Today was a bit of a bummer- Carl Kasell, formerly of "Morning Edition" had his last "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!" broadcast today. I always loved Carl's turn on the show- for a VERY SERIOUS JOURNALIST, Mr Kasell had one hell of a sense of humor. Listening to him was reminiscent of my brilliant grandfather cracking a joke- always a treat to hear such an intellect being exercised in the service of jocularity.
I made sure I woke up in time (having returned from work at about 4:30AM) to listen to Carl's last episode. As always, the man nailed it- he was effortlessly professional. Peter Sagal's retrospective of his career with Carl is a portrait of a wonderful, caring friend and mentor. Some guy named Barry also bid a fond farewell to Carl Kasell, and his "parting words" ended the show.
I know I'll still listen to "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!", I'm too much of a fan of bad poetry to give it up, but I will miss Carl Kasell's mellifluous voice every week.
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Friday, May 16, 2014
The Revolting Are Revolting!
I have not experienced such sustained belly laughs in a l-o-n-g time... the snarknado surrounding Operation American Spring has to be the funniest sustained joke I've encountered in years.
The whole revolution was a joke before it even began. On one of the more fringe-y right wing sites, a concerned "patriot" wrote:
I sure hope you have researched the colonels bio since he served at NSA and was in army intelligence with a book written in psychological warfare.
I joined for a few months and watched the chat site. The colonel says 10 million, but I talked to one of the organizers and that person told me no more than 2 million. Then, there was the resignation of 4 or 5 of the original organizers of the OAS. For me, I was told that I was a troll because I asked a few decent questions such as bathroom facilities provided, where to meet, etc. At the most the chat site had from 12-36 people and they were clannish to outsides.
The concept is wonderful, but I doubt if they get more than 100 people show up and they being mostly from the east coast.
How many revolutions were thwarted by inadequate access to toilet? As Morrissey would put it, "I would revolt tonight, but they haven't got a shitter there."
Meanwhile, the fever swamps of Free Republic (not gonna link) are strangely quiet, with only two threads concerning the event, which many of the Freepers have concluded was a false flag event, though there are some hilarious conspiracy theories:
Those motel/hotels could have been booked by Democrat Politicians to prevent Marchers from having a place to stay. When they call for a room, well we have no vacancies. This should have been co ordinated with a huge political backing and reservations to be successful. Now it looks like the people aren’t interested in taking the country back.
Ah, Freepers...
Meanwhile, far to the west, a couple of Bundy supporters took to crowdsourcing sites to fund their efforts, with predictably hilarious results. I imagine old Cliven will tell them to shove it when they come to him for a handout.
It's been one hell of a week, and I, for one, am LOVING IT!
The whole revolution was a joke before it even began. On one of the more fringe-y right wing sites, a concerned "patriot" wrote:
I sure hope you have researched the colonels bio since he served at NSA and was in army intelligence with a book written in psychological warfare.
I joined for a few months and watched the chat site. The colonel says 10 million, but I talked to one of the organizers and that person told me no more than 2 million. Then, there was the resignation of 4 or 5 of the original organizers of the OAS. For me, I was told that I was a troll because I asked a few decent questions such as bathroom facilities provided, where to meet, etc. At the most the chat site had from 12-36 people and they were clannish to outsides.
The concept is wonderful, but I doubt if they get more than 100 people show up and they being mostly from the east coast.
How many revolutions were thwarted by inadequate access to toilet? As Morrissey would put it, "I would revolt tonight, but they haven't got a shitter there."
Meanwhile, the fever swamps of Free Republic (not gonna link) are strangely quiet, with only two threads concerning the event, which many of the Freepers have concluded was a false flag event, though there are some hilarious conspiracy theories:
Those motel/hotels could have been booked by Democrat Politicians to prevent Marchers from having a place to stay. When they call for a room, well we have no vacancies. This should have been co ordinated with a huge political backing and reservations to be successful. Now it looks like the people aren’t interested in taking the country back.
Ah, Freepers...
Meanwhile, far to the west, a couple of Bundy supporters took to crowdsourcing sites to fund their efforts, with predictably hilarious results. I imagine old Cliven will tell them to shove it when they come to him for a handout.
It's been one hell of a week, and I, for one, am LOVING IT!
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Pres in My Neck of the Woods
Yesterday's big local story was President Obama's appearance at the Tappan Zee Bridge to discuss the need for spending billions of dollars to repair our crumbling infrastructure. I've discussed the Tappan Zee before. While I applaud the new bridge construction, I maintain that the proposed new bridge is, basically, crippleware because it will lack a light rail component. Back in 2011, I wrote:
The very idea of nickel-and-diming infrastructure projects until they are "built broken" is asinine. The whole disposable culture has got to end. Remember when things were built to last, and one paid a fairly high price for durable goods? Now, we buy cheap crap that we have to continually replace, which is wasteful and stupid. It's wasteful and stupid when such items as shoes, clothing, and small appliances are concerned, it's tragic and suicidal when major infrastructure is concerned.
Here's the video of the president's speech, which took place in an area I know very well, the beautiful Tarrytown waterfront:
In the opening to his Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving described Tarrytown in terms which would be accurate today:
In the bosom of one of those spacious coves which indent the eastern shore of the Hudson, at that broad expansion of the river denominated by the ancient Dutch navigators the Tappan Zee, and where they always prudently shortened sail and implored the protection of St. Nicholas when they crossed, there lies a small market town or rural port, which by some is called Greensburgh, but which is more generally and properly known by the name of Tarry Town. This name was given, we are told, in former days, by the good housewives of the adjacent country, from the inveterate propensity of their husbands to linger about the village tavern on market days. Be that as it may, I do not vouch for the fact, but merely advert to it, for the sake of being precise and authentic.
While Tarrytown is a lovely place in which to... uh... tarry, the I-287 corridor, with the Tappan Zee Bridge bottleneck, is not the place to do so. I imagine the president's visit snarled traffic even more than is typical for the already congested area, but his theme of improving infrastructure and creating jobs is one of importance. I don't know how long he tarried in the area, but I sincerely hope he made a side trip to Lefteris Gyro, my favorite restaurant in the area.
I also appreciate his shout-out to the NY congressional delegation- I am a huge fan of Nita Lowey, a former representative of mine, and Eliot Engel, my current rep. I was glad that he excoriated congress as a whole, however. Hopefully, the president will campaign for Democratic congressional candidates in the crucial upcoming mid-term election.
The very idea of nickel-and-diming infrastructure projects until they are "built broken" is asinine. The whole disposable culture has got to end. Remember when things were built to last, and one paid a fairly high price for durable goods? Now, we buy cheap crap that we have to continually replace, which is wasteful and stupid. It's wasteful and stupid when such items as shoes, clothing, and small appliances are concerned, it's tragic and suicidal when major infrastructure is concerned.
Here's the video of the president's speech, which took place in an area I know very well, the beautiful Tarrytown waterfront:
In the opening to his Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving described Tarrytown in terms which would be accurate today:
In the bosom of one of those spacious coves which indent the eastern shore of the Hudson, at that broad expansion of the river denominated by the ancient Dutch navigators the Tappan Zee, and where they always prudently shortened sail and implored the protection of St. Nicholas when they crossed, there lies a small market town or rural port, which by some is called Greensburgh, but which is more generally and properly known by the name of Tarry Town. This name was given, we are told, in former days, by the good housewives of the adjacent country, from the inveterate propensity of their husbands to linger about the village tavern on market days. Be that as it may, I do not vouch for the fact, but merely advert to it, for the sake of being precise and authentic.
While Tarrytown is a lovely place in which to... uh... tarry, the I-287 corridor, with the Tappan Zee Bridge bottleneck, is not the place to do so. I imagine the president's visit snarled traffic even more than is typical for the already congested area, but his theme of improving infrastructure and creating jobs is one of importance. I don't know how long he tarried in the area, but I sincerely hope he made a side trip to Lefteris Gyro, my favorite restaurant in the area.
I also appreciate his shout-out to the NY congressional delegation- I am a huge fan of Nita Lowey, a former representative of mine, and Eliot Engel, my current rep. I was glad that he excoriated congress as a whole, however. Hopefully, the president will campaign for Democratic congressional candidates in the crucial upcoming mid-term election.
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Slaughter of Innocents?
A couple of nights ago, I noticed that several containers of standing water on the grounds of my principle worksite were teeming with mosquito larvae. Mosquitoes lay their eggs in water and the larvae swim around feasting on microorganisms and organic detritus. They look much like our benevolent friends the Sea Monkeys, but they are destined to pursue a career of evil when they mature, at least from our anthropocentric viewpoint. Sure, they may be cute and innocent now, but they'll feast on your blood if you let them get the chance. Not countenancing this sort of thing, I decided to engage in some proactive vengeance, so I dumped several containers of water, sending the little swimming critters to their doom. I then sent a text message to one of the daytime managers to inform him that we would have plenty of wee squatters if we don't periodically change the water in these vessels. It's pretty gratifying to dump larva-infested water onto the ground- let the mosquitoes breed as they will, and send their multitudes of progeny to their doom. Muhuhuhuhahaha!
On a county-wide level, the Department of Health is distributing free fathead minnows, which are native to the region. Our "larvae menace" is confined to containers which can be readily dumped, so we have no need of minnows. As an added bonus, single-handedly destroying a thriving community of tiny, helpless critters allows me to engage in my darkest kaiju fantasies in a constructive manner.
On a county-wide level, the Department of Health is distributing free fathead minnows, which are native to the region. Our "larvae menace" is confined to containers which can be readily dumped, so we have no need of minnows. As an added bonus, single-handedly destroying a thriving community of tiny, helpless critters allows me to engage in my darkest kaiju fantasies in a constructive manner.
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Monster Machine Muse
Mad Swiss genius H.R. Giger, whose art scared the beejeebers out of millions and probably titillated a small coterie of pervs (a dream to some, a nightmare to others!) died of injuries sustained in a fall.
Like most people, I know Giger primarily from his design work for the movie Alien, though his infamous "Penis Landscape" poster insert in the Dead Kennedys album Frankenchrist was better known to my teenaged self. The aesthetic Giger brought to his "Alien" designs was dubbed biomechanical- his most famous material seamlessly blended aspects of organisms and machinery. His creepiest work, in my estimation, was his material which fell into the uncanny valley- the "humanoid" aspects giving his aliens a more horrific aspect than that of Lovecraft's completely non-anthropomorphic aliens. It has to be said, though, that Alien, with its "humans are insignificant specks living in a completely unknowable and perilous universe" subtext, has a very "Lovecraftian" theme.
Perhaps more interesting than Giger's involvement with the wildly successful "Alien" movie franchise is his involvement in one of the great failures in science-fiction cinema, the aborted Alejandro Jodorowsky film of Frank Herbert's Dune:
Jodorowsky's Dune was not only to have employed Giger's talents, but those of Mœbius. Strange that the last movie featuring Giger's designs to be seen on the big screen concerned a major flop. Apparently, there was an earlier "making of" feature, detailing this legendary trainwreck:
For a more extensive retrospective of Giger's life and work, this Wired profile is a good start. Rest in peace, Mr Giger, even though you ensured that many of us spent some sleepless nights.
Like most people, I know Giger primarily from his design work for the movie Alien, though his infamous "Penis Landscape" poster insert in the Dead Kennedys album Frankenchrist was better known to my teenaged self. The aesthetic Giger brought to his "Alien" designs was dubbed biomechanical- his most famous material seamlessly blended aspects of organisms and machinery. His creepiest work, in my estimation, was his material which fell into the uncanny valley- the "humanoid" aspects giving his aliens a more horrific aspect than that of Lovecraft's completely non-anthropomorphic aliens. It has to be said, though, that Alien, with its "humans are insignificant specks living in a completely unknowable and perilous universe" subtext, has a very "Lovecraftian" theme.
Perhaps more interesting than Giger's involvement with the wildly successful "Alien" movie franchise is his involvement in one of the great failures in science-fiction cinema, the aborted Alejandro Jodorowsky film of Frank Herbert's Dune:
Jodorowsky's Dune was not only to have employed Giger's talents, but those of Mœbius. Strange that the last movie featuring Giger's designs to be seen on the big screen concerned a major flop. Apparently, there was an earlier "making of" feature, detailing this legendary trainwreck:
For a more extensive retrospective of Giger's life and work, this Wired profile is a good start. Rest in peace, Mr Giger, even though you ensured that many of us spent some sleepless nights.
Monday, May 12, 2014
Let's Smack Our Churls!
As if the kidnapping of Nigerian schoolgirls by a fundamentalist Islamic terrorist organization wasn't bad enough, at least one American right-winger is making light of the situation, presumably because Michelle Obama made a heartfelt plea on behalf of the girls on Saturday.
One could chalk Hoft's jape up to mere sexism and racism- heh, they're only girls, and it's only Africa, doncha know- but I believe that the right-wing doesn't wish to take this atrocity seriously for a more existential reason. "Boko Haram" translates as "Western Education is Sinful" and the group not only targets Nigerian Christians but Muslims who are not seen as sufficiently pure in their devotion. A similar fundamentalist group in Mali burned manuscripts in a Timbuktu library that represented centuries of Islamic jurisprudence. The Boko Haram group is a bunch of nihilists, seeking to destroy anything which doesn't adhere to their particular narrow vision of the Islamic faith.
Here in the U.S., a common refrain among religious fundamentalists is that secular education is undermining traditional American values- "western education is sinful" or, to put it succinctly, Boko Haram.
Basically, the raison d'être of Boko Haram and, for instance, the American Family Association is identical- they both want to purge their respective societies of secular values. It's no wonder that Hoft, a right-winger through-and-through, wants to make light of the kidnapping of Nigerian schoolgirls who were slated to be sold into arranged marriages in order to "control" them. With the American Right's mania about "purity" and the evils of secular education, one would have to suspect that Hoft would back a similar kidnapping of female students by a fundamentalist organization that would force them into "traditional" marriages- he'd just disagree about which "holy" book's precepts were used to justify the crime.
I want to see two things happen- bring back the girls and let's smack our churls!
Cross-posted at Rumproast.
One could chalk Hoft's jape up to mere sexism and racism- heh, they're only girls, and it's only Africa, doncha know- but I believe that the right-wing doesn't wish to take this atrocity seriously for a more existential reason. "Boko Haram" translates as "Western Education is Sinful" and the group not only targets Nigerian Christians but Muslims who are not seen as sufficiently pure in their devotion. A similar fundamentalist group in Mali burned manuscripts in a Timbuktu library that represented centuries of Islamic jurisprudence. The Boko Haram group is a bunch of nihilists, seeking to destroy anything which doesn't adhere to their particular narrow vision of the Islamic faith.
Here in the U.S., a common refrain among religious fundamentalists is that secular education is undermining traditional American values- "western education is sinful" or, to put it succinctly, Boko Haram.
Basically, the raison d'être of Boko Haram and, for instance, the American Family Association is identical- they both want to purge their respective societies of secular values. It's no wonder that Hoft, a right-winger through-and-through, wants to make light of the kidnapping of Nigerian schoolgirls who were slated to be sold into arranged marriages in order to "control" them. With the American Right's mania about "purity" and the evils of secular education, one would have to suspect that Hoft would back a similar kidnapping of female students by a fundamentalist organization that would force them into "traditional" marriages- he'd just disagree about which "holy" book's precepts were used to justify the crime.
I want to see two things happen- bring back the girls and let's smack our churls!
Cross-posted at Rumproast.
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Happy Mothers' Day
Here's wishing happy Mothers' Day to all of the mothers in my readership. To express my appreciation for the mothers of the world, here's the inimitable Mr T., articulating all of the emotions that I feel:
Una cantata bellissima, like the voices of angels! Happy Mothers' Days, moms, and I pity the fool who hasn't spoken with mom today.
Una cantata bellissima, like the voices of angels! Happy Mothers' Days, moms, and I pity the fool who hasn't spoken with mom today.
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