Incomplete Imaginations
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Filk Daddy" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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11:32 am
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Irked
I recently purchased a new toy (aka used laptop) on eBay, thinking I could install the spare 320GB PATA drive I had in it. I'd checked and rechecked the alleged model number (HP Pavilion dv2000t), and it indicated PATA. In fact, the model number is slightly different (HP Pavilion dv2015nr), and the drive is SATA.
This turns out not to be a major problem, though, because my mp3 player died recently. I'd wanted to increase the capacity I had, and this lets me go get a used Archos 504, into which I can install the big hard drive via these instructions. A seller on eBay has them at significanly lower than everyone else ($80!), so I'm doing some research first, but assuming it all works out, I should have a 320GB media player for way less than I'd hoped without having to compromise and get either an iPod or a Zune to get the capacity. Then I can go get a 500GB SATA drive for the laptop, giving me more capacity than I'd expected there, and live happily ever after.
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01:07 pm
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Graphical linkage
Some pictures for you:
Useful graphic of airline fees for service
Flier handed out by Dimitri the Lover when rejected (somewhat NSFW)
Two views of the Cat's Eye Nebula, one of my favorite astonomical formations.
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10:28 am
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Marquee Meme
Recently I described a concert I'd like to sponsor, with a marquee listing three groups:
We are Scientists
of Montreal
They Might Be Giants
There's another concert I've long wanted to sponsor, for its marquee:
Genesis
Megadeth
Renaissance
Subtler, I suppose -- and you can substitute any "Armageddon/Ragnarok/Extinction" equivalent group name in the middle slot.
So let's make this a meme with these rules: List a concert you want to sponsor, with three, or possible four group names on the marquee, arranged in an amusing or interesting combination that delivers meaning beyond the mere concert announcement. They must be actual artists, but need not be contemporaneous, alive, or still intact groups.
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06:16 pm
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Of Pools and Pillows
My kids are both signed up for swimming lessons this summer. She's in the absolute beginner's class; he's in the "advanced beginner's" class. Both are at 4PM, on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.
You may note that time. It's at almost the perfectly worst time for me, since I typically sleep during weekdays, and too often don't get to bed until later than I ought. (Her class had a section on Monday which was unfortunately full when we registered; if she'd been able to take that class, then M could have overseen the lessons.) Getting home at 5:30 or 5:45 is a no-more-sleep proposition when I have to be up at 7:00, as well.
It wouldn't be so bad if this week hadn't started with us having finally, after too much deferring and not doing, cleaned up the front half of the apartment (entryway, main hall, kitchen, and bathroom) so that the exterminator could come in (the landlord correctly insisted that he had the right to require this). Since our apartment has, until recently, all been La Wreck di Tutti Wrecks, this required lots of heavy work and an all-nighter from several of us (and me calling out of work to make the time).
It also meant that I went into work yesterday with about three hours of sleep in the prior 48, and a complete zombie. (Must be a modern one; I had a salty pretzel and didn't dissolve, die, or become any less undead.)
Today I had upwards of five hours of sleep before having wakened my kids for the lesson, and while it's not nearly enough, I feel human again, for the moment.
About the lessons themselves: I wish his teacher was teaching her class. T's teacher is clearly a very good swimmer, with a grasp of how to teach advanced students, but went WAY too fast for a beginner's class. He didn't linger over any steps, worked only perfunctorily with individuals, and took "no" for an answer far too easily. (Not that it's a horrid thing, but with utter beginners, sometimes it's necessary to ask twice or even thrice to get them past fear or shyness.) Given that T is still kind of scared, both of the water and of failure, she didn't make lots of progress. Fortunately, we had a discussion about how learning requires trying and practice; we shall see if it stuck, next Tuesday. (Also, we'll get her goggles so that she's less concerned about water in her eyes.)
Z's teacher was much better, first evaluating her "advanced beginners" and then doing only two main things during the hour-long lesson, and making sure she worked with each student until they understood what to do, even if they were having trouble doing it on their own. I'm glad he has some kids in his class who are more advanced than he is; he thought he was getting really good, and needed to be brought to reality. (He's learned some things, like floating on his back, really well. But he still flexes his knees while kicking, and his strokes are atrocious. It's okay, he's learning.)
Gonna lean my head back here for half an hour or so. It won't be pretty when I wake, but at least I'll be able to speak in polysyllables tonight.
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01:16 am
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The Middle-Age Musical Test
Sorry, O noble SCAdians; there really is no "s" at the end of that compound adjective.
Eric Zorn of the Chicago Tribune presents this test to determine whether or if you have hit middle age. He lists the "summer hit" (the #1 song from the middle of August) from 1958 until the present, and asserts that when you hit one you can't at least kind of hum or sing, that's when you hit middle age. I note that it's possible to miss one (especially if it's from a genre you despised, e.g., disco) and not have it count.
( The songs are back here )
Using this test, I hit middle age at 28 years old in 1989; that may be a bit early, but of the next fifteen years, I can only hum approximately one-third. But I'm a sad case, and I'm sure most of you will be doing better :-)
Time to try to get diurnal for tomorrow; have a good night!
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09:13 am
[Link] | I really want to produce a concert with this marquee:
We are Scientists
of Montreal
They Might Be Giants
It'd be a good show, too! :-)
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06:56 am
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7/1/2009
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01:12 pm
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Finally, a word or three about Michael Jackson. And, oh yeah, a video
The man was awesomely talented. He was totally messed up in many ways. He had a huge influence on my childhood; he was all over the top-40 stations that my parents always had on the radio, and later, on the stations that I chose.
I think his dad ought to have been utterly banned from the stuff now going on, but it's the family's decision to allow the ultimate cause of this tragedy to attend his creation.
And I'm going to miss his potential future output (though perhaps not as much as I miss the twenty or thirty years of material from Jimi Hendrix that the world lost out on with his death).
( And a video behind the cut )
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01:25 am
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Oh, Good God
Tim Pawlenty, governor of Minnesota, whose tax cuts and service cuts caused one of the most famous bridge collapses in history, is urging President Obama to "quit spending." Because the roads, bridges, and economy will surely chug along (just as they're doing now) without input.
Pawlenty clearly understands economics almost as well as I understand Twilight/Gomer Pyle crossover fandom (I assume such a thing exists, and fear to Google it) -- which is to say, not even an iota.
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12:54 am
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Links from tabs I'd like to close
11 Beautiful Rail Stations Demolished for Dreck
What to do if your child has superpowers (via ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) bess)
Chivalry Sports is apparently closing (via neadods). I can't tell if that's only the bricks-and-mortar store, or includes the website, but there are some good sales at the website right now.
Cops in Texas raid gay bars on the 40th anniversary of Stonewall. This story is still developing, but it looks like things are getting interesting down there.
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10:42 pm
[Link] | Okay. The ducks have nibbled enough. I've established a Facebook account, though whether it will be updated even as regularly as this one remains to be seen. If you know my name, you know how to find me. If you somehow don't (i.e., we've met online and you only know my LJ handle), let me know so I can point you in the direction of Albuquerque. :-)
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05:14 pm
[Link] | What's with all the grief over Billy Mays? He wasn't even the most famous or talented person with his name, much less the world's best, or most entertaining pitchman.
All this fooforaw about him? It's INSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANE!
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09:20 am
[Link] | Home from Concertino. Lots of fun, except for getting there and losing Friday night to exhaustion.
More later.
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12:55 am
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Three Late Night Links Make a Post
Because I don't want to go into how I must have overeaten (bad anytime because of the hiatal hernia) while heading for tummy upset, causing a sudden daytime collapse into bed for eight hours, I'll just post these three open tabs:
1. Tom Tomorrow nails it even more than usual.
2. iNconceivable!
3. Jesus Killed Mohammed. In Harpers last month; I've had this tab open for weeks, trying to write about it. It's the story of far-right self-described Christians specifically and deliberately getting into the US armed forces, aiming for high rank and proselytizing within the services, anticipating a day when their goals fail to match those of the secular state:
When Barack Obama moved into the Oval Office in January, he inherited a military not just drained by a two-front war overseas but fighting a third battle on the home front, a subtle civil war over its own soul. On one side are the majority of military personnel, professionals who regardless of their faith or lack thereof simply want to get their jobs done; on the other is a small but powerful movement of Christian soldiers concentrated in the officer corps. There’s Major General Johnny A. Weida, who as commandant at the Air Force Academy made its National Day of Prayer services exclusively Christian, and also created a code for evangelical cadets: whenever Weida said, “Airpower,” they were to respond “Rock Sir!”—a reference to Matthew 7:25. (The general told them that when non-evangelical cadets asked about the mysterious call-and-response, they should share the gospel.) There’s Major General Robert Caslen—commander of the 25th Infantry Division, a.k.a. “Tropic Lightning”—who in 2007 was found by a Pentagon inspector general’s report to have violated military ethics by appearing in uniform, along with six other senior Pentagon officers, in a video for the Christian Embassy, a fundamentalist ministry to Washington elites. There’s Lieutenant General Robert Van Antwerp, the Army chief of engineers, who has also lent his uniform to the Christian cause, both in a Trinity Broadcasting Network tribute to Christian soldiers called Red, White, and Blue Spectacular and at a 2003 Billy Graham rally—televised around the world on the Armed Forces Network—at which he declared the baptisms of 700 soldiers under his command evidence of the Lord’s plan to “raise up a godly army.”
What men such as these have fomented is a quiet coup within the armed forces: not of generals encroaching on civilian rule but of religious authority displacing the military’s once staunchly secular code. Not a conspiracy but a cultural transformation, achieved gradually through promotions and prayer meetings, with personal faith replacing protocol according to the best intentions of commanders who conflate God with country. They see themselves not as subversives but as spiritual warriors—“ambassadors for Christ in uniform,” according to Officers’ Christian Fellowship; “government paid missionaries,” according to Campus Crusade’s Military Ministry.
Scary? You bet. Fixable? Sure, but it will take a concerted effort, and the priority of those who can make that call seems (with justification) to be the economy and healthcare (and, dammit, defending DOMA).
I think it's back to bed now. (But with good news: someone actually posted a torrent of an Uncle Bonsai show; this is the first one I've seen posted, and hope to see some more come out of it.)
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07:08 pm
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Why I Love Orcinus, part gazillion plus one
Sara Robinson speaking straight and to the point:
Dear Conservatives:
Your fellow Americans demand an answer -- and we want it now. Just one simple question:
Are you deliberately trying to start a civil war?
Just answer the question. Yes or no. Don't insult us with elisions, evasions, dithering, qualifications, or conditional answers. We need to know what your intentions are -- and we need to know NOW. People are being shot dead in the streets of America at the rate of several per month now. You may not want responsibility for this -- but the whackadoodles pulling the triggers make no bones about who put them up to this.
You did.
The assassins themselves are ratting you out. They're telling us, straight up, that they were inspired to act by the hate radio talkers that you empowered -- one of whom is now the de facto head of the Republican party. They got it from media outlets owned by your biggest donors. They got it from bloggers who receive daily talking points faxed in from the GOP. They got it from activists representing causes that would have never become causes in the first place if the issues hadn't been politically expedient for you.
Beyond that: You've already admitted your own complicity. When the Department of Homeland Security expressed their worries about right-wing extremist violence last April, practically every conservative pundit in the country went into a righteous fit. DHS never named anyone directly, so it was astonishing how many of you on the right were so quick to step up and claim that that memo was slandering you, personally and collectively. Since you were so eager to claim that that memo was all about you, now that the violence has come to pass, we're well justified in holding you to that.
There's lots more; go read the whole thing. But be careful; there are a couple of nutjob trolls in the comments.
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The answer to Sara's question ("Are you deliberately trying to start a civil war?") sure sounds like "yes." Unfortunately, the followup question, "What sort of person works to start a civil war?" has only a few legitimate answers, which all boil down to "enemies of the US." I know that some folks in that group will gladly admit to it -- they see the US as a failed state and believe that they need to wipe the slate clean and start over, with their insanity as a template. (When everyone knows that if we do that, the only legitimate hope of success is for me to be in charge :-) But some, who still believe they're good US citizens, need the mirror held up before them.
So repeat the question whenever you hear a wingnut speaking about race wars, ethnic cleansing, killing doctors who provide reproductive healthcare, or all the other insane inflammatory rhetoric that pushes people to shoot others in their churches, or set off bombs in public parks, etc.:
Are you deliberately trying to start a civil war?
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11:50 am
[Link] | The Shiny New-to-me Toy arrived yesterday. I am about to head over to Best Buy, where the original owner had a service contract that's still valid (and transferable) to have the Geek Squad replace the broken hinge (and, if they can and will, the keytop on the "8" key; if they can't or won't, I have a place lined up where I can buy a single keytop and will install it myself). Am armed with original owner's paperwork, my eBay/PayPal receipt, a printed copy of the auction, and an unwillingness to take "no" for an answer. If I get the same Geek from the Squad with whom I've dealt before, it should be easy.
I have indeed booted her (I don't yet know her name, but I get female vibes); she's shiny and lovely, and the owner wiped the hard drive and installed Windows 7 RC (build 7100), which I really want to play with. I can't wait for her to be doctored and come home for good!
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08:46 am
[Link] | Two Democratic State Senators from NYC have (attempted to) hold a coup in the Senate, throwing the leadership back to the Republicans. What's worse is that one of the gonifs involved is MY Senator. He will be receiving a letter from me, centered on Stephen Hopkins' card from 1776, every word of which applies: "Dear Sir, you are without any doubt, a rogue, a rascal, a villain, a thief, a scoundrel, and a mean, dirty, stinking, sniveling, sneaking, pimping, pocket-picking, thrice double-damned no-good son of a bitch."
For what it's worth, it's possible that the coup is invalid, as the session had been gaveled to an end prior to the action of these two sumbitching turncoats. Also, note that both of them are under criminal investigation,l and that one of them doesn't even live in his district (too bad he hadn't been impeached for that, if that were possible). Also note that the action was backed by multiple-time-gubernatorial loser Tom Golisano. Further, note that these were two of the three Democratic State Senators who were opposed to passage of a gay marriage law, already passed in the Assembly and backed by the Governor.
With any luck, those two will be swiftly booted next election. Until then, we can only hope the courts rule this mutiny invalid, and that action is taken to limit the damage.
*stews*
Current Mood: furious
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09:25 am
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Your Morning Video Awesomeness
In place of real posting (e.g., a report on Queens Pride yesterday, or a sad commentary on how far behind we are on cleaning the house, or how unpracticed I am for Concertino), have Bobby McFerrin improvising at the Montreaux Jazz Festival. Check out his conducting the crowd; it's pure wonderousfullnessosity.
( This ain't your daddy's Don't Worry, Get Happy -- it's WAY better )
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05:50 pm
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First Lines Meme Answers
Here are the answers to the Gigundo First Lines Meme of Memorial Day. I'm a bit surprised that neither Steve Goodman tune got guessed, but, as usual, lots of fun. More anon.
( Cut because it's you know, like rilly LAWNG :-) )
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12:20 pm
[Link] | John Cole "connects the dots" from the DHS report through the specious right-wing pooh-poohing of the report, to the arrest and apparent background of Scott Roeder for the terrorist attack on Dr. Tiller. As he says, noting how well Roeder's profile fits that noted in the DHS report, "It is almost like the DHS report predicted this sort of thing. Funny that."
Score one for the reality-based community.
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