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4.Jan.2008
Shine a light under the rocks...
and watch those critters skitter.
Bill
Moyers votes one of George W. Bush's exit lines as quote of the
year:
"Yeah, that's right. So what?"
But apart from what he tries to say that just ain't so, and the
meaningless bravado, are
the
secrets that he, his Dark Lord, and the teams of sycophants are
doing everything they can to delete, or bury.
Perhaps the case can go right up to the Supreme Court now so artfully
stacked by The Decider, and they can supply a one-off endorsement
going, as well as they did with W coming.
In the meantime, if not after, we may have to content ourselves with
oral histories such as Lawrence Wilkerson offers:
"What in effect happened was that a very astute, probably the most
astute, bureaucratic entrepreneur I’ve ever run into in my life became
the vice president of the United States.
"He became vice president well before George Bush picked him. And he
began to manipulate things from that point on, knowing that he was going
to be able to convince this guy to pick him, knowing that he was then
going to be able to wade into the vacuums that existed around George
Bush—personality vacuum, character vacuum, details vacuum,
experience vacuum."
Tiptoe through the Albus
We've been watching the irrigated stands of poplar grow on the Columbia
River plateau between Pendleton and Boardman for some years, driving to
and from the Gorge and Portland.
Daniel Jack Chasan's article on NewWest.net (republished from
another regional news aggregator,
Crosscut.com, "News of the Great Nearby") tells us more about the
trees now being marketed as "Pacific Albus."
I wondered
in the comments about what species might be behind the alias (before
being reminded that it's almost certainly a hybrid between two or more
species of poplar), and was rewarded with a fascinating world tour of
current forest economics from the mind of the ever-voluble
"bearbait."
World-class burial in Georgia
All of a sudden, dead bodies have
spooked the good
people of Bibb County, but their Commission has responded in fine
fettle, setting an ordinance that defines "a world-class step to
success" for their corpses, in the words of the president of the Fall
Line Preservation Association.
The FLPA says it doesn't object to the idea of "green burials," they're
just concerned about the local water. They applaud
the
County ordinance requiring that bodies be put in "leak-proof" caskets
and vaults, in cemeteries fenced to keep out "wild animals"
(including bird netting?!), with "appropriate" and "permanent" grave
markers for all.
The Wall Street Journal had a lark
making fun of pretty much all sides in the dispute, from Zoroastrian
consultants, to Prius drivers, to the people who lost their campaign to
stop a nearby landfill, and feel they're the "rug in this corner of
middle Georgia" where everybody wants to sweep stuff under to get rid of
it.
3.Jan.2008
Let the good times (and web awards) roll
The Center for Public Integrity has a list of
Top Ten
Websites from 2008, and our neighbors at
NewWest.Net and
High Country News
were fourth on their list. (Of eleven, actually, but who's counting?)
Congratulations to two fine sources for news, opinion, and
networking.
Another interesting entry in CPI's list is the
DocuTicker, specializing in
what I'd never heard called
"grey literature"
before today: "full-text reports published by government agencies,
academic institutions, NGOs and other public interest groups."
New Year's mouse cleaning
A few months back, my Intellimouse with 3 buttons and a scrollwheel
turned into an Intellimouse with just 2 buttons, and I found out how
accustomed I am to rolling up and down web pages, and editor views and
so on, and how often I use that middle button to bring up pages in a new
tab in the background.
I can live without a lot of creature comforts, but my fingers are very
demanding, so it had to be fixed. The first time around, I got away
with taking the ball out and blowing out the dust bunnies, but that
didn't get it done today.
So I looked harder, and with a useful
hint from WikiAnswers, found the one assembly screw under one of the
two antifriction pads and took it apart. Inside, the cause of the
trouble was clear enough: oily, dusty fibers wound around the axle and
into the optical encoder. Some careful cleaning (and a little soap and
water on the outer case while I was at it), and we're ready for the
second 4 years.
2.Jan.2009
Breath of fresh air
We've tried all sorts of formulas for success, most recently a
ne'er-do-well born on third base and carrying the smug satisfaction of
somehow hitting a triple he can't remember, still smudged from the oil
patch. Next up, something completely different: the spirit of Aloha,
Hawai'i-cool,
body surfing his way to the White House.
"Every time Obama comes on television now, the collective blood pressure
in the United States goes down 10 points. He cools the water. He's sober
and he speaks sensibly in a calm manner that breeds confidence."
You can't be too careful...
traveling with 5 buddies and 3 kids when your name is Atif Irfan. Do
not, for example,
comment on where your seat on the plane is relative to the engines,
or discuss anything about air travel safety. This would make you a
suspicious person. Normal people don't talk about safety on airplanes,
do they?
"[Airline spokesman Tad] Hutcheson said AirTran is not likely to
reimburse the passengers for the additional cost of their replacement
tickets on USAirways. He said they were given a full refund for their
AirTran fares and may fly on the carrier now that the investigation is
complete.
"The detained passengers said that is not likely.
"“It was an ordeal,” said Abdur Razack Aziz, the family friend who
was also detained. “Nothing came out of it. It was paranoid people. It
was very sad.”"
New Year's Day
Civilizations and strangleholds
Our weather is burbling along in a more usual winter mode, a little wet
and gloomy some of the time, snow in the mountains
(Brundage
says "6 inches of fresh powder off-trail is making for a VERY Happy
New Year!" and "forecasters expect 1 to 2 more FEET by this weekend"),
freezing at night, but not so much during the day. The white Christmas
has melted down to a few dismal icy remnants in the shadows, and
everyone's happy to have the days getting longer again.
I've got utilities on my mind this time of year, hoping that the
electricity and the natural gas keep flowing so we stay cozy and warm.
One of the big winter gas bills just came in, $120. Electricity as
usual, edging up to $25 a month. It all seems pretty cheap, and if we
had to, we'd certainly pay more for the benefits.
These are regulated utilities, and nothing short of a triumph of
modern civilization and engineering. We don't spend minutes, let
alone hours of a day fetching water, or scrounging for dry wood or dung
to start a fire and heat our food. We don't have much of a backup plan,
because we've never needed to.
It's not just stormy nights that keep this in mind this time of year.
There's also the news that "Gazprom, the Russian energy monopoly,
shut
the entire flow of natural gas intended for Ukraine's domestic
consumption Thursday morning after negotiations over prices and
transit fees unraveled the day before."
When it's freezing outside, you're not in a very good negotiation
position against your energy supplier. For Russia's part, it's
playing chicken with the source of 60% of its budget, skimmed as
taxes on exports of oil and natural gas. But you can live without
government in January longer than you can live without heat.
New Year's Eve
Last minute neighborhood blog rundown
Because I've been too busy to think my own thoughts, I guess. (And
besides, this is going to roll into obscurity in a week or less.)
Jill Kuraitis, on NewWest.net: Idaho Gov should get out more.
Wild Bill, also on NewWest, makes his New Year's predictions, for
Blues, Greens, wolves, and reviews last year's predictions. ("Wrong,
but 2009 could be the year.")
Sharon Fisher (ok, last one), on Mike Moyle not getting public
transit. How long will the urban areas in Idaho bankroll the rural
without meaningful representation?
Sisyphus, on 43rd
State Blues: yet another category where Idaho scrapes bottom,
Medicaid. The explanatory ideology is in the state's Republican Party
platform: "We believe health and welfare programs should be administered
with a minimum of bureaucracy and a goal of helping all recipients
return to a self-sustaining and productive life." (Right up until they
die, quickly, and without incurring any medical expenses.)
Left Side of the Moon: "The Bariastas, & The Christian." Working
in the new economy, without a net. Or benefits. Or job security.
TUBOB: if you go out in the woods today, keep your skis on, he says.
I had my own thrashing adventure on Christmas Day, but didn't come close
enough to any tree wells to fear for my life. We haven't had near as
much snow as they did up north, and now most of it has melted away down
in town. The temperature got up into the mid-50s last Friday!
Randy Stapilus, on Ridenbaugh Press, handicapping our Governor's slow
choice for Lieutenant Governor. I guess the list is more interesting for
the people on it. What's taking so long, Butch?
Mike
Rodriquez, All the Pages Are My Days: isn't she beautiful? Get ready
for a year full of 40-year anniversary lunar moments.
raveling
Tom von Alten
tva_∂t_fortboise_⋅_org
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Sunday, 04-Jan-2009 22:20:34 MST
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