tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54395892012-01-04T17:21:45.741-08:00<i>I read it from time to time,<br> but sometimes it gives me a headache...<br></i>Jimnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1411100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1128634948617749452005-10-06T14:29:00.000-07:002005-10-06T14:42:30.893-07:00

When making music mixes, try to not put two songs next to each other by performers of widely different talents. Once in some random music club purchase I got Jewel's first CD. I don't particularly like it as it is pretty apparent she doesn't have a lot of talent in songwriting, singing or guitar playing.Anyway, on one of my minidisk folk music compilations Jewel's "Who Will Save My Soul?" is

Jimnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1128121281061880002005-09-30T15:56:00.000-07:002005-09-30T16:01:21.066-07:00

A year ago whilst drinking with some friends, I had an idea for a way to get our drinks filled more efficiently than waiting to flag down a waiter. Namely, a device in the beer mug that measures when the level reaches down to a level of say 5% of full - kinda like a gas tank. The microchip communicates with a central point (Radio, WiFi, whatever) which then indicates that there is an empty mug

Jimnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1127250828445015122005-09-20T13:39:00.000-07:002005-09-20T14:16:26.256-07:00

The irony is too rich in the continuing saga of Starbucks' attempt to broaden their customer's minds just a little bit. They have been putting quotes on their cups that are more than the typical Hallmark "inspirational" crap that you might expect. One quote is from Armistead Maupin: "My only regret about being gay is that I repressed it for so long. I surrendered my youth to the people I feared

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1125690590370708612005-09-02T12:11:00.000-07:002005-09-02T12:49:50.396-07:00

One of the hard things about being a politician is that you get blamed for a lot of stuff outside your control. There has been a lot of piling on the Bush administration for the New Orleans disaster - the cutting of the plans for shoring up the levee's, the lack of National Guard troops because of Iraq etc. and etc. Some of this criticism is very warranted and of actions directly in their control

Jimnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1125355583693989562005-08-29T15:44:00.000-07:002005-08-29T15:46:23.700-07:00

In the "I don't know why this is news" department we have this account of a shooting of rap mogul Suge Knight. Take note towards the end of one guest's reaction: "I don't think that what happened was any different than at any other event where you have a lot of people," said David Banner. "It's tragic that it happened and that the media magnified this so much."One of my fondest childhood memories

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1120866757544652922005-07-08T16:14:00.000-07:002005-07-08T16:52:37.560-07:00

The present racketeers running the syndicate called the Bush Administration have a code of Omerta: you talk, you walk and when you walk, it is preferably with figurative bullets in your back. Every gang knows that the only way for the game to keep on being lucrative is to make it "smart" for every gang member to stay in good graces with the gang leader. If a gang member is thinking they are not

Jimnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1117757842933378122005-06-02T17:07:00.000-07:002005-06-03T08:08:26.990-07:00

It is with mixed pleasure that I am viewing the unmasking of Deep Throat. Ask a member of my generation what Watergate meant to them. If they are truthful they will say something along the lines of "I'm sorry, but I had to give up months of Gilligan's Island, Leave it to Beaver, My Three Sons, Bewitched and Speed Racer for endless broadcasts of this boring guy named Sirica just sitting and

Jimnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1117129263551191772005-05-26T10:39:00.000-07:002005-05-26T10:44:28.630-07:00

I am going to eat at every restaurant in Ballard this summer, and in another unastounding effort of self-absorption, I am blogging about it. Here is where I explain more about it.

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1115318067560463722005-05-05T10:46:00.000-07:002005-05-05T11:40:42.253-07:00

In a recent controversy, Microsoft first supported gay rights legislation in the State of Washington, then after some meetings with a noted hatemonger wacko who threatened a boycott, Microsoft withdrew support. As an outsider with no dog in the race (I'm not gay or homophobic, not affiliated with Microsoft, not affiliated with any stone age wacko religions) this affair has been (to use a favorite

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1114471694219446112005-04-25T16:13:00.000-07:002005-04-25T16:28:14.226-07:00

In my art graduate school days, there was a certain tendency that was often observed. During critiques where a student puts up a set of paintings to be talked about by the class, invariably the one painting that always got the most attention was the one that looked the most different from the rest. It may not have the most or least successful painting in the bunch, but the very fact of its

Jimnoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1112379994618300042005-04-01T10:18:00.000-08:002005-04-04T17:01:33.290-07:00

A thought just struck me. Do people of the "Intelligent Design" ilk get flu shots or other vaccinations? I mean, if evolution is just an unproven theory, then getting flu shots full of rapidly mutated but weakened viruses every year would be worthless - I mean wouldn't prayer be more efficacious since natural selection could not produce flu viruses increasingly resistant to vaccine?As such I

Jimnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1111102432816859962005-03-17T15:28:00.000-08:002005-03-17T16:35:30.833-08:00

Well, somebody has to say it so it might as well be me. I've read and heard some comments and analysis of Wolfowitz being appointed leader of the World Bank. But nobody has mentioned that the White House is just following the tradition set by Robert McNamara. As many know, Robert McNamara was the "genius" behind the escalation of the Vietnam War and the resulting mess. It is left as an exercise

Jimnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1109897694402672612005-03-03T16:53:00.000-08:002005-03-03T16:54:54.403-08:00

Whilst reports of Steve Fossett's successful around the world trip are heartwarming, it must be noted that his luggage ended up in Philadelphia.

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1103738800856800272004-12-22T10:00:00.000-08:002004-12-22T10:06:40.856-08:00

Yesterday I mounted a bare metal pole in our backyard. And then I realized - I have fulfilled one of the obligations of Festivus! The other celebratory task are to air my grievances (done incessantly in this blog in any case) and perform feats of strength. The feats of strength will be detailed in my next blog entry as soon as I figure out how to post images. Sneak Preview: It involves opossums.

Jimnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1103146868700070942004-12-15T13:28:00.000-08:002004-12-15T14:04:11.743-08:00

I've been getting back into running shape the last year now that my seemingly quarterly running injuries have stopped. For some background info, I ran the half-mile and mile in college and my body remembers how fast it used to run. This body memory is great when you are in shape and you can fine-tune your pace to such a degree that you can run a 200 meter repeat in 28 seconds, then 27.5, then 27.

Jimnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1103142463124973032004-12-15T13:11:00.000-08:002004-12-15T12:27:43.123-08:00

Wow, all it took was electing George Bush and the Homeland Security Dept. has stopped issuing weekly warnings like it did for the two months before Nov. 2. Those guys in the White House must be quashing terrorism like nobody's business.

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1102030479271139392004-12-02T13:51:00.000-08:002004-12-02T15:34:39.270-08:00

Let us examine the imperative "Support Our Troops". First of all let us examine the medium of the discourse. Invariably it is never in one-on-one situations, i.e. person A to person B. If somebody said "Support Our Troops" to me, I would say "Wasn't I?" or "How?" and then that would be the end of the conversation, because all they could say back is "Support Our Troops!" perhaps with a little bit

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1101933148887971092004-12-01T11:15:00.000-08:002004-12-01T12:32:28.886-08:00

The last month I've been participating in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) - where the task is to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November. You don't really get anything when you win except for the tremendous sense of relief when you are done. Which is bit like having a telephone booth dropped on you and then saying "Boy, that feels good" when it gets lifted off. I did this two

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1100808088808467642004-11-18T11:09:00.000-08:002004-11-18T12:01:28.810-08:00

I know that this has probably been done to death by so many cultural commentators and comedians, but that has never stopped me before. And besides, I'm not ranting about low IQ's in high places for once. I was running the other day and I ran past a car that had its hatchback open. I saw a gigantic shrink-wrapped box of plastic bottled water. I couldn't catch the brand - did I say I was running

Jimnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1100550746885430852004-11-15T13:16:00.000-08:002004-11-15T12:32:26.886-08:00

Associated DePress: Washington D.C. In a long expected move today, President George Bush has accepted the resignation of Secretary of State Colin Powell. In filling the symbolic post of Ambassador to the World, the Administration will deploy two money saving but effective symbols. To diplomatic functions, official state visits and other venues where the Secretary of State represents the U.S.,

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1100201211316180642004-11-11T11:10:00.000-08:002004-11-11T11:44:29.626-08:00

Has anyone been to an anti-war protest lately? Grannies, parents with strollers, people who are like you and like me. Normal people who don't want war. There are freaks who still think they are in a Vietnam protest and try to make something happen and while news reports ALWAYS emphasize these yahoos, they are in the extreme minority and frankly are an embarrassment. The other salient fact about

Jimnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1100024137636573082004-11-09T10:00:00.000-08:002004-11-09T10:15:37.636-08:00

One last thought on the election result that I haven't seen or heard mentioned anywhere. In the last 4 years I can think of 6 places in the US that have had direct Al Qaeda infiltration, New York and Washington D.C. on 9/11, Minnesota was where Zacarias Moussaoui was arrested and where he was living, Washington was where Ahmed Ressam was caught on his way to bomb Los Angeles in California and

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1099959356130921852004-11-08T16:07:00.000-08:002004-11-08T16:15:56.130-08:00

Salon has an article today on how Bush's administration will somehow have some sort of scandal that will dwarf Watergate. Well, we've already had them. It ain't gonna happen - this administration has got the mandate to lie, cheat, steal and kill, there won't be anything that will bring them down. Just to amuse myself, I decided to rank the presidential scandals on their moral depravity and how

Jimnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1099508103141742052004-11-03T10:30:00.000-08:002004-11-03T10:55:03.143-08:00

One poll said that 22% of the voters (the highest) made their decisions based on morality. Based on numerous anecdotes of his life before the presidency and his mocking of the woman he was about to execute, and his mocking of everybody in general, Bush does not have much of a moral life. Lies, greed, and destruction of civil society are not the hallmark of a moral man. Another thing, hopefully

Jimnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1099185679543699212004-10-30T17:59:00.000-07:002004-10-30T18:28:31.346-07:00

Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. What's the deal? Was there some kind of mix-up somewhere and there were a whole bunch of these steakhouses owned by different Chris's? And, finally, Ruth stepped up and said to her Chris, "Dammit, all my friends are going to the wrong steakhouse, you've got to change the name to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse!" Or is "Chris" this Masonic adjective that only expense accounters

Jimnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1098989082030554832004-10-28T11:39:00.000-07:002004-10-28T11:44:42.030-07:00

One thing about me that you would not have guessed is that I am the avant garde of my generation, the Tyrone Slothrop of the cultural zeitgeist. Many a time I have been in on the precursor of things that soon became hot. For instance, I was an artist in the East End of London a few years before being an East Ender artist became cliche. And now, drawing is the big thing in art (who knew?) and that

Jimnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1098399192469021592004-10-21T15:39:00.000-07:002004-10-21T15:53:12.470-07:00

Come from behind victory by a Massachusett team over a much-hated establishment team that always wins by spending more than anybody else? Hmmm...I like it. But I still won't get my hopes up. We're still waiting for the October surprise from Rove - though I'm thinking that the widespread voter registration scandal by the Republicans may be it. This has Rove (and Cheney) written all over it. I

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1098302200474269362004-10-20T11:57:00.000-07:002004-10-20T12:56:40.473-07:00

So, it seems that if you want a flu shot, you should go to Canada (or be a Congressman). Also, if you want health care when your multinational employer lays you off in order to get their executives and shareholders more money, you should go to Canada. Also, if you want your tax money to actually be used for the welfare of your citizens and not be used to unilaterally conquer countries for their

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1097092613168467382004-10-06T13:31:00.000-07:002004-10-06T12:56:53.166-07:00

Slate has a wonderful interview with E. Howard Hunt of Watergate and CIA fame. The interviewer clearly had a *lot* of fun with this one - which isn't surprising as he is "colorful" and an asshole. From the introductory paragraph, we read Howard Hunt has lived in Miami where he met and married his second wife of 27 years, Laura. An expert storyteller, Hunt has had a second career as a spy novelist

Jimnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1097094782922722042004-10-06T13:17:00.000-07:002004-10-06T13:33:02.923-07:00

I'm surprised that nobody hasn't brought this up, but don't you think that the debate between Cheney and Edwards was a teeny, tiny little bit like the scene where George Bailey confronts Mr. Potter (scroll down to see Mr. Potter) in "It's a Wonderful Life"? - notwithstanding that Cheney is an absolutely dead ringer in looks and attitude to Mr. Potter. I'm wondering why Cheney's handlers don't

Jimnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1096515628775182262004-09-29T20:18:00.000-07:002004-09-29T20:40:28.776-07:00

In my previous post I took issue with a columnist that is puzzled that people wouldn't be surprised if Bush engineered an October surprise with Bin Laden. And then I thought of other politicians and how generally I would think of them in this kind of situation: Clinton? He was so disorganized that he actually might do the October surprise by just being by not getting around to it...But ethically

Jimnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1096498774026647402004-09-29T15:41:00.000-07:002004-09-29T20:18:18.820-07:00

Christopher Hitchens (who I respect when he writes on other topics than George Bush and the Iraq War) has a little problem with people not being surprised if Osama was "found" in October before the elections. He thinks that these people are suggesting that Bush is "stashing Bin Laden...or somehow keeping his arrest in reserve." Well, you can read it that way. I don't think we have the capability

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1096402142469759492004-09-28T13:05:00.000-07:002004-09-28T13:09:02.470-07:00

I discovered this in Tom Tomorrow's blog This Modern World. Since it is attributed as an email that has been going around and who knows who the real author is, I will excerpt in full. It is fantastic. I've had the idea myself to do something like this, but I never could have done it so well: "A DAY IN THE LIFE OF JOE REPUBLICAN" Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to

Jimnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1096317643698449812004-09-27T13:12:00.000-07:002004-09-27T13:40:43.696-07:00

Okay, I just got a brainstorm. You know how the newly wealthy and without taste love to build McMansions with so-called "great rooms"? These are huge, grandiose two or three story tall rooms that the front door opens into and is supposed to tell the visitor that the family is descended from plantation owners. Some have Hattie McDaniel stationed at the top of the stairs to complete the picture,

Jimnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1095372967595731842004-09-16T14:53:00.000-07:002004-09-16T15:16:07.596-07:00

So it was my birthday a few weeks ago. I got a humorous card from a very good friend I've known since my college days - about 20 years now. The gist of the card was that I've turned into a grumpy old man who shouts "Hey you kids, get off of my lawn!" This was disconcerting. Because at my previous employment, co-workers Trading Spaced my office with an astroturf lawn, lawn chairs, a cute little

Jimnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1095094289021914992004-09-13T09:43:00.000-07:002004-09-13T09:51:29.020-07:00

There is a comic saying that says (in my poor paraphrasing) "Satire is difficult when reality is stranger than fiction." Here is an article from The Onion in January 2001. Note that this was ostensibly written before the 9/11/2001 attacks and before Bush had taken office and started his onslaught. I say ostensibly because I am finding it hard to believe that The Onion could have predicted the

Jimnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1094748577895859262004-09-09T09:35:00.000-07:002004-09-09T09:49:37.896-07:00

In regard on next week's expiration of the assault weapons ban: A poll released this week by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania found that 68 percent of Americans -- and 32 percent of NRA members -- support renewing the ban. The [group of police] chiefs met with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., who listened politely and then closed the door on

Jimnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1094617263182402022004-09-07T21:04:00.000-07:002004-09-09T09:35:18.106-07:00

Vice President Cheney today nearly sideswiped the American people today while riding his bicycle in rural Kansas. After a speech where he mumbled something from the side of his mouth about how electing Kerry will bring on a devasting terrorism attack, VP Cheney was heard to say to the liberal media "Helping the little Kerry along are you, my fine gentlemen? Well stay away from him, or I'll stuff

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1094157944311723702004-09-02T12:47:00.000-07:002004-09-02T13:48:06.420-07:00

From today's Salon article on a family friend of the Bush family during the "Alabama years": In the spring of 1972, George H.W. Bush phoned his friend and asked a favor: Could Allison find a place on the Senate campaign he was managing in Alabama for his troublesome eldest son, the 25-year-old George W. Bush? "The impression I had was that Georgie was raising a lot of hell in Houston, getting in

Jimnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1093883604159367692004-08-30T08:38:00.000-07:002004-08-30T09:33:24.160-07:00

Wives abhor a vacuum. We have a pantry under our stairs. If there was an earthquake or volcano or asteroid impact and have to rely on ourselves, we will be eating granola bars, pasta, and several varieties of beans until civilization emerges from the chaos. And we aren't even Mormon or ultra-survivalist! Along the same lines, we have a chest freezer that until recently was only half full - it had

Jimnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1092961840588976332004-08-19T17:27:00.000-07:002004-08-19T17:39:38.256-07:00

I was up at my father-in-law's beach house last weekend and got my quarterly TV watching in. He has a plasma screen-DVD 7.1 home theater thing going on in a dedicated no-window room with in-the-wall speakers. I didn't have the heart to tell him that the picture quality was on the 50's technicolor side of color reproduction. But with him, it never, ever, is about the quality of the thing - it is

Jimnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1092092683057242202004-08-09T16:00:00.000-07:002004-08-09T16:04:43.056-07:00

I won't say I'm depressed - but that I am dissatisfied with yesterday. I've been getting into shape after 20 years of off and on physical activity. Usually in those years of the waistland I would run for about a month or two, get hurt or sick or busy, and then do nothing for 6 months to a year and then start the cycle over. So after my last injury over a year ago, I decided to get a bicycle and

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1090885636045840482004-07-26T16:38:00.000-07:002004-07-26T16:49:12.096-07:00

Four and a half years ago we moved into our present house. One of the prime selling points was that it did not have a neighbor four feet from our living room window operating a chain saw at seven in the morning. And did I say that the neighbor was a borderline psychotic ex-juvenile delinquent who has graduated to bigger things like illegal log harvesting and fire-trap construction? What did we do

Jimnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1090282229320204242004-07-19T16:55:00.000-07:002004-07-19T17:10:29.320-07:00

Okay, apparently the latest thing by the Bush administration is that they are going through their time-tested media preparations for a war with Iran. This time they are floating that Iran had a role in the 9/11 hijackings. Here is a quote from a Time article:The senior official also told TIME that the report will note that Iranian officials approached the al-Qaeda leadership after the bombing of

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1089922501458583732004-07-15T13:08:00.000-07:002004-07-15T13:15:01.456-07:00

A few months ago, I was intentionally alarmist and hyperbolic in a post about how I always vote for losers. I saidSo that brings up my dilemma, do I not vote this year in the Presidential elections? Well, that is if there will be elections - there is a low but finite possibility that if the polls are not in Bush's favor and the October surprises do not work that something will come up to cancel

Jimnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1089837317474536912004-07-14T13:05:00.000-07:002004-07-14T13:36:24.506-07:00

So I got some change the other day. My mother-in-law collects the state quarters and one of my husbandly mandates has been to scout my change for new state quarters. In this batch I found Michigan's quarter. Now, as a design, it is much better than some other states, as for instance, Arkansas which has a mallard gracefully about to hit its head on a huge diamond floating over a lake like the UFO

Jimnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1089310424245957702004-07-08T10:49:00.000-07:002004-07-09T10:35:29.526-07:00

Occassionally I pine for the groves of academe. Mostly I miss two things that I found there. First, I miss the way of life of academia. In the real (business) world, people act like everything is earth shattering important, must be done now, oh-my-god why aren't you answering my call at 2am? In the academic world, they mostly know that if they act like this, other people are smart enough to call

Jimnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1089174316255229512004-07-06T20:41:00.000-07:002004-07-06T21:25:16.256-07:00

I've seen many wondrous things in my life. Riding a horse through the desert sands and coming upon the pyramids of Giza, walking on a sunny spring day and seeing the Eiffel Tower against the blue sky, diving from a boat in the Florida Keys and cavorting with barracuda and tropical fish. The sounds, feelings, sights and smells of these and many other incredible things I've seen and done are all

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1087422673450081162004-06-16T14:15:00.000-07:002004-06-17T13:38:20.846-07:00

After being cruelly dumped by my undergraduate girlfriend and being quite insufferably suffering about it - I needed distractions. God knows why graduate school in astrophysics shouldn't be enough, but it wasn't. I was introduced to some distractions my last semester of undergraduate. I had enough credits to graduate after 3 1/2 years, but I wanted to compete one last season in track. So I took

Jimnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1086989638254406152004-06-11T13:16:00.000-07:002004-06-11T14:40:44.106-07:00

Years. More than 7 years at the least. We knew we were perched on the skin of a bubble that can burst at any time. We took all the right precautions, carefully studied the consequences of our actions and never let our guard down. Let it never be said we were not vigilant. But, the world, the world. We were trying to carve out our little hobbit hole of peace. The tranquility of dinners eaten

Jimnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1086883993723621562004-06-10T08:59:00.000-07:002004-06-10T09:13:13.723-07:00

God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut:Many years ago, I was so innocent I still considered it possible that we could become the humane and reasonable America so many members of my generation used to dream of. We dreamed of such an America during the Great Depression, when there were no jobs. And then we fought and often died for that dream during the Second World War, when there was no peace. But I know

Jimnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1086635815189128832004-06-07T10:31:00.000-07:002004-06-07T12:16:55.190-07:00

My phd thesis advisor used to play up his Iowa farmboy upbringing by prefacing his (frequent) soliloquies with the folksy "Alls I have to say...". He was also a student of Latin and rhetoric, and Cicero was his hero (there is the beginning of bad doggerel in that last phrase...). What he was doing with that prefatory phrase was trying to cast what he was saying into the golden-age, Wilfred

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1086503222493569932004-06-05T23:15:00.000-07:002004-06-05T23:27:02.493-07:00

I am reading Republic by Plato right now. It was written about 2400 years ago. From what I can gather from the text, politics in all its horrible little details and grimy facets has not changed one iota (greek word?) from Athens or Sparta in the 4th-5th centuries B.C. On every page it seems I can correlate to something that is happening now in our world. Which is depressing. In our modern times

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1086365778897814942004-06-04T08:52:00.000-07:002004-06-04T09:16:18.896-07:00

Some people were laid off at my company yesterday. The "division" I'm in has been in maintenance mode, no new projects or even aggressive selling of the product. So the decision was made to let people go who aren't really maintainers i.e. developers, testers and other engineers, and keep people who can help on a new internal project. Which brings up my guilt. Originally, I was brought in as a

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1086217392313175652004-06-02T15:23:00.000-07:002004-06-02T16:03:12.313-07:00

I know that everyone who reads this blog is waiting for the decision1 on whether I will read The Confessions of Max Tivoli. I would link the blog entry where I go over this, but my links are broken since switching templates- the entry is "Skin Deep" in the May archives. Well, the verdict is in. I like the cover. However, I don't like the printed "Today Book Club" badge that blemishes it. Verdict

Jimnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1085773447466990362004-05-28T12:23:00.000-07:002004-05-28T12:44:07.466-07:00

Though the title "Emerging Writers" gives me the image of tweed-jacketed, pipe-smoking, horn-rim spectacled writers rising like the Creature From the Black Lagoon out of the tidepool of non-evolved, quiescent writer tadpoles - I do like the concept of the Emerging Writers Network. A while ago I blogged about finding good midlist authors to read (and support by buying their books.) The problem is

Jimnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1085758181574476622004-05-28T08:27:00.000-07:002004-05-28T08:29:41.576-07:00

I saw this joke in a art forum. I laugh through my tears. How many members of the Bush administration does it take to replace a light bulb? SEVEN: -One to deny that a lightbulb needs to be replaced; -One to attack and question the patriotism of anyone who has questions about the lightbulb; -One to blame the previous administration for the need of a new lightbulb; -One to arrange the invasion of

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1085612288807290312004-05-26T15:57:00.000-07:002004-05-26T15:58:08.806-07:00

Oh, I love the Onion.

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1085605494987828602004-05-26T13:46:00.000-07:002004-05-26T14:04:54.986-07:00

...always a "C" student. One of the things that went unmentioned in last weekend's coverage of President Bush's bicycling accident was what the hell he was out there mountain biking in the first place. Now, I don't mean that he should exercise or mountain bike or whatever. No, it was the timing of the thing. To bring up my own experience, I used to give seminars and papers when I was in academia

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1085537272973036852004-05-25T19:03:00.000-07:002004-05-25T19:30:38.146-07:00

In which the hapless blogger switches to a new template and loses all the previous comments. I could have saved them. But I didn't. One must be ruthless. I wonder where Ruth is? Now if ANYONE gets the above reference without resorting to Google, I will be very impressed. Anyway. Blogger now has its own homegrown comments system. Haloscan is bye-bye. Photos are next on the procrastination

Jimnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1085437754439347162004-05-24T14:58:00.000-07:002004-05-24T15:30:48.086-07:00

During the 80's, I lived the grad student life to the fullest. Part of the zeitgeist was hanging around bars playing video games. I was reminded of this part of my life when walking down 4th Avenue in Seattle, I had the Pavlovian reaction to laser the dickens out of the Zaxxon building I saw looming ahead of me. Alas no, the building was resistant to my virtual lasing. The new library is

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-108542722868403472004-05-24T12:08:00.000-07:002004-05-24T12:33:48.683-07:00

George Saunders is a professional writer. I mean this in both the usual meanings. He gets paid for writing, and he has reached an Olympian proficiency of wit and satire that I admire yet cannot begin to emulate. Unfortunately I never read his novels because of the New Yorker we-call-this-a-short-story-but-it's-really-a-novel-excerpt thing they do that I hate. But today he has a Swiftian piece

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1085078636186817852004-05-20T11:32:00.000-07:002004-05-20T11:43:56.186-07:00

As much as I admire the present style of my blog, blogger has tempted me into considering changing my template. Also, the confluence of getting a digital camera (thanks to Scott, my personal electronics valet!) and blogger rigging up free photo uploads, means that bad visuals will comingle with my bad textuals - but fortunately since there is no food upload yet, the visuals won't comingle with my

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1084985711803653942004-05-19T09:50:00.000-07:002004-05-19T09:55:11.803-07:00

I've seen several reviews for The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer and I have been ambivalent about reading it. So I've decided that if like the cover I will read it. If I don't like the cover I won't. I call it "judging a book by its cover."

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1084914551962229522004-05-18T13:55:00.000-07:002004-05-18T14:09:11.963-07:00

This is why I am a member of the ACLU. This is the culture many Americans live in today - where you wonder if you'll get fired for expressing an opinion. Though indirectly I do like the lesson that the principal taught: that poetry and art have the power to make the weak minded very afraid.

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1084822462536528152004-05-17T11:15:00.000-07:002004-05-17T12:34:22.536-07:00

One of the things I liked about Great Britain was that the opposition party has a shadow cabinet which mirrors the one in power. For instance, the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Treasury) has a counterpart in the party not in power - he actually can't do anything, but he bones up on everything associated with the position and criticizes from a very informed point of view. In this spirit, I would

Jimnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1084482593409909222004-05-13T13:21:00.000-07:002004-05-13T14:09:53.410-07:00

I've been reading a lot about how weird it is that Bush is still keeping Rumsfeld on as Secretary of Defense when every other President (oh, and common sense or decency as well) would have politically smartbombed Rumsfeld out when finding out about the pictures on CBS (example from Slate.) My theory is that The Madness of King George (TMOKG) operates under the "enemy of my enemy is my friend"

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1084468697099468562004-05-13T09:52:00.000-07:002004-05-13T10:19:36.240-07:00

Book title seen in bookstore: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pregnancy. When the little moron Who's always worshipped Onan Desires some offspring When the little dumbbell At the bottom of the dell Starts to ring Ding dong Ding dong When the little dim jerk In the middle of his work Starts a tune to the moon up above It is nature that is all Simply telling us to fall in love And that's why

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1084417557034950682004-05-12T18:58:00.000-07:002004-05-12T20:10:26.663-07:00

In which the blogger blathers on art school, the art market, John Currin, Mark Kostabi, Jeff Koons and a book called "What Painting Is". Art schools should be banished. Like poets in Plato's Republic, they are dangerous. I graduated from the drawing and painting program at the University of Iowa, with a MA and MFA. Why are they dangerous? Well, art school was too much fun. Devoting 3-4 years

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1083786428221844652004-05-05T12:47:00.000-07:002004-05-05T13:27:20.810-07:00

Okay, my posting frenzy continues. Today's NY Times has an article on Michael Moore's new movie "Fahrenheit 911" distribution being blocked by Disney. Here is a quote from the articleMr. Moore's agent, Ari Emanuel, said Michael D. Eisner, Disney's chief executive, asked him last spring to pull out of the deal with Miramax. Mr. Emanuel said Mr. Eisner expressed particular concern that it would

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1083782096735487292004-05-05T11:34:00.000-07:002004-05-05T11:38:08.716-07:00

KIRO-TV has done an investigation of the handicapped parking scofflaws that I wrote about in my Encyclopedia Kravitz blog a few weeks ago. Oh, I am in seventh heaven...this is so beautiful, here are some of the quotes from the miscreants who were caught:Emerman: "How much money are you saving by cheating like this?" Answer: "How much money am I saving? Whatever, you can kiss my a--? Emerman: "

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1083778618914910212004-05-05T10:36:00.000-07:002004-05-05T10:40:10.826-07:00

I just finished the slide show of the Iraqi prisoner photos at the New Yorker web site. I actually began to get nauseous from viewing them, so be prepared before looking at them. The outrage that my country was doing this is so overwhelming. And are our country's leaders so detached that they can't see that their consistent example of power over diplomacy, power over legality, power over science,

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1083775335653723422004-05-05T09:42:00.000-07:002004-05-05T09:45:55.420-07:00

Hey, this is so cool. Ever since I moved out to Seattle and left my record collection at home, I haven't been able to listen to these old favorites, sigh....If I only had some "Zip Zap Rap" from Devastatin' Dave right now I'd be jammin', and you be jammin' too!

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1083616925648921002004-05-03T13:42:00.000-07:002004-05-03T13:57:35.610-07:00

Once again I think I went off half-cocked. In the previous post I mentioned a lot of stuff about the state of European vs. American science. There are probably no "facts" in there - just my opinions that were formed 10 years ago and perhaps applicable only to my field of study. In my sub-specialty at the time, there was more work being done in UK, France and Germany than in the US because the EU

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1083609883433360252004-05-03T11:44:00.000-07:002004-05-03T11:47:41.356-07:00

So we're at the second-run movie theater this weekend. One of the previews is for "The Life of Brian". I am the only one laughing. Now I know it isn't only me and my sense of humor, many reliable humor aficionados have deemed the movie very funny. Then (fleetingly) I think it is the subject matter and I am in a theater with a lot of Stepford Fundamentalists who would stone me for laughing at the

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1083458325416807372004-05-01T17:38:00.000-07:002004-05-01T17:55:47.170-07:00

I am very secure in my old fartness. Some were born old farts and some have old fartness thrust upon them. I have the pleasure of attaining old fartdom at a relatively young age AND to look forward to many years of future strengthening of my old fartititude. Part of the territory that comes with old fartocity is questioning things that old farts don't do. For instance, old farts don't have wallet

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1083355507909523632004-04-30T13:05:00.000-07:002004-04-30T13:08:15.390-07:00

The Bush Administration today announced under pressure a policy change where informative and lovable posters of "Sammy the Salmon" will be posted along streams and rivers that will be soon be extinct from non-hatchery raised wild fish. While the administration was reluctant to bow down to extremist environmentalists, a spokesman says that the pictures will be designed in such a way to illustrate

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1083268330990300602004-04-29T12:52:00.000-07:002004-04-29T12:55:30.030-07:00

One of the things I love to do is extrapolate from given situations. It can be pretty fun and illuminating. For instance, given that the Bush Administration likes to give the label "terrorist" to people it doesn't like (the teacher's lobby NEA (by Secretary of Education), pro choice activists (by Bush flack Karen Hughes) ) and that the case being heard in the Supreme Court about TMOKG (The

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1083008117184989162004-04-26T12:35:00.000-07:002004-04-26T14:04:04.030-07:00

So Earth Day was last week. I had expected The Madness of King George (TMOKG) to kinda just let it go by. I mean, what is the percentage in it for him? Let us take it as a priori that his government and policies are hitting about 100% on the anti-environment scale. Let us also take it as a given that those who are informed and care about our conserving our country know this. What does that leave

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1082759044106410152004-04-23T15:24:00.000-07:002004-04-23T15:34:26.983-07:00

News reports today relate the story of a cat lost in Florida who surfaced in California seven years later. Mainstream media has only reported on the feel-good, wacky aspects of the story. However, here at jimblogjim we can give you the untold story of "Cheyenne". Here is the transcript of an exclusive interview with "Catty", the name he prefers to be known by. jimblogjim[JBJ]: I think our

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1082671848733204392004-04-22T15:10:00.000-07:002004-04-22T15:13:48.200-07:00

Yup, we are the land of the free of insurance and the home of the brave without universal healthcare. When I was vacationing in Greece, I slid out while driving my rented motor scooter on a gravelly turn. I scraped up my leg something fierce. A taxi (without charge) took me to the nearest clinic and I was wrapped up and given antiseptics and sent on my way without a bill. When I was living in

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1082496576655498432004-04-20T14:29:00.000-07:002004-04-20T14:46:07.996-07:00

First, some anecdotes. 1. The father of my first girlfriend, when asked about me, replied: "I can't figure him out." 2. I entered a school-wide visual art competition in graduate school with a drawing I did the previous week. I came back to pick up the drawing and there were several people looking at it. I thought "Oh no, they are laughing at it...". I said something like, "Excuse me, that's

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1082403816502159562004-04-19T12:43:00.000-07:002004-04-19T12:46:32.576-07:00

The new Woodward book Plan of Attack once again fails to have anything juicy. I mean, having a Saudi Ambassador given secrets on a war plan in January 2003, even before our Secretary of State and then the same Ambassador promising to increase production so that oil prices plummet before election day isn't really a big deal. I mean, is that all Woodward can come up with? Goddamm it, I'm sick of

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-108205492259003632004-04-15T11:48:00.000-07:002004-04-15T11:51:34.670-07:00

President Bush ordered Vice President Cheney to release the Energy Task Force records that he has been withholding from the GAO today, saying "A country that hides something is a country that is afraid of getting caught." President Bush has rescinded his executive order that restricts public access to presidential papers and "reverses the very premise of the 1978 Presidential Records Act." Asked

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1081968652949597012004-04-14T11:50:00.000-07:002004-04-14T11:56:46.483-07:00

Very well, then I contradict myself. So sez Walt Whitman, and I have always agreed with this attitude - essentially we are all hypocrites at something. If we are human, then we are hypocrites. However, I think what we should strive for is coming to realizations about what we are hypocritical about rather than just letting them sit there unexamined. For instance, I am a hypocrite in professing to

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1081802238880069692004-04-12T13:37:00.000-07:002004-04-12T13:47:23.780-07:00

In a refreshing display of gut-level, local folks honesty that President Bush is famed for, the Chief Executive admitted today that Iraq posed no immediate threat in the months leading up to the invasion. Sharply rebuking those in his administration who fervently pushed for an invasion of Iraq because of their looming "weapons of mass destruction":"There was nothing there [in the memo] that said,

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1081529962796237692004-04-09T09:59:00.000-07:002004-04-09T10:02:08.326-07:00

A sage author (Elmore Leonard) when asked how he kept his books so interesting replied, "I leave out the parts that people skip." In the olden days of typewriters and paper, there was a self-limitation on writing those parts that people skip - it took paper and time and on the rewrites and editing, I bet those parts could be easily found by astute writers and editors. In these digital days, it

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1081372841476308492004-04-07T14:20:00.000-07:002004-04-07T14:25:25.420-07:00

Further adding to coalition forces woes, a swarm of Jehovah's Witnesses have descended upon the doorsteps of Iraq's downtrodden populace. Reeling from sectarian violence of Sunni and Shiite rebel factions, this latest religious sect has thrown Iraq into chaos. In contrast to the Muslim sect violence which is mostly confined to well known hotspots of conflict, this latest action is seen by many

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1081368233137410882004-04-07T13:03:00.000-07:002004-04-07T13:06:37.543-07:00

Not being a terribly religious person, there are still some things I passionately believe in. For example, the Constitution, freedom of speech and assembly, equality under law etc. Another one is the "sanctity" of the trial by jury system. Numerous instances have shown a free trial can be subverted by prejudices or outright bribery of the trial judge or judges if there is not a jury. When there

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1080847757693391762004-04-01T11:29:00.000-08:002004-04-01T11:38:42.186-08:00

Dear Mr. Impudent, My husband has a stepdaughter from a previous marriage. She is 15, and let's call her "Stacy." Stacy is welcome in our home whenever she wishes. However, Stacy dresses "over the top," for lack of better words. She will not wear an outfit unless her bust is busting out and over, even in the dead of winter. She parades around our home, in front of my children, thrusting her bust

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1080780165392709572004-03-31T16:42:00.000-08:002004-03-31T16:49:01.763-08:00

For the last two months I've been engaged in a little extracurricular surveillance. No, not window peeping or the Deja Vu. It all started when I was walking down the street and had to make my way around a very boisterous man. There is one thing about very boisterous people, you notice them. It appeared that he just got out of his car though I couldn't be certain. And then I took a look at his car

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1080596446339107322004-03-29T13:40:00.000-08:002004-03-29T13:45:43.843-08:00

As long as they don't organize... From Salon, an article on Time publishing a women's magazine ("All You") to be sold in Wal-Mart. From the new editor"All You will talk to women as they really are -- recognizing all they accomplish every single day -- instead of telling them they could do better," Price said. "We want to inspire, not patronize, our readers with affordable, down-to-earth ideas

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1080595667854224412004-03-29T13:27:00.000-08:002004-03-29T13:31:37.420-08:00

If you've ever wondered on the relationship between the artist and the art, take a look at the this fascinating article on Stanley Kubrick. One of the beauties of Kubrick's work is the exceptional internal consistency and attention to detail that all his movies had. You felt you were really immersed in that world. Well, that immersion didn't just happen accidentally. For a film on Napoleon that

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1080424214607791282004-03-27T13:50:00.000-08:002004-03-27T17:03:29.200-08:00

Okay, this is going to be a big pile of hooey because I don't really know what I am talking about, but what else is new? I've been fascinated by how Google has done its search engine system. Their data center involves thousands if not tens of thousand of dedicated servers in order to almost instantaneously come back with results for queries from a world of users. I've also thought about the

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1080344880062122962004-03-26T15:48:00.000-08:002004-03-26T15:51:42.903-08:00

Apparently, the one person who seems to read this blog is requesting that I blog a show that he, Alfalfa, Spanky, Andy Hardy, Betsy Booth and the seven little Foys are putting on. Actually, the show is really fun and is being done for a good cause. Well, the good cause being, ummm...it's fun. Anyway, here is the little link-a-dink: StockStock.

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1080237942437623102004-03-25T10:05:00.000-08:002004-03-25T10:12:49.670-08:00

From the Washington Post "If the Democratic policies had been pursued over the last two or three years, the kind of tax increases that both Kerry and [Sen. John] Edwards [D-N.C.] have talked about, we would not have had the kind of job growth we've had." -- Vice President Cheney, in an MSNBC interview March 2, lending his perspective to the economy's loss of 2.2 million jobs over three years.

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1080150696850365002004-03-24T09:51:00.000-08:002004-03-24T10:01:03.030-08:00

Whoa. Just Whoa. I read the Letters to Salon about the midlist author article that I blogged about two days ago. From the overwhelming response of the letters it seems that other reactions to the article than mine are possible. Those reactions are mostly of the "Poor baby, your little writing thing isn't making you rich, there, there" before they slam her for expecting to make a decent living

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1080077924061869942004-03-23T13:38:00.000-08:002004-03-23T13:41:13.030-08:00

So as I did what wrote that I would do in yesterday's blog, I went to Fremont Place Books today. I went to the shop owner and said "I would like to buy some cheese." She replied, "Sorry, fresh out." Okay, no I didn't say that and she didn't say that. I said something like "I'm on a quest. I read something in Salon yesterday about how this midlist author is having a hard time making it and one

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1079984106990226102004-03-22T11:35:00.000-08:002004-03-22T14:52:41.733-08:00

No, the title notwithstanding (I love that word by the way), this blog is not about astronomical theological pronouncements from Milton. No, it's about a pet peeve of mine that I know that I've written about before in my blogistory. Actually, there probably isn't a pet peeve that I haven't written about. Actually actually, there probably are many more pet peeves - a pet store of peeves - nay a

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5439589.post-1079640964056957442004-03-18T12:16:00.000-08:002004-03-18T13:57:23.810-08:00

I subscribe to the New Yorker magazine. I really enjoy reading it except for one thing. 95% of the time, the short story is an excerpt from a novel. They do not say that it is an excerpt or anything. They present it as a stand alone story. So what's the big whoop I hear you say, if it can stand alone as a story then read it as such. Ah, but what happens when next year you happen to read the novel

Jimnoreply@blogger.com0