -- the
source, CDs checked out from the library. Mostly WSS
and Camelot... reading the latter's liner notes, I
learned that show opened December 1960 and closed in
1963, an amazing coincidence! No wonder,
the JFK
association. As for West Side Story, among other things, the
FAQ
spells out the differences between the scores, stage
and screen. (My compilation samples both.) According to
the
IMDb trivia, the director's first choice for Tony
in the 1961 film was Elvis -- wouldn't thata been
something? Also says the initial concept was titled
East Side Story, involving a romance between a Jewish
girl and a Protestant boy. That ever-popular derivation
(over 46K Google search results) reminds me of
this
Time magazine cover, which commemorated
Nikita Kruschev's visit to the UN. (Note Fidel Castro
in the
Anybodys
role.)
Okay, enough of the past. I'm fascinated by the idea
of monowheels -- unicycles with wheels so large, the
rider sits inside. A Brazillian company called
Wheelsurf
seems to have perfected a design, and is
selling powered units! Will the US allow importing,
could they be street legal? Not a chance, I'm
thinking -- who'd insure them? And unlike the pocket
bikes, this apparatus would be too large to escape
the authorities' attention.
|
| February 7, 2005 |
In this
post, Bob Harris addresses each of the lies in the
shrub's latest State of the Union speech.
From a Crunchy
Gods review of The Culture of
Fear by Barry Glassner:
Americans are fed a constant media diet of terrifying
"news items" that are often inaccurate, vague, or just
plain wrong. There's no time for corrections, though,
because the next terrifying story is already headed
your way. Killer bees! Flesh-eating virus! Teen
pregnancy! Internet predators! These hyped-up scare
stories take attention away from actual problems
that desperately need our attention, such as
overpopulation, destruction of the environment, a
failing educational system, and underavailability
of health care.
Interesting site, lots of odd corners, and it
identified an artist I've been wondering about for
a while, now: George Tooker. I was first exposed to
his creepy "Government Bureau" in my Psych 101
textbook, but the paper lanterns and the paintings
with are great, like "In the Summer House" and
"Garden Party" -- thumbnails of all three can be
found when you scroll down past the bio at the
Tigertail
Virtual Museum.
I've yet to visit a LiveJournal site that wasn't
rendered hincky by the picture IDs along the left of
their comments sections, but
this
entry has comical photos taken at a Star Wars
convention. Sometimes the captions are worthwhile,
but after a while you just want him to STFU.
Speaking of which,
The
Cuddly Menace is a Christian kids book,
with captions replaced.
|
| February 5, 2005 |
Has it really been a year since I returned from
my last Japan trip?
Alas... and it'll be at least a year before I can get
back, as my plans for a Central European jaunt are
firming up, for late September and Oktober. As is often
the case, I learned of something worth seeing shortly
after my return, last year, this being a mall called
Nakano
Broadway in Tokyo, which popped up again in
yesterday's web-surfing. There's a new fad in Japan,
triggered by anime:
"maid"
cafés, and a blogger there
visited
one called Tea Room Alice in Nakano.
Signed up with MetaFilter today. The provocation was
the following remark, from
this
thread:
This is the kind of question I love AskMe for. I've
never even heard of Undulated Staples, but somehow
my life is richer now.
Pathetic
Geek Stories -- as comic strips!
Little-known
attractions of Central Virginia and
Boilerplate,
Mechanical Marvel of the 19th Century
are great fun, but I don't believe a word.
The neon in today's picture is the sign of a
fish&chips shop around the corner
from the original Los Altos Peet's.
|
| February 3, 2005 |
In
today's
column Jon Carroll holds forth on Collapse
and the isolation of the elite. The book's one of those
huge tomes I 'spect few people chattering about it now
have actually read. (I certainly haven't, and this the
third time it's come up, here.) Like other commentators,
Señor Jon also ponders that Easter Islander
chopping down their last tree, but doesn't mention
Rapa
Nui, a film which should be better known.
A blog I've recently gotten into is called "What Tian
has Learned". It's just one of three he's writing.
A
recent post features a glossary of "2005 Work-Place
Vocabulary" which includes Assmosis:
The process by which people seem to absorb success and
advancement by sucking up to the boss rather than
working hard.
Reminds me of a great book called Neanderthals
at Work which taxonimizes workers into three basic
types: Believers, Game-players (who they're now
labeling Competitors) and Rebels. (More info at the
authors'
site.) In my world, many System Administrators, and
some of the sharpest programmers have mainly Rebel
attributes. I see myself somewhere on a Rebel - Game-player
continuum. As a Game-player, I realize that Assmosis
is only effective with a boss susceptible to brown-nosing
(true, most are, but there's exceptions) however, as
a Rebel, I find that practice contemptable.
An increasing problem: crime associated with
Gypsy
Hypnosis, in Moscow. Aware of this
random statistic about that city? It's now
surpassed London, Tokyo and New York as having
the most expensive cost-of-living in the world.
|
| February 1, 2005 |
Time
for Talk is a new essay by Deborah Tannen.
Anthony Wade wonders,
How
Much Propaganda is Enough for America? Describes
the three recent uncoverings of journalists paid to
express Administration opinions as if they were their
own, plus -- the shill from 'Talon News' planted in
the White House press conference pool.
Pia Zadora:
The
Mystery.
|
| January 31, 2005 |
Zip-a-dee Do-dah!
According to the FAQ at
SongOfTheSouth.net,
the last time it was seen stateside was a 40th
anniversary re-release in 1986 -- why was I
watching "The Black Cauldron" then, 'stead of
Brer Rabbit? Says you can't even get the tape
abroad anymore, but the German Amazon may still
fulfill.
The
Vanishing by Malcolm Gladwell -- a couple weeks
ago I linked to an excerpt from Jarad Diamond's
Collapse; in last week's New
Yorker, Tipping Point author
Gladwell reviewed it. Easter Island and the
Viking's colonization of Greenland are mentioned.
The latter was news to me, immediatly I was in search of
pictures
of their Greenland cathedral ruins.
Attention travelers, planning trips: the dreaded
Saturday Night Stay restriction has been eliminated,
apparently because American went along with the recent
fare-simplification structure adopted by Delta, so
then everyone else follows suit.
(more)
In China, instead of pumpkins,
they
carve watermelons.
|
| January 27, 2005 |
It's a rainy night here but warm inside, where it's
illuminated by these neon tubes I've got
attached to the ceiling beams.
From
the transcript of a Seymour Hersh speech he gave
last month at the Steven Wise Free Synagogue, in New
York:
The amazing thing is we are being taken over
basically by a cult, eight or nine neo-conservatives
have somehow grabbed the government. Just how
and why, and how they did it so efficiently, will
have to wait for much later historians and better
documentation than we have now, but they managed
to overcome the bureaucracy and the Congress, and
the press, with the greatest of ease.
How
'atrocity porn' was manufactured to justify the
coalition invasions of both Kuwait and Iraq, and lots
of wars, going back more'n a hundred years.
They
Must Have Realized... -- and why the red face?
|
| January 26, 2005 |
Last year the Post Office issued a stamp of
Buckminster Fuller. The picture was originally
the cover of a Time magazine from January
1964 and somebody's scanned in the
accompanying
article. This isn't mentioned there, but did you
know he wrote new lyrics for "Home on the Range"?
Roam home to a dome
On the crest of a neighboring hill
Where the chores are all done
Before they're begun
And eclectic nonsense is nil.
Yeah, that last line is awkward, and there's worse
in the verses -- the whole thing can be found in the
Institute
lecture archives. I learned of this at that great
one-man "History (and Mystery) of the Universe"
show. It inspired me to seek out that Time
in the library myself, and what struck me was
how infantile the current magazine seems, in comparison.
A revoltin' new development -- a trio of grown-up
kids 'from the neighborhood' has taken to racing
their remote-controlled model cars out in the street.
There's a park directly opposite so things are
generally quiet out there, after sundown -- but
every evening for the past three they've taken up
a position for hours, it seems like, and what's
audible inside are loud, irregular buzzings, like
very large wasps, or a chainsaw, even. I'm hoping
they get bored with their new toys and go away
real soon.
Inside-the-Beltway
Ethnic
Dining Guide, Tyler Cowen's detailed, lengthy,
even exhaustive listing, with tips both general and
specific. Here's something new: Chez Yonyon, a Haitian
restaurant, in Hyattsville.
What is
PostSecret?
Postcards are requested, then scanned in and posted
online. Mail your secret to 13345 Copper Ridge Road,
Germantown MD 20874.
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