At least, that's what the reports say.
Me either. Nope. No way. Not me.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
What's in an (Online) Name?
From my friend Bonnie:
All of these are legitimate companies that didn't spend quite enough time considering how their online names might appear. Check them out.
1. Who Represents is where you can find the name of the agent that represents any celebrity. Their Web site is www.whorepresents.com
2 . Experts Exchange is a knowledge base where programmers can exchange advice and views at www.expertsexchange.com
3. Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island at www.penisland.net
4. Need a therapist? Try Therapist Finder at www.therapistfinder.com
5. There's the Italian Power Generator company, www.powergenitalia.com
6. And don't forget the Mole Station Native Nursery in New South Wales ,
7. If you're looking for IP computer software, there's always
8. The First Cumming Methodist Church Web site is www.cummingfirst.com
9. And the designers at Speed of Art await you at their wacky Web site,
Winter Nights, Winter Days
Winter comes and then the snowJust a bit of doggeral I wrote in college one melancholy night alone in my apartment while trying to decide if winter was bleak or beautiful.
But candy canes and mistletoe
Cannot carry through to spring
To all the warmer laughter brings
And softly now the snow does tell
Of summer nights and sweet farewell
While brightly falls the beauty down
And sadness sparkles all around.
Crimson colored clouds above
Are they signs of Holy love?
And where does human kindess go
When winter comes and days are slow?
Amidst the dark of winter night
Can you see the studded sight?
Of stars that shine and send their light
And warm the Earth with gentle might.
Winter nights, winter days.
Searching for some sunny rays
To warm through
Desoltate haze
Of Winter nights, winter days.
January, February
March to May in dreams we carry
Hopes for happy days to come
When snowfall thaws by warmer sun
But harken now to singing snow
Let your trials and troubles and go
For ebbing fire still fights the cold
And sometimes snow is winter gold.
Astronaut Charged with Kidnapping Attempt
From today's WaPo:
Where's Jeanie when you need her? "Blink!"
ORLANDO, Fla. -- An astronaut drove 900 miles and donned a disguise to confront a woman she believed was her rival for the affections of a space shuttle pilot, police said. She was arrested Monday and charged with attempted kidnapping and other counts
Where's Jeanie when you need her? "Blink!"
Monday, February 05, 2007
Dead Bikes
"Let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the deaths of..." bikes.
As someone who had his bike stolen, there is nothing sadder (well, actually, there are a lot of things sadder) than seeing a "bike carcass." But DC Metroblogger sees performance art in it.
As someone who had his bike stolen, there is nothing sadder (well, actually, there are a lot of things sadder) than seeing a "bike carcass." But DC Metroblogger sees performance art in it.
Gay = Disabled?
In a column in yesterday's WaPo William Saletan writes about a study in Montana that shows that roughly 10 percent of rams prefer sex with other rams instead of ewes. In other words, naturally occurring gay sheep.
In the piece, titled "Brokeback Mutton" (ha ha, clever), Saletan comes to a conclusion I find dismaying. While it's affirming that (yet another) scientific study shows that homosexuality is biologically based, Saletan doesn't stop there. Quote of note:
In the piece, titled "Brokeback Mutton" (ha ha, clever), Saletan comes to a conclusion I find dismaying. While it's affirming that (yet another) scientific study shows that homosexuality is biologically based, Saletan doesn't stop there. Quote of note:
Science will gradually convince us that sexual orientation is innate, more like skin color than character. Condemnation of homosexuality as a sin will subside, and we'll turn to two biological differences between race and sexual orientation: Homosexuality defies the aspiration to procreate with your mate, and it's easier to isolate and alter in embryonic development. We may come to view homosexuality as we do infertility -- as a disability. The rhetoric of "acceptance" will shift from liberals to conservatives. We'll inoculate our children against homosexuality out of love, not hate.
So this is what it comes to -- A "progressive" view of homosexuality that sees it as a disability to be eradicated.
But Saletan makes one miscalculation -- being gay doesn't render us homos incapable of having kids. The equipment works just fine. I have a biological child. The only thing that "disables" gays from having children are man-made social constructs. Those social constructs can and should be altered to embrace new understandings of human sexuality.
A Gore Surge?
Is Al Gore the dark horse Dem candidate of 08? Consider this story of Gore's visit to Idaho from The Hill:
Former Vice President Al Gore came to town, appearing at the Frank Church Conference on Public Affairs at Boise State University. You know, the little school with the big football team. Gore and his “Inconvenient Truth” road show sold out a 10,000-seat auditorium faster than Bruce Springsteen’s last concert there. People were actually scalping tickets in the parking lot to hear a politician talk about global warming.
Sure, the movie version has been nominated for an Academy Award and, yes, Al Gore is the biggest political name to visit the Gem State in some time. But this is a state where logging trucks rule the road, every pickup has a gun rack and an American flag decal and you can’t raise crops without gas for your tractor and fertilizer for your fields. It is a state full of those who hunt and fish, but not environmentalists
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Don't Pee in the Amazon
I'll be sure to heed that advice when I'm in South America later this year. (via John).
The Superbowl, Team Sports and Me
The Superbowl is on.
(yawn)
I don't fit the gay stereotype in many ways but in this one way I do -- I find team sports boring. I haven't taken an active interest in the Superbowl since the late 1970s when in Jr. High School I bet (and lost) on the Denver Broncos. I don't know why I liked the broncos. I probably liked the color of their jerseys.
Last night at a party someone asked me who I was rooting for. I got a deer in the headlights look as I realized I didn't even know who was playing.
In the part of the country where I went to high school it was Basketball, not football, that was THE sport. This was in Southern Illinois and if you've seen the movie Hoosiers that's exactly the same mania for bball I encountered in the early 1980s. As someone who stood 6ft1 the most common question I got from adults was "you play basketball?" "No, I play in the band," I would murmur. (Ironically, the movie Hoosiers is one of my favorites).
This indifference to team sports would follow me into adulthood. Once, while waiting on a conference call for all the participants to dial in, some other guy remarked, "did you catch the tournament last night?" The night before I had just watched the men's long program competition for figure skating. I started to exclaim, "Yeah, and did you see Brian Boitano's triple salchow toe loop combination?" When someone else cut me off and I realized they were talking about the NBA.
In high school, I was leader of the pep band. During a football game, I had the band start playing during a snap or a first in ten or some mumbo jumbo like that...and we got a technical foul. Because of me. Monday morning I was summoned to the principal's office to face the head coach, the principal and the team's quarterback (Ron Taylor, whose hairy pecs floated in my mind and distracted me from sleep on days we had gym class together). They tried to explain to me what had happened and why the band can't play during a "snap." The three of them tried to get me to understand...but eventually they gave up in comical frustration.
The one time I caught football fervor was in Jacksonville, Fl. Shortly after Jax got the Jaguars it looked like the team might go all the way to the Superbowl and football fever was epidemic and I caught it. Well, not enough to watch the games but to keep up with what was happening.
And I learned a little secret.
In locker rooms all my life I've heard the guys discussing this play or that play after a big game and their sports insight banter seemed so fluid and knowledgeable while my ignorance infinite. I could never keep up with it. Until I watched the postgame show after one of the Jaguars' games. The next day, at the Y, the sports banter parroted what had been said on the post game. "Yeah, they expected to play an offensive game but we kept them on the defense" I heard myself say as my towel-clad locker room fraternity nodded in agreement with my sage insight, which we had all heard on the postgame the night before.
So, I'm not watching the game tonight. The great commercials I can catch on YouTube. But I'll be ready for the locker room tomorrow. I'm watching the postgame commentary.
(yawn)
I don't fit the gay stereotype in many ways but in this one way I do -- I find team sports boring. I haven't taken an active interest in the Superbowl since the late 1970s when in Jr. High School I bet (and lost) on the Denver Broncos. I don't know why I liked the broncos. I probably liked the color of their jerseys.
Last night at a party someone asked me who I was rooting for. I got a deer in the headlights look as I realized I didn't even know who was playing.
In the part of the country where I went to high school it was Basketball, not football, that was THE sport. This was in Southern Illinois and if you've seen the movie Hoosiers that's exactly the same mania for bball I encountered in the early 1980s. As someone who stood 6ft1 the most common question I got from adults was "you play basketball?" "No, I play in the band," I would murmur. (Ironically, the movie Hoosiers is one of my favorites).
This indifference to team sports would follow me into adulthood. Once, while waiting on a conference call for all the participants to dial in, some other guy remarked, "did you catch the tournament last night?" The night before I had just watched the men's long program competition for figure skating. I started to exclaim, "Yeah, and did you see Brian Boitano's triple salchow toe loop combination?" When someone else cut me off and I realized they were talking about the NBA.
In high school, I was leader of the pep band. During a football game, I had the band start playing during a snap or a first in ten or some mumbo jumbo like that...and we got a technical foul. Because of me. Monday morning I was summoned to the principal's office to face the head coach, the principal and the team's quarterback (Ron Taylor, whose hairy pecs floated in my mind and distracted me from sleep on days we had gym class together). They tried to explain to me what had happened and why the band can't play during a "snap." The three of them tried to get me to understand...but eventually they gave up in comical frustration.
The one time I caught football fervor was in Jacksonville, Fl. Shortly after Jax got the Jaguars it looked like the team might go all the way to the Superbowl and football fever was epidemic and I caught it. Well, not enough to watch the games but to keep up with what was happening.
And I learned a little secret.
In locker rooms all my life I've heard the guys discussing this play or that play after a big game and their sports insight banter seemed so fluid and knowledgeable while my ignorance infinite. I could never keep up with it. Until I watched the postgame show after one of the Jaguars' games. The next day, at the Y, the sports banter parroted what had been said on the post game. "Yeah, they expected to play an offensive game but we kept them on the defense" I heard myself say as my towel-clad locker room fraternity nodded in agreement with my sage insight, which we had all heard on the postgame the night before.
So, I'm not watching the game tonight. The great commercials I can catch on YouTube. But I'll be ready for the locker room tomorrow. I'm watching the postgame commentary.
Friday, February 02, 2007
Friday Hottie of the Week
I've been lobbied on this one for several weeks -- Paul Rudd, from Friends, 40 Year Old Virgin and one of my favorite movies, Object of My Affection. And hopefully this will meet the LTR's request that I post someone hairy.
Obligatory shirtless pics below.
Maria: Bernstein and Carreras
This is a fascinating clip of Leonard Bernstein rehearsing Jose Carreras in the 1984 recording of West Side Story. As an amateur musician, it's interesting to watch the pettiness and egoism creep in while two masters struggle to get the performance perfect. Carreras is one of the "Three Tenors" and I always thought he was the best of the three, the least bloated musically and physically (and he is hot here in his five 0'clock shadow -- I seem to be developing a thing for the slightly unshaven). The one thing that drives me nuts, though, is Carreras' emphasis of the last syllable of "never," as in "nev-URR." Ugh.
This is a long clip, but worth watching to the end.
This is a long clip, but worth watching to the end.
Marching Band and Cheerleader Blunders
In honor of my band starting rehearsals this coming Monday (via Stan):
Not Radcliffe
In thinking about posting the Friday hottie of the week, I thought briefly of the Daniel "Harry Potter" Radcliffe and the nude Equus promo pictures (a nude Radcliffe and a nude horse, in case you've been living under a rock this week).
But I decided, no, those pictures are everywhere, no need to reproduce them here. Besides...he's only 17! I've not descended that far into old troll status.
Pretty on the Outside has a good take (and spoof) on the whole thing here.
(via Tottyland, who says Radcliffe, in a move to shed his child star status, "Couldn't he just do drugs or come out like most child stars do?")
But I decided, no, those pictures are everywhere, no need to reproduce them here. Besides...he's only 17! I've not descended that far into old troll status.
Pretty on the Outside has a good take (and spoof) on the whole thing here.
(via Tottyland, who says Radcliffe, in a move to shed his child star status, "Couldn't he just do drugs or come out like most child stars do?")
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Big Brother?
It's a bit unnerving, to blog critically about the Senate and then have someone from the U.S. Senate's Sergeant at Arms IP address drop by for a visit the same day.
Can I blog from Gitmo?
Can I blog from Gitmo?
Spooky
I've mentioned before there are strange occurrences in my house. We have heard a woman laughing and singing, we've heard (as have guests) footsteps down the hall when no one is there. The dogs sometimes stare a point in the wall and one time one dog moved her head from side to side as though watching someone (or something) walk across the room.
And, a few times, the stereo has turned itself on (I swear to you I'm not making this up).
Another incident just happened. My office is next to my son's room, where his toys are. One of them is a toy backhoe that works...you can pull levers and activate its treads and move the lift up and down. The levers are like light switches that have to be physically flipped to activate. It's been sitting quietly in his room since his last visit here, in November.
I'm sitting here working, and all of a sudden I hear the toy backhoe turn on, it's treads moving. It's loud, so it scared the crap out of me. My first thought was the dog somehow bumped against it. But when I entered the room, no dog.
I flipped the switch to turn it off.
Creepy.
Explanations?
And, a few times, the stereo has turned itself on (I swear to you I'm not making this up).
Another incident just happened. My office is next to my son's room, where his toys are. One of them is a toy backhoe that works...you can pull levers and activate its treads and move the lift up and down. The levers are like light switches that have to be physically flipped to activate. It's been sitting quietly in his room since his last visit here, in November.
I'm sitting here working, and all of a sudden I hear the toy backhoe turn on, it's treads moving. It's loud, so it scared the crap out of me. My first thought was the dog somehow bumped against it. But when I entered the room, no dog.
I flipped the switch to turn it off.
Creepy.
Explanations?
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