tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85574542024-01-31T02:27:36.759-08:00Shaking SpearsDaily Fiber for the Politically Irregular.
"Shaking Spears has a fine opening" - Hugh Hewitt.
"Absolutely Wonderful" - Lawrence Kudlow.Spear Shakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08226770154592596285noreply@blogger.comBlogger205125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8557454.post-1133411911220592632005-11-30T20:35:00.000-08:002005-11-30T20:38:31.233-08:00And you thought that rock stars...<span style="font-size:85%;">...had some self respect.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><strong><a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/369994p-314735c.html"><span style="font-size:85%;">Not so</span></a></strong><span style="font-size:85%;">.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">And I thought dinner at Chilis was upping the ante for kids' birthdays...</span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com127tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8557454.post-1125784987012328542005-09-03T14:34:00.000-07:002005-09-03T15:03:07.020-07:00Shaking Spears Endorses...<strong><a href="http://www.suzanvitti.org/IMAGES/RudysBook_Cover_small.jpg"><span style="font-size:85%;">this man</span></a></strong><span style="font-size:85%;"> for President in 2008. And <strong><a href="http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20041215/capt.sge.oti62.151204064718.photo00.photo.default-384x271.jpg">this man</a></strong> for his VP.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Enough of all this political posturing and tweaking of policies on the margins. No more emotionalism and pandering to the lowest common denominator. To hell with photo ops and silly debates.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">We need to rebuild a flooded American city (preferably after adding at least 10 feet of landfill), and we're in a global war against a radical, nihilistic ideology. </span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">The Chinese are salivating over Taiwan, and the North Koreans are loons with nukes.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">The ayatollahs of Tehran are on a jihad to enrich uranium, Chavez wants to cut off our oil and nationalize Latin America, and the Europeans have given up on fighting for their civilization.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Our borders are wide open, and our domestic oil production capability is scandalously weak.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">The Huns are nipping at our heals, and domestic factions are working overtime to weaken our resolve.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">This country needs street-tough leadership. Rudy's clean-up of New York City is the right model for improving the quality of life in other U.S. cities, as well as many regions of the world. We should forget about compromising our values and policies for our "allies" and the siren's song of U.N. conferences, and cut to the chase: without American leadership, the world degenerates into the equivalent of a New Orleans Convention Center surrounded by a flooded cesspool.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Giuliani's leadership on 9/11 was brilliant, and he believes in results, not posturing. The modern presidency, in this day of terror, catastrophe, and conflict, is all about crisis management. No more campaigning on midnight basketball or saving ANWAR - we need serious men for serious times.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">And if his VP wants to keep a lady friend in each city on taxpayer expense, so be it. Just make sure that the 82nd Airborne arrives when the country needs it.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08226770154592596285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8557454.post-1124243191130099242005-08-16T18:38:00.000-07:002005-08-16T18:46:31.136-07:00In my next life...<span style="font-size:85%;">...it might be interesting to come back as a pre-Columbian head Inca (Inka):</span><br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">"(The Inka) was carried on a golden litter - the Inka did not walk in<br />public....people left the roads along which he had to pass and, ascending the<br />hills on either side, (his subjects) worshipped and adored him by pulling out<br />their eyebrows and eyelashes. Minions collected and stored every object he<br />touched, food waste included, to ensure that no lesser persons could profane<br />these objects with their touch. The ground was too dirty to receive the<br />Inka's saliva so he always spat into the hand of a courtier. The courtier<br />wiped the spittle with a special cloth and stored it for safekeeping. Once<br />a year everything touched by the Inka - clothing, garbage, bedding, saliva - was<br />ceremoniously burned."</span></blockquote><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">From "<strong><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/140004006X/qid=1124243049/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-7094759-2300922?v=glance&s=books&n=507846">1491</a></strong>" by Charles C. Mann. pg. 76</span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8557454.post-1123913427100599212005-08-12T22:59:00.000-07:002005-08-12T23:10:27.106-07:00Premature Evaluation<span style="font-size:85%;">I'm only a third through <strong><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/140004006X/qid=1123913072/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-3794563-0906550?v=glance&s=books&n=507846">this book</a></strong> but I'm enjoying it immensely, and I recommend it whole-heartedly.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Putting flesh on the bones of the Indian (yes, "Indian") civilizations in North & South America prior to Columbus' arrival. Not a romanticization, but a fresh look at what these civilizations were like, drawing on recent research and emphasizing the uniqueness and robustness of their societies.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Much of the book is speculative, but compelling evidence suggests that these peoples had a much greater impact on their natural environment and were remarkably complex. The New World inhabitants were not necessarily the backward stepchildren of Europe and Asia. Worth a look and more later.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08226770154592596285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8557454.post-1123639523647861182005-08-09T19:02:00.000-07:002005-08-09T19:05:23.656-07:00Winner - Best Product Design:<span style="font-size:85%;">2005 Shaking Spears Awards...<strong><a href="http://www.keenfootwear.com/men/newport.html">here</a></strong>.</span>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8557454.post-1123382405401535262005-08-06T19:40:00.000-07:002005-08-07T19:10:36.986-07:00Epiphany<p align="center"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/img/146/1920/640/Summer%2005%20001.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ffffff 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #ffffff 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #ffffff 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ffffff 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/img/146/1920/320/Summer%2005%20001.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Spear Son angling on Paulina Lake, Oregon</span></div><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:85%;">Why does it often take physical separation from one's work and home to live in the moment? How do you extend the improvisation and sense of exploration that you get in a new environment to your daily life? How do you maintain the carefree fun of the vacation experience without abrogating your adult responsibilities? Or do you only appreciate the vacation because it's by definition not an everyday occurrence?</span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:85%;">I don't know all the answers, but I'm getting closer. And it's taken over 40 years to start to figure it out. It ain't about external measures of success, or legitimacy, or worthiness. There's no objective template upon which you should gauge your life progress. And happiness isn't meant to be compared to another's experience. All of those self-help books, life plans, 7-step programs, Dr. Phil, and purpose-driven books are Fool's Gold at the end of life's rainbow.</span></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:85%;">It ain't about what others think and it ain't about what you think.</span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:85%;">It's about setting the right rig to get a big mouth bass to bite on a spinnerbait while trolling. And if you succeed at that, everything else falls into place.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08226770154592596285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8557454.post-1123382346925822112005-08-06T19:39:00.000-07:002005-08-06T20:24:16.370-07:00<p align="center"><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/img/146/1920/640/Summer%2005%20024.jpg"><img style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ffffff 1px solid; BORDER-TOP: #ffffff 1px solid; MARGIN: 2px; BORDER-LEFT: #ffffff 1px solid; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ffffff 1px solid" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/img/146/1920/320/Summer%2005%20024.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><div align="center"><span style="font-size:85%;">Spear Shaker at Yosemite Valley</span></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:85%;"></span> </div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:85%;">It's a sin for those within a 2.5 hour drive to fail to visit Yosemite each year. Absolve me, Lord.</span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08226770154592596285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8557454.post-1122524477363041002005-07-27T20:50:00.000-07:002005-07-27T21:21:17.383-07:00It don't mean a thing...<span style="font-size:85%;">...if it ain't got that swing.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">This is one of those posts that laments the greatness of times past and the decline of today's youth culture.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Only this time I have a legitimate point. </span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Who <em>swings </em>in today's popular music world? Who's got that bouncy, off-beat rhythm that gets your fingers snapping, your body movin', and makes your soul want to dance? Where are those riffs and counterpoints? Where's that backbeat and behind-the-beat drumming? Where's that breezy attitude? Where's the SWING??</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">And I'm not really talking about Duke Ellington or Glenn Miller jazz. My preferred genre - blues/rock - can swing just like jazz, and Charlie Watts is the Master of rock swing. Keith Richards once stated for the record: "White drummers don't swing, except for Charlie Watts." </span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Chuck Berry played swing. </span><a href="http://www.knopfler.net/"><strong><span style="font-size:85%;">Mark Knopfler</span></strong></a><span style="font-size:85%;"> of Dire Straits, not a swing band, played it brilliantly in "Sultans of Swing." (I saw him last weekend at the Greek in Berkeley). <strong> </strong></span><a href="http://www.delafont.com/music_acts/brian-setzer-o.htm"><strong><span style="font-size:85%;">Brian Setzer</span></strong></a><span style="font-size:85%;">, formerly of the Stray Cats, plays swing. Funk and cajun music, brilliantly performed by the <strong><a href="http://www.nevilles.com/">Neville Brothers</a></strong>, swings. </span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">But what contemporary artists are swingers? Not rap artists, not classic rock artists, not alternative grunge artists - no. All of their beats are manufactured drum loops and snare drums that sound like explosions. </span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><a href="http://www.davematthewsband.com/"><strong><span style="font-size:85%;">David Matthews</span></strong></a><span style="font-size:85%;"> sometimes comes close, but he's too caught up with a band that has to rush the groove. Country music doesn't swing too much these days, unless you're listening to <strong><a href="http://www.alisonkrauss.com/">Alison Krauss & Union Station.</a></strong></span><br /><strong><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></strong><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">You've got to have a great drummer to swing. Classic rock greats (<strong><a href="http://www.thedoors.com/band/john/?fa=life">John Densmore</a></strong> of the Doors, <strong><a href="http://www.rockabilly.nl/references/messages/doug_clifford.htm">Doug Clifford</a></strong> of Creedence Clearwater Revival) all had the jazz/swing sensibility that made the music take-off. Today's backbeats are manufactured by machines and just don't have the feel.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">So my question remains: Where's the SWING? and what is this generation missing?</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08226770154592596285noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8557454.post-1122007349794667362005-07-21T21:35:00.000-07:002005-07-21T21:42:29.803-07:00If they have the video...<span style="font-size:85%;">...of these two hapless terrorists who failed in their attempt at martyrdom, would it have any impact in de-glorifying the act in the minds of young, extremist Muslims?</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">These two scenes as described by eyewitnesses strike me as so pathetic and humiliating, perhaps replaying the events, assuming they were caught on tape, might shake some who are disposed to follow in their footsteps out of the grip of their brainwashing.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">From the <strong><a href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2004600000-2005330738,00.html">Sun</a></strong>:</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">“I turned round and there was a man lying with his arms outstretched on top<br />of a rucksack face up. “I went up to him and said: ‘Are you all right,<br />mate?’ But he just ignored me and kept his eyes shut.<br /><br />“I looked back and saw him stand up looking disorientated and confused. He<br />walked to the back of the carriage, leaving the bag and his cap on the floor,<br />and I could see some copper wire showing out of the back of his T-shirt.<br /><br />“He opened the emergency exit door and jumped down on to the tracks and<br />started walking away down the line heading west.”<br /></span></blockquote><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Also from the <strong><a href="http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2004600000-2005330739,00.html">Sun</a></strong>:</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">“There was this loud bang, I can’t describe it. Then there was a lot of<br />smoke coming from the bag.”<br /><br />But the bomber remained where he was and DENIED he was<br />responsible.<br /><br />“By now the bag was on the floor and he kept saying, ‘No, it’s not me, it’s<br />not me’. He was standing there all on his own in the middle of the carriage with<br />smoke coming from his backpack.<br /></span></blockquote>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08226770154592596285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8557454.post-1121025933709076242005-07-10T12:59:00.000-07:002005-07-10T16:09:06.563-07:00Quote of the Week<span style="font-size:85%;">I've tried to avoid commenting on the London attacks. What is there left to say about the </span><span style="font-size:85%;">civilizational conflict that is ongoing, but which societal norms prohibit us from dealing with directly? And that has been said better by Hitchens and Steyn.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">But this quote caught my eye. From the <strong><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4668675.stm">BBC</a></strong>:</span><br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams said: "It is a huge fallacy to<br />suppose that one community is somehow more intrinsically prone to violence or<br />outrage than any another." </span></blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">Past Archbishops of Canterbury have a long history of speaking nonsense, and the job description requires candidates to personify a twit, with a capital T, so this one is no exception.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">But it does win the Quote of the Week.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08226770154592596285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8557454.post-1119926065165057832005-06-28T01:30:00.000-07:002005-06-27T19:35:07.716-07:00Laboratory Rat<span style="font-size:85%;">The Wichita Killer's plea today got me searching in vain for some explanation of his behavior. One paper suggests its </span><a href="http://human-nature.com/nibbs/01/psychopathy.html"><strong><span style="font-size:85%;">neither nature or nurture</span></strong></a><span style="font-size:85%;"> -<br /><br /></span><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">Psychopathy is not associated with low birth weight, obstetric complications,<br />poor parenting, poverty, early psychological trauma or adverse experiences, and<br />indeed Robert Hare remarks ‘I can find no convincing evidence that psychopathy<br />is the direct result of early social or environmental factors’ (Hare, 1993, p.<br />170). No sound evidence of neuroanatomical correlates for psychopathic behavior<br />has been found, though an interesting (and highly significant) negative<br />correlation has been found in 18 psychopaths between the degree of psychopathy<br />and the size of the posterior half of the hippocampi bilaterally.<br /></span></blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />The authorities need to take advantage of Dennis Rader's guilty plea and upcoming life sentence and use him like a laboratory rat. </span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">He needs to be scanned, probed, prodded, dissected, MRI'ed, X-rayed, zapped, interviewed, tested, drugged, interrogated, scoped, sampled, and biopsied.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">We should use his capture as an opportunity to get closer to the bottom of why this behavior occurs, without concern about the subject.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08226770154592596285noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8557454.post-1119734095385636732005-06-25T01:49:00.000-07:002005-06-25T14:14:55.416-07:00Close Encounters?<span style="font-size:85%;">My 6th grade teacher in elementary school told our class a story about his encounter with space aliens.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">He was sitting around a campfire while out camping with a friend and suddenly he felt "beings" surrounding him, and although they were invisible, when he waved his arms in front of him he felt a coldness and his arms being slowed by their bodies. He was very sincere, and not putting us on. As I recall in all other aspects this teacher was very rational and professional.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">As a ten year-old I didn't give it much thought, but this story came to mind as we process the antics of Tom Cruise.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">He believes psychiatry is a pseudo-science promoted by the Nazis (I didn't know Jung and Freud were party members), and that mental illness can be cured by vitamins. </span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Cruise also believes in </span><a href="http://www.xenu.net/archive/leaflet/xenuleaf.htm"><strong><span style="font-size:85%;">Xenu</span></strong></a><span style="font-size:85%;">, <strong><a href="http://www.holysmoke.org/cos/body-thetans-def.htm">Body Thetans</a></strong>, Alien warfare on Earth, and auditing. </span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Now in terms of his career Cruise seems to be a pretty highly-functioning type of guy, and, like my otherwise normal 6th grade school teacher, also convinced that space aliens are part of our everyday existence.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">So these thoughts raise the question - do you believe that Space Aliens have been or are among us, and am I simply behind the times in accepting this belief? Do I need one of <strong><a href="http://www.stopabductions.com/">these</a></strong>?</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08226770154592596285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8557454.post-1119583478369358442005-06-23T19:55:00.000-07:002005-06-23T20:24:38.406-07:00Why Hillary Won't Become President<span style="font-size:85%;">It dawned on me today: Political views aside, Hillary won't be President because a) she wants it too bad, and b) she doesn't have a compelling life-story outside of politics.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Every job that I ever got through an interview process came to me when I didn't really need it. I wasn't desperate, and I approached each interview humbly and with enthusiasm but with a quiet confidence that failure to be selected wouldn't dent my psychic armor. A similar dynamic is at play with Hillary.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Hillary reeks of requiring power, and she has been calculating her ascent for so long that the Presidential race will be viewed as an all-or-nothing event in which she's staked her entire post-Bill life. Her aura of invincibility will wear thin with the general public who will interpret her iconic image as her own sense of entitlement. People will be wary of WHY she wants to be President.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">And she doesn't have a life outside of politics, Rose Law Firm notwithstanding. With a couple of exceptions, Americans prefer a leader who seems self-realized and rounded in their life experiences. Reagan had his ranch and his career, Bush One had his war heroism and foreign service career, Bush II had his baseball team and his ranch, Bill Clinton has his women. What symbolizes Hillary's life outside of politics?</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">She's a pretty good political hack, but humorless, overly earnest, mediocre orator, and a poor dresser. I can't see her as President.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08226770154592596285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8557454.post-1119493332374498752005-06-23T01:17:00.000-07:002005-06-22T19:27:55.526-07:00Spear Shaker's Guide to "Wellness"<span style="font-size:85%;">The term “Wellness” is the new, New-age buzzword for our Era of Globalization and Acceleration. It’s meant to convey a more holistic view of physical and mental health, and softens the imagery (if not the practice) of alfalfa high colonics.<br /><br />This seductive term has already been latched onto by the multi-level marketers and Ponzi schemes, promising ever-expanding cash flows if you just schedule one more Wellness Party and sell more jugs of dietary supplement powder. Wellness clinics are sprouting up around suburban strip malls.<br /><br />Well, I’ve found the right prescription for “wellness,” and I suspect it’s more effective than a barley enema. Introducing the “<em><strong>Spear Shaker’s Guide to Wellness</strong></em>,” recently field-tested by me and certified by the Food and Drug Administration:<br /><br /><strong>1) Avoid Airports</strong> – After 10 years of consistent business travel, I switched jobs and can say now, looking back, that I’d rather be bound in the fetal position on a urine-soaked floor of a Gitmo prison with rap music blaring at 150 decibels than travel on a consistent basis. Add 10 years to life expectancy.<br /><br /><strong>2) Avoid Tom Cruise interviews</strong> – watching a clinical narcissist, who is physically unable to stop acting, “talk” about his myopic world view can hasten the onset of Alzheimer’s. Somebody give this man a Valium and tell him to stop PROJECTING. Add 5 years to life expectancy.<br /><br /><strong>3) Avoid Attempting to Change Your Cell Phone Contract</strong> - Analog, TDMA, CDMA, GSM 1900 – the biggest scam going today is the Kafka-esque nightmare of cellular companies’ pricing schemes. Want to add your daughter to your plan and upgrade your phone? You’d have better luck reforming Social Security. Add 3 years to life expectancy.<br /><br /><strong>4) Avoid The Stands at Your Child’s Little League Game</strong> – the not-so-dirty-little-secret is that parents are brutal when it comes to whispered critiques of coaches and players. I should know, my kid DIDN’T GET TO PITCH ENOUGH THIS YEAR!! Add 2 years to life expectancy.<br /><br /><strong>5) Avoid Dietary Supplements</strong> – I read in Men’s Journal about this “miracle” supplement that had no side effects but made you feel like you’re 20 (wink). All I got after a week was diarrhea and insomnia. Add 2 years to life expectancy.<br /><br /><strong>6) Seek Out</strong> – Mark Knopfler as he tours the U.S. this year. And seek out “House of Flying Daggers” in the DVD store. Both to soothe the soul. Add 2 years to life expectancy.<br /><br />If you follow this prescription religiously, you’ll feel years younger. But be careful, inadvertently viewing a Dick Durbin apology on C-Span can quickly cancel the positive effects.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08226770154592596285noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8557454.post-1119144004984900272005-06-18T18:00:00.000-07:002005-06-18T18:20:04.990-07:00Dipping the Big Toe...<span style="font-size:85%;">...back in the water. </span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">...but it's just a little too cold.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">And I want to avoid coming back and writing my first post about what a putz Tom Cruise is...</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08226770154592596285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8557454.post-1116217748246617512005-05-15T21:20:00.000-07:002005-05-15T21:33:20.660-07:00Hiatus<span style="font-size:85%;">hi·a·tus </span><a href="https://secure.reference.com/premium/login.html?rd=2&u=http%3A%2F%2Fdictionary.reference.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dhiatus"></a><span style="font-size:85%;">( P ) </span><a class="linksrc" title="Click for guide to symbols." onclick="ahdpop();return false;" href="http://dictionary.reference.com/help/ahd4/pronkey.html"><span style="font-size:85%;">Pronunciation Key</span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"> (h-ts)n. pl. hi·a·tus·es or hiatus </span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />A gap or interruption in space, time, or continuity; a break: “We are likely to be disconcerted by... hiatuses of thought” (Edmund Wilson).</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><em>Linguistics</em>. A slight pause that occurs when two immediately adjacent vowels in consecutive syllables are pronounced, as in reality and naive.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><em>Anatomy</em>. A separation, aperture, fissure, or short passage in an organ or body part.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Hiatus. I'm on one. I'm also making a career change which has re-directed my meager creative energies. Time to re-charge the blog batteries and round out the work-life balance. </span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Regret that I won't be sprinkling the blog universe with a few more electrons for a while. Probably a month or two. Thanks for checking in and, more importantly, contributing to the site and our daily navigation through this long, strange trip. I will be regularly checking up with the regulars - you know who you are.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">I've learned a ton from the discourse and you will know when I come back.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08226770154592596285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8557454.post-1115575380310270102005-05-08T10:52:00.000-07:002005-05-08T11:16:23.653-07:00Sub Tragedy Fallout<span style="font-size:85%;">The awesome responsibility of the men and women who serve in the armed forces cannot be forgotten. In the fallout from the January submarine tragedy in which the U.S.S. San Francisco ran into an underground mountain in the South Pacific, killing one sailor, the Commander has been relieved of his command and reprimanded. </span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">This part of <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,155840,00.html"><strong>the story</strong></a> caught my attention, and reminds us of how much responsibility are on these people's shoulders:</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><blockquote><p><span style="font-size:85%;">(Sub cmdr.) Mooney recently met with (deceased sailor's) Ashley's father and together they visited the sailor's grave in West Virginia. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;">"He took full responsibility, and with tears in eyes, he asked me to forgive him," Ashley said in a telephone interview from Akron. </span></p><p><span style="font-size:85%;">"And I know Joey and him were very close."</span><br /></p></blockquote></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08226770154592596285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8557454.post-1115438188520802092005-05-06T20:47:00.000-07:002005-05-06T20:56:28.530-07:00The Hottest Competition...<span style="font-size:85%;">...going on right now isn't on American Idol or in Paula Abdul's bedroom. It's being waged in the capitols, boardrooms, legislatures, and industrial centers of the developing world. And we're <strong><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1101696,curpg-1.cms">winning</a></strong>. </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08226770154592596285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8557454.post-1115047233508073752005-05-02T08:14:00.000-07:002005-05-02T08:20:33.510-07:00Maybe Bonds Just Has A Good Ophthalmologist...<span style="font-size:85%;">...this issue is getting more and <strong><a href="http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/3559064?GT1=6444">more interesting</a></strong>. Maybe we should draw the line at bionic limbs.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08226770154592596285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8557454.post-1114564435174271062005-04-27T05:47:00.000-07:002005-04-26T18:40:58.656-07:00Tagged<span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Tagged by the inimitable </span><a href="http://sluggoneedsanap.blogspot.com/2005/04/meme-over-metuchen.html"><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>Sluggo</strong></span></a><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>.</strong> The rules entail choosing five from the list below, and completing the thought as a member of that profession. I then need to tag another blogger. Here we go:</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>If I could be a psychologist. . .</strong> I'd write a three-volume textbook entitled<em> "The Pathologies of Joe Biden."</em></span><br /><em><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></em><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>If I could be a Jedi. . . </strong>I’d refuse to utter a word of dialogue from George Lucas. Mediocre director, he is.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>If I could be a linguist. . . </strong>of course one can’t “be,” unless one “is,” or once “was,” in which case one “isn’t,” unless the Inuits have three names for you. And I'd give my colleague Noam Chomsky a wedgie.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>If I could be an athlete…</strong>I’d never use the words “fortunate,” “step-up,” “gettin' it done,” or “execute.” </span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong>If I could be a TV-Chat Show host</strong>…I’d have Christopher Hitchens, Dennis Miller, Tom Wolfe, Condoleeza Rice, Keith Richards, and Salma Hayek on every night. With Bryan Lamb asking questions.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Seems that many have already been tagged, hmmm, how about RJMcinnis @ <strong><a href="http://ljmcinnis.blogspot.com/">R Cubed</a></strong>?</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><strong><span style="font-size:85%;">Full List:</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></strong><br /><em><span style="font-size:85%;">If I could be a scientist...If I could be a farmer...If I could be a musician...If I could be a doctor...If I could be a painter...If I could be a gardener...If I could be a missionary...If I could be a chef...If I could be an architect...If I could be a linguist...If I could be a psychologist...If I could be a librarian...If I could be an athlete...If I could be a lawyer...If I could be an innkeeper...If I could be a professor...If I could be a writer...If I could be a backup dancer...If I could be a llama-rider...If I could be a bonnie pirate...If I could be a midget stripper...If I could be a proctologist...If I could be a TV-Chat Show host...If I could be an actor...If I could be a judge...If I could be a Jedi...If I could be a mob boss...If I could be an acrobat...If I could be a particle physicist...If I could be a cop... </span></em>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08226770154592596285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8557454.post-1114486966084025342005-04-26T01:16:00.000-07:002005-04-25T20:45:00.080-07:00A Step Too Far?<span style="font-size:85%;">After my first visit to China 15 years ago, and seeing the rapid development in the cities of Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Shanghai, I remember thinking that learning Cantonese or Mandarin would begin to displace Spanish, French, and German as offered languages in middle and high schools within our lifetime.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">With the relocation of customer service departments to India ("my name is Ramesh, what is the serial number on the back of your computer?"), most people have experienced (but not accepted) the outsourcing of back-office and customer support functions to these developing countries.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">But maybe the Brits have taken things a step too far. They've outsourced a teaching function, and not by importing the teachers. They ship the papers overseas <strong><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1087859,curpg-1.cms">to be graded</a></strong>:</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">In a new twist in the debate over outsourcing, some half a million exam papers from Britain's main secondary school leaving certificate are to be graded in India to save money.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Papers for Britain's key GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) exams are to be sent to India for marking in a controversial move to cut costs. </span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Papers for Britain's key GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) exams are to be sent to India for marking in a controversial move to cut costs.</span> </span></blockquote><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">So not only will Ramesh help to diagnose that spyware that's infected your hard drive, he'll also be grading the final exams of British school kids. </span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Now I've found that doing business with Indians can be a delightful experience, but, for the sake of the British schoolkids whose future lies in his hands, I hope Ramesh has learned that the "V" is not pronounced like a "W".</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08226770154592596285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8557454.post-1114270833232818772005-04-23T08:33:00.000-07:002005-04-23T08:40:33.233-07:00Vive La France<span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Watched C-Span last night and saw Jacques Chirac’s <a href="http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/04/19/wchir19.xml"><strong>TV appearance</strong></a> at the Elysees Palace with a group of young people concerned about ratifying the EU Constitution. Chirac’s performance apparently has backfired, leading to an increase in “non” support for the referendum. It is easy to see why.<br /><br />This is how the discussion went: <br /><br /><strong>Concerned youth</strong>: “I just graduated from university and I can’t find a job.”</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /><strong>Chirac:</strong> “I don’t understand the fear in the younger generation.”<br /><br /><strong>Concerned youth</strong>: “But what would ratifying the Constitution do for us?”<br /><br /><strong>Chirac:</strong> “French values of equality and human rights will be codified as European values.”<br /><br /><strong>Concerned youth:</strong> “But what’s in it for us?”<br /><br /><strong>Chirac:</strong> “China, India, and the U.S. are getting bigger. We need to get bigger.”<br /><br /><strong>Concerned youth:</strong> “But what’s in it for us?”<br /><br /><strong>Chirac:</strong> “France will be unified with a greater Europe.”<br /><br /><strong>Concerned youth:</strong> “But won’t this lead to more globalization and privatization of the public sector, threatening our security?”<br /><br /><strong>Chirac:</strong> “France will make its own economic decisions, even though our unemployment rate remains too high.”<br /><br /><strong>Concerned youth:</strong> “But what’s in it for us?”<br /><br />Both sides talking past each other. Chirac could offer no concrete value proposition to the unemployed youth, and the questioners were less interested in creating economic conditions that could lead to more opportunities than in maintaining their pathetic status quo as a subsidized ward of the state.<br /><br />It’s clear that the EU constitution was written by and for the technocratic political class, and the younger generation of France has no intention of competing economically on the world stage. Vive la France.</span><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08226770154592596285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8557454.post-1114049724293307482005-04-20T19:14:00.000-07:002005-04-20T19:15:24.293-07:00We Know What Too Much Steroid Use...<span style="font-size:85%;">...does to the male anatomy. In full shrink <strong><a href="http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/04/20/national/a143003D72.DTL">here</a></strong>:</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08226770154592596285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8557454.post-1113884190694428182005-04-19T01:15:00.000-07:002005-04-18T21:16:30.696-07:00Calling All You Baseball Purists...<span style="font-size:85%;">...if steroids is cheating, why not <strong><a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2116858/">this</a></strong>?</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08226770154592596285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8557454.post-1113884105782513782005-04-19T01:05:00.000-07:002005-04-18T21:17:56.696-07:00One Story That's Guaranteed To Change...<span style="font-size:85%;">...Sometimes I wonder why they even report these stories. Speculation on the details of the Big Bang, and the state of matter a fraction of a second some 13 billion years ago, seems frivolous at best:</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7546975/">Link</a></strong>: For a tiny fraction of a second after the Big Bang that scientists say gave rise to the universe, all matter was in the form of this liquid, called a quark-gluon plasma, the researchers said. "We have a new state of matter," said Sam Aronson, associate laboratory director for high-energy and nuclear physics at the Brookhaven National Laboratory.</span></span></blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">I'm no physicist, but who's going to prove this guy wrong? And us lay-folk just lap up these stories and shake our head in wonderment. In a few months we'll have another story that contradicts this story, and we'll all just be amazed again. </span><span style="font-size:85%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:85%;"></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08226770154592596285noreply@blogger.com0