On Memorial Day
Memorial Day. A day set aside in the United States to remember the sacrifices of those who came before us so that we could enjoy the freedoms so many of us take for granted.
Thank a vet for your freedom. You owe them at least that.
Memorial Day. A day set aside in the United States to remember the sacrifices of those who came before us so that we could enjoy the freedoms so many of us take for granted.
Thank a vet for your freedom. You owe them at least that.
It is often easy to criticize people for their choices. It is ironic to do so when you have made bad choices yourself. It is idiotic when you have never made a choice.
It is the height of arrogance to believe that the universe is aligned against you. The universe is too large to bother with such trivialities.
It is annoying to realize that there must be something wrong with you, but just when you think you’ve nailed it down some piece of evidence comes along and says: “nope - wrong again sucker”.
Then again, maybe the universe is out to get each and every one of us.
Let’s play the moral balance game!
One one pan, place a group of fanatics who hate everyone. They hate technology, but are willing to use it if it means they can kill everyone else.
On the other pan, put everyone else.
The rules are simple. You have two outcomes you can choose from (you must pick one and only one): The sanctity of America’s moral high ground of not being an imperialist overlord — OR — a million dead from a thermonuclear detonation in Chicago.
This is the balance we are trying to strike now. This isn’t like 1948 where the most damage anyone could do in a single incident strike was levelling a neighborhood. And it isn’t like the Cold War, because at least then the Soviets didn’t want to die either.
So here we are. Do we respect the sovereignty of nations that support and finance the asshats that want to turn all of us in to God’s own Charcoal Briquets, or do we throw 250 years of good will to the four winds and make sure we get to wake up tomorrow?
Not an easy choice, is it? Your soul or your life? Pick one.
My mother graduated from college today. I’m very proud of her. This is something she wanted, and she did it. Even passed Algebra!
Mom graduated with honors, and now has an Associates Degree in Graphic Design and Visual Arts. What’s next, Mom? Madison Avenue?
And so, the family now has 4 college grads in a nine year span.
The commencement was nice, and as appropriate, none of the speakers said anything political. I find this refreshing, after hearing about commencements at other universities over the years where a speaker will take a shot at some politician, or use the time to spout some garbage about some political cause they care about. Note to commencement speakers: This day is not about you. It is about the graduates. Your speech is supposed to be inspiring to them, not some political rally meant to discourage them. And keep it short. They are anxious to get on with the purpose of the day, which is to get their diploma.
Congratulations, Mom!
I swear to you the dog has some psychic connection with my Tivo. No matter what I watch — live, recorded, whatever — she can somehow sense when there are 5 minutes of program left, and she gets up, stands in front of the TV and whines to go out.
Amazing. I’m gonna test a theory - I’m gonna watch 4 or 5 shows in a row and see if she needs to go out every 40 minutes.
And, so as to be fair to everyone involved, we have our second entry in The Stupidest Woman on Earth contest. Our first award went to the illustrious Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX) for not knowing the difference between the Moon and Mars.
Today (20th May, 2004) Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) shot herself in the foot with a loaded tongue. An ad hominem attack on any president is considered a Career Limiting Move, but when the popularity (not political polling, but on personality) of the President is as high as it is with George W. Bush, it’s political suicide.
Maybe she figures she’s invincible because she’s a Democrat in California. As The Arnold showed, party affiliation is no guarantee of success or failure. Sure, Teddy Kennedy gets away with worse, but he’s in Massachussets. Ralph Nader is too far to the right to win in Massachussets. Look for Pelosi to make a less than gracious exit when she fails to retain her job in her next election cycle.
Paul Erlich is in the running for my new award: “The Stupidest Man on Earth”.
Basically, he is an extremely far-left envrionmentalist. I would also give him points for racism, but I can’t prove it. Read “The Population Bomb” to see how he feels about the brown people of India (hint: he felt that nothing could be done to prevent them all starving, so he recommended doing precisely nothing to assist them).
So, in 1968 we were all going to starve.
Then in 1972, we were all going to freeze.
In the mid 80s, when the Ice Age didn’t come, it was because of Global Warming.
And now, we are on a collision course with Nature.
Translation: “Would you peasants just get on with the business of dying so I don’t have to look at you!?”
And yet Paul Erlich is consistently held up in elite circles as some all-seeing prophet, although HE HAS NEVER BEEN RIGHT ABOUT ANYTHING.
So, there you have it. Paul Erlich. Stupidest man on earth.
Almost had another vehicle destroyed today by an ancient in a Buick. This schmendrick decides to turn — across traffic into… NOTHING. He proceeds to drive over the curb to get to a parking lot on the other side.
And who happens to be headed right for him as he pulls this stunt? Your humble correspondent (that’s me, for those of you in Rio Linda). So, how do you make a car decelerate and steer on wet pavement so as to avoid eating Buick for lunch?
Bosch, that’s how. Anti-lock brakes. To paraphrase P. J. O’Rourke - “I don’t know how it happened, the car did it.” I was setting myself up to get in the left lane at the upcoming intersection. So, I let off the gas, and HOLY SHIT A CAR! Instantly both clutch and brakes are pressed with all the might I can muster as I negotiate my way around the back end of the intruder, while simultaneously making sure that I don’t bite the nose off the nice big TRUCK that this Buick was trying to weave around.
Like I said - the car did it. I was just along for the ride. This proves that I was right to insist that I wanted 4 wheel anti-lock disc brakes.
May 12, 2004. Uncasville, CT. Mohegan Sun Arena.
We were as far back as you could be - the sound was still near perfect. Especially considering that this is primarily a basketball arena!
The set was beautiful. If you didn’t know going in that it was Roger Dean, you’d figure it out quickly enough. The organic lines were a dead giveaway.
This is the only band I know of that can come out on stage, rock out for an hour, and only have played seven songs. It’s a beautiful thing. I won’t bore you with the entire setlist. Besides, I can’t take credit for remembering it perfectly, that goes to the people at Forgotten Yesterdays.
So anyhow, they come out and open with “Going for the One”. They split “Mind Drive” up the middle, and slap “South Side of the Sky” in there (Jon didn’t hit the high note, but he tried). They closed out the first act with “Yours is no Disgrace”, and took a nice little break.
During this break, someone snuck a grand piano on stage. How I didn’t notice is beyond me. I wasn’t paying attantion, I guess. Rick sits down at the piano, and immediately starts blowing minds, as only Rick Wakeman can. Jon joins him for “The Meeting”. From there, they do an hour-long acoustic set. High point: “Wonderous Stories”. First time in my life I have ever been overcome at a concert. It was probably the most beautiful piece of music I have ever heard. Roundabout as a blues piece is deranged. But it works!
After a lovely set, Jon, Chris, Rick and Alan take off, and leave us in the care of Mr. Howe. I don’t think I’m the only one who noticed, but Steve seems much more sprightly this time ’round compared to the last tour. I didn’t ecognize the piece, but it’s Steve, so the title is unimportant.
The gents come back, and play for about another 40 minutes, finishing with another song they haven’t played live in a dog’s age. “Every Little Thing” was their first song ro be released, over 35 years ago. I can’t tell you what it sounded like then (I was -1 at the time), but it sounded like completely fresh and groundbreaking stuff now.
Since they had already played Roundabout, it was obvious that we were going to get a different encore tonight. I was hoping for “Perpetual Change” (I always do…) but I was happily stunned to be greeted by Starship Trooper.
This ranks among the best performances I have ever experienced from this band. I’m going to have to catch another stop on this tour.
Anyone up for a trip to Wembley?
You know you want it.
I couldn’t figure out for the life of me how they were going to do dual screens in a handheld and make it sensible. I didn’t know how they were going to go up against Sony and the PSP. I made the mistake of underestimating Nintendo.
As incredibly cool as the Game Boy Advance SP was, this is that much cooler. The idea of two stacked screens, and hardware 3D capabilities somewhere between a Nintendo 64 and a Gamecube - amazing. Wonder what it will have for battery life.
The DS also does wireless networking - no more link cable across the aisle on the plane!
I can’t wait. I’ll probably be buying one the first day it’s out. I’m such a shill.