Ex-pres. Bush stepped into his retirement ranch house, kicked aside a chicken, sat down and wept. He wept because he had dodged a mejor Dum-dum bullet, larger than the unravelling of the White-Man-Devil-Medicine financial web or the Iraq monkey trap. He fell to his knees on the cool dirt floor and thanked Christ his plan to tie millions of Americans' retirement to the stock market, instead of that socialist traitor-founded Social Security stuff, failed.
J.S. Bach's St. Matthew Passion, as performed by the Richmond Symphony, with two, count 'em, two choruses filled the air from my radio last night. Regardless of one's religious thoughts, it is great music. It was sung in English last night, a mid-brow solution . My German is non-existent beyond bitte and danke; the translation enhanced understanding of what was going on with all those different voices. Mark Russell Smith conducted and offered many helpful insights during the intermission. I am not a musicologist, so I lack the right words to describe music beyond gut reaction, a rookie crutch.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Over the mountain through the land of Mud Men to the river .
Stopped by to clean up; St. Patrick's day is always exciting around The Shebeen.
Magic Mountain has been removed from the Shelfari widget, left, as I finished reading it. The thing was a wen on the page. I read a chapter or two a night,as I did with Vanity Fair years ago. A rinse in the river of words before lights out. The book has a nice heft. A new translation by John E. Woods, it seemed to flow better than the earlier Lowe-Porter translation; though some sections of text were very similar. I enjoyed every degree of fever, Mann's speculations on time, and the realist style of the novel. Dr. Faustus is out in a new translation by Woods.
I will have to buy it myself, as the whack to public libraries referred to in an earlier screed has landed. Just in time for increased use by job hunters, computer users, and readers. I do not know about other grid coordinates in the Old Dominion, but in our 914 sq.mile service area, relatives of prisoners MUST make an appointment online to schedule a visit. Now let us think about this a minnit, Deputy Bubba. Given the backgrounds of those in jail, do y'all really think there is a computer at home for Grandma to schedule a visit to her grandson? Can you say "Guan-tan-amo, USA"? The library is the place many families of those in prison turn to; we have the statistical and anecdotal proof.
Idiot regulations like the above make me look forward to my rinse in the river. I'm casting about for the next Big Read; maybe another run through Mark Twain's works. There was a pen "warmed in Hell". He appreciated, respected, and knew, as only a River Pilot can, The River.
Magic Mountain has been removed from the Shelfari widget, left, as I finished reading it. The thing was a wen on the page. I read a chapter or two a night,as I did with Vanity Fair years ago. A rinse in the river of words before lights out. The book has a nice heft. A new translation by John E. Woods, it seemed to flow better than the earlier Lowe-Porter translation; though some sections of text were very similar. I enjoyed every degree of fever, Mann's speculations on time, and the realist style of the novel. Dr. Faustus is out in a new translation by Woods.
I will have to buy it myself, as the whack to public libraries referred to in an earlier screed has landed. Just in time for increased use by job hunters, computer users, and readers. I do not know about other grid coordinates in the Old Dominion, but in our 914 sq.mile service area, relatives of prisoners MUST make an appointment online to schedule a visit. Now let us think about this a minnit, Deputy Bubba. Given the backgrounds of those in jail, do y'all really think there is a computer at home for Grandma to schedule a visit to her grandson? Can you say "Guan-tan-amo, USA"? The library is the place many families of those in prison turn to; we have the statistical and anecdotal proof.
Idiot regulations like the above make me look forward to my rinse in the river. I'm casting about for the next Big Read; maybe another run through Mark Twain's works. There was a pen "warmed in Hell". He appreciated, respected, and knew, as only a River Pilot can, The River.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Interesting Times update!
The graveyard shift for scarecrow is filled--as of this evening, another brother-in-law is unemployed. He is/was an insurance actuary. We can train him to make truck tire sandals for his sideline.
"May you live in interesting times."
A cup of coffee cost more than a share of GM last Thursday ($1.89 vs. $1.61). These are heady times, omybrothersandsisters, heady times. A woman in CA had 8 babies: Octomom, the media call her. Ann Coulter, harpy of the Right, must have another book out. She's all over the TV, waving her skinny arms, raving about liberals and how FDR was a traitor. Rush Limbaugh screeches "top o' the world, Ma! top o' the world, GOP!" from atop an empty oil tank. His new , legal , prescription must be working. Lucky bastard, in his own little world; he's happy, sucking on his Havanas and gibbering.
The Missus and I are planning our Victory Garden.Less grass to mow. I can hire my unemployed neighbor to be a scarecrow and my unemployed brother-in-law will take swing shift;graveyard shift is still open.
There are still some interesting things going on , if my daily saunters through the Web are any indication. Here's a man who built a 1/3 scale Spitfire Mk.IX. Amazing; he talks of building 1/3 scale working Merlin and Griffon engines. We shall see on that one.
Smaller and lower power will be the key in future appliances. Nanotechnology firms are building the foundation needed before the incredible things found in K.Eric Drexler's Engines of Creation, read many years ago, can come to fruition. A 12 year old boy works on increasing the efficiency of solar cells by their absorption of UV light along with visible light. My professional duties this week have required me to read up on 2D barcodes (think vertical arraying of information) and 3D scanners and printers.
It is an amazing world.
The Missus and I are planning our Victory Garden.Less grass to mow. I can hire my unemployed neighbor to be a scarecrow and my unemployed brother-in-law will take swing shift;graveyard shift is still open.
There are still some interesting things going on , if my daily saunters through the Web are any indication. Here's a man who built a 1/3 scale Spitfire Mk.IX. Amazing; he talks of building 1/3 scale working Merlin and Griffon engines. We shall see on that one.
Smaller and lower power will be the key in future appliances. Nanotechnology firms are building the foundation needed before the incredible things found in K.Eric Drexler's Engines of Creation, read many years ago, can come to fruition. A 12 year old boy works on increasing the efficiency of solar cells by their absorption of UV light along with visible light. My professional duties this week have required me to read up on 2D barcodes (think vertical arraying of information) and 3D scanners and printers.
It is an amazing world.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Samizdat .
Forwarded to me by a pal from Richmond IPMS:
Lawrence Livermore Laboratories has discovered the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.
These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.
Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert; however, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from four days to four years to complete.
Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2- 6 years; It does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places.
In fact, Governmentium’s mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.
This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical morass.
When catalysed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium, an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.
Lawrence Livermore Laboratories has discovered the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.
These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.
Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert; however, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from four days to four years to complete.
Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2- 6 years; It does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places.
In fact, Governmentium’s mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.
This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical morass.
When catalysed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium, an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.
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