vox

It was beautiful, but it couldn't last...

Picture 3

...and apparently the Bay Bridge reopened a few minutes ago, so it's already out of date.

controlled napping?

One way to compensate would be a "controlled napping" policy, based on NASA research more than two decades ago. It found that pilots were more alert and performed better during landings when they were allowed to take turns napping during the cruise phase of flights. Other countries have adopted the policies, but the FAA has not.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090901/ap_on_bi_ge/us_tired_pilots

Pilots, whatever.   Can we institute that generally.  PLEEEEEEASE?

myopic: adj. see "Fiscal Conservative"

No taxes! Oh, wait...

From the San Jose Mercury News:

Contending it was a tax, Republicans in the Legislature killed a plan supported by environmental groups and Democrats to impose a $15 surcharge on vehicle registrations that would have doubled the state park budget while giving every California resident free admission to all state parks.

But last week, state Sen. Dave Cogdill, R-Fresno, sent Coleman a letter saying he had "deep concerns" about the potential closures of parks in his district, such as Turlock Lake, and urging her to "weigh the devastating economic consequences."

"It's too bad that Senator Cogdill didn't take this into account before we got to this stage," said Elizabeth Goldstein, president of the California State Parks Foundation.

What can you say?  I mean, really!

Big Government Sucks

"We could have a plan in a few weeks if the goal is not a government takeover," said Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C. "We've never seen the government operate a plan of any kind effectively and at the budgets we talked about." Yahoo News

Yeah, that's absolutely right.  Because

1. The interstate highway system has never worked right.
2. The Apollo program never came close to getting to the Moon.
3. The Tennessee Valley Authority, the Columbia River Power Project, and the Hoover Dam are all laughingstocks of the modern world.
4. The Social Security System never came close to ending poverty among the elderly.
5. Medicare, a single-payer healthcare system, has never provided any necessary care to retirees.
6. The Manhattan Project and the H-Bomb project were totally outstripped by private enterprise endeavors.
   
7. We lost WWII.

That's right, Jim, there are no examples of the U.S. Government successfully operating a large project.

touch of fame

When I heard Jacqueline Schwab play the piano for the first time, a couple years back, it was a revelatory moment.  It reminded me what music is supposed to sound like, what it's all about.    I actually got to take a couple lessons from her, back when I thought I had time to pursue the piano myself. 

I heard through the grapevine that she was going to be on Letterman, backing up Jean Redpath.  Letterman is on at 11:30 in this time zone, which means it might as well be on being broadcase on Mars as far as I'm concerned.  But we taped it, and watched it, and some enterprising soul has put it on youtube.  Just awesome.

Jean Redpath Performs on Letterman 2009.05.21 (HQ)

How bad could it be?

This stuff is all over the news and in my face today

Senate testimony sheds light on alleged torture

Senate testimony painted a stunning picture Wednesday of panicked Bush administration officials resorting to harsh interrogation techniques...

The Right has got cartoons


and the Left has got cartoons

This-modern-world

and I found myself wondering whether the debate wouldn't be quite different if these guys had looked different.  I mean, this guy is obviously just asking to be waterboarded four times a day every day for a month,

but would our Rush Limbaughs be so eager to justify it if the person who might have been getting "rough treatment" looked like this instead?

Sure, guys, hook her up to the electrodes and see how far you get.  Does anybody even remember as far back as 2003? Because, of course, the other side is just as amoral and ruthless and we can't afford even an instant of an appearance of weakness.

She reported being treated very well in Iraq, and that one person in the hospital even sang to her to help her feel at home.

Oscar Wilde

From the New York Times on Saturday about the Andrew Davies Little Dorritt airing on PBS:

Dickens heroines are rarely spirited or saucy; his world was not populated by the likes of Jane Eyre or Elizabeth Bennett.  Mostly, they are closer to the mold of the meek, self-sacrificing girl in "The Old Curiousity Shop," who drove Oscar Wilde to joke, "One must have a heart of stone to read the death of little Nell without laughing."

The Well-Dressed Man

They came in the mail the other night.  So now I can tell the storey.  This is how you do it. You buy three collars from Mr. Jeffries...

delivered from Mr. Jeffries

three collars

and collar studs...

brass collar studs

You need the collar studs to hold the collar onto the shirt, in front and back...

The Collar, attached

...so that you can end up with something like this...

Cravat and Pin

...and can someday hope to aspire mastering this:

The Art of Tying the Cravat:

Ah, delayed effects of the Dickens Faire still lingering into March.  Every year I go a little better dressed.

so I married this girl ten years ago today...

Whole lotta love

...and she's mine...

March 6, 1999

hella big sky

Every time I go back to Colorado, I notice how much more of a factor is the presence of the sky. It just seems bigger, I don't know why.  Running through the pictures from the trip, I really saw it coming out in some of them.

Denver skyline from City Park

Dinosaur Ridge