Secondhand Smoking Jacks

Happy Birthday, Scooter!

2012-01-21T09:02:00.000-06:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SCOOTER

New song from Adam: Better Than I Know Myself

2011-12-16T16:50:00.001-06:00

Adam's new single, Better Than I Know Myself, is streaming here, legally and officially. This is the first single off his new, second album, Trespassing. The single will be available for purchase from iTunes, Amazon, etc on Dec. 20; the album will be released in March.

The song has a bit of a modern R&B flavor. It'll work on Top 40 radio and that should mean new fans.

Update: My favorite thing are the counter-melodies and harmony embellishments in the final chorus. Stunning.

Minnesotans United for All Families

2011-12-09T21:57:00.000-06:00

This is why later, eventually, someday, when-a-huge-majority-favors-it, is not good enough for legalizing same sex marriage. Today is already too late. Together 40 years, but denied the right to marry. In this season of giving, please consider giving to marriage equality organizations, particularly those battling state constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage. Example: Minnesotans United for All Families.

Biking down some stairs

2011-11-17T23:04:00.000-06:00

K and I took up mountain biking in July. It is the most fun thing that humans can do. I'm particularly fond of biking down steep, bumpy, tree-rooted downhills. I think I'm now addicted to the adrenaline rush from the danger. This has been an awakening for me; before July, I was afraid to ride my bike off a curb.

One of the "features" in my favorite trail is a curved, concrete staircase, with a steep drop off on the outside of the curve. The first couple times we rode this trail, I was too scared to bike down it.

Here's K trying to bike down these stairs for the first time today:

I like the bike flying down the hill at about 00:48. He's afraid of heights, so he has avoided riding down these stairs for months.

This video shows my first ride down the stairs a couple months ago:

The whooping and hollering is embarrassing, but it was a personal victory. It's not technically difficult to bike down these stairs; you just have to conquer the fear.

Legal Writing

2011-11-17T13:05:00.000-06:00

To fulfill Continuing Legal Education requirements, I recently attended a seminar on legal writing. The speaker was Ross Guberman. I highly recommend his seminar for all writers. Take it if you get a chance. He has written a book, Point Made, that I intend to read.

He mentioned a book by a graphic designer/lawyer, Typography for Lawyers, by Matthew Butterick. He didn't really recommend it, but I pass it on because I know at least one of my blog brothers is interested in fonts. It discusses fonts at length; it also covers document layout and other graphic design topics.

Adam sang with Queen at the MTV EMAs yesterday

2011-11-07T21:25:00.002-06:00

It went like this:

Get More: Queen, Music, More Music Videos

Queen is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. MTV European Music Awards gave Queen a Global Icon award yesterday.

I love Adam with Queen. He's not trying to copy Freddie, and his voice is big enough and he's theatrical enough to pull off Queen's music.

Update 11/8: I should note that Freddie did not have a chance to sing this song live before he passed, though he recorded it. Also, after The Show Must Go On, Adam and Queen performed We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions. MTV hasn't posted video of that part yet.

Ryan Gosling

2011-10-18T06:46:00.003-05:00

Ryan Gosling = young Brando. It's partly the voice and the smoldering sensuality and the way he rocks a white undershirt, but there's something else too. I just learned of him, though he's been in many things in recent years. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Half Nelson. He's in Drive and Ides of March, in theaters now. He was also in Blue Valentine and the quirky Lars and the Real Girl. He won an MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss for The Notebook. I expect he'll win this award again for the kiss in Drive.

By the way, if you're thirsting for old school movie editing, with loooooooong shots, you want to see Drive. It's amazing how much fun you can have waiting for someone to blink.

Update 10/18/11 9:55 pm: Of COURSE I wasn't the first person to notice Gosling's similarity to Brando. See, for example, Gina Picallo writing at The Daily Beast:

Gosling is the most conspicuous of this latest bunch [of actors influenced by Brando]. As a boy, he deliberately disguised his Canadian accent to give it a little Brando bravado. Then there he was last month on the cover of New York magazine wearing a sexy frown, a tight white T-shirt and a toothpick, a la Stanley Kowalksi. In his harrowing relationship drama Blue Valentine, Gosling’s young working class romantic Dean would have fit right in on the docks next to Brando’s Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront.

“You can’t help but be affected by him,” Gosling recently told The Daily Beast. “I think all of us are.”

And Michael Giltz writing at HuffPo.

And Robert Butler, movie reviewer for the Kansas City Star from 1977-2011, writing on the Senior Correspondent blog:

Ryan Gosling is the new Marlon Brando.
I feel not even a twinge of nervousness about that statement. It’s as obvious as saying that Earth circles the sun.

I am as late to this party as I was to the White Stripes party.

Adam Lambert - Outlaws of Love on Album #2

2011-07-30T18:05:00.006-05:00

Adam's second album (title unknown) will be out in November, probably. Last night, at a concert in ~~Montreal~~Ste. Agathe, Quebec, he debuted a song, Outlaws of Love, from the new album. Video is courtesy of a fan.

The lyrics are sort of stunning to me. He's gone two years trying to avoid being a mascot for gay rights. In interviews after his Idol season, he specifically described not wanting to be an activist; he just wanted to be a singer. In more recent interviews, he's expressed ambivalence. This song, written by Adam, addresses the political issue of gay marriage, while being intensely personal. Lyrics below.

Lyrics:

Oh, nowhere left to go
Are we getting closer, closer?
No, all we know is no,
Nights are getting colder, colder.

Hey, tears all fall the same,
We all feel the rain,
We can't change.

Everywhere we go, we're lookin for the sun,
Nowhere to grow old, we're always on the run.
They say we'll rot in hell, but I don't think we will
They’ve branded us enough, outlaws of love.

Scars make us who we are,
Hearts and homes are broken, broken
Far, we could go so far,
With our minds wide open, open

Hey, tears all fall the same,
We all feel the rain,
We can't change.

And everywhere we go, we're lookin for the sun
Nowhere to grow old, we're always on the run.
They say we'll rot in hell, but I don't think we will.
They’ve branded us enough, outlaws of love.

Everywhere we go, we're looking for the sun.
Nowhere to grow old, we're always on the run.
They say we'll rot in hell, but I don't think we will.
They’ve branded us enough, outlaws of love.
Outlaws of love.
Outlaws of love.
Outlaws of love.
Outlaws of love.

Wow. Kids these days . . .

2011-07-10T05:56:00.000-05:00

YouTube seems to have become badly underpowered in the last month or so, so now videos take forever to load and can't play without interruption. It helps to lower the resolution to 240. It's worth the hassle to watch this, IMHO:

Happy Birthday, LJ!

2011-07-01T21:34:00.000-05:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LJ

Gov. Andrew Cuomo: Hero

2011-06-25T12:09:00.001-05:00

As detailed by the NYTimes, the road to the vote to legalize same-sex marriage in New York was paved with support from big-dollar donors as well as personal changes of heart stemming from family pressure. But at the heart, it was Gov. Andrew Cuomo's desire to make a meaningful difference, to have a legacy. This is what I wish we could have in a president. (To be clear, I knew when I voted in 2008 that Pres. Obama would not be that kind of a president.)

Andrew Cuomo, you're my hero:

There, in a speech the public would never hear, [Gov. Andrew Cuomo] offered his most direct and impassioned case for allowing gays to wed. Gay couples, he said, wanted recognition from the state that they were no different than the lawmakers in the room. “Their love is worth the same as your love,” Mr. Cuomo said. “Their partnership is worth the same as your partnership. And they are equal in your eyes to you. That is the driving issue.”

Discouraging Midwestern Values

2011-06-06T07:02:00.002-05:00

I guess barn-raisings are out of the question these days. Obviously I don't know the whole story but one thing I've always admired about the MN, WI, SD, ND cultures is that whole everybody helps everybody else out kind of mentality. Hope that's not changing.

The Revolution turned off forever yesterday

2011-05-28T06:12:00.006-05:00

Too bad, thought it was a really cool song.

Sad day for every baseball lover

2011-05-17T11:18:00.000-05:00

Harmon Killibrew has passed away after a 5-month battle with esophageal cancer. He's much loved here. A street near the Mall of America (built on the grounds of the old Met Stadium where Harmon played) is named for him. The grounds of the new stadium, Target Field, is home to statues of Twins greats, including Harmon.

Cancer, you suck extra badly this week.

The People vs. Goldman Sachs

2011-05-17T10:08:00.000-05:00

The Senate Subcommittee on Investigations, chaired by Carl Levin (D-Michigan) and Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma), recently released the results of their investigation into the financial crisis in a 650-page report, "Wall Street and the Financial Crisis: Anatomy of a Financial Collapse".

Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone, summarizes the report thusly:

Their unusually scathing bipartisan report also includes case studies of Washington Mutual and Deutsche Bank, providing a panoramic portrait of a bubble era that produced the most destructive crime spree in our history — "a million fraud cases a year" is how one former regulator puts it. But the mountain of evidence collected against Goldman by Levin's small, 15-desk office of investigators — details of gross, baldfaced fraud delivered up in such quantities as to almost serve as a kind of sarcastic challenge to the curiously impassive Justice Department — stands as the most important symbol of Wall Street's aristocratic impunity and prosecutorial immunity produced since the crash of 2008.

Woo-hoo!

2011-05-15T15:15:00.002-05:00

Best new of the weekend? Athens goes wettish. Beer and wine soon to be available in Athens. I suppose it's Athens' way of going green by cutting back on gasoline consumption.

Class

2011-05-04T19:15:00.000-05:00

It was a class act for Pres. Obama to invite Pres. Bush to join him at Ground Zero. I think Pres. Bush's decision not to attend is unfortunate, but I think Pres. Bush's intent is classy too.

Easter offering

2011-04-23T15:41:00.000-05:00

This almost makes me believe in God:

Jessie J singing Big White Room live

2011-04-22T22:14:00.000-05:00

This amazing live recording is on her new album Who You Are:

If Gumby could dance . . .

2011-04-18T22:12:00.000-05:00

and if Yo-Yo Ma played for him:

Milton's pencil

2011-04-14T06:30:00.001-05:00

I guess if Ms. Rand's Atlas Shrugged is coming out tomorrow, I should post this two minute link of Mr. Friedman.

Eagle cam

2011-03-31T16:24:00.003-05:00

in Decorah, Iowa

Live streaming video by Ustream

Update 4/2/11: Here's a highlight reel showing the first egg being hatched early this morning.

Gravel roads

2011-03-27T08:21:00.000-05:00

I'm sure this is bad news for many folks living in rural areas, but I have such fond memories of exploring gravel roads that I can't help being a little bit delighted:

The paved roads that finally brought rural America into the 20th century are starting to disappear across the Midwest in the 21st. Local officials, facing rising pavement prices, shrinking budgets and fewer residents, are making tough decisions to regress.

Memorializing Bob Herbert's last NYT column

2011-03-26T22:16:00.001-05:00

I will miss Bob. From his final column:

As the Economic Policy Institute has reported, the richest 10 percent of Americans received an unconscionable 100 percent of the average income growth in the years 2000 to 2007, the most recent extended period of economic expansion.

Americans behave as if this is somehow normal or acceptable. It shouldn’t be, and didn’t used to be. Through much of the post-World War II era, income distribution was far more equitable, with the top 10 percent of families accounting for just a third of average income growth, and the bottom 90 percent receiving two-thirds. That seems like ancient history now.

The current maldistribution of wealth is also scandalous. In 2009, the richest 5 percent claimed 63.5 percent of the nation’s wealth. The overwhelming majority, the bottom 80 percent, collectively held just 12.8 percent.

NYTimes, if you're listening: please hire Ezra Klein.

Charity:Water says thanks to Adam and fans for almost $300,000, providing water to 15,000 people

2011-03-20T12:31:00.000-05:00

Reading break

2011-03-19T12:52:00.000-05:00

I'm posting this simply to take a break from reading Brothers Karamazov. I'm in the middle of a single paragraph that goes on for more than eight -- count them, eight -- pages. I recall Crime and Punishment being considerably easier to read.

The new job, which I can't really blog about, is fascinating. The next couple of months will be extremely busy.

Bahrain, not Libya

2011-03-08T06:11:00.003-06:00

Bahrain and the Battle Between Iran and Saudi Arabia is republished with permission of STRATFOR.

By George Friedman

The world’s attention is focused on Libya, which is now in a state of civil war with the winner far from clear. While crucial for the Libyan people and of some significance to the world’s oil markets, in our view, Libya is not the most important event in the Arab world at the moment. The demonstrations in Bahrain are, in my view, far more significant in their implications for the region and potentially for the world. To understand this, we must place it in a strategic context.

As STRATFOR has been saying for quite a while, a decisive moment is approaching, with the United States currently slated to withdraw the last of its forces from Iraq by the end of the year. Indeed, we are already at a point where the composition of the 50,000 troops remaining in Iraq has shifted from combat troops to training and support personnel. As it stands now, even these will all be gone by Dec. 31, 2011, provided the United States does not negotiate an extended stay. Iraq still does not have a stable government. It also does not have a military and security apparatus able to enforce the will of the government (which is hardly of one mind on anything) on the country, much less defend the country from outside forces.

Filling the Vacuum in Iraq

The decision to withdraw creates a vacuum in Iraq, and the question of the wisdom of the original invasion is at this point moot. The Iranians previously have made clear that they intend to fill this vacuum with their own influence; doing so makes perfect sense from their point of view. Iran and Iraq fought a long and brutal war in the 1980s. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Iran is now secure on all fronts save the western. Tehran’s primary national security imperative now is to prevent a strong government from emerging in Baghdad, and more important, a significant military force from emerging there. Iran never wants to fight another war with Iraq, making keeping Iraq permanently weak and fragmented in Tehran’s interest. The U.S. withdrawal from Iraq sets the stage for Iran to pursue this goal, profoundly changing the regional dynamic.

Iran has another, more challenging strategic interest, one it has had since Biblical times. That goal is to be the dominant power in the Persian Gulf.

For Tehran, this is both reasonable and attainable. Iran has the largest and most ideologically committed military of any state in the Persian Gulf region. Despite the apparent technological sophistication of the Gulf states’ militaries, they are shells. Iran’s is not. In addition to being the leading military force in the Persian Gulf, Iran has 75 million people, giving it a larger population than all other Persian Gulf states combined.

Outside powers have prevented Iran from dominating the region since the fall of the Ottoman Empire, first the United Kingdom and then the United States, which consistently have supported the countries of the Arabian Peninsula. It was in the outsiders’ interests to maintain a divided region, and therefore in their interests to block the most powerful country in the region from dominating even when the outsiders were allied with Iran.

With the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, this strategy is being abandoned in the sense that the force needed to contain Iran is being withdrawn. The forces left in Kuwait and U.S air power might be able to limit a conventional Iranian attack. Still, the U.S. withdrawal leaves the Iranians with the most powerful military force in the region regardless of whether they acquire nuclear weapons. Indeed, in my view, the nuclear issue largely has been an Iranian diversion from the more fundamental issue, namely, the regional balance after the departure of the United States. By focusing on the nuclear issue, these other issues appeared subsidiary and have been largely ignored.

The U.S. withdrawal does not mean that the United States is powerless against Iran. It has been reconstituting a pre-positioned heavy brigade combat team set in Kuwait and has substantial air and naval assets in the region. It also can bring more forces back to the region if Iran is aggressive. But it takes at least several months for the United States to bring multidivisional forces into a theater and requires the kind of political will that will be severely lacking in the United States in the years ahead. It is not clear that the forces available on the ground could stop a determined Iranian thrust. In any case, Iraq will be free of American troops, allowing Iran to operate much more freely there.

And Iran does not need to change the balance of power in the region through the overt exercise of military force. Its covert capability, unchecked by American force, is significant. It can covertly support pro-Iranian forces in the region, destabilizing existing regimes. With the psychology of the Arab masses changing, as they are no longer afraid to challenge their rulers, Iran will enjoy an enhanced capacity to cause instability.

As important, the U.S. withdrawal will cause a profound shift in psychological perceptions of power in the region. Recognition of Iran’s relative power based on ground realities will force a very different political perception of Iran, and a desire to accommodate Tehran. The Iranians, who understand the weakness of their military’s logistics and air power, are pursuing a strategy of indirect approach. They are laying the foundation for power based on a perception of greater Iranian power and declining American and Saudi power.

Bahrain, the Test Case

Bahrain is the perfect example and test case. An island off the coast of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are linked by a causeway. For most purposes, Bahrain is part of Saudi Arabia. Unlike Saudi Arabia, it is not a major oil producer, but it is a banking center. It is also the home of the U.S. 5th Fleet, and has close ties to the United States. The majority of its population is Shia, but its government is Sunni and heavily linked to Saudi Arabia. The Shiite population has not fared as well economically as Shia in other countries in the region, and tensions between the government and the public have long existed.

The toppling of the government of Bahrain by a Shiite movement would potentially embolden Shia in Saudi Arabia, who live primarily in the oil-rich northeast near Bahrain. It also would weaken the U.S. military posture in the region. And it would demonstrate Iranian power.

If the Saudis intervened in Bahrain, the Iranians would have grounds to justify their own intervention, covert or overt. Iran might also use any violent Bahraini government suppression of demonstrators to justify more open intervention. In the meantime, the United States, which has about 1,500 military personnel plus embassy staff on the ground in Bahrain, would face the choice of reinforcing or pulling its troops out.

Certainly, there are internal processes under way in Bahrain that have nothing to do with Iran or foreign issues. But just as the internal dynamic of revolutions affects the international scene, the international scene affects the internal dynamic; observing just one of the two is not sufficient to understand what is going on.

The Iranians clearly have an interest in overthrowing the Bahraini regime. While the degree to which the Iranians are involved in the Bahraini unrest is unclear, they clearly have a great deal of influence over a cleric, Hassan Mushaima, who recently returned to Bahrain from London to participate in the protests. That said, the Bahraini government itself could be using the unrest to achieve its own political goals, much as the Egyptian military used the Egyptian uprising. Like all revolutions, events in Bahrain are enormously complex — and in Bahrain’s case, the stakes are extremely high.

Unlike Libya, where the effects are primarily internal, the events in Bahrain clearly involve Saudi, Iranian and U.S. interests. Bahrain is also the point where the Iranians have their best chance, since it is both the most heavily Shiite nation and one where the Shiites have the most grievances. But the Iranians have other targets, which might be defined as any area adjoining Saudi Arabia with a substantial Shiite population and with American bases. This would include Oman, which the United States uses as a support facility; Qatar, headquarters of U.S. Central Command and home to Al Udeid Air Base; and Kuwait, the key logistical hub for Iraqi operations and with major army support, storage and port facilities. All three have experienced or are experiencing demonstrations. Logically, these are Iran’s first targets.

The largest target of all is, of course, Saudi Arabia. That is the heart of the Arabian Peninsula, and its destabilization would change the regional balance of power and the way the world works. Iran has never made a secret of its animosity toward Saudi Arabia, nor vice versa. Saudi Arabia could now be in a vise. There is massive instability in Yemen with potential to spill over into Saudi Arabia’s southern Ismaili-concentrated areas. The situation in Iraq is moving in the Iranians’ favor. Successful regime changes in even one or two of the countries on the littoral of the Persian Gulf could generate massive internal fears regardless of what the Saudi Shia did and could lead to dissension in the royal family. It is not surprising, therefore, that the Saudis are moving aggressively against any sign of unrest among the Shia, arresting dozens who have indicated dissent. The Saudis clearly are uneasy in the extreme.

Iran’s Powerful Position

The Iranians would be delighted to cause regime change throughout the region, but that is not likely to occur, at least not everywhere in the region. They would be equally happy simply to cause massive instability in the region, however. With the United States withdrawing from Iraq, the Saudis represent the major supporter of Iraq’s Sunnis. With the Saudis diverted, this would ease the way for Iranian influence in Iraq. At that point, there would be three options: Turkey intervening broadly, something it is not eager to do; the United States reversing course and surging troops into the region to support tottering regimes, something for which there is no political appetite in the United States; and the United States accepting the changed regional balance of power.

Two processes are under way. The first is that Iran will be the single outside power with the most influence in Iraq, not unlimited and not unchallenged, but certainly the greatest. The second is that as the United States withdraws, Iran will be in a position to pursue its interests more decisively. Those interests divide into three parts:

1. eliminating foreign powers from the region to maximize Iranian power,
2. convincing Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region that they must reach an accommodation with Iran or face potentially dangerous consequences, and
3. a redefinition of the economics of oil in the Persian Gulf in favor of Iran, including Iranian participation in oil projects in other Persian Gulf countries and regional investment in Iranian energy development.

The events in the Persian Gulf are quite different from the events in North Africa, with much broader implications. Bahrain is the focal point of a struggle between Saudi Arabia and Iran for control of the western littoral of the Persian Gulf. If Iran is unable to capitalize on events in Bahrain, the place most favorable to it, the moment will pass. If Bahrain’s government falls, the door is opened to further actions. Whether Iran caused the rising in the first place is unclear and unimportant; it is certainly involved now, as are the Saudis.

The Iranians are in a powerful position whatever happens given the U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. Combine this with a series of regime changes, or simply destabilization on the border of Saudi Arabia, and two things happen. First, the Saudi regime would be in trouble and would have to negotiate some agreement with the Iranians — and not an agreement the Saudis would like. Second, the U.S. basing position in the Persian Gulf would massively destabilize, making U.S. intervention in the region even more difficult.

The problem created by the U.S. leaving Iraq without having been able to install a strong, pro-American government remains the core issue. The instability in the Persian Gulf allows the Iranians a low-risk, high-reward parallel strategy that, if it works, could unhinge the balance of power in the entire region. The threat of an uprising in Iran appears minimal, with the Iranian government having no real difficulty crushing resistance. The resistance on the western shore of the Persian Gulf may be crushed or dissolved as well, in which case Iran would still retain its advantageous position in Iraq. But if the perfect storm presents itself, with Iran increasing its influence in Iraq and massive destabilization on the Arabian Peninsula, then the United States will face some extraordinarily difficult and dangerous choices, beginning with the question of how to resist Iran while keeping the price of oil manageable.

Happy Birthday, Texas

2011-03-02T11:15:00.001-06:00

Barbara Jordan, 25 years ago at the sesquicentennial.

Songs in 6/8 time

2011-02-15T09:00:00.001-06:00

K has this peculiar thing. He loves all songs that are in 6/8 time. Doesn't matter who the band or singer is, really. The one disappointing thing in Pandora has been that there isn't any way to seed it to return all songs in 6/8 time. You can suggest a batch of 6/8 songs, but it willfully refuses to notice that that's the only attribute you care about.

For K for Valentine's Day yesterday, I made a mix CD of 6/8 songs. In case anyone else has such a fetish, I'll offer the playlist:

I goofed, though. Holding Onto You is definitely not 6/8. And there are a couple others that might be 12/8, but I can't always tell the difference.

How many songs do you hear in Gaga's Born This Way

2011-02-12T23:10:00.004-06:00

I (and all of Twitter) heard Express Yourself when we first heard Gaga's Born This Way. Cheeks (aka Brad Bell, musician, comedian, actor, internet personality) heard several songs and does an amazing job singing all of them while Born This Way plays in the background. (This impresses me because I always had trouble concentrating on singing my part of Row, Row, Row Your Boat in round.)

As listed and time coded by commenter AznShmiley, the songs he sings are as follows:

0:00-0:31 TLC- Waterfalls
0:32-1:01 Madonna- Express Yourself
1:02-1:08 Madonna- Vogue
1:09- 1:53 David Guetta- When Love Takes Over
1:54- 2:00 Kelly Clarkson- Walk Away
2:01 - 2:11 P!nk- God is a DJ
2:17 - 2:47 Madonna- Vogue
2:48 - 3:05 Adam Lambert - Fever

Cheeks' YouTube Channel.

Born This Way = Express Yourself

2011-02-11T07:35:00.001-06:00

If you're Madonna's copyright lawyer, you should be busy screencapping Twitter trend lists right now. The new Gaga song, "Born This Way", sounds so much like Madonna's "Express Yourself" that the discussion on Twitter is causing "Express Yourself" to trend.

Update 2/11/11, 9:47 CST: Someone has mashed them, so you can compare for yourself:

Mexico's Gun Supply and the 90 Percent Myth | STRATFOR

2011-02-10T06:32:00.003-06:00

I know I'm the only one who's been bothered by the numbers that have been thrown around but until now it was just a gut feeling. The link to Stratfor's publication today on the ref'd subject:

Mexico's Gun Supply and the 90 Percent Myth STRATFOR

Update on Adam's Charity:Water campaign

2011-01-31T12:29:00.001-06:00

From Charity: Water:

. . . Saturday was Adam Lambert’s 29th birthday, where he raised more than $115,000 in one day, all for clean water projects. That’s the most raised in one day on mycharity: water! And this made his campaign the highest-raising one in mycharity: water history (and he hasn’t hit his goal yet!).

We were blown away by his fans’ support and continue to watch his campaign page, excited for him to reach his goal of $290,000 by the campaign’s end. Thank, you Adam! And thanks to your devoted fans.

Go here to donate.

Update 2/4/11: HuffPo has the story on its front page today.

Tis the season of high profile Star Spangled Banner performances

2011-01-30T20:10:00.001-06:00

None of which Adam is singing.

But here are a couple of past performances, for your patriotic listening pleasure:

What is Money?

2011-01-27T14:03:00.000-06:00

Here is an excellent episode of This American Life on the topic of "What is Money". They cover:

Prologue: The use of giant stone sculptures as money, impractical though such a practice may be.
Act I: The creation of a currency fiction to solve Brazil's problems with its voluble currency valuation.
Act II: The Federal Reserve's actions in response to the recent fiscal crisis.

Advice

2011-01-26T19:14:00.001-06:00

Kanye has tweeted an important life rule that I pass on as a public service:

Livestream from downtown Cairo

2011-01-25T10:12:00.001-06:00

Here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/cairodowntown

Update 1/26/11: No longer providing a live feed. (It has, though, been playing footage recorded yesterday.)

Kanye and Napoleon Dynamite

2011-01-24T21:56:00.000-06:00

Quiz for those of you who've been checking out Kanye's MBDTF: Quote the Napoleon Dynamite reference.

Cool site

2011-01-22T00:05:00.000-06:00

visualisingdata.com. (Hope they play with data better than they spell.)

Happy Birthday, Scooter!

2011-01-21T14:03:00.000-06:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SCOOTER

Daily Show reports from Austin

2011-01-20T13:15:00.000-06:00

tonight. Per the Statesman.

Fandom power applied to charity

2011-01-14T23:53:00.000-06:00

Earlier this evening, Adam posted an announcement on his official fansite that he'd like fans to make donations to a charity in lieu of sending him birthday gifts. The charity he selected this time is charity : water that funds clean drinking projects (wells and so forth) in areas lacking clean drinking water.

In honor of this being his 29th birthday, he set the goal amount at $29,000 to be raised over 85 days.

In under 6 hours, his fans donated . . . [drum roll] . . . more than $29,000 dollars.

This was accomplished without any distribution of a press release and no announcement on Twitter.

Happy 6oth Birthday!

2011-01-14T20:27:00.003-06:00

No, not to Michael. To The Day the Earth Stood Still and thanks to AMC for showing one of my all time faves tonight. Still love Patricia Neal.

And what geek could even mention the classic without quoting this:

Michael Rennie was ill
The day the earth stood still
But he told us where we stand
And Flash Gordon was there
In silver underwear
Claude Rains was the Invisible Man
Then something went wrong
For Fay Wray and King Kong
They got caught in a celluloid jam
Then at a deadly pace
It came from outer space
And this is how the message ran.

CHORUS

Science fiction — double feature
Dr. X will build a creature
See Androids fighting Brad and Janet
Anne Francis stars in Forbidden Planet
Oh — at the late night double feature
Picture show

I knew Leo G. Carrol
Was over a barrel
When tarrantula took to the hills
And I got really hot
When I saw Jeanette Scott
Fight a triffid that spits poison and kills
Dana Andrews said prunes
Gave him the ruhnes
And passing them used lots of skills
And when worlds collide
Said George Pal to his bride
I'm going to give you some terrible thrills
Like a —

Chorus

"Prunes?" Who knew?

R.I.P. Clarence Prevost

2011-01-14T12:07:00.000-06:00

Clarence W. Prevost who alerted law enforcement about Zacarias Moussaoui's suspicious behavior while learning to fly a jumbo jet at a flight school in Eagan, MN, before the Sept. 11 terror attacks, has died at the age of 72.

On Kanye

2011-01-13T21:44:00.000-06:00

Chris Jackson writing at The Atlantic talks about Kanye, what Kanye is saying, and how to interpret rap:

I was the editor of Decoded, and one of Jay-Z's main ambitions for the book from the beginning is that it give both fans and haters a primer on how to listen to rap, and why it's always more complicated than you think it is. Rap can be free wordplay or linear narrative. Sometimes a rapper uses words as rhythmic devices, as percussion, with little concern about literal meaning. Rap can be polemic or stand-up comedy. It's autobiography, fantasy, confession, satire, lecture, dream. The voice of the rapper can be first-, second-, or third-person, comic or hyperbolic or earnest. Even then it's complicated: Jay-Z's voice, even in earnest first person, is not necessarily Shawn Carter's voice, but then again sometimes it is.

[Jump]

...but at the least I think it's hard to analyze Kanye's lyrics outside of the understanding that he's fundamentally a comic, a sometimes viciously comic, rapper ... and an artist . . ., and operating out of a tradition of which he's conscious (as indicated by the inclusion of Gil Scott-Heron and Chris Rock).

[Jump]

I think the most difficult, and most intriguing, aspect of Kanye as a rapper is that you never know whether he's celebrating or satirizing an idea, or doing both at the same time.

[Jump]

All of which is to say . . . that Kanye West may or may not be a racist and a misogynist, but before making that claim he deserves a fairer hearing than a surface reading of his lyrics. We all know that rap is narrative, with unreliable narrators, and that the point-of-view in any narrative is not necessarily the point of view of the writer, but then we occasionally choose to forget this; in those moments we make judgments on rap songs without making the effort to first understand them on the terms of the form.

H/t Ezra.

T-Paw on Stewart

2011-01-13T08:02:00.000-06:00

Former Minnesota governor and potential candidate for President in 2012, Tim Pawlenty, appeared on the Daily Show last night. The interview, including the portion that didn't air, is here.

I don't agree with him on much policy, of course, but I think he deserves consideration from Republicans who want a serious candidate. He's smart; he's experienced; he's articulate; he's a true believer in a conservative economic philosophy without emphasizing a socially "conservative" agenda.

Samples used in My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

2011-01-12T09:26:00.002-06:00

Over the weekend, K and I saw Four Lions and heard, over the closing credits, a melody that is included in Blame Game on Kanye's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. That sent me to Kanye's liner notes that I had not read. That, plus LJ and Scooter's interest in the 21st Century Schizoid Man sample, motivated me to investigate the samples further.

With links to a cool site that streams audio of songs with their samples, side by side, here are Kanye's samples, in track order:

Dark Fantasy: Contains samples of “In High Places” by Mike Oldfield

Gorgeous: Contains portions of the composition “You Showed Me,” written by Gene Clark and Roger McGuinn.

Power:

Contains elements of “It’s Your Thing,” recorded by the Cold Grits.
Contains elements of “Afromerica” (Francois Bernheim/Jean-Pierre Lang/Boris Bergman)
Contains material sampled from “21st Century Schizoid Man” performed by King Crimson Taken from the album: In The Court Of The Crimson King.

All of the Lights: None

Monster: None

So Appalled: Contains samples of the Manfred Mann’s Earth Band recording “You Are – I Am.”

Devil in a New Dress: Contains samples of the recording “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” as performed by Smokey Robinson.

Runaway:

Contains a sample of “Expo 83” performed by Backyard Heavies.
Contains excerpts from Rick James ‘Live at Long Beach, CA’ 1981.

Hell of a Life:

Contains samples of the Mojo Men recording “She’s My Baby.”
Contains samples of the Tony Joe White recording “Stud-Spider.”
Contains portions of “Iron Man,” written by T. Butler, A. Iommi, J. Osbourne and W.T. Ward (Black Sabbath).

Blame Game: Contains elements of “Avril 14” by Richard James, Aphex Twin.

Lost in the World:

Contains portions of “Soul Makossa,” written by M. DiBango.
Contains a sample of the recording “Think (About It)” as performed by Lyn Collins. Written by James Brown.
Contains samples of “The Woods” performed by Bon Iver
Contains samples of “Comment No. 1” performed by Gil Scott-Heron.

Who Will Survive in America: Contains samples of “Comment No. 1” performed by Gil Scott-Heron

Of note, the artistic use of autotune at the beginning of Lost in the World, that I'd given Kanye credit for, is almost entirely the doing of Bon Iver.

Here's a great idea

2011-01-11T14:29:00.001-06:00

from Ezra:

Treat the question of whether someone is a deficit hawk as a math problem rather than a subjective judgment.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

2011-01-07T23:45:00.001-06:00

Kanye's album really really is great. It's COMPOSED. It's orchestrated. It's rap but it's not merely rapping over an unrelenting, unchanging synthesized beat under it. It's a rap album with a lovely cello solo for an interlude, for Pete's sake. Melodic hooks galore. Artistic use of autotune; I kid you not. (I cite the beginning of Lost in the World.) Also, Nicki Minaj growls while rapping in Monster and it's weirdly delightful. It deserves all the Grammies it's going to collect.

I may have played a role in this

2011-01-05T12:15:00.001-06:00

According to Amplicate.com, as reported by Marketwire:

Adam Lambert has emerged as the best loved topic in social media for 2010, according to Amplicate's annual review of public opinions expressed on social media.

Updated: As USAToday reported it: "Adam Lambert is More Beloved Than Ice Cream."

Karma's first "title"

2011-01-05T08:46:00.001-06:00

Karma competed in her third agility competition last weekend. She ran four events. I use the term "ran" loosely. She did run her Tunnelers event well, and "qualified". This is her third "Q" in Tunnelers and that means she has earned her first title. The agility career of a dog is marked by accumulating these titles.

During the other three events, she spent a fair amount of time sniffing the ground or loping casually along. It's puzzling to me why running the tunnels seems to her like something that should be done with great focus and drive, but she doesn't always have the same attitude with other events. She was not alone in having the sniffies; only about 1/3 of the dogs in our "novice" level qualified in most events.

It was a long day for Karma. This was the first time we stayed at a competition for a whole day. Check-in was at 7:00 am and we ran the final event at about 5:30. Between events, she must sit in her kennel which she does not like very much. I don't think she slept a wink all day. The environment, with dogs and people walking past, is just too stimulating. By mid-afternoon, she was exhausted. The mental and emotional demands are a big part of the sport and they may be the hardest thing for Karma.

Kanye West's band of vampiric models

2010-12-30T10:46:00.001-06:00

A not-quite-finished version of Kanye West's video for his song Monster (off his Grammy-nominated album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy) has leaked and has been posted on youtube. (H/t to Ezra who tweeted it.) Warning that it contains images of hanging women, beheaded women, and otherwise creepy, gruesome portrayals of women.

I see it as a commentary about golddiggers and the vampire-like fans who have no limits on the amount of fanservice they require. This video stands in stark contrast to the ballerina video, in which women are portrayed beautifully, their hard-earned skills on display and honored. (In the ballerina video, I was really impressed with the very very long shots of the ballerinas, without cuts to Kanye.) But I expect that all discussion about the Monster video (and there will be lots) will fail to recognize this context and fail to recognize that Kanye has drawn a distinction between women making their own way and women trying to live off someone else.

The Decline Effect

2010-12-29T14:25:00.000-06:00

This fascinating article in The New Yorker describes the phenomena of the unrepeatability of scientific studies. The scientific method depends upon the proposition that an experiment, properly designed and executed, yields results that can be replicated if the experiment were followed again at a later time. We regard results from a properly conducted experiment to be scientific truth, so the extent that such a thing can be ascertained.

We're accustomed to seeing results of experiments challenged due to faults in experimental protocol. The author of this article, however, describes something more unnerving - the apparently common problem of being unable to replicate results of an experiment without faults in its protocol, thereby raising doubts about the ability of the scientific method to reveal any truth.

Are you ready for some (frozen tundra) football?

2010-12-19T22:33:00.001-06:00

The Vikings play the Bears tomorrow night on Monday Night Football at the TCF Bank Stadium at the U of Minnesota. It'll be reasonably warm for this time of year (20-25F), and there's a good chance that we'll get several inches of snow tomorrow afternoon and evening.

Here's a time lapse video of the clearing of the snow (17 inches that we got last week) from The Bank:

Vikings punter Chris Kluwe has tweeted that the field is unplayable because it is frozen solid and harder than concrete. He predicts concussions.

This game will be 29 years to the day that the Vikings played their last outdoor home game at Met Stadium. It's also a night that the Vikings/NFL are going to be celebrating the 50 greatest Vikings players of all time to commemorate the Vikings' 50th season.

Cue the quotes from the legends about how they loved to play in the cold.

Neither Favre nor Tavaris Jackson are able to play, so the Vikings will be starting their 3rd string QB.

Sleepwalker and Fever, Club Nokia

2010-12-19T10:02:00.000-06:00

Another couple videos from Thursday night. This is Sleepwalker. On the FYE album, this song is highly produced and emotionally flat, but live he sings this emotionally intense, angry, energetic version that I love.

The last one I'll post is Fever, my favorite uptempo song on the album.

Both videos shot by cos2mwiz.

Happy Belated Birthday, Michael

2010-12-19T09:37:00.000-06:00

Sorry. I was mostly without computer access and completely distracted.

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY, MICHAEL

And, as always, pretend your name is Terrance:

Soaked at Club Nokia

2010-12-18T23:12:00.000-06:00

And for a complete contrast from Adam's Purple Haze and Whole Lotta Love encore, posted below, here's Soaked, also from Thursday night at Club Nokia. Stunning. The tone in his quiet notes is even more breathtakingly beautiful live. This video is also shot by cos2mwiz.

Final Glam Nation show

2010-12-18T23:03:00.002-06:00

The final show of Adam's Glam Nation tour was Thursday, Dec. 16 at Club Nokia in LA. Here's the encore. This show was unreal. It's an experience I'll never forget. His speaking voice was really hoarse, so his stellar vocal performance was all the more unbelievable. Vocal pyrotechnics all over the place. I'll post some more later, but for starters, here's the encore (Purple Haze and Whole Lotta Love) as videotaped by a ~~fan, cos2mwiz~~ fans and edited by fan terraj. (Warning or enticement: Contains Not-Safe-for-Homophobe gestures):

Where are they now? Updates about a few of Scooter's favorite Vikings

2010-12-13T09:56:00.000-06:00

Bud Grant

As I mentioned, he's still employed by the Vikings. He hunts and fishes like crazy and often appears on hunting/fishing shows, like Kent Hrbek's show. (I thought Bud hosted his own snow, but I'm not able to find anything about it.) He appears on gun calendars for the Minnesota Outdoor Heritage Association. Bud was visible in getting a MN constitutional amendment that dedicates funding to game/fish/wildlife and parks. (Story about that is here, with a fairly recent picture. Bud is as fit and growly-looking as ever.)

In his free time, he reads not only the entries, but also the comments, at SSJ.

Alan Page

Alan Page is a justice on the Minnesota Supreme Court. He was first elected in 1992. His 2010 election will be his last because, during this term, he'll reach the mandatory retirement age (70).

Carl Eller

It's not fair to reduce the whole of his life to one event, but this is pretty much what people think about when we think of Carl these days: an arrest for assaulting a police officer after being stopped for driving under the influence for the second time in a couple of years. He's publicly battled chemical dependency for years/decades.

Chuck Foreman
Chuck Foreman is a public school teacher in the area. Fun to see old football footage of him at his official website.

Snow dome

2010-12-12T13:23:00.002-06:00

<a href="http://msn.foxsports.com/video/?vid=ca15cffb-3b66-49a0-84ca-20ed0a175567&from=IV2_en-us_foxsports_videocentral_player" target="_new" title="NFL on FOX: Metrodome collapse">Video: NFL on FOX: Metrodome collapse</a>

Snow

2010-12-12T09:11:00.000-06:00

We have it. Lots of it. Abotu 16 inches fell Friday and Saturday. The Metrodome roof has collapsed. (Here for a photo.)

Aftermath, Indianapolis

2010-12-08T10:00:00.001-06:00

The live recording of Aftermath that appears on Adam's Acoustic Live EP was recorded during his Indianapolis show on August 31, 2010. Fan-recorded video below from indybeck71:

It's hard to believe he can sing like this sitting down.

Shhh

2010-12-06T06:40:00.006-06:00

Don't tell Mom I did this but here's a picture of her at about age 16:

Aftermath

2010-12-03T16:17:00.002-06:00

Here's Aftermath, another of the songs on Adam's Acoustic Live EP (made available for embed by his official site):

Aftermath was written by Adam, Alisan Porter and Ferras Alqaisi. Alisan and Ferras are singers themselves. Alisan sings extraordinary backing vocals for this song on the FYE album. Here's Ferras singing Hollywood's Not America. And here's Alisan singing Into the Fire in The Zodiac Show and singing Over the Rainbow on Star Search when she was 5 years old (too sweet to watch safely if you have a cavity that needs to be filled).

Update to add more Alisan info: Adam and Alisan have been friends for years. Here they both are in The Zodiac Show in September 2008 singing Led Zep's Black Dog. Adam is Singer #3 (starting at 1:26) and Alisan is #4 (starting at 1:46).

Alisan's band, The Canyons, will open for Adam at his LA shows Dec. 15 and 16.

Update 12/6/10: Adam's Acoustic Live EP is now available for download from iTunes here. Rockstar Weekly reviews it here (5 of 5 stars).

How to order at Chipotle

2010-12-03T14:16:00.000-06:00

I love Chipotle. Here is some excellent advice about how to maximize your burrito order. (I say carnitas and pinto beans, though, instead of steak/barbacoa and black beans.)

On a related note, I'm spending some time with some 20-somethings for a fundraising campaign. One of these kids used to work at a Chipotle, but refused to eat there because, he complained, Chipotle's food is very very bad for your health since they put salt in everything (in the meat, in the beans, in the sauces, etc). His complaint seemed odd to me since he was smoking as he described this. But it seemed all the odder when, later in the day, I watched him shake salt onto a pizza.

Adam's Grammy nomination

2010-12-02T10:50:00.001-06:00

Adam was nominated for a Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for the song Whataya Want From Me. To refresh your memory, here's the video for this song:

An acoustic, live version of this song is included on Adam's Acoustic Live EP that is set to be released in a few days. I like this even better.

The EP includes 4 songs from his album, performed and recorded live and acoustic, plus a live acoustic version of Mad World. The first printing of the EP is sold out, though it hasn't been released yet. An additional printing is expected, though. It'd make an excellent stocking stuffer for Adam fans or all fans of great voices.

Full list of all Grammy categories and nominees is here.

If you ever feel sorry for yourself...

2010-12-01T13:04:00.002-06:00

Consider what has happened to a friend of mine and good man--Roger Chan. I had the pleasure of serving with him in Lions in Austin. Good guy and I'm confident he'll overcome and flourish. From the Statesman.

Adam's Glam Nation Tour winds to a close

2010-11-30T19:05:00.002-06:00

Adam's Glam Nation Tour is over, except for two final shows in LA in mid-December. When the tour started in May, I wondered how Adam's voice would hold out. He's now been on the road for 6 months, headlining about 110 sold out shows around the world, performing typically 4 shows per week, and here's what his voice sounded like in the encore of his show last night in London. Twentieth Century Boy:

Have I mentioned I'm going to LA to see his final show on December 16?

Update moments later: Here's Soaked from last night's show in London. Adam has identified this song as the most challenging vocally in his set.

Kanye West and his band of ballerinas

2010-11-30T15:44:00.005-06:00

Ballerinas are everywhere right now. Yay. There are ballerinas on the big screen in Black Swan with Natalie Portman, and there are ballerinas in Kanye West's video and movie for his song Runaway. Whether you like Kanye or this song, you can enjoy the beauty and grace of Kanye's band of ballerinas in this extended version (about 8 min) of his music video for Runaway. (You really should watch it at this link so you can make it full screen. Also, I recommend watching in 1080 HD.)

You can see Kanye's 34 minute movie, from which the above 8 minutes is excerpted, on Vevo here.

Update moments later: Also, there's a history of ballet in the New York Times list of Notable Books for 2010. It's APOLLO’S ANGELS: A History of Ballet, by Jennifer Homans. "The question of classical ballet’s very survival lies at the heart of this eloquent, truly definitive history, which traces dance across four centuries of wars and revolutions, both artistic and political."

Update 12/2/10: Here's a screen cap of the names of the ballerinas in Kanye's video and movie:

Beautiful libraries

2010-11-29T12:33:00.000-06:00

The relatively new Hennepin County Library in downtown Minneapolis made this list of libraries with the most beautiful facades. (Nevermind that I can't really tell WHO chose these libraries, and nevermind that the facade of a library is not really its most important quality, IMHO.) The design sports an airplane-esque wing that may seem silly but is actually kind of cool, because you can see it suspended over Hennepin Ave. from many blocks down the street. I think that it's great for reminding people that the library is there, since it resides at the edge of downtown. I'm having trouble appreciating the inside of the building, but I haven't spent much time there, so maybe it'll grow on me eventually. It has mostly glass walls and no amount of heat makes up for how cold it looks outside on a gray January day.

This library was designed by Cesar Pelli, who designed my favorite building (post-1930) in downtown Minneapolis. Built in 1989, it was originally the Norwest Bank building and will always be so to me. (Other people now call it the West Fargo Center.) It's deco. Tons of stone and brass and loveliness. At night, it's beautifully lit, though when it first opened, there was a brou-ha-ha about how much energy was wasted to light it all night, so a compromise was struck and it's now dark after a certain hour. I worked in it for a few years and it was as functional as it was beautiful.

Al Gore

2010-11-26T08:59:00.000-06:00

is an idiot, in case you didn't already know. Here's wishing that this would be the last time the press will ever report on anything he says. (From a column by Tom Diemer - who? - at Politics Daily - what?)

"It is not a good policy to have these massive subsidies for first-generation ethanol," Gore said at a green energy conference in Athens, Greece, according to Reuters. First generation refers to the most basic, energy-intensive process of converting corn to ethanol for use as a motor vehicle fuel additive.

On reflection, Gore said the energy conversion ratios -- how much energy is produced in the process -- "are at best very small." "One of the reasons I made that mistake is that I paid particular attention to the farmers in my home state of Tennessee," he said, "and I had a certain fondness for the farmers in the state of Iowa because I was about to run for president."

This ought to be a crime.

WW II Leadership

2010-11-23T13:44:00.002-06:00

Victor Davis Hanson on the "masters and commanders" of WW II. Video here courtesy of C-Span and Hillsdale College. Lecture runs about 1:45.

The Ghailani trial did not "deliver justice"

2010-11-19T10:16:00.000-06:00

The testimony of Hussein Abebe, the terrorist who sold Ghailani the dynamite used in the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Tanzania, was suppressed; in a military commission, where this guy should have been tried, it wouldn't have been.

And now for something completely different...

2010-11-19T10:04:00.002-06:00

In support of civil trials for Gitmo prisoners

2010-11-19T10:01:00.002-06:00

Morris Davis, a former Air Force colonel, who was the chief prosecutor for the military commissions at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, from 2005 to 2007, has written this sane and perfect commentary on the recent verdict in the Ahmed Ghailani case. I echo his conclusion:

President Obama is in a no-win situation when it comes to trying detainees — any forum he chooses will set off critics on one side of the debate or the other. I hope he pauses to reflect on what he said at the National Archives in May 2009: “Some have derided our federal courts as incapable of handling the trials of terrorists. They are wrong. Our courts and our juries, our citizens, are tough enough to convict terrorists.”

The Ghailani trial delivered justice. It did so safely and securely, while upholding the values that have defined America. Now Mr. Obama should stand up to the fear-mongers who want to take us back to the wrong side of history.

Update 11/19/10: In his commentary, Col. Davis describes why it's an error to assume that a military tribunal would have allowed testimony of the witness whose testimony was thrown out in the civilian criminal trial. Read it.

It's 2010. Do you know who owns your house?

2010-11-19T09:36:00.000-06:00

Fab. Dan Edstrom, a man who for his profession does securitization audits and who teaches seminars on the topic, created a ridiculously complicated chart that diagrams the ownership of his own mortgage.

In recent foreclosure proceedings, we've seen that ownership of mortgages has been hard to discern and prove. But I wonder what it means for clearing title to all our houses.

Target, the hero dog, is mistakenly euthanized; other dogs euthanized on purpose

2010-11-19T09:20:00.000-06:00

According to the American Humane Society, 56% of dogs that enter an animal shelter are euthanized.

Target was a stray dog in Afghanistan who thwarted a terrorist attack by ferociously barking at a would-be suicide bomber, preventing the bomber from entering a building before detonating his bomb, thereby saving lives. An American service member bonded with Target and brought her home to be his pet. She got loose from his house and ended up in an animal shelter in Pinal County in Arizona. Due to an error, Target was euthanized. (NYTimes story about Target is here.)

It's horrifying, of course, to imagine a beloved pet being euthanized accidentally. But I'm sorry, too, for the dog who was supposed to have been euthanized, the one whose death would not have made headlines.

During giving season, think about helping the ASPCA or your local shelters or rescue organizations so that they can save lives. If allowed to live long enough to be found and adopted, more dogs can have happier endings.

My Antonia, Willa Cather

2010-11-18T08:36:00.002-06:00

My Antonia was a book club pick. (We'd read One of Ours by Cather a couple years ago and liked it.) I'm betting that my dad never read this; otherwise it definitely would have made his reading list.

My Antonia tells the story of immigrants who settled and farmed the Plains. It is narrated by Jim Burden and begins when Jim moves to his grandparents' Nebraska farm when his parents die. Jim meets and befriends Antonia Shimerda whose family, Bohemian immigrants, lives on a farm nearby. I love the details of farm life. My own great great grandparents were immigrant farmers on the Minnesota and North Dakota Plains, so I imagine that this describes their lives to some degree.

In the middle section of the novel, Jim and his grandparents move to Black Hawk, a nearby city, while teen-aged Antonia and other teen immigrant girls are hired by city families to help as housekeepers and nannies to earn money to help pay off family debt and send younger siblings to school. Cather has a romantic view of the immigrant girls and contrasts them with the city girls. (I'll quote a big section behind the cut, for your sampling pleasure. Copyright has expired and the whole book is available free online.)

My Antonia follows Jim and Antonia into their middle-aged years. Antonia remains an object of Jim's great admiration throughout. Because he narrates, we only see her as Jim sees her; we never get inside her head. She's an iconic character in American lit. She's spirited, hard-working, resilient and good-natured and Cather offers her as a worthy tribute to immigrants who settled the Plains.

THERE WAS A CURIOUS social situation in Black Hawk. All the young men felt
the attraction of the fine, well-set-up country girls who had come to town
to earn a living, and, in nearly every case, to help the father struggle
out of debt, or to make it possible for the younger children of the family
to go to school.

Those girls had grown up in the first bitter-hard times, and had got little
schooling themselves. But the younger brothers and sisters, for whom they
made such sacrifices and who have had `advantages,' never seem to me, when
I meet them now, half as interesting or as well educated. The older girls,
who helped to break up the wild sod, learned so much from life, from
poverty, from their mothers and grandmothers; they had all, like Antonia,
been early awakened and made observant by coming at a tender age from an
old country to a new.

I can remember a score of these country girls who were in service in Black
Hawk during the few years I lived there, and I can remember something
unusual and engaging about each of them. Physically they were almost a
race apart, and out-of-door work had given them a vigour which, when they
got over their first shyness on coming to town, developed into a positive
carriage and freedom of movement, and made them conspicuous among Black
Hawk women.

That was before the day of high-school athletics. Girls who had to walk
more than half a mile to school were pitied. There was not a tennis-court
in the town; physical exercise was thought rather inelegant for the
daughters of well-to-do families. Some of the high-school girls were jolly
and pretty, but they stayed indoors in winter because of the cold, and in
summer because of the heat. When one danced with them, their bodies never
moved inside their clothes; their muscles seemed to ask but one thing--not
to be disturbed. I remember those girls merely as faces in the schoolroom,
gay and rosy, or listless and dull, cut off below the shoulders, like
cherubs, by the ink-smeared tops of the high desks that were surely put
there to make us round-shouldered and hollow-chested.

The daughters of Black Hawk merchants had a confident, unenquiring belief
that they were `refined,' and that the country girls, who `worked out,'
were not. The American farmers in our county were quite as hard-pressed as
their neighbours from other countries. All alike had come to Nebraska with
little capital and no knowledge of the soil they must subdue. All had
borrowed money on their land. But no matter in what straits the
Pennsylvanian or Virginian found himself, he would not let his daughters go
out into service. Unless his girls could teach a country school, they sat
at home in poverty.

The Bohemian and Scandinavian girls could not get positions as teachers,
because they had had no opportunity to learn the language. Determined to
help in the struggle to clear the homestead from debt, they had no
alternative but to go into service. Some of them, after they came to town,
remained as serious and as discreet in behaviour as they had been when they
ploughed and herded on their father's farm. Others, like the three
Bohemian Marys, tried to make up for the years of youth they had lost. But
every one of them did what she had set out to do, and sent home those
hard-earned dollars. The girls I knew were always helping to pay for
ploughs and reapers, brood-sows, or steers to fatten.

One result of this family solidarity was that the foreign farmers in our
county were the first to become prosperous. After the fathers were out of
debt, the daughters married the sons of neighbours--usually of like
nationality-- and the girls who once worked in Black Hawk kitchens are
to-day managing big farms and fine families of their own; their children
are better off than the children of the town women they used to serve.

I thought the attitude of the town people toward these girls very stupid.
If I told my schoolmates that Lena Lingard's grandfather was a clergyman,
and much respected in Norway, they looked at me blankly. What did it
matter? All foreigners were ignorant people who couldn't speak English.
There was not a man in Black Hawk who had the intelligence or cultivation,
much less the personal distinction, of Antonia's father. Yet people saw no
difference between her and the three Marys; they were all Bohemians, all
`hired girls.'

I always knew I should live long enough to see my country girls come into
their own, and I have. To-day the best that a harassed Black Hawk merchant
can hope for is to sell provisions and farm machinery and automobiles to
the rich farms where that first crop of stalwart Bohemian and Scandinavian
girls are now the mistresses.

The Black Hawk boys looked forward to marrying Black Hawk girls, and living
in a brand-new little house with best chairs that must not be sat upon, and
hand-painted china that must not be used. But sometimes a young fellow
would look up from his ledger, or out through the grating of his father's
bank, and let his eyes follow Lena Lingard, as she passed the window with
her slow, undulating walk, or Tiny Soderball, tripping by in her short
skirt and striped stockings.

The country girls were considered a menace to the social order. Their
beauty shone out too boldly against a conventional background. But anxious
mothers need have felt no alarm. They mistook the mettle of their sons.
The respect for respectability was stronger than any desire in Black Hawk
youth.

Toys

2010-11-15T07:36:00.003-06:00

Took a rifle class yesterday...basically a baby steps program for beginners. Learned a lot and the instructor made me feel very comfortable both with his personality and emphasis on safety.

Got to shoot a Remington 700 rifle (essentially a tricked out sniper rifle in .308) and there were no mishaps. Not sure what CNBC has on that rifle...worked fine for me.

Also an M-4 (the dreaded black or "assault rifle" but really a carbine) in 5.56 mm and a little lever-action (cowboy gun) in .22.

Last gun to shoot was something called a Steyr AUG. That was fun but got my worst groups with that one because I shot it off-hand (standing with no supports) as opposed to seated, kneeling or prone. Looks a little like the Star Gate gun (Fabrique Nationale, I think) because of its "bull pup" configuration.

I need more toys.

O'Donnell explains socialism

2010-11-10T11:54:00.000-06:00

He's right that it's important to recognize that every modern economy is a blend of capitalist and socialist practices. I appreciate his characterization of unbridled capitalism as inhumane. Labeling something or someone "socialist" shouldn't be akin to calling them evil.

If there are any politicians calling for complete repeal of Medicare and Medicaid and progressive taxation schemes, I want to hear them acknowledge the inhumane consequences of such repeals.

20th Century Boy again

2010-11-08T09:51:00.001-06:00

I just saw Velvet Goldmine for the first time. In the film, Placebo performs the song 20th Century Boy as a fictitous band, the Flaming Creatures. Adam has been covering 2CB during encores for several weeks. I posted one video of it earlier. Here's one with good audio and gorgeous video from September 15, 2010, in Atlanta. (Adam and the band are wearing dreadlock wigs in honor of this being the last night that Longinue Parsons, their dreadlocked drummer, was with them on this tour before leaving to return to his band Yellowcard.)

Adam has cited Bowie as an influence many times and has talked about his love for the film Velvet Goldmine. Adam has paid homage to both in several ways in his first year of his career. As I mentioned before, the album cover for FYE nods to the Hunky Dory cover. There's a favorite image of Adam, taken by Lee Cherry, that you'll see in the beginning of the video, in a feather collar thing that nods to the feather collar that Brian Slade wears in VG. He may have borrowed some tongue action and homoerotic stage antics from Slade, though maybe that's just Adam being Adam.

Velvet Goldmine explores the issue of artifice in the pop/rock world. Every artist has to find the right blend (for them) of artifice versus authenticity in their work and their image. I think this is a tricky thing for Adam to navigate. He's happy adopting a character and wearing costumes and being all artifice, but it's difficult when you've established a fan base via American Idol to suddenly hide yourself behind a character. He's also personally charismatic and plenty talented enough to not need to rely on gimmicky artifice, but he can't compete with singer/songwriter types for angsty authenticity. At present, he sort of comes in and out of character based on a song's mood or lyric. Fans get this about him, but it may be confusing for non-fans and that may make it difficult to grow fandom.

This video is compelling to me because it's apparent that by this point in the tour he's so much more comfortable and skilled at being a rock star on stage than he was at the beginning of this tour. He knows, by this point, exactly what his audience enjoys from him. As skilled a singer as he is and as comfortable as he has always looked performing, he had some stagecraft to master when he started the tour, and now he's developed that.

I also find the video compelling because of the blend of masculine and feminine that I've mentioned before. The wig is supposed to read as dreadlocked rasta. But it doesn't. He looks like he's in drag. The lipstick probably contributes to that. And he's gorgeous. But then his performance is sprinkled with masculine, aggressive, body language.

Yeah, the "Indian giver" reference is reprehensible. He heard about it from fans.

Update: I should note that for the encore songs (like 20th Century Boy and Whole Lotta Love), Adam is just Adam - no character.

Extending "All" the tax cuts (politically speaking)

2010-11-05T07:08:00.003-05:00

Not getting into the merits of of the extensions for the richest few (or even the rest of us), it seems to me that politically the Rethugs simply can't bend on this if they really believe that that it is good for the economy that all the cuts be extended. If they make "permanent" the cuts for say everybody making less than $1M, $500K, $250K, or whatever the compromise figure turns out to be and then just extend for a couple of years the cuts for the remainder, they'll lose the issue mightily at the end of the extension period.

Assuming they are right and that the economy needs these cuts, it seems that if the economy is turning around at the end of the extension period then they will not find very sympathetic voters at that time like they did this election cycle. If I were the Rethug king and had to compromise, I'd probably choose to make all the extensions "temporary."

Gee...election day was yesterday? Guess I missed it.

2010-11-03T07:23:00.003-05:00

Just a few observations....

1) I was really torn about the Nevada Senate race. Did I want the waste of a Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid or the absolute wacko Sharron Angle to win? For comedic value, I was sorta rooting for Angle; at least when she spoke, she wouldn't put me to sleep. Sadly, for my insomnia issues, Reid somehow won.

2) In the same vein, I was also torn about the Delaware Senate race, where again, for comedic value, I was really torn about perhaps wanting a witch being a member of the hallowed Senate. Alas, Christine O' Donnell couldn't pull out the victory. The question I have is....was that because of her poor campaign skills, her poor debate skills, or her poor witch-craft skills?

3) I tried, really tried, to watch CNN last night. Wolf would get all excited around the top and bottom of the hours about polls closing and how "I think we'll have some projections, so stayed tuned, you might be surprised". They would have this little countdown clock and when it would hit 0:00, they would announce some races....here are the ones I saw...

With 0% of precincts reporting, CNN projects John McCain
With 0% of precincts reporting, CNN projects Chuck Grassley
With 0% of precincts reporting, CNN projects David Vitter
With 0% of precincts reporting, CNN projects Roy Blunt

Wow, way to go out on a limb there CNN. Exactly which one of these was a surprise? This is when I tuned off election coverage.

4) And finally, Dallas re-elected our version of Sheila Jackson Lee, Eddie Bernice Johnson. She has recently been found to have been awarding Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Scholarship money to relatives and children of aides, some of which don't even live in her district. Of course, she won re-election in a land-slide. When this all came out, she of course blamed the media and of course, the vast majority of her supporters sided with her and also blamed the media. I'm not exactly sure what the media had to do with it but when in doubt, blame them.

Good but LATE

2010-10-31T23:48:00.000-05:00

Question to the DNC: Why hasn't this ad, which strikes me as likely to be effective, been all over my TV for the past several weeks?

Dracula discussion on MPR's Midmorning with Kerri Miller

2010-10-28T12:19:00.001-05:00

As I mentioned earlier, my book club read Dracula last year and loved it. It spawned one of our best ever book discussions.

Here's audio of Minnesota Public Radio's Midmorning show from 10/26/10 (re-aired from 10/28/08) wherein Kerri Miller interviews Leslie Klinger, editor of "The New Annotated Dracula."

I love Jim Cantiello

2010-10-27T09:28:00.000-05:00

He recaps Idol and Glee for MTV. His "Glee-caps" are in song. I share with you his Glee-cap from the Rocky Horror episode that aired last night, with a notable (to fans of Idol's Season 8) cameo.

MTV Shows

His writing for the Glee-caps is probably a tad less witty than his Idol recaps due to the extra challenge of putting them to music. His writing in his Idol-in-Sixty-Seconds recaps is A+.

Really?

2010-10-26T15:16:00.000-05:00

“If Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, ‘We’re gonna punish our enemies and we’re gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us,’ if they don’t see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it’s gonna be harder and that’s why I think it’s so important that people focus on voting on November 2.”

Anyone care to defend?

My book club has made its picks for 2010-11

2010-10-25T22:36:00.002-05:00

Lots of great books:

Nov. 22: My Antonia, Willa Cather
Jan. 3: Out Stealing Horses, Per Petterson
Jan. 31: Madame Bovary, Flaubert
Feb 28: Little Bee, Chris Cleeve
Mar 28: A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson
Apr 25: Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
May 23: The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoyevsky
June 27: Alias Grace, Margaret Atwood
July 25: Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
Aug 22: The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follett
Sept 26: I'm Not Scared, Niccolo Ammaniti

Douchember! Right after Movember!

2010-10-23T05:51:00.000-05:00

Wait. Never mind.

Get ready for Movember!

2010-10-22T23:33:00.001-05:00

Do you know about Movember?

The Mo, slang for moustache, and November come together each year for Movember.

Movember challenges men to change their appearance and the face of men’s health by growing a moustache. The rules are simple, start Movember 1st clean-shaven and then grow a moustache for the entire month. The moustache becomes the ribbon for men’s health, the means by which awareness and funds are raised for cancers that affect men. Much like the commitment to run or walk for charity, the men of Movember commit to growing a moustache for 30 days.

The idea for Movember was sparked in 2003 over a few beers in Melbourne, Australia. The plan was simple – to bring the moustache back as a bit of a joke and do something for men’s health. No money was raised in 2003, but the guys behind the Mo realized the potential a moustache had in generating conversations about men’s health. Inspired by the women around them and all they had done for breast cancer, the Mo Bros set themselves on a course to create a global men’s health movement.

In 2004 the campaign evolved and focused on raising awareness and funds for the number one cancer affecting men – prostate cancer. 432 Mo Bros joined the movement that year, raising $55,000 for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia - representing the single largest donation they had ever received.

The Movember moustache has continued to grow year after year, expanding to the US, UK, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, Spain, South Africa, the Netherlands and Finland.

In 2009, global participation of Mo Bros and Mo Sistas climbed to 255,755, with over one million donors raising $42 Million US equivalent dollars for Movember’s global beneficiary partners.

You'll want a T-shirt for Movember. K has designed some that you can get through zazzle. Zazzle keeps 81%, but K will donate the other 19% to the Prostate Cancer Foundation. The main purpose of the shirts, though, is to generate discussion, raise awareness and encourage people to donate.

Make personalized gifts at Zazzle.

Reading list with Scooter's info added

2010-10-22T22:54:00.002-05:00

The Scarlet Letter

2010-10-22T20:30:00.003-05:00

Just kidding, not quite done yet.

Manhunt

2010-10-22T20:28:00.001-05:00

My knowledge of history is best defined by its enormous gaps; the assassination of Lincoln, the conspiracy, and the aftermath is one of those gaps. Early on I thought that for an academic and non-writer that Swanson was, yes, fabulous, but revised my opinion as the book progressed. Still, fascinating stuff.

Our Kind of Traitor

2010-10-22T20:23:00.001-05:00

Fabulous.

Nemesis

2010-10-22T20:22:00.001-05:00

Fabulous.

American Assassin - How Rapp Became Rapp

2010-10-22T20:15:00.002-05:00

It's a prequel. I'm not the biggest Mitch Rapp fan, but this is fabulous.

Juan and NPR

2010-10-22T09:56:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking for a long time that Juan Williams had ceased to contribute anything of value to NPR, so I'm not sorry to see him go. He never seemed to be fully prepared and kept offering ill-supported conclusions. But, as Ezra describes so well, NPR erred in the way they let him go.

I always appreciate help getting perspective on huge piles of money

2010-10-20T11:40:00.000-05:00

This NYTimes story highlights the disingenuousness of Republicans claiming to be the party of fiscal responsibility by putting recent Republican policy choices in perspective. For example:

Calculations by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and other independent fiscal experts show that the $1.1 trillion cost over the next 10 years of the Medicare prescription drug program, which the Republican-controlled Congress adopted in 2003, by itself would add more to the deficit than the combined costs of the bailout, the stimulus and the health care law.

Technology is amazing; creative people are amazing.

2010-10-20T09:23:00.000-05:00

"In October of 2010, New York's Atomic Tom had their instruments stolen. Fortunately...they know how to improvise."

Russell and John

2010-10-17T08:50:00.001-05:00

Interesting article that made me go, "Wow, I had no idea."