Life with Ricky, Bubbles & Julian...

Got myself a 6 year old SRI Ambassador AM-884 is what I did. In a nice trailer park nestled over the mighty Peace River (read: an opulent version of a van down by the river).

I like being different places. Moving is a pain.

Excellent.

Guido Daniele

A dream line-up...

Elvis Presley



All-star backup: Sugarbabes, Marvin Gaye, Jimmy Page, Noel Gallagher, Keith Moon, Sheryl Crow and Stevie Wonder.

Chalk another one up...

...for the good guys.

Homeowner, 71, shot intruder in NE Portland Oregon home.

A 71-year-old man in the residence, Leroy Hudson, reportedly fired one shot at the suspected intruder. The injured suspect, a 26-year-old male, was transported to a local hospital with injuries described as "life threatening." Police said he was shot in the head.

All's well that ends well.

Comments anyone?

This article on Iraq is worth reading. I'd be interested in comments.

From the Prometheus Institute:

It is the Institute's opinion that although the war was once justified on the presumed existence of dangerous weapons of mass destruction, these noble goals have been abandoned in an improvident current prosecution of "The War on Terror."

In our opinion, the War on Terrorism should not be about rebuilding countries. The inability of America to offensively colonize other countries has always been painfully clear even since our failed invasion(s) of Canada in the Revolutionary War. The leaders of our country have failed to learn from the lessons of the past. As supported by our roles in the Spanish-American War, World Wars I & II and Desert Storm, our rate of success is far better when we are serving a protective role rather than an aggressive one.

Since we already captured Saddam, murdered his sons, and have no hope to find the WMDs, we have ended any possible national threat and thus have no more legitimate governmental interest in Iraq. We must immediately find the quickest way to leave Iraq without precipitating a civil war - not continue to seek an imposition of democracy that is neither desired, efficient, or beneficial for either country.

Nanny State Knows Best...

The details.

...just another Bureaucrat WHorror story. And no, it's not a spelling mistake.

I love shoes...

No, not like that.

Like these, and these, and these, and especially these: drool.

Anyways, so I bump into this story about how Tony Blair has worn the same pair of shoes for 18 years.

The shoes in question, an 18-year-old pair of hand-made leather brogues that have only been re-soled once, were made by Church's in Northampton, central England.

"I know it's ridiculous, but I've worn them for every PMQs (Prime Minister's Questions), I've actually had them for 18 years," Blair told The Times in an interview, adding that "cheap shoes are a false economy."

According to a spokeswoman for Church's, a 134-year-old company, the shoes Blair bought would have cost 150 pounds ($353) when he bought them, and cost about 290 pounds ($682) now.

If y'look enough, you can find some common ground with most folks, and Mr Blair is right that cheap shoes are a false economy. My favorite shoe store in Vancouver, for years, was Sheppard's Shoes, but I gather they've closed their Granville Street location and now deal direct, online. S'okay, the shoes are still killer.

But I remember when most shoes found in shoe stores were well-built and solid leather. Bata Shoes, for example, used to carry very well made classic leather men's shoes at prices ranging from very normal to...okay, well y'could get a pair of very high end water-buffalo brogues with double-welt soles (I did)...but over the years Bata has seemingly devolved to selling moulded sole trendy running shoes; at least that's all there is in my town...

(Disclaimer: I do have a soft spot for Converse Chuck Taylor high-tops.)

These days what y'get is plastic or faux leather (read: ersatz, placebo, spurious, as in: not even genuine Naugahyde) or, if you're lucky, leather and cloth stitched and glued together in a George Jetson/Dennis Rodman mash-up with a sole that's guaranteed to wear out, making your uppers useless, in about two years. Or you can head over to Wal-Mart and pick up some "man-made material" they call 'em dress shoes (as if...) with cleverly molded plastic soles that mimic everything about a real dress shoe except the comfort and quality. Why, they even fake the stitching so you can pretend the shoes ain't crap.

But damn straight, those Church's can last 18 years with a resole or two. Easy if you're even a bit careful.

And y'know something: Canada used to have a good few companies that made premium quality, fine leather shoes, too. I have a pair of John McHale shoes (thick leather soled, burnished medium reddish-brown blucher cap-toes) that equal the best I've seen from today's British shoemaking elite. I cherish them like diamonds, and I treat 'em like gold. I bet they're twenty years old or more. They look pretty much new, and they fit like the day they were made: perfectly. Really though, the rest of my good shoes are British.

Ah, but dontcha know: some of the world's best riding, western and police boots (some say the best boots) are still made in Alberta...

(Edit: I found an ad for the exact model McHales that I own...they're from the 1950s...), that's more than 50 years of wear.

Gays, polygamists and kissin' cousins...

Here

As it happens, I support gay marriage, which is to say I think gay folks ought to be able to get married just like straight folks. I've had a few runs around the blogosphere on that issue, like here at LFR with Pete in Midland (who I like even when I disagree with him).

Anyways, the linked article goes to a story about how some folks are realizing that consistent application of the principles supporting the right of gays to marry could well open the door to marriage among polygamists or "closer-than-recommended" relatives, or [fit the kink of your choice]...

From the article:

There are disturbing signs all over the country that conservatives were right to predict that proponents of odd and radical sexual practices would try to slip through the political and legal doors opened by the gay rights movement.

because, for example:

In Lawrence [Texas], the high court ruled in 2003 that state laws banning gay sex in private were unconstitutional, citing "an emerging awareness that liberty gives substantial protection to adult persons in deciding how to conduct their private lives in matters pertaining to sex." Emphasis mine.

Liberty had better bloody well give substantial protection to adult persons in deciding how to conduct their private lives in matters to pertaining to sex. Otherwise, it ain't liberty...it's just the usual set of permissions or prohibitions from the busybodies.

Short version: the government has no place in these sorts of choices and ought to plain get out of the marriage/social engineering business.

There is so much about this story...

... that makes me smile.

a federal district court [struck] down a state law that allowed only those public employees who belonged to certain denominations the right to claim a religious objection to paying union dues.

Now, why can't atheists make similar moral/financial decisions with equal effect? Surely religious freedom includes freedom from religion.

So...

...you thought the meddling fuckheads would stop at cigarettes and maybe a bit of kerfuffle about fast foods, didja?

Idiots.

Hey, theocrats--read this!!

Over at Rational Reasons, Mike has posted a note to those who envision Canada as a Christian theocracy.

He won't be alone.

So I see this headline...

Polygamy fueling Ariz.’s rate of genetic disorder ...

...and as I read the article, I realized that, really, no such thing is happening at all. It ain't polygamy that's causing the problem; it's just inbreeding.

They aren't the same thing.

But "Inbreeding Fuels [Anywhere's] Rate of Genetic Disorder" wouldn't be a headline anywhere; it'd just be a "yeah...and, your point???"

Much ado about not very much.

I'm only saying this once (here)...

At my job, my secondary function is as a computer repair tech. And it'd be fair to say I've been on a computer every day since 1984, and some before that. I started with an Adam and went to PC Jr...and so on. I'm a rank newbie compared to my brother who runs where I work. OK, that's the preamble.

We have this joke we tell when folks come in with crashed hard drives, asking us if we can save the files on the drive.

We say "oh, relax--it's no problem; just restore the files from your backup".

Then we smile (inwardly), say nothing in the very, very awkward silence that follows, and watch the various emotions (like panic, shock,...) play across the faces of the people across the counter from us.

Factually, sometimes we can rescue the data; and if we can't sometimes very high-tech (read: expensive) labs that specialize in that sort of thing can retrieve the data. But there is no guarantee the data can be retrieved, period, if the drive crashes. Lotsa times, the data is more gone than a dropped diamond in a desert sandstorm.

So, this, only once: if you can't live without it, Back It Up. Twice. With one backup somewhere else than your home. (Think, if you have a backup on CD at your place, and your place burns, your CD backup data is...crispy...and not suitable for consumption). Backup data is two copies.

You'd think folks woulda got that message by now, but every week I am reminded just how many folks haven't absorbed it yet.

There.

My good deed for the day.

For any number of reasons...

...Due South's RCMP constable Benton Fraser is one of my favorite TV characters. I have a favorite Benton Fraser quote:

"I'm not interested in the money, Ray. I'm after the thief."

Straight up.

Cowichan issues...

As a past resident of the Duncan/Cowichan area, I'm always interested in the goings on in that corner of the world.

Meagan Champion is running a very intriguing series of posts over at her blog (Somena Media) regarding Cowichan Band financial activities, and though I'm nowhere near close enough to the action to have any personal knowledge, I do know that Meaghan does her homework...

FUCK Mugabe...

Here for details...

Africa has Mugabe, and South America has Chavez.

And, of course, there was Che; more here.

Ah, but they all meant well.

NASA Chief Questions Urgency of Global Warming

I love it when people talk straight.

From the interview:

Interviewer: Do you have any doubt that this is a problem that mankind has to wrestle with?

Michael Griffin: I have no doubt that … a trend of global warming exists. I am not sure that it is fair to say that it is a problem we must wrestle with. To assume that it is a problem is to assume that the state of Earth's climate today is the optimal climate, the best climate that we could have or ever have had and that we need to take steps to make sure that it doesn't change. First of all, I don't think it's within the power of human beings to assure that the climate does not change, as millions of years of history have shown. And second of all, I guess I would ask which human beings — where and when — are to be accorded the privilege of deciding that this particular climate that we have right here today, right now is the best climate for all other human beings. I think that's a rather arrogant position for people to take. (emphasis mine)

M-M-M-M-My (dad's) Generation

The Zimmers!



Rock on!

Heads Up (I didn't know this...)

Urban Legend Status: True at Snopes.Com

Thanks to my friend, guitarist David Spragge, for the heads up.

Short version: don't use cruise control when the road is wet, icy or slushy.

Among classy musicians...

...it's not about style or genre--it's about quality and respect.



Linkin Park and Jay-Z. Word up: McCartney.

A really smart musician...

This clip...

illustates McCartney as a master tunesmith. Damn--and the man can whistle!!!

See, y'take a really simple idea...

Big laugh!

Funniest bumper sticker I've seen in a dog's age..and accurate, too.

(image linked to publisher)

Great news story (and today's message...)...

CNN Link here

Philip Workman, 53, was executed Wednesday. He'd killed a policeman while he was coked up and doing a robbery. Anyways, he asked for his last meal to be a veggie pizza given to a homeless person nearby the prison.

The prison said nope, being as they don't "support charities". Fair enough; they seem busy with other things.

But folks in the area still thought that Phil was at least trying to go out on the right note. The long and short of it is that all sorts of homeless shelters in the area got free pizzas today donated by ordinary citizen-type folks.

So...for whatever reason that reminded me of a cartoon I saw in MAD magazine years ago, about two very aged but good friends who nevertheless had competed ruthlessly, brutally, all their lives. The one old guy is on his deathbed, minutes to go, and the other at his bedside and sorta thinkin' to himself: "it's a horrid shame to be losing my friend, but...well, there's really one game it's absolutely best to be winning, and here I'm is, living on while buddy over here croaks..."

His dying friend gasps and whispers "my old dear friend, please...closer...my last words..."

He softly wheezes to his friend who is hunching over him, bending close to hear: "you, my friend and most worthy adversary, we challenged each other at races in grade school, over girlfriends in high school--and don't forget golf, cards, and football. Some victories to you, and some to me. Later, and with the same results,...we...honored each other by competing directly and unsparingly in the business world..." his voice fading...

"My dearest friend...", straining himself to raise, for only a second, to touch his partner's shoulder...dropping stone dead with a gasped:

"last tag".

Now, that's attitude.

Sometimes...

...I'm surprised at who I think is putting out good music, but even though it's been almost two years since it's been released, Ashlee Simpson's Autobiography is still one of the few at least somewhat recent albums by any artist that I can listen to straight through.

And I think LaLa is a killer rock tune (link to video). It's irreverent, slutty, swaggering and punchy. In other words, it's straight-up righteous rock'n'roll.

Sharpton, the Rage Surfer.

Details here.

So here's the rub. Sharpton, the reigning World Champion rage-surfer, let his tongue slip. For just a moment, he said exactly what he unguardedly thought, not what he wanted folks to think he meant. Now he's trying to backpedal.

Here's his quote:

As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyways, so don't worry about that; that's a temporary situation

Now, he was debating an atheist at the time, but the "As for the one Mormon running for office" preamble puts paid to Sharpton's post-fumble explanation that

"What I said was that we would defeat him, meaning as a Republican...A Mormon, by definition, believes in God. They don't believe in God the way I do, but by definition, they believe in God."

claiming that (according to the article) "he was contrasting himself with Christopher Hitchens, the atheist author he was debating at the time."

Yeah, right, Al.

Y'got caught.

With everything else Sharpton has never apologized for, I don't see him fessin' up now on this one, so here's my take on the situation:

Sharpton's slip of the tongue is miles short of axe murder, but he's called for what amounts to shunning of folks who have made similar remarks but about black people and selected others; he's wanted folks fired, to lose their jobs, for advertisers and supporters to remove their approval...stuff like that.

Fair's fair, Al.

Right. Like that'll happen. After all, Mitt Romney is a white, Mormon (LDS) Republican.

There'll be barely a ripple. You watch.

By the way, tone of voice tells a lot in situations like this, so here's the audio clip.

Walter Schirra dead at 84

"I left Earth three times. I found no place else to go. Please take care of Spaceship Earth." Walter Schirra

Please don't go get all political and tie this to global warming or another favourite crusade. I mean, it might include that, alright? But really it's mostly like how you leave a campfire, or picking up your cigarette butts (or, better: not dropping them until you have a decent place) or it's like "don't shit where you eat."

Plain enough? The rest just follows.

You know: Good manners. Right and wrong.

Anyways, to'al respect, Mr. Schirra.

American Idol

Sure I watch the show. I'm up for any opportunity musical folks can get to show their stuff. Somewhat as an aside, that's why, unlike a lot of pro and semi-pro musicians, I strongly support karaoke. Skilled backup is hard to find when you're a singer, and I've seen many people become excellent singers through karaoke--and without it, they'd never have been able to pull it off. American Idol is kinda karaoke on steroids, so fine with me.

Anyways, there are two acts whose tunes you do at your peril. With Elvis or The Beatles, you have only two choices as a performer: you do them as an exactly spot on copy, or you do something remarkable with their tunes that makes (as they say) your own. The first option is difficult; the second is incredibly risky, and middle ground just won't do.

I think Melinda Doolittle is an awesome vocal power, but still, this from Jordin Sparks is an option #2 total victory (I have no idea how long FOX will allow this video to stay available...it's properly their choice--I hope they leave it):

Nicely put.

The "gun-free zone" fraud isn't just about banning firearms or even a symptom of academia's distaste for an entire sensibility of which the Second Amendment is part and parcel but part of a deeper reluctance of critical segments of our culture to engage with reality.

Mark Steyn.

The Right to Cower, Barricade or Run

From a reader's email about the Virginia Tech situation at Michelle Malkin's blog.

We heard pretty much continuous shooting for the next minute or so, and I said, "Shouldn't we barricade the door," because we were sitting ducks with no way out inside that room if he opened the door. A couple more people floated the idea that "We need to barricade the door, NOW." But I was too scared to even move, much less move the teacher's desk.

Finally one of the guys in the front of the classroom was brave enough to get up and move the desk in front of the door to prevent outside entry. About twenty seconds later, the shooter rattled the doorknob trying to get in. When he couldn't get in he fired two shots through the door (single solid piece of wood) and left. We heard him go in to 206 (the room across the hall) and shoot the people in that room. If we hadn't put the barricade up when we did, I and all my classmates would be dead.

(italic emphasis mine)

Not really a funny day, but still...

I read this in the comments section at FARK:

Average murder per 100,000 residents in counties won by Bush: 2.1; average murder per 100,000 residents in counties won by Gore: 13.2.

But I thought I'd check. Here's the skinny..

The county-by-county murder-rate comparison presented in this piece is wrong. The actual overall average rate is 5.5, but the average of 2.1 and 13.2 is 7.65, which is too high.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), in the year 2000 the national murder rate was about 5.5 per 100,000 residents. Homicide data by county for 1999 and 2000 can be downloaded from the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NAJCD), and the counties won by Gore and Bush can be identified using the county-by-county election results made available by CNN. (The NACJD provides not only the number of reported murders for each county, but also the population for each.) The average murder rate in the counties won by Gore vs. the rate in the counties won by Bush can be determined from this data. By calculating the murder rate for each county and then taking the averages, we find a murder rate (defined as number of murders per 100,000 residents) of about 5.2 for the "average" Gore county and 3.3 for the average Bush county. But since people, rather than counties, commit murders, a more appropriate approach is to calculate the total number of murders in the counties won by each candidate and divide that figure by the total number of residents in those counties. This more appropriate method yields the following average murder rates in counties won by each candidate:

Gore: 6.5
Bush: 4.1

There is a distinct difference between these two numbers, but it is nowhere near as large as the quoted...message states (i.e., 13.2 for Gore vs. 2.1 for Bush). Note that the average of these two figures is 5.3, which, as expected, is very close to the reported national murder rate of 5.5.

Draw any conclusions you'd like ;-)

Virginia Tech

My sincere condolences to the families and friends of the dead and injured at Virginia Tech. I wouldn't do this right now, but some yahoos are already trying to use this as an excuse to disarm future victims, so...

I'll put this succinctly. I don't own a gun--never have. I don't want a gun. Right now anyways.

But I damn well think law-abiding citizens have the right to return absolutely overwhelmingly superior firepower when threatened by criminals.

But you're always hearing "but a bad guy did this with a gun". Well, bad guys have always been doing bad things with weapons. Duh.

That's no reason to disarm the law-abiding folks. Actually, it's a reason not to.

I call Bullshit.

Subprime Bailout noises HERE at CNN...

...talking about government assistance to bail out home purchase lenders and borrowers.

Why in HELL should people who made the sometimes difficult but responsible decision not to borrow beyond their means, which in many cases meant continuing to pay rent with no chance of gaining equity, have to bail out folks who made a bad business decision?

Subprime bailout? $120 billion
More than 1 million borrowers may be at risk of defaulting on their mortgages. Assisting them all wouldn't come cheap.

I don't care even if it would be cheap.

Maybe if more than a million people actually had to pay for their bad economic decisions, those folks would make better decisions in the future. But in any case, there is no good reason to saddle innocent people with the cost of repairing this mess. Let the folks who did it clean up after themselves.

As an aside (and it doesn't change the principle of the thing), I don't think many (any) of those folks at risk for default were gonna be wildly sharing the equity and profits they'da made if the market had gone like they'd gambled.

There is something very right and wonderful...

...about Pakistani civilians picking up weapons to protect transsexuals against the Taliban.

Good on ya, citizens of Lakki Marwat and I assure you I am not being the slightest bit sarcastic here. You have every reason to take pride in what you did. Thank you.

From Samizdata: "Cowardice does not make you safe. It makes you a safe target - D.Amon"

Never be a safe target. Bees like flowers, but that's not why people leave them alone.

Prediction:

Imus on satellite. Fast.

Read this.

Jason Whitlock: Imus Isn't The Real Bad Guy

From the article:

We know that the gangsta rappers and their followers in the athletic world have far bigger platforms to negatively define us than some old white man with a bad radio show. There’s no money and lots of danger in that battle, so Jesse and Al are going to sit it out.

Earlier (same article) Mr Whitlock noted:

It is us. At this time, we are our own worst enemies. We have allowed our youths to buy into a culture (hip hop) that has been perverted, corrupted and overtaken by prison culture. The music, attitude and behavior expressed in this culture is anti-black, anti-education, demeaning, self-destructive, pro-drug dealing and violent.

I don't think it's exactly that, but he's not barking up the wrong tree. It's not prison culture--it's specifically a criminal/thug/klepto culture that tells people they have a right to the results of accomplishment without any of the integrity and effort that makes those results legitimate or, really, even possible over anything except the very short term. Let's face it, stealing a Rembrandt doesn't make you a collector; it makes you an asshole. Painting one, or gaining one by honest trade or agreement; now, that's an accomplishment.

But don't you go thinking this is just about black culture. It's not, not by a long shot. The problem is everywhere and so it's there too, like it is where you and I live.

Rage-surfing...

Al Roker writes that there is no joy in what has transpired [to Imus]

Oh BULLSHIT.

Yeah it was not the nicest thing I ever heard, but...

There's all sorts of folks "surfin' the outrage" as if this is all worth so much kerfuffle. Fuck that. It's a bunch of hypocritical PC candy-ass grandstanders--and Jackson and especially Sharpton are fucking hypocrites who know that they've said worse and that if punishments were fair, Imus would be out of the woods while they were still buried in 'em.

Sickening opportunistic bandwagon jockeying. Oughtta be an event at the Calgary Stampede: That was 7 rough seconds on Poor Injured Feelings, a nasty mare outta South Central Ottawa, Bobby-Jim...

However, it is so nice to see PC/leftist tolerance and all that hogwash. Let's not get all out-of-sorts about things like seeing folks hit an innocent trucker in the head with FUCKING BRICKS (and people actually justifying it, many of 'em exactly the same kinda PC/leftist-apologist fuckheads now getting so upset with Imus), or what the Duke 3 went through including the commentators who guiltified them in the press before the (I was gonna say trial--but it never even got that far, did it) truth came out, or Sharpton's rage-surfing of that Tawana Brawley story from a few years go. After all: IMUS said a No-No...

Hypocritical opportunist fucking drama-queens at worst. Fucking drama queens at best.

Please visit Billy Beck's Two-Four where he offers much more insight on this (including this gem from Two-Four):

"It has also empowered Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to be the arbiters of political correctness, which I find to be disgusting and I find ironic and hypocritical."
(Niger Innis -- Congress of Racial Equality, [quoted from] MSNBC TV)

What is seen and what is unseen

The brilliance of Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850) plays out once again...

First, check this article: The Ethanol Food Crisis by Peter Corcoran/Financial Post.

then, if you wish, this past blog post of mine: here

Now read Bastiat's What is Seen and What is Unseen

More, and more about, Bastiat here.

Apply Bastiat's views classically liberally.

Oshawa looks to Ban Toy Guns

Here

Oshawa is following in the footsteps of Scugog Township, north of the city, which was one of the first Ontario municipalities to institute such a bylaw. Since early last year, those under the age of 18 have been prohibited from possessing a replica firearm while on public property or on private property where the public has general access.

Roy Rogers is rolling around laughing in his grave.

Scary, huh.

Adam Gussow's Keys to the Kingdom...

This is between you and me.

Adam Gussow is a heckuva harp player. Me, I'm OK, too but Adam is one of the special ones.

So here's what the bugger does:

He lays out on YouTube over 40 lessons about how to play blues harp, from very very beginner to certified screamin' funkmonkey, and he does it in a way that pretty much means that if you can see and hear, you'll get it. Probably quickly.

Free.

The whole shmoo: tone, technique, equipment, effects and tricks. Whammo. Not all there is but so close to it y'can feel the breeze. Mr. Gussow mentions he thinks a dedicated type could put it all together enough for pro work in about two years. I think he's right.

The lessons are organized, easy to follow and thorough. I've played for maybe 40 years as a pro and semi-pro and I'm quite decent. I learned very useful new-to-me stuff in lesson two.

I'm certainly not going to support competition in my trade by constantly reminding people about Adam's near-total destruction of the market for blues harmonica teachers in the english speaking world. There is no way I will constantly repeat that I've never encountered better lessons, nor will I unfailingly be advising readers that so far in the series a student requires 10-hole diatonic harmonicas in the keys of Bb, C, D and I think F and G. It would be foolish if I repeated further that the Bb will get a person through the first 10-15 lessons or so.

It would only be adding to the damage were I to even occasionally reiterate that it'd be an idea to get a good harp to start, at least the quality of the quite serviceable Suzuki Harpmaster or better. Adam uses Hohner Marine Bands/Model 1896 (not my first choice, but they're good pro level harps).

Bottom line: I teach harmonica and if you want to play well, you don't really need me anymore. I'll be happy to help, but almost everything you'd want to know is in these lessons, and everything you need to know is right out in the open.

There. I've told you.

The blues harp keys to the kingdom are laying out in plain view.

Don't let this news get out.

And don't expect me to remind you.

So ya wander the blogosphere...

and bump into this by way of Tom Scott, commenting at QandO

L’Eggo My Lego in TCS Daily reports on the Lego ban at Hilltop Children’s Center in Seattle: Teachers at the private school wanted children — most from upper-middle-class white families — to learn about “the inequities of private ownership.”

Like I'm surprised.

This Isn't New But It's Important.

The Postmodernism Generator

capable of this:

*Objectivism in the works of Gaiman*
*Ludwig I. BaileyDepartment of Literature, University of North Carolina*

An excerpt: Thus, Foucault uses the term ‘postmaterialist theory’ to denote not sublimation, as neosemioticist capitalist theory suggests, but neosublimation. The premise of Lacanist obscurity suggests that culture is part of the failure of narrativity.

(paraphrased) Note: "The excerpt you have read is completely meaningless and was randomly generated by the Postmodernism Generator. To generate another essay, follow this link." (paraphrased)

Michelle Malkin by way of FARK

Michelle Malkin by way of FARK

Liberal bloggers discover web misogyny...

Go visit Michelle's site and update yourself on the liberal-left's very selective rage.

Kinda reminds me of all the Democratic feminist Clinton supporters tripping all over their past quotes and back-pedalling like mad when their Alpha-Male in Chief decided to share sexual pleasure with Ms. Lewinsky (otherwise, woulda been "when he grotesquely abused the work-place power relationship to satisfy the most base of his carnal desires" or some such rot--you know the stuff they trotted out when it was a conservative judge they were gunning for).

Actually, I gotta thank Bill Clinton for that--he pretty much did to wacky-left feminists what hip-hop/MTV did to hair bands--and just as quickly.

Chris Sligh...

...is a smart, class act.

I have absolutely never seen a better "loser" on American Idol. And he's a fine, fine singer.

Good work, Chris.

Chuckle...

HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa......

Rates go up because "Energy savings programs create revenue shortfall"...

OMFG Wotta laugh....

So lemme see--if I cut back to using next to nothing, I'll be paying stupendously massive amounts for it.

Right.

One more thing...

I love headlines like this:

Aspirin may lower death risk in women
Overall odds of dying drop by 25 percent, study finds

No, the overall odds of dying do not drop by 25%.

The death risk remains the same with or without aspirin: a certainty. The death rate will remain at 100% (one per customer) for the foreseeable future.

A quick one...

This story prompts my comment for today...

From the article: "Barred from teaching creationism in U.S. public schools, some conservative Christians now advocate the “intelligent design” argument that some forms of life are too complex to have simply evolved. Scientists call this creationism in disguise.

My comment: "Intelligent design" is creationism in drag, creationism masquerading as its own opposite.

I do not deny god; there is no god to deny.

Surfing the headlines...

Found this one on FARK.

• 9/11 remains possibly used to pave roads

Found this by digging deeper...

• To mawkish New Yorkers, a message: you gotta move on – and get building

To me, the best memorial that could be built at Ground Zero would be Disneyland.

If they knock it down, put it right back up. In their face.

Synchronicity...

By way of Billy Beck's Two-Four blog, there's a discussion on crime, guitars and guns goin' on at Majikthise.

There's also this news item at FARK about a 70-year old vacationing ex-marine taking out a thug in Costa Rica.

As much as I...kinda...feel bad for the mother of the now-dead thief in the FARK story, I can't help seeing glaring cognitive harmony between the thief's mom and the folks quibbling with Billy.

The Great Global Warming SWINDLE.

Hat tip to Billy Beck for this one...

This is one video I hope goes viral as hell. 75 minutes and worth every second.

Tell ya what...I'd love to examine any scientific explanation as to why this video is wrong--because I don't think it is wrong.

And Billy is exactly right as to why this swindle is in play right now.

It's no accident that at one point in the documentary (43 minutes, 9 seconds), Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace, explicitly describes the co-opting of the environmental movement by anti-capitalists, specifically lefties who were kinda adrift in the swamp of Chernobyl, Enver Hoxha and Ceauşescu when their grand Marxist experiments collapsed under the weight of self-inflicted misery.

Don't Judge a Book By It's Cover...

Who'da thunk it...

glumbert.com - Grungy nerd gets it on at the Apollo

Paul deLay (1952-2007)

Story here.

Maybe it takes another harmonica player to fully realize just how inventive, how original and how skilled a harmonica player Paul was, and that's beside the fact he was also a great singer, top-notch songwriter and world-class entertainer.

Paul's website here.

Sad day. Damn.

No minor infractions in Sunriver

Sounds lovely. Here's the headline: "Oregon community reins in its police for minor infractions."

But surely, the town must now descend into an anarchistic hell...

Deniers

Leaving entirely aside many reputable scientists who disagree with current "conventional wisdom" on global warming, here's a heads up on those who use the term "such and such denier" whether speaking of the Holocaust or global warming (or anything else for that matter).

The phrase "____________ denier" is an epithet and is always and only used to stifle dissent. Make no mistake about it; those who use the term denier do so in a clear attempt to equate "global-warming deniers" and "holocaust deniers". And it's no accident; the term was picked--and is used--specifically for its connotation. The term "denier" is nothing but a tool of megalomaniacal true believers who hold that reason and respectful discussion have no place in human interaction once they have made up their minds.

In one sense they are correct: reason has no place in their interactions and those who use the term are somewhat generously stating clearly that your attempts to reason with them will probably be useless and (more important) will be treated by them as useless. In other words, those who use the term have minds like steel traps; nothing gets in.

All's Right with the World...

Forrest Whitaker wins an Oscar.

Farrakhan

From: CNN

Sunday, he said Jesus and Mohammed "are brothers who come from the same eternal God[...]How dare us try to split up the prophets and make them enemies of each other to justify our being enemies," he said. "If Jesus and Mohammed were on this stage, they would embrace each other with love. If Moses and the prophets and Abraham the father would be on this podium with all the prophets, they would embrace each other."

Well, yeah...but duh.

Still, glad ya finally figured that out, Louis.

Natural Allies?

HERE

Christiane Amanpour on a senior Iranian government official's view of Iran and the USA as "natural allies".

God I hate Real Player...

Who knows why, but I do.

So the good news is The Real Alternative. Scumware-free freeware and works just fine.

Good news because now you can conveniently view the details of the 1957 Spaghetti Harvest (ram format video) rather than just read about it.

The vintage beauty of mid-50's Swiss spaghetti plantations is something to see, especially given that the Swiss plantations were nowhere near as mechanized as those of the much larger Italian industry.

Yup.

How's this for hardball?

For millennia, the world’s great prophets and theologians have applied their collective genius to the riddle of womanhood. The result has been polygamy, sati, honor killing, punitive rape, genital mutilation, forced marriages, a cultic obsession with virginity, compulsory veiling, the persecution of unwed mothers, and other forms of physical and psychological abuse so kaleidoscopic in variety as to scarcely admit of concise description.

You go, Sam.

John McCain & Roe v. Wade

John McCain says Roe v. Wade should be overturned.

The point, though, is not that Roe v. Wade should be overturned; it's that Roe v. Wade should be unnecessary. The state has no business imposing its will on the procreative decisions of its citizens. Period.

Sure, you folks who think abortion is murder have strong arguments in your favour, even when the arguments aren't faith based. And you pro-choice supporters have strong arguments, too.

Great. So how about y'all congratulate yourselves on how right your opinion is on the subject--but otherwise just stay the fuck out of it, and leave the folks most directly involved alone to make their own decision.

That'd be good.

A Soon-to-be Classic Fark Thread

HERE.

Oh, what the heck...here: http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=2618004

If ever a thread deserved preservation of the full URL, this it it.

Fun with Numbers.

I found this statistic in an otherwise OK article about male depression:

Men with depression and heart disease are two or three times more likely to die than men with heart disease who are not depressed.

Not true.

Men with depression and heart disease are exactly as likely to die as men with depression but no heart disease or, for that matter, men with heart disease but no depression.

The odds for all of 'em is 100%, one per customer.

The Liberty Arcade

The Liberty Arcade

Games for People in Complex Societies.

You do realize, of course...

that Chavez is an unmitigated dick-head. And he shares these character flaws with Bush: he's egocentric enough--and shallow enough in his knowledge--to think he means well. Chavez surely musta attended the Mugabe-Marx/Fabian-Forte school of economics.

One good thing, though--his subjects will be able to afford all the items they won't be able to buy; which is to say: supply will be non-existent, but the price tags will look attractive.

Ah well, I suppose the world can always use another example of collectivist mismanagement.

Not that there's any shortage.

Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau

talking about married life and being together...

Do you folks not see that this is just another example of "sometimes the government oughtta just fuck off and stay out of it." Woulda been better if they'da done that. Instead, these two nice folks just got dicked around endlessly. I'm sure the whole situation kept a lot of social workers and bureaucrats busy, though...

Near the end of the interview Letourneau says words to the effect of "I see what the norm is, I mean I recognize it, but there's so many things in life that just don't fall into that norm."

Exactly. And the "so many things in life that just don't fall into that norm" are what FREEDOM is for.

Again...

Ahmadinejad interviewed by Diane Sawyer (ABC news video)

What's the again part?

This:

People are not their caricatures.

I'll say it again: the United States is badly misreading this guy.

Justa couple of cover tunes...

Some of you know I play music.

Here's links to a couple of generic cover tunes featuring Jamie Rosenthal on guitar, me on harp & vocals, and Jeff McCann on midi and mixin'...

• cover tune 1
• cover tune 2

Nothin earthshattering, but very much fun...

Posters and such...

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a soft spot for--and a growing collection of--classic 60s concert posters done by artists like Victor Moscoso, Rick Griffin, Stanley Mouse, Gary Grimshaw and the whole Berkeley Bonaparte crew, as well as Bob Masse and Steve Seymour who were the folks who did most of the Vancouver Retinal Circus and/or Afterthought show posters.

Well, this post is about a newer artist I found during my 'net wanderings, a fella named Stainboy. I found Stainboy's posters at his site, and also at Deisel Fuel Prints, along with works by a number of other newer pop artists.

Short story: I like Stainboy's stuff. Lots.

Here's a couple of examples:

My guess is that Stainboy's stuff's gonna command a pretty penny a few decades from now, just like Moscoso's and Griffin's work does today.

And the pride of my collection (by Moscoso)...a 60s item known by some as the "Oracle Double" and commonly referred to as NR-13b...

...which is a very rare Moscoso overprint of two classic images designed by Rick Griffin for the San Francisco Oracle newspaper back in the day.

Well, okay...one other favorite: a Frank Lewis design from a misspent Hallowe'en at the Retinal...

(naaaaaahhhh...I'm glad I spent it that way...)

There oughtta be a law...

Actually, there very seldom (if ever) oughtta be a law...

This article notes the efforts of Virginia state Sen. Ken Cuccinelli/republican to get a law written/passed to protect grieving families from reporters and others immediately following whatever trauma.

Now...the article writer, Marc Fisher, does a resonable job of addressing the specifics of why this particular law is a bad idea, but that's not my point.

My point is: every "should" doesn't need a law attached to it.

The article in question simply examines one of a million examples of folks hurrying to write laws in vain and foolish attempts to cover and prevent every possibility of harm, every possibility of upset, inconvenience, danger or disruption.

Can't be done.

More importantly: should not be done. "Let the folks most directly involved sort it out themselves" is most often the best thing to do.

So, the next time someone says "there oughtta be a law..." JUST SAY NO.

Starfire Lap Steel

This isn't my first lap steel (I've had a couple of others: a wonderful old 1950's 6-string Supro and a somewhat newer 6-string Magnatone which was OK but not great) and, since I'd let those go due to circumstances, I decided I wanted another and went searching.

Ebay was full of gems at decent prices ($250-$400--and sometimes less if you're lucky and patient--will get you a very nice vintage 6-string machine) but I wan't looking to spend quite that much and I'm not always patient.

I spent some time researching the Artisan models and they're well-regarded especially considering they're very inexpensive, but two objections were commonly noted: string spacing (too narrow for some tastes), and--worse--the output jack for the cable to the amplifier is in a brain-dead stupid location that requires a 90 degree angle plug for comfortable playing. (You can read more about the Artisans here, or just Google, or check Ebay) Neither of those Artisan design shortcomings is a total deal-breaker but I was looking for a longer scale and a better jack placement.

I came upon the Starfire at $169 USD in a Buy-It-Now deal.

The jack is in a smart, logical and out-of-the-way place. And it's long scale (about 24")...

...and it has decent tuners, a decent humbucker pickup (lotsa old laps have single coil "buzzers") and 3/8 inch string spacing, which is often preferred.

The Starfire lap steel has no vintage mojo at all (and it has no fret markers either, which is odd, but a few kids-type numbered stickers took care of that--and look cool).

Bottom line: this is a very serviceable, very playable lap steel. The tone and volume controls and 3-way switch (which seems to be a coil-splitter) all work just fine and I can get growly overdriven dirt or Hank Williams clean extremely easily through my playing rig. (Truth in advertising: the tone pots were a little loose on mine when it arrived; 2 minutes with a small wrench and small philips screw-driver fixed that right up).

Is it the best-made lap steel I've played? Nope--but it's much better than the Magnatone as far as I'm concerned and has none of the Artisan shortcomings. Gene Jones, a great steel player, played this little example on an Artisan, so y'don't require a top-flight machine to make good music; you just require practice and taste.

I do know I'll want another lap steel and the next will likely be an 8-string jobbie because 6 string laps have some inherent limitations, but I think this Starfire will do nicely and I don't have any hesitation suggesting that a beginner lap player take a serious look at a Starfire as a really decent starter.

If you're not familiar with lap steel, YouTube for "lap steel" and you'll see and hear a wide range of styles and sounds. Lap steels are very flexible, a natural second instrument for guitar players, and a fine addition to the usual guitar/bass/drums band line-up.

I heard a story that Ry Cooder was once asked how one learns to play electric slide [steel] guitar. He said words to the effect of: "get a guitar, get a slide, get an amp. Go into a small room and turn it up very loud. Then practice until you can stand it".

Which I'm gonna do.

When I can stand my own lap playing again, I'll probably post a sample.

The Bell Curve...

HERE.

Facts are facts. Although the article speaks to education, it also points to one reason (but only one of the many) that I'm not a democrat.

Just so's you know: most of the reasons I'm not a democrat have nothing to do with intelligence. So file this under the "and besides..." reasons.

New website...

Just a link to a website I recently built:

http://www.peacerivermedicalclinic.com The Associate Medical Clinic in scenic Peace River, Alberta.

Back in the fall (I think) of 1970 (I'm sure)...

...I was just beginning my lifetime love of playing harp outside. Which is to say: in front of real people. I had been practicing, yeah, but I was green to the processes, the manners, the culture, the whole life of being a publicly performing musician.

I don't know or remember why songwriter John Lyle asked me to record on his 1971 album "Bootleg Powerhead". I don't really even remember how we came into contact with each other. But I do vividly remember recording a tune "Livin' the blues (like a fricaseed chickadee)" I think is what it was...anyways that's more or less the lyric/title. (The 60's can be like that and they didn't end right at the stroke of Jan/70.) We did the recording up at Simon Fraser University. With good equipment for the day, too.

To the point: John was a really skilled songwriter--he wrote hooks that I've hummed at least a few times a year, for decades now. Back then I really wasn't used to being asked to play. At all. So it meant a lot to me that he asked me to do the recording, especially since he already knew many of the cream of Vancouver's serious young musicians. Well, he put the "Livin' the Blues..." tune out with the rest of the tunes on the album so I guess I didn't suck too bad. I hope.

Anyways, for decades we didn't have any contact with each other, but occasionally I would search the 'net for "Bootleg Powerhead" because I used to have a copy...two actually. Worn out and dead and gone to the rings of Saturn along with Bic lighters, missing airline luggage, socks from driers, and guitar picks. (Were you wondering where the lost stuff went? Now you know.) Today I find John.

And he's on CBC fer crissakes, and doing real well on the Roots charts. Which he solidly deserves. Check his new stuff out. I'm listening right now.

Nice to be back in touch, John. A good way to start the year.

Some serious thoughts about Merry Christmas...

Let's get this outta the way first: I am 100% down wit' Christmas. Christmas rawks. I like the spending, the giving and receiving, the songs, the company parties, the dinners with family and friends, the spontaneous kindness and generosity, the ads, the classic movies, eggnog, Santa...you name it. Party on.

However, what this guy says.

Pay attention. He's not nasty and he's not lying.

Read this article first, then wander around. Prepare to be challenged.

Andy McKee

This guy is so good I burst out laughing! Joyful to see real mastery look so casual.



Watch this one here but go to YouTube and check out some more. Fella's a monster.

Denis Payton

Dennis Payton, dead at 63

Younger folks may not be aware of Denis Payton, but he was a member of the Dave Clark Five (check the link to listen to tunes), (and here for more info on the band itself), arguably second only to the Beatles among British bands of 1963-1965, and the first major concert act I ever saw live. Dave's saxophone and harmonica were integral to the band's sound, and what a band it was. Most folks who remember the band at all will remember the drums, but the DC5 were groundbreakers in other areas as well. Dave Clark is a bright boy and was astute enough right from the beginning to make sure that he owned the band's songs and master recordings, but also to make sure he had creative control in the studio. The biggest consequence of that was that the DC5 had a huge big fat recorded sound, much closer to the actual live sound of the band than many acts of the day who had to deal with recording engineers constantly forcing the bends to turn down during sessions.

Well, the short version of the whole story is that Payton was a truly good player in a truly good band that almost never gets recognized for their pioneering use of instrumentation throughout their catalog.

Doin' the Right Thing

HERE

Judge gets fired for wrongfully jailing 11 people.

Sloop admitted he violated judicial canons. He blamed his behavior on undiagnosed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and said he has since received treatment.

He expressed no bitterness over his removal, saying he joined the justices in hoping his removal would help restore public confidence in the judicial system.

"I spent my life helping people understand they are responsible for their actions," Sloop said. "I am responsible for the grievous things that I did."

Class isn't about not making mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes.

Class is about owning up. Good on ya, John.

This is a repost of my very first blog post, and I'm reposting it because: 1)I want to, 2) I think it's still relevant, and 3) now some folks are actually reading my blog, so...

have at 'er...

John Podhoretz, in the NY Post, writes in Too Nice to Win/Israel's Dilemma (link updated to a blog copy of the article since the NY Post archived it),

"What if liberal democracies have now evolved to a point where they can no longer wage war effectively because they have achieved a level of humanitarian concern for others that dwarfs any really cold-eyed pursuit of their own national interests?...Are [the enemies of the western powers] seeking victory through demoralization alone - by daring us to match them in barbarity and knowing we will fail? Are we becoming unwitting participants in their victory and our defeat? Can it be that the moral greatness of our civilization - its astonishing focus on the value of the individual above all - is endangering the future of our civilization as well?"

Podhoretz continued:

"Didn't the willingness of [WWII Allied] leaders to inflict mass casualties on civilians indicate a cold-eyed singleness of purpose that helped break the will and the back of their enemies? Didn't that singleness of purpose extend down to the populations in those countries in those days, who would have and did support almost any action at any time that would lead to the deaths of Germans and Japanese?"

The entire implication in Podhoretz’ article is that it’s time to get down to winning no matter what ethical lines need to be crossed even though, of course, Podhoretz can deny that, given that he didn’t answer even one of his own questions.

So…what are you thinking right now? Has Podhoretz got you thinking it’s time to forget about valuing individuals for a while and get down to the job of kicking ass with the same utter lack of civility we are seeing from the terrorists. If so, you’ve been conned and I got news…If you think for one minute that western civilization's "astonishing focus on the value of the individual above all is endangering the future of our civilization...", then you are wrong.

First: The West (using the term loosely) hasn't been granting the Arab world their individualism, or showing them great humanitarianism, for a fucking dog's age. What western governments have been doing in the Arab world hasn't had or got the slightest thing to do with any "astonishing focus on the value of the individual above all." Instead, Western motives and actions in the Islamic world haven't been much different than, for example, the motives of the first waves of imperialist European settlers who occupied Turtle Island (look it up if you need to).

Say what you wish about the tactics they're using right now or the causes they represent, it's still true that the Arabs or Islamists throughout the Middle East, and certainly the supporters of Hezbollah, have far more in common with, say, the Indians under British rule than they do any type of militarist expansionist state like Germany or Japan. Almost the entire Arab world has been occupied or politically interfered with by foreign nations and their protected companies, economic "aid" and "development" agencies since at least the turn of the last century--and in lots of cases a lot longer. In other words, the Arab world has essentially been occupied by Russia, Britain, Germany, the United States, and by any number of less-powerful countries, alone or together and generally allied with one or more of the those biggies. In contrast, the Arab world hasn't historically made any huge efforts to take us over, at all.

What we've lost in the Middle East, we've largely lost because we weren't focusing on the value of the individual enough.

All I’m saying here is that even though we do have a perfect right to totally eliminate a threat to us from, say, Osama bin Laden, we'd bloody better still keep in mind why he's so fucking upset and why it seems fairly easy for him to obtain followers to do the kinds of things they do. It might be things like (from a letter bin Laden wrote to Americans a few years ago)

when [former President George H.W.] Bush, the father, visited the area...some of our own were impressed by America and were hoping that the visits would affect and influence our countries. Then, what happened was that he [Bush] was impressed by the monarchies and [supported them while they were] staying in power for tens of years, embezzling the public money without any accountability"

It might be things like how we supported Iran’s Savak, sowing the seeds for an Ayatollah Khomeini to arise and take power in Iran. I mean, do you really think most Iranians, who were becoming westernized up to the point we clearly began supporting a tyrant, really actually hoped then for a return to fully blown Islamic fundamentalism?. Understand, me: I like George Sr. as a person, and he wasn't the worst or the first, and I even think he meant well, but...

Get real. We radicalized them. And we didn't do it out of any concern or consistent regard for Arab or Islamic individualism. We did it because it suited our government’s purposes, which is to say--in many cases--it also suited companies unduly protected by western powers. It is also fair to say that, in many ways and for example, much of the Middle East was essentially annexed during major but dominantly western wars.

Second, there is precious little in common between the concept of national interest (at least government backed commercial and political interest beyond the physical borders of a nation) and that of individualism. To now say "[we] have achieved a level of humanitarian concern for others that dwarfs any really cold-eyed pursuit of [our] own national interests"--implying that an objective view would show us that we need to drop our humanitarian concern, our astonishing focus on the value of the individual, now, in the interests of our nation, and do some very much more "collateral damage intensive" things over there--is almost a perversion of language.

Get this; it's simple: Treating people as individuals means you let them be them as long as, and any time, they leave you alone too. And you then deal with them on those terms--or you don't deal with them. If you can't deal with them on those terms, you don’t trade with them, you don't take them over, you don't take their stuff, you don't choose their governments and you don't insult their belief systems and way of life. Instead, you simply do without stuff they have that you might want if you can’t get it without them--and, if you wish, you hope they come around. That's respecting people as individuals, and it's the only thing that is enough to ultimately conquer the zealots and the tyrants of the Islamic nations.

Why?

Because there's a smuggled premise right through Podhoretz' article: it's the idea that there is a paradox between what is our best and what keeps or protects our best. Individualism, expressly acknowledged as such by Podhoretz' article, is the best--and about that he's right. We can't keep it by throwing it away; we keep it by keeping it.

Because, for a great example, it took a potent combination of two things for the west to ultimately beat the Soviets once they were entrenched enough to fight the Cold War.

1) We didn't displace the Soviets because we pummeled the daylights out of them--but because, after decades of increasingly becoming aware of the comparative freedom and prosperity of the west, the individuals who lived in Russia wanted what we had, as individuals. Hell, even Gorbachev was astonished at how good we had it, and he admits it. If they hadn't wanted what we had, no power on Earth would have made those individuals question and then reject their oppressive government, even with Star Wars. In other words, we overcame to the degree we did when we led by example.

2) And because two leaders (Reagan and Gorbachev, as flawed as you might justifiably feel they were) made a conscious decision to see each other--and the citizens of their respective countries--as individuals.

The implication of this Podhoretz article is just another in a long list of calls for expedience over ethics and the implication should be soundly rejected. If we give up our astonishing focus on the value of the individual (even such as it is lately--and it's in tatters), what difference does it make who wins?

Just a reminder...

People are not their caricatures. You are witnessing very human pain.

An Iraqi youth mourns the death of his brother outside the morgue of a hospital in the restive city of Baquba northeast of Baghdad, 25 November 2006. The bodies of 21 Iraqi villagers from two families executed by gunmen the night before were found today in the strife-torn Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, police said.

(Photo credit: ALI YUSSEF/AFP/Getty Images - AFP Image #72641899)

Off to Edmonton...

for about 5 days...keep safe, be happy.

The Idaho Zamboni caper...

HERE (Seattle Times)

BOISE, Idaho • Two employees have been fired from the city's ice skating rink after making a midnight fast-food run • in a pair of Zambonis...[the drivers]...had to negotiate at least one intersection with a traffic light on their late-night creep from Idaho Ice World...The rubber-tired vehicles, whose top speed is about 5 mph, drove about 1 1/2 miles in all.

Parks Department Director Jim Hall: "They were fired immediately...We're pretty sure it was just the one time. When we interviewed them, they didn't seem to be too concerned about it. I don't think they understood the seriousness of it."

Although neither of the $75,000 Zambonis nor their $10,000 blades appeared damaged, Hall said Boise may still try to press charges against the former employees for allegedly operating an unlicensed motor vehicle on a public street.

Hall again: "They could have been hit by a car."

<**blink**>

"They could have been hit by a car"?!?!?!?!?! At 5 miles an hour, being the size they were, they coulda both been hit by a baby-carriage. And I can see that it would be easy for a distracted driver to overlook two drag-racing Zambonis in the hustle bustle of midnight traffic in Boise.

Totally adolescent stunt? Sure.

Fair to fire 'em? Well, yeah, firing's among the allowable responses (mind you, now they're two of the most terrain experienced Zamboni drivers on the planet)...

"operating an unlicensed motor vehicle on a public street"? Got 'em. Stone cold. That's what the courts are for.

Conway Twitty & Sam Moore

Conway Twitty and Sam Moore got together for this re-make of Brook Benton's 1970 hit (written by Tony Joe White): Rainy Night in Georgia (AOL video).

Take a few minutes out to watch and listen right through--even if you've seen it before (it ain't new). Sam Moore of Sam & Dave working with early-rock & country crooner Conway Twitty. This is what happens when "Hold On, I'm Comin'", "Soul Man" and "I Thank You" meets "Hello Darlin'" and "It's Only Make Believe".

No one grandstands, no one overplays, no one gets all artsy about it...

I'm trying to tell you why this video means so much to me and it's hard because I can't find the words I'd like, but I know it has to do with stuff like self and mutual respect, honesty, appreciation, restraint, credit-where-credit-is-due, friendship, "making room" and generosity, working for the tune...just a whole whack of serious, serious musicianship. Artistry. And not just from Sam and Conway (although they IZ truly spectacular here), but from everybody.

Lemme know what ya think.

And, by the way, didja know that Conway Twitty holds the record for the most #1 country singles (40) and most #1 singles across the combined various US charts (55)?

What kind of guy was he? <---it'll give ya a clue.

Trust the Government?

OK, admittedly this is the US government, but still...

The FBI framed four innocents for murder back in the sixties because they wanted to use the real guilty guys as informants. The innocent folks spent decades in prison (two of 'em died there).

In his opening, Hartford attorney Austin J. McGuigan, representing [one of the 4 innocents], cited a score of FBI memos and reports showing that numerous FBI agents - including Hoover - not only knew the identities of Deegan's real killers, but had the information before he was killed.

One of the FBI agents in on the scam was later arrested for murder himself:

He was accused of conspiring with another...informant...in the murder of Roger Wheeler, president of the World Jai Alai corporation. Rico and [another mobster] were part of an underworld attempt to take over a substantial portion of the East Coast parimutuel wagering on jai alai. Rico died in January 2004 while awaiting trial in a Tulsa, Okla., jail.

Trust the Government? Yeah, right.

Meanwhile, Leonard Peltier is still in jail. He's there based on FBI testimony.

Small Victory for Tobacco Nazis...

So I'm reading FARK and it seems the little burg of Belmont, California is debating banning smoking anywhere except single-family detached homes including on the street, in parks, apartments, duplexes, and private cars. Fark Headline Comment: Personal Freedom's head asplodes.

So the debate is on. Go read it; it's fun. Sorta.

Anyways, in the midst of the curfuffle, I ran into an adult (2006-11-15 11:54:58 PM mastethom), a guy posting as mastethom. He wrote:

What a bunch of weak, soft, pussy-assed people this country is turning in to. As a life-long non-smoker, can I please be allowed to take care of myself? Anyone who wants to ban smoking and 1) actually thinks it's a good idea and 2) thinks it will work should be shot in the face.

I admire this person.

It's always inspiring to run into someone who understands freedom.

Either you think he's right or you can fuck off.

I'm quitting smoking just so I can back this guy up.

(Yeehaw!! Mastethom has a website!

Sheena: "The Forgotten"

Some days the blogosphere can be a wondrous place.

This post, from Sheena, at her blog SheenaVision.

Thank you, Sheena.

I think you just earned every good thing that ever happens for you.

Thank you, Joanne...

Finally.

Fuck. I have waited a loooooooong time to see an article this comprehensive (Ottawa Citizen) on a subject usually ignored, denied or evaded.

Thank you, Joanne Hatherly, Victoria Times Colonist.

--found here (also interesting).

Variation on a Theme...

I've simply never seen a better set of intructions on how to do a job well. What you read here can apply equally well to just about any job, whether you are working for someone else or yourself.

Don't miss it--and don't let yourself think you know how good the advice is based on how you feel about the writer. It's good advice. Period.

On Enemies and Opponents...

I don't know much about Tony Snow but I've linked to Wikipedia if you want to find out more.

That's not my point.

This is:

Snow was recently quoted (CNN) as saying:

"...We do have an opportunity to return to a prior period where you still had big, vigorous disagreements, but at the end of the day you could still acknowledge that the people with whom you're disagreeing are respectable, likable, good people."

Kate McMillan points to an article by Victor Davis where Davis notes some of Donald Rumsfeld's accomplishments. Check the Rumsfeld's history here or here. Lord knows that the guy has made mistakes, big freaking mistakes, on the world stage no less. But I've gotta hand it to a guy with enough modesty to say this: "Learn to say 'I don't know. If used when appropriate, it will be often."

Anyways, I went looking for Rumsfeld quotes. I found them here (About.com) and here (Slate) and, well, all over the place once I went looking.

Sorry--but warts and all, I like the guy. I might not want him as Secretary of Defence, but I'd be tickled to have him over for coffee.

A few Rumsfeldisms...

"I don't know what I said, but I know what I think, and, well, I assume it's what I said."

"There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know."

"Everyone is so eager to get the story, before in fact the story's there, that the world is being fed things that haven't happened."

Addendum:

Read what Billy Beck has to say on Rumsfeld. Billy is spot on about this (and why Bush Jr's actions are more than callous), and I'll add that I agree that the situations Rumsfeld had to deal with were skewed enough by the time he took the reins that shortcomings are understandable and certainly not entirely Rumsfeld's fault. And I'll agree that Rumsfeld handled the episode of his dismissal with grace.

Addendum-end.

Enough about Rumsfeld and back to my overall point, which is also Snow's point, I think:

People are not their caricatures. Very few people are as fully evil as painted by their histrionic enemies, nor are they often as good as described by their most fervent admirers. Instead, most folks are some mix of wise and foolish, knowledgeable and ignorant, caring and thoughtless, and--consequently--correct and wrong.

Don't misunderstand me. One of the most valuable points ever made by Ayn Rand (The Cult of Moral Grayness/1964)was that very few things--and certainly not moral proinciples--are gray in this life, but that it is most important when things look gray to carefully work to discover exactly what is white and what is black. Put another way, Rand noted that "there may be "gray" men, but there can be no "gray" moral principles" which is connected (but probably not intentionally) to the Alcoholics Anonymous sophism: "Principles before personalities."

An example: As closely as I remember the details, there was a debate I saw between John Ridpath and Leonard Piekoff (Capitalist/Objectivists) on one side and Jerry Kaplan and Jill Vickers (both ideological socialists). At one point an audience member asked Ridpath a question in terms that clearly identified Caplan and Vickers as Nazis or murderers or some exaggeration of that sort. Ridpath took the time to explain, as much as he disagreed with his opponents, that he would be very hesitant to state anything like that without strong, clear and specific evidence. Ridpath, in other words, kept the debate to principles not personalities.

I try to do the same; I try not to see those I disagree with as enemies. Sometimes they are merely opponents. Enemies and opponents are not the same thing. I've put something similar this way, for years: No one was ever insulted into changing their mind. But people have had their minds changed.

Iraq: An Interesting Exercise for those...

...who like reading between the lines.

HERE

Hmmmmmm...Sunni & Baath (sometimes the same folks) Iraqi insurgents loyal to Saddamare being asked by Saddam and his lieutenants (including a Saddam/Baath second in command, former vice-president Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri , still at large) to cease hostilities.

That doesn't mean all the Sunnis will stop--or even all the Baathists who happen to be Sunni, but still...

And I'm looking at the CBC News picture of Saddam today. So should you. (I'd post the photo here but I'm not sure if that's legal).

HERE

Interesting.

Compusec (free & spyware/malware free)

HERE, available for Windows or Linux.

It seems like every week y'hear a horror story about a stolen or lost desktop computer or laptop--and everybody is freakin' because of sensitive data, ready for the taking.

OK...for most folks the sensitive data may be entirely personal. For others, it's business related information like detailed membership or customer lists, financial information, passwords and so on.

Or maybe you just don't want unauthrorized folks poking around your computer, even though it's sitting right where it should be.

Well, if someone steals your computer--or just decides to boot it up and have a look--and you have Compusec running, what they get is nothing. Even if they take your hard drive out of your machine and put it in another computer, they still can't get at your data. Period.

OK--maybe the CIA could get in--but even then it would be expensive, and likely prohibitively expensive. But, bottom line, no street level thief is gonna be able to do anything to get around Compusec. For that matter, neither are nosy kids, friends or anyone else...

Here's how it works (quote from the Compusec website):

FREE CompuSec® intercepts all reads and writes to the hard disk. Just before information is written to the hard disk, Free CompuSec® encrypts it. Conversely, right after any data is read from the hard disk, FREE CompuSec® immediately decrypts it. So the process of encryption and decryption is transparent to the user. Note that first-time encryption takes a longer time than the subsequent encryption and decryption process.

Then, just for fun, Compusec writes a pre-boot access program (where you have to enter a password) to the very first sectors of your hard drive. In other words, the very first thing on the hard drive is the Compusec login. If the login isn't successful, then the computer is not gonna do anything except keep asking for the password.

Again, from the Compusec website:

CompuSec® has a pre-boot authentication mechanism that requires a modification of your Master Boot Record (MBR). Your MBR are files that contain important information on how and where your operating system is and other system information. Therefore, in order to authenticate the user before the operating system boots up, we are required to modify the MBR. Why do we need to do so? Well, as you might probably know, many [programs] (i.e. keylogggers) are able to spy and record keystrokes that are performed when you are using your PC. However, these programs can only run using the windows operating system.

In short: this is way more secure than a bios password: no password, no access. The data is encrypted and password protected, right from the get-go. As I mentioned, even if the hard drive is taken out and put in another machine, or even if the bios battery is removed and replaced, the pre-boot access control still works, and unauthorized folks get nowhere.

Caveats:

1) Read the instructions carefully, and don't forget your password (although Compusec does provide a workaround that only you can use if you do forget your password).

2) Your mileage may vary. I've used this software for months, trouble-free but always backup data you can't afford to lose, and store your backups somewhere else where you can get it if you need it.

3) It's an unlikely circumstance, but somone could always beat the password out of you. Assume that torture will work.