Happy Anniversary, Shakes

Shakespeare Sister turns 1 today. Here's Morrissey singing the Ruby O'Friday's "Happy Anniversary Song."

NBC13's online Poll has Baxley ahead

Birmingham's NBC affiliate has an online gubenatorial poll today. With ~1400 votes in the survey, the results are:

Baxley-D - 29%
Riley-R (I) - 28%
Siegleman-D - 19% (ex-governor)
Moore-Crazy - 19%
Nall-I - 5% (US Marijuana party!)

My post on earlier polls can be found here.

It's on!

al.com: NewsFlash - Ousted Ala. justice to run for governor: Roy Moore, who became a hero to the religious right after being ousted as Alabama's chief justice for refusing to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments from the courthouse, announced Monday that he is running for governor in 2006."

No surprise at all. I just want to re-emphasize this blog's subtitle:

Whenever 'A' attempts by law to impose his moral standards upon 'B', 'A' is most likely a scoundrel.

14

Wow, two nights in a row of great sports stuff. I'm not a huuuuuuge sports fan, but I love baseball and college football. Last night's Tennessee come from behind win coupled with tonight's division clinch makes for a happy, happy Pierce.

That's not me in the photo, by the way. I wish it were.

23:5

Meme from Rook's Rant:

I think that's gonna clash with your shoes, your Honor

I just know it's going to get pushed all the way through the court system wasting resources just like Reverend Judge Moore's plaque and monument cases were.

The good news: McKathan's robes haven't wasted taxpayer resources going through the courts.

The bad news: It looks like nothing's been done about it. I can't find any news on this at all.

---

Meme instructions:

1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post (or closest to).
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.

From the "I shit you not" files...

CNN.com - Brown serving as consultant to FEMA - Sep 27, 2005.

Brown told congressional investigators Monday that he is being paid as a consultant to help FEMA assess what went wrong in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, according to a senior official familiar with the meeting.

So they're keeping him around to tell them in great detail just how badly he screwed up.

30-27

Incredible.

Rhetoric 101: Welcome to Lake George

A timeline.

Man, them evacuees have it good

Barbara Bush: Things Working Out 'Very Well' for Poor Evacuees from New Orleans: "'And so many of the people in the arena here, you
know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she
chuckles slightly) is working very well for them.' "

Geez.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Many thanks to Mrs. P for my cool cool present!

President Nero!

Come get your commemorative t-shirt! I've set up a CafePress storefront to help raise money for Katrina relief. Come on by and pick up a shirt!

Recurring Behavior

SEPTEMBER 14, 2001

Over now familiar refrains of "that's unreal," and "I can't believe it," and pregnant moans of "wow," a spectacle of a different kind captured unblinking New Yorkers yesterday afternoon. Out of Manhattan's Union Square came a welcome and commanding sight: former President Bill Clinton, surrounded by a growing mass of people.

Shortly after 4 p.m. Clinton walked south on University Place, starting at 14th Street. He immediately drew a crowd, most of whom just happened to be walking by. Others emerged from stores and apartments. Many snapped pictures or waved flags in a spontaneous moment of patriotism and giddiness over a celebrity. For his part, Clinton restrained himself from returning smiles, greeting people instead with earnest expressions of concern.

...

Many said Clinton's short appearance both magnified and made up for what they called President George W. Bush's shortcomings during this crisis. The White House announced that the president would visit New York, for the first time, today.

"So far he has not been a comforting presence," said Emily Vacchiano, 26, who lives in SoHo. "He has not conveyed compassion or strength. Just the sight of him [Clinton] cheered everyone up today."

Michael Siller, 38, also of Manhattan said, "I didn't vote for Clinton but at least I always felt he was in charge. That feeling has been missing here."

DECEMBER 29, 2004

President Bush said Wednesday that he has formed an international coalition to respond to the massive tsunami disaster along coastlines of the Indian Ocean.

The president interrupted his vacation at his Texas ranch to speak with reporters for the first time since Sunday's earthquake-triggered waves killed tens of thousands of people.

SEPTEMBER 1, 2005

This time, Bush has been just as flatfooted. He couldn't seem to break off his schedule in San Diego, where he was commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Allied victory over Japan, while New Orleans filled like a bathtub. His remarks to the country from the Rose Garden yesterday about the Katrina disaster seemed oddly terse; his litany of aid meaningless without context. Sending five million military MRE meals sounded impressive until you realized there may be a million American refugees at this point. Does that mean we're only handing out five meals per person? And his interview with Diane Sawyer of ABC News seemed weirdly out of touch. His smirk came back; he stumbled into jargon like SPRo, the nickname for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and said things that seemed patently out of touch, including the now-infamous remark that no one could have foreseen the levee breaking. His inability to see any moral distinction between those who steal water and those who loot TV sets seemed odd—and at odds with local politicians like New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu. Then where was the call for sacrifice? While southern governors like Georgia Republican Sonny Perdue worried publicly about gas shortfalls as soon as this weekend and begged for conservation, Bush seemed to do so only as an afterthought.

Bush's behavior shouldn't surprise anyone anymore. It's only stunning that he keeps getting away with it.

...meanwhile

Condi's showing her true side as well

I'm spittin' mad

No explanation necessary:


President Bush plays a guitar presented to him by Country Singer Mark Wills, right, backstage following his visit to Naval Base Coronado, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005. Bush visited the base to deliver remarks on V-J Commemoration Day.

via BoingBoing

Surreal

I have a feeling that one day in the future I'll be able to tell my unborn children that I watched the destruction of New Orleans on TV. From NOAA's site:

MOST OF THE AREA WILL BE UNINHABITABLE FOR WEEKS...PERHAPS LONGER. AT LEAST ONE HALF OF WELL CONSTRUCTED HOMES WILL HAVE ROOF AND WALL FAILURE. ALL GABLED ROOFS WILL FAIL...LEAVING THOSE HOMES SEVERELY DAMAGED OR DESTROYED.

THE MAJORITY OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDINGS WILL BECOME NON FUNCTIONAL. PARTIAL TO COMPLETE WALL AND ROOF FAILURE IS EXPECTED. ALL WOOD FRAMED LOW RISING APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE DESTROYED. CONCRETE BLOCK LOW RISE APARTMENTS WILL SUSTAIN MAJOR DAMAGE...INCLUDING SOME WALL AND ROOF FAILURE.

HIGH RISE OFFICE AND APARTMENT BUILDINGS WILL SWAY DANGEROUSLY...A FEW TO THE POINT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. ALL WINDOWS WILL BLOW OUT.

AIRBORNE DEBRIS WILL BE WIDESPREAD...AND MAY INCLUDE HEAVY ITEMS SUCH AS HOUSEHOLD APPLIANCES AND EVEN LIGHT VEHICLES. SPORT UTILITY VEHICLES AND LIGHT TRUCKS WILL BE MOVED. THE BLOWN DEBRIS WILL CREATE ADDITIONAL DESTRUCTION. PERSONS...PETS...AND LIVESTOCK EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL FACE CERTAIN DEATH IF STRUCK.

POWER OUTAGES WILL LAST FOR WEEKS...AS MOST POWER POLES WILL BE DOWN AND TRANSFORMERS DESTROYED. WATER SHORTAGES WILL MAKE HUMAN SUFFERING INCREDIBLE BY MODERN STANDARDS.

THE VAST MAJORITY OF NATIVE TREES WILL BE SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONLY THE HEARTIEST WILL REMAIN STANDING...BUT BE TOTALLY DEFOLIATED. FEW CROPS WILL REMAIN. LIVESTOCK LEFT EXPOSED TO THE WINDS WILL BE KILLED.

This is going to be bad.

FSM News

New button linking to the FSM home page in the left side. Lots of other FSM in the news, including a guest spot in the Family Circus. Plus, don't forget about that holiest of holy days, September 19: Talk Like a Pirate Day.

ZING!

While Bush is whining that war protesters are weakening the US, this gentleman has the right idea.

Go make your own

I didn't want this either.

Ted Rall is sometimes hilarious, sometimes maddening. But he hits more often than he misses, and this time he's hit it out of the park (excuse my baseballisms, we're in the home stretch of the season).

Northwestern University professor Charles Moskos says: "The political leaders are afraid to ask the public for any real sacrifice, which doesn't speak too highly of the citizenry."

To which I say: Screw that. It's not my duty to suffer for this pointless war. I've been against it all along, and you can stick your victory garden where the desert sun can't penetrate.

Go read it all.

Thanks to Spontaneous Arising for the link.

Birmingham lands on most liberal cities list

Even Roger Waters is confused at this one.



Click-y read-y.

the The? Sweet!

I was just listening to Armageddon Days (Are Here Again) by the The and realized the opening was a riff on the old Sweet song Ballroom Blitz (featured in Wayne's World). Here's the comparison:

Armageddon Days:

Are you ready, Jesus? Uh huh.
Buddha? Yeah!
Muhammed? OK.
Well alright, fellas, let's go!

Ballroom Blitz:

Are you ready, Steve? Aha.
Andy? Yeah!
Mick? OK.
Alright, fellas, let's go!

The drum lick is pretty damn close, too. I've seen on most of the lyrics sites that I found had the first line of Armaggedon Days as "Are you ready for Jesus?" but I don't hear it. Anyway, I like the idea that the narrator is asking the three big guys if they're ready to go rather than asking some other unnamed person if they're ready for Jesus/Muhammed/Buddha.

Happy Birthday, Mrs P!

Today's the wife's birthday. Happy Birthday, baby!

Smoltz vs. Mulder

ESPN.com - MLB - Preview - Braves at Cardinals. Big game tonight. Debatably a preview of the NLCS.

Bush: Intelligent Design Should Be Taught

Bush: Intelligent Design Should Be Taught. Whee!! At least this opens the door for the Flying Spaghetti Monster!

In the same article it notes that he told interviewers that "he did not ask Supreme Court nominee John Roberts about his views on Roe v. Wade." Because, you know, that would be dangerously close to learnin'.

Doofus.

EDIT: Whoops. Hot-linking to the FSM site is appararently a blasphemous act.

Bad blogger!

Sorry for the dearth of posting lately. Work's starting to pick back up again (remember March and April?), the Braves are winning and I'm trying to get ready to DM our next campaign (including building out the dungeon using Hirst Arts molds). Actually, Sean wants me to blog about the dungeon building. Maybe I should post about that.

I have continued my reading (finished The Traveler and A Spectacle of Corruption and mostly through the new Harry Potter) and will post about that soon.

I've been thinking lately about my lack of posting. I think it's based in my tendency to be a listener rather than a speaker. I know most people have heard the old axiom: "Better to keep silent and have others think one a fool than speak and prove them right." Or, "God gave you two ears and one mouth, you do the math." I've always tended to listen to other more than speak unless drunk - then I get all talky. Translated into the web world, I tend to read a lot of other people's work rather than write my own. This habit has nothing to do with my perceived value of my work and writing versus others, simply that I'd rather read others thoughts than write out my own. I will say this, though: I rarely read someone's blog more than once if I don't see value in their writing. And just because I don't post or comment on another's blog doesn't mean I don't agree or feel they have something of worth to say. I suppose what I'm trying to say is: Shakes, 1031, Pam, John and all the rest, I enjoy reading your thoughts each day. Even if I don't always explicitly say so or respond. So keep up the good work, all.

First

That's right. Back in our accustomed spot.

Time to re-evaluate

The Irish Examiner reports that a new treaty between Ireland and the US will allow the US to practice its illegal investigatory habits in that country. The treaty allows the US to ask Irish authorities to

To track down people in Ireland.

Transfer prisoners in Irish custody to the US.

Carry out searches and seize evidence on behalf of the US Government.

It also allows US authorities access to an Irish suspect's confidential bank information. The Irish authorities must keep all these activities secret if asked to do so by the US.

Ireland was one of the countries I had picked out to emigrate to if it all goes bad here, dangit. Now I'll have to pick a new homeland.

McSweeney's Bush Jokes

McSweeney's Internet Tendency: Although I Like a Good George W. Bush Joke as Much as the Next Guy, Some of Them Seem Gratuitous and Mean-Spirited.

Q: What do you get when you cross an elephant and a rhino?

A: I'm not sure, but if the answer is "A cure for Parkinson's disease," then Bush will try to stop scientists from breeding them. Because he likes it when people get Parkinson's.

RIP, Miracle Worker

James "Scotty" Doohan died today. Aside from being the world's most famous engineer, he was also a war hero:

At 19, James escaped the turmoil at home by joining the Canadian army, becoming a lieutenant in artillery. He was among the Canadian forces that landed on Juno Beach on D-Day. "The sea was rough," he recalled. "We were more afraid of drowning than the Germans."

The Canadians crossed a minefield laid for tanks; the soldiers weren't heavy enough to detonate the bombs. At 11:30 that night, he was machine-gunned, taking six hits: one that took off his middle right finger (he managed to hide the missing finger on screen), four in his leg and one in the chest. Fortunately the chest bullet was stopped by his silver cigarette case.

The cause of death was pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease.

Google Moon - Lunar Landing Sites

Google Moon - Lunar Landing Sites. Sweet coolness. Happy Moon Day!

Today's Quote

From A Word A Day's 7/8 email:

The most tyrannical of governments are those which make crimes of opinions, for everyone has an inalienable right to his thoughts. -Baruch Spinoza, philosopher (1632-1677)

New Music Alert

The Pixies are recording another album! The first since Trompe Le Monde in '91. Woo hoo! The wife and I saw them last fall when they came through - great show.

My Left Wing

My Left Wing :: A Liberal Translation. A new community blog - liberally minded, but not Democratic Party-affiliated. Interesting. I'll be reading it and you should too. Read the manifesto to see what it's all about.

Fainting Goats

It's not dead! Really! This is what happens when Myotonic Goats get scared.
This is for real. Here's a video.

via Fazed.

What If

McSweeney's Internet Tendency: Campaign-Trail Quotes From George W. Bush, If He Were Running for President in 1848.

"Today I call upon the Congress to promptly pass, and to send to the states for ratification, an amendment to our Constitution defining and protecting marriage as a union of a white man and white woman as husband and wife."

Just Because

McSweeney's Internet Tendency: From the Prog Rock Ice Cream Shoppe: Flavors Inspired by a Certain Canadian Power Trio.

Long Distance Dedication

We signed up to XM Radio a couple of months ago and have been tickled pink with it. It's like discovering music all over again. Plus, they broadcast every stage of Live 8, no MTV-like interruptions. I've been meaning to write about how cool it is, but tonight forced my hand. One of the stations is called "Fred" and plays Deep Alternative: imagine the coolest college rock station (WRVU for those who didn't have local college rock) from 1986 and triple its coolness factor. That's Fred. Anyway, I'm listening to it, getting ready to work on some hobby crap when a Smiths song comes on: Shakespeare's Sister. So I had to post and tell the story. If you like music, you'll love XM.

Rollins Reacts

...BUSH IS A COWARD AND A LIAR AND THOSE WHO VOTED FOR HIM ARE PART OF A VERY BAD PROBLEM. THAT THE FOX NEWS CHANNEL IS A BUNCH OF SISSIES WHO CAN'T TAKE A PUNCH...

via Pam

Maintenance: Local Links

Removed The World Around You as they've become defunct, though they're still a good source of links. Changed Liberty Flash to Alabamians for Caring Use since they've redirected and focused their efforts on legalizing medical marijuana use. Added The Locust Fork and Red State Diaries (Red State's had me linked for a while - sorry it took so long for a reciprocal). Visit and enjoy!

London

I feel like I need to say something about what happened yesterday in London, but I don't know what. It was a terrible thing to happen and unfortunately inevitable. The West is trying to win the "War on Terror" using conventional means - boots on the ground, airstrikes, etc. That's not how the game is played anymore. Over at Defense and the National interest, they talk about 4th Generation warfare - insurgency warfare. While we're trying to control territory (Iraq, Afganistan) - they're trying to control minds, both of the Muslim world and of US and UK (and other Western) citizens. Guess who's winning so far?

ZOMBIES!

Ho. Lee. Crap. This is frickin' funny. Don't miss the entire set.

Sean suggests we start a viral (hehe) campaign where we track down various SCA groups, dress up as different D&D mooks and attack. Wandering monsters, indeed.

Via BoingBoing, where else?

Liberals: Endangered Species?

Not yet, at least. But Orcinus has a compelling argument that they (we) may be soon enough.

Books: Royal Flash

Finished Royal Flash, the second in the Flashman series of books. Shakespeare's Sister recommended this series to me, and I'm glad she did. As I've said before, this is not a series for the easily offended. This book covers Flashy's adventures in 1844 and 1848 and revolves around (among others) Otto Bismark. For those of you who slept through World History, 1848 was the Year of Revolution in Europe and Flashman is square in the middle of the shitstorm. Revolutions and revolts broke out throughout the continent. After finishing this book, I'm tempted to read The Age of Revolution by Eric Hobsbawm. I picked this one up back during college but never got around to reading it. Maybe now I shall, but not next. I've read the first few pages of Spectacle of Corruption; good, but a little too similar to what I've been gorging on lately. A friend loaned me the first Drizzt Do'Urden trilogy. It promises to be a light bite, but again I don't think I'm quite in the mood. A co-worker loaned The Immense Journey, of which I've read the first couple of chapters. I'm not sure what I think of it so far, but it's interesting enough to keep going. However, I just went to the bookstore tonight (recipe for disaster!) and picked up another four: The Historian [Elizabeth Kostova], The Traveler [John Twelve Hawks], Night Watch [Terry Prachett] and Baudolino [Umberto Eco]. I've heard good things about The Traveler (including from you, 1031), so I think I'll start there.

Fast Times at Hero High

This is actually pretty cute.

Hey KF Monkey, I found one!

Last December, John Rogers wrote a piece over at his blog about how he misses Republicans. Well, apparently so do actual, real-life Republicans! It's an excellent guest editorial which points out just how far the GOP has moved from what has been their core constituency.

I've stated numerous times on this blog that I'm neither Dem nor Repub. I believe neither party has a monopoly on the Truth or on the Right Answers. I think both major parties along with the numerous (very) minority parties have plenty to add to our ongoing national debate over the various issues we face. I hope most Americans believe the same. Reading commentary like this reinforces that hope.

Found via Shakes.

Just Desserts

Freestar Media, LLC has requested the Towne of Weare, NH to rezone Supreme Court Justice David Souter's private home to build a hotel.

Clements, CEO of Freestar Media, LLC, points out that the City of Weare will certainly gain greater tax revenue and economic benefits with a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road than allowing Mr. Souter to own the land.

The proposed development, called "The Lost Liberty Hotel" will feature the "Just Desserts Café" and include a museum, open to the public, featuring a permanent exhibit on the loss of freedom in America. Instead of a Gideon's Bible each guest will receive a free copy of Ayn Rand's novel "Atlas Shrugged."

Clements indicated that the hotel must be built on this particular piece of land because it is a unique site being the home of someone largely responsible for destroying property rights for all Americans.

Scrushy Not Guilty

Reuters reports. Incredible. The prosecutor had five ex-HealthSouth CFOs testify that Scrushy knew about the fraudulent reporting and they still couldn't get a conviction. Wow. War Liberal's been blogging this since the beginning - go read his stuff for good coverage.

My new desktop image

Birmingham Zoo 112
Originally uploaded by piercingwit.

Mrs P had the day off today, so I took off as well and we hit the zoo. Neither of us had been in years and we had a blast. If we didn't already have plans tomorrow, we might very well be going back. The Birmingham Zoo is a smaller zoo and is in the process of renovating and updating its facilities, and it's a hell of a lot better than I remember it from last time. Some of the most interesting exhibits:

• Babec, the gorilla with a pacemaker
  
• Giraffe feeding (for a $1 donation you get to hand feed the giraffes)
  
• The white tiger
  
• The Butterfly House - a really amazing display
  
• The Lorikeet House - another walk-though exhibit
  
• Alabama Wild, a new addition to the zoo showcasing local wildlife. Excellent and informative.
  

Click on the meerkat to see more zoo pix on Flickr!

It's not just about pr0n

EFF: DeepLinks has examples of why DOJ 2257 is a huge First Amendment problem. Via After-Party.

UPDATE: DOJ won't enforce "for now". The reprieve only applies for those sites which register with the Free Speech Coalition, the trade association of the adult entertainment industry. I suppose everyone else is on their own.

Drool

Stay Free! Daily: How did Mad Hot Ballroom survive the copyright cartel?

John Rogers has already told you to go see this movie, and this article makes me want to see it even more. Stay Free! Daily: How did Mad Hot Ballroom survive the copyright cartel? It's an eye-opener to how far copyright's been twisted. They had to pay EMI to keep a scene in which a cell phone rings - the ring tone was copyrighed (the "Rocky" theme). Another reason to promote Creative Commons

Bright Blue Dot

I saw one of these last week in the parking lot of our supermarket. What I didn't realize is that the company making these are based here in Birmingham! Go visit and patronize: www.britebluedot.com.

Followup: Broadcast Flag

EFF:

Within the space of a few hours, the committee was Slashdotted, BoingBoinged and Instalanched.

By 6 p.m. on Tuesday, the 27 members of the Senate Appropriations Committee received more than 11,000 emails and faxes. That's nearly 500 faxes an hour. Dianne Feinstein alone received more than 2,600 messages in her inbox. Kay Hutchison, the senior senator for Texas, received 1,441 letters.

via BoingBoing

1991

I know that Cubs, White Sox and (until last season, at least) BoSox fans have their long standing tales of woe and misery, but to grow up as a Braves fan in the 70s and 80s was pretty crappy. Something like what kids born in Kansas City around 1986 must feel like now. Yeah we had Aaron until '74 and Murphy through the 80s but from 1971 to 1990 we finished 5th or 6th (that's last and 2nd to last) 13 times. We did manage to win the division in '82 only to get swept in the LCS by the Cards. Stupid Cards.

So when the Braves managed to win the division in 91 by one measly game over the Dodgers and then follow up with a amazingly tough pennant win by sweeping the deciding two games at the Pirate's Three Rivers Stadium - wow. I still remember the feeling of getting to watch the World Series and for the first time in my life having a team to root for - having MY team to root for. What followed was the best World Series ever. I know, people can argue that the 2001 NY-AZ series was better, but no. First off, both teams in the '91 series had been in last place the previous year. Five of the seven games were decided by 1 run. Two went to extra innings. Four were decided in the last at-bat. And the 7th game - man, it broke my heart. But the one thing I'll always remember from that game - the whole series really - is Jack Morris. And that's why I'm posting this tonight (long way around to that, eh?)

John Smoltz started game 7 in that series against Morris, his long-time hero. Morris pitched for Detroit, Smoltz's hometown, from '77 to '90. Smoltz pitched a great game, going 7 scoreless innings, but Morris pitched 10 (nearly unheard of in today's game) and got the win. He retired after the '94 season with 254 wins, 186 losses, a 3.90 career ERA and 2,478 strike outs.

So why am I writing all of this tonight? John Smoltz is still pitching for the Braves. He pitched tonight - a complete game shutout just like his childhood hero. It wasn't for a World Series victory, but it was an important game in the division standings. Smoltz struck out six batters tonight. That makes his career total 2,480. Two more than Morris.

Any Alabamians out there

Boing Boing: URGENT: Call your Senator RIGHT NOW or live with the goddamned Broadcast Flag forever! Senator Shelby sits on the subcommittee determining this. Go here to automatically emaill/fax him.

Books: Revenge of the Sith

I wrapped up Revenge of the Sith Saturday night after my step-sister's wedding. All in all a pretty good book. It contains a lot more detail about the plot than the movie (obviously) - it's nice to be able to see what's going on inside the character's heads. My only gripe is the repeated use of a stilted "This is how it feel to be XXX right now:" bit. At many of the climactic scenes, Stover uses this construction to try to draw the reader into the affected character's ego but it just falls flat. Other than this relatively small complaint, I'd recommend this for any sci-fi and/or Star Wars fan. In fact, it makes me want to read the preceeding two books and possibly some of the rest of the canonical work to get the full story, especially more on General Grievous, Episode III's answer to Boba Fett & Darth Maul.

I've not yet determined my next book. I'm torn between Royal Flash and Spectacle of Corruption. Well, we shall see.

Irony isn't dead

"This mission isn't easy, and it will not be accomplished overnight."
- GWB, 6/18/2005


- October 29, 2003

Dave Devries's Monster Engine

Dave Devries's Monster Engine is a cool link I saw on BoingBoing earlier this month. We just had an art opening at my job consisting of art from employee's kids (which is pretty cool). Made me think of it again. Very cool stuff.

Cool: DIY Air Conditioning

Each week we get together at J's to play. He has graciously allowed us to take over most of his semi-finished basement. In the three years we've played there, we've accumulated tons o' crap. The only problem with the area is that the central heat & air don't circulate very well. As anyone who's spent any time in Alabama in the summer can tell you, A/C is necessary. It's only the middle of June and we're already hitting the mid-90s with 85%+ humidity. So when I saw this BoingBoing entry I knew I had to do it. We already had a fan, so the rest of it was pretty easily obtainable. And talk about serendipity, J's ex-roomie had left 5 1/2 gallon milk jugs filled with water (now ice) in the deep freezer. That definitely helped with the cool down. So if any of you don't have A/C or have some area that doesn't get climatized very well (or you're just bored), try it out - it really works.

RIP David Sutherland

A little piece of my childhood died today. David Sutherland, one of the original illustrators for Dungeons & Dragons products passed away from chronic liver failure. Mr. Sutherland illustrated dozens of D&D products over his career, but I'll always remember him from this one:



It's the cover of the 1977 edition of the Basic Rulebook, the very book my dad's friend Mack brought over to introduce us to the game. Mack was an educator (last I knew he was a principal in NC) and very interested in alternative methods of teaching. I don't know how he discovered D&D, but he and my father thought it would be a great way to teach problem solving skills (which it is!) and so brought me in to play. My first character was a Dwarf whose name I don't recall, but I soon followed up with a Halfling. We played Keep on the Borderlands with a group of my friends (all around 8 or 9 - Mack had the patience of a saint) and I managed to slay the ogre! Big deal for a 1st level Halfling, let me tell you. I still remember jumping around the dining room table in glee. I didn't even mind getting killed later by a goblin. I was hooked. I played throughout my childhood and on into high school. I fell away from the game in college, though I joined in a couple of pick up games. Finally about five years ago my best friend and I were sitting in a local pub one weekend and I brought up that I used to play. He admitted he had played growing up as well and had thought about picking it back up. Before the night was over we'd drawn a map of Mord - the world we created and populated with characters like An'alla, Vaspar, Thorkin and Toshiro.


Thank you Mr. Sutherland, for years of adventure, puzzles, ideas and laughter. Lots of laughter.

Scrushy

Just a quick note that while the Michael Jackson jury returned a verdict, ex-Healthsouth head Richard Scrushy's peers (heh, right) are still deliberating. Unfortunately, from most indications they aren't the brightest bulbs in the bulb-box. War Liberal's got all the details (and lots of other cool stuff too).

And for those of you with a streak of geek (hmm...that's kinda catchy), go read the story of our d20 Modern campaign, the first episode of which stars a local businessman in trouble with the law (and with other, um, things). Not that this is related in any way to the previous paragraph. Just sayin'.

My (least) Favorite DINO

Admittedly, I'm not a Democrat. I'm not a Libertarian, either, though I fall somewhere between the two. For the most part, I'm a common sense, Golden Rule type of person. Still, I have to speak from a partisian Demo POV on this. Sunday's Birmingham News reports that former Georgia Governor & U.S. Senator Zell Miller (D-GA*coughbullshitcough*) is schedule to speak this Friday evening at a GOP fundraiser. That's right - Miller, a lifelong Democrat (and still espousing that affiliation) is coming over to Alabama to help the Republicans win state Legislature seats in next year's race. Tickets are available in a range of tithes - $250 to $5K - to be "used primarily to fun Republican bids to win open legislative seats or targeted seats now held by Democrats". The event is hosted by the Alabama Republican Majority Committee.

I'm not against fundraising, nor do I care that Mr. Miller wants to speak out for the Republican party. However, in the words of President Jimmy Carter:

Great Georgia Democrats who served in the past, including Walter George, Richard Russell, Herman Talmadge, and Sam Nunn disagreed strongly with the policies of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and me, but they remained loyal to the party in which they gained their public office. Other Democrats, because of philosophical differences or the race issue, like Bo Callaway and Strom Thurmond, at least had the decency to become Republicans.

...

Zell, I have known you for forty-two years and have, in the past, respected you as a trustworthy political leader and a personal friend. But now, there are many of us loyal Democrats who feel uncomfortable in seeing that you have chosen the rich over the poor, unilateral preemptive war over a strong nation united with others for peace, lies and obfuscation over the truth, and the political technique of personal character assassination as a way to win elections or to garner a few moments of applause. These are not the characteristics of great Democrats whose legacy you and I have inherited.

More at the ADP Blog.

Books: Thirteen Gun Salute & A Walk in the Woods

I finished the next book in Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series, The Thirteen Gun Salute, yesterday afternoon. I don't know what to say about this book but this: if one has read thirteen books in a series, they must be pretty decent, right? This one's no different - Aubrey does in fact get his name put back on the Navy List (reinstated, that is) and Maturin deftly executes a diplomatic coup while the whole time they discuss food and nature. There was one section of the book which strayed from O'Brian's normal seafaring adventure. Maturin explores an ancient Buddhist temple which is isolated in an extinct volcanic crater. The tone of the narrative of his trek up to the temple and his stay there differ so from the rest of the series' that it almost feels like a different author.

After dinner and a movie Saturday evening, I picked up the next book in my stack: Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods. Bryson walked the Appalachian Trail (mostly with an old friend of his) in the spring and summer of 1996 and relates his tale here. Bryson reads like a cross between Douglas Adams and Garrison Keillor, effortlessly keeping the reader amused. There were a couple of chucklers but for the most part his sense of humor is reminiscent of the British style. Makes sense as he lived overseas for a couple of decades. I just finished it during dinner tonight. I know it's bad manners to read at the table, but I only had 20 pages left when dinner was ready!

Next up: The Revenge of the Sith.

Books: Tokyo Cancelled

I finished this book Sunday evening. The cover blurbs describe it as the 1001 Arabian Nights of the 21st century or Canterbury Tales for the global citizen. I enjoyed it, though maybe not quite as much as I thought I would. Each story is wonderful in the real sense of the word: full of wonder. The 30K' summary: 13 travellers are stuck in an unnamed terminal when Tokyo get snowed in. They pass the night telling each other stories. Much of it feels stream-of-conscious, as if the narrator isn't quite sure exactly where the story is going or where it will end. A number of scenes are vulgar or gruesome - few would actually feel comfortable telling a story such as "The Doll" to a group of just met strangers. There is minimal crossover between the stories. I suppose coming from a long background of role-playing (which is itself just storytelling with oddly shaped dice) I'm used to weaving tales out of what seem to be disassociated pieces, and thus expected that perhaps each narrator would build on the last, or at least incorporate a character or two. My favorites were "The Store on Madison Avenue" and "The Changeling" but that may simply be my bias for sci-fi. All the stories are fantastical - only the first one could plausibly happen and even it reads more like a fairy tale or one of Aesop's fables. I'd recommend it to adventurous readers.

Big Brass Alliance

So if you've not heard about the Downing Street Memo, you've probably not heard of the Big Brass Alliance:

The Big Brass Alliance was formed in May 2005 as a collective of progressive bloggers who support After Downing Street, a coalition of veterans' groups, peace groups, and political activist groups formed to urge that the U.S. Congress launch a formal investigation into whether President Bush has committed impeachable offenses in connection with the Iraq war. The campaign focuses on evidence that recently emerged in a British memo containing minutes of a secret July 2002 meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his top national security officials.

I shall post more later, but I wanted to at the very least get something up about it to make others aware. All three of my regular readers, that is.

Twisted Logic

Nope, not talking about the administration's grilling of Newsweek. Mrs P and I have our tickets to the Coldplay show in September! Woo hoo!

New definition of SUCK

Go visit him.

Reading List

My excuse for not writing? I've been reading! Yeah, that's the ticket. Seriously, back at the beginning of the year there was a meme/resolution going around about trying to read 50 books in a calendar year. I like to read but I'd been slacking a bit, so I figured, "hey, I can try that. And I can blog about each book as I finish it!" Well, that little plan didn't work out. So here it is, almost June, and I'm finally sitting down to try to list off the books I've read this year. This will definitely not be a complete list.

First off from Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin (Master & Commander) series, I think I started #7 around the first of the year and I'm about to hit #13, so that's The Surgeon's Mate, The Ionian Mission, Treason's Harbor, The Far Side of the World (from which the movie based its plot), The Reverse of the Medal and The Letter of Marque. All wonderful books and well worth the read.

Keeping on the historical bent, I seem to recall that my mother lent A Conspiracy of Paper by David Liss to me over the holidays. I may have read that one over the holiday break just before the new year, but I'll count it anyway, damnit. I might as well since I've since read Liss' The Coffee Trader since then.

Also on a historical note, I read Bernard Cornwell's The Last Kingdom. Good stuff and a good start to a new Cornwall series. Cornwall has also brought us the Sharpe series, the Grail trilogy and a number of other great period pieces.

Finally, one for (from) Shakespeare's Sister: I picked up George MacDonald Fraser's first Flashman book. What fun! A true rip-snorter in every sense of the word. Don't pick it up if you offend easily, by the way. Old Flashy is a rogue, and not in the "boyishly good looking and charming" way. No, he's a rogue in the "rape his father's lover and leave his men to die in Afghanistan but still come out a hero" way.

Speaking of Shakes, she recommended The Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Greene which I picked up at the Barnes & Noble on 5th Avenue in NYC when Mrs. P and I went up for the Westminster show. I had it read by the time we got back to Birmingham. Thanks for the reco, SS!

As a payback, I recommended Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, which I read just after the new year. Wonderful book, and still one of the best I've read so far this year. I also recommended The Plot Against America by Philip Roth as the best book to throw at the wall in frustration for looking so tantalizing but evenutally falling flat.

Someone else in Shakes' book fans recommended The Life of Pi by Yann Martel. OK, this is the best book I've read this year. Perhaps this century. I've passed this one to so many people, I'm not sure who has my copy anymore.

My only re-read this year has been Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. Jake read it for the first time late last year and was blown away, so I decided to delve back into it. The last time I read it, I was in high school and while I found I hadn't necessarily missed the point the first time, it definitely resonated more strongly this time. Something about the times we live in, eh?

Speaking of resonating in today's times, I'm ashamed to say that I hadn't read Ray Bradbury's classic masterpiece Farenheit 451 until this past weekend (me, a lover of sci-fi!). I pleased to say it was every bit as good as I thought it would be. And a hell of a lot scarier.

A good segue to my normal stomping grounds, sci-fi and fantasy. About once a month I pick up another of Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. I think he writes about one a month, so we're even there. So far this year, I've gotten through Sourcery, Wyrd Sisters, Pyramids, Guards, Guards! and Small Gods - all much fun. One that was fun, but a bit sloggy was Eragon, wunderkind Christopher Paolini's first book. I enjoyed the story, but it was obviously written by a 15 year old. A smart one, one with a good chance at being a great storyteller, but a young man who needs a few more years on him.

Continuing in the fantasy vein (heh heh), my sister loaned her copy of Robin McKinley's vampirepunk tale Sunshine to me. She also lent Michael Chabon's The Final Solution which, though it's set during WWII and concerns a German Jew, is not at all what you might think. I've been longing to read Chabon's work (especially Kavalier and Clay) so it's nice to start with a tidbit like this. An apertif, if you will. Sorry, feeling all uppity.

OK, I think I'm starting to wind down now. I've only finished a couple of non-fiction books so far, though I'm in the middle of a few. I received Thomas Cahill's The Gift of the Jews as a Chri- I mean, Festivus present. I'd like to read it again with a Bible at hand. Argh, I know I've wrapped up another non-fiction, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was. EDIT: I just remembered the other non-fiction, though it's more of a work related book: Refactoring by Martin Fowler. Whew, that was going to bug the crap out of me.

So, have I missed any? It seems like I've forgotten one or two - only one sci-fi!?! - and I know I've blanked on a non-fiction (WWII, maybe? EDIT: Nope, found it). But that's pretty close to complete, a lot closer than I thought it would be. I apologize for not keeping more current and actually writing more than one or two lines per book. I'll try to be better about it in the future. Speaking of which, my nightstand (and thus, future) current holds:

• The Thirteen Gun Salute by Patrick O'Brian. I hope Aubrey gets his commission back. :)
  
  
• Royal Flash by George MacDonald Fraser. The second in the series and hopefully as rollicking as the first. Did I just type out rollicking? Ick.
  
  
• Spectacle of Corruption by David Liss. A sequel to A Conspiracy of Paper. Sooooo looking forward to this one.
  
  
• Red Gold by Alan Furst. I must admit, I got on a Furst kick and blasted through all of his books but this one. Furst's problem is that each of his novels start to sound the same. They're good, but they're too similar to read back to back. I had to stop reading this one about a third of the way in and wait for my brain to tamp the others down.
  
  
• Collected Stories by Saul Bellow. Mr. Bellow died recently and I'd found that I'd never read any of his work. With all the high praise eulogies bring, I felt compelled to pick up something. I've read the first couple of stories and I'm not disappointed. Though I do get a bit depressed. Maybe it's because I was reading them during an all-night charity fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.
  
  
• The Psychology of Computer Programming by Gerald Weinberg. Quite interesing study written back in 1971 (the year I was born - ha!). While the anecdotes are dated (and at times sexist - oh, for shame!), the thinking and conclusions still hold up pretty well. I'm reading the silver anniversary reprinting and Weinberg came back and put in commentary after each chapter discussing how he thought it had held up.
  
  
• Professional Software Development by Steve McConnell. Another career-improvement type book.
  
  
• Code Complete by Steve McConnell. Yet another. Really quite good, though. If you're a developer and haven't read it, you owe it to your career to pick it up.
  
  
• Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond. This book came highly recommended from some of the smartest people I know, so it's gotta be good, right? I'm still waiting for it to get really good....
  
  
• The Revenge of the Sith by Michael Stover. Saw the film. Enjoyed it. Had its flaws.
  
  
• A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. Jake and Sean are on Bryson kicks and are trying to lure me into the web. I go willingly.
  
  
• Tokyo Cancelled by Rana Dasgupta. Sometimes as I wander through the bookstore, a book shouts at me from the shelf: "READ ME!!" This is good, because I frequently get completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of books in today's megastores. This is one of those. Mrs. P and I were in B&N yesterday and Dasgupta's rookie effort just about jumped off the shelf and into my fists. After I read 451, I started this one and have been itching the whole time I've been writing this post to stop and pick it back up again. It's in my lap. Taunting me.
  

That's it, I'm going to go read.

Oh. And by the way, that's 26. Plus 12 in the stack. Wow, I've gone and impressed myself.

The End

Not so fast, my friend

Days after the Broadcast Flag was axed, new draft legislation floated up from the bowels of Capitol Hill. The EFF has set up a convenient page which allows you to easily contact your Congressperson here. Go do your civic duty by annoying your representative.

Mad Lib Journalism

Blogenlust has a new game for you to try. Go post your mad lib.

Here they come - at the Speed of Sound

Save the date:

Coldplay
9/16 Birmingham, AL
Verizon Wireless Music Center

Someone asked me a few weeks ago which five bands I'd want to see live. My first response was, "Can I have already seen them?" Yep. The number 1-3 were Rush, U2 and Coldplay. We saw Rush (again) last summer on their 30th anniversary tour. U2 is playing Atlanta in October (or November?), but they sold out that show in the presale. Sorry, but I'm not joining U2.com for $40/year just to have the opportunity to get show tix. We saw Coldplay here in January '03 and were astounded. If they're coming your way - GO! (just don't take our tickets...)

Jek In Love

Jek In Love 2
Originally uploaded by piercingwit.

Two of the guys here at the office were jokin' about old Porkins' death in Star Wars (IV: A New Hope - the first one, er, the fourth one - uh, the ... nevermind. If you're reading my blog, you know what I'm talking about). Jim told Dave about the age-old (in Internet years) argument about whether Porkins' death was noble or whether he "was just so fat he had to be greased up and stuffed into his xwing, and he flew around with a bucket of kentucky fried in his lap, which is why he wouldnt punch out when he got hit; he didnt want to lose that chicken." So inspired, Dave whipped this up.

Cool: Real Virtual Car

This looks like something I should do to my Hillbilly Cadillac (TM) once it finally bites the dust.

Score one for the good guys!

Boing Boing: V-TV DAY: WE WON THE BROADCAST FLAG FIGHT!

Wow, this is truly amazing:

This morning, the DC Circuit of the US Court of Appeals struck down the loathsome Broadcast Flag, ruling that the FCC does not have the jurisdiction to regulate what people do with TV shows after they've received them.

Disappointment to My Parents Meme

Man, I'm slacking. Pam tagged me with the latest meme last week and I just missed it. She caught it from Shakes, who makes a point I agree with:

...I don’t know who wrote it originally, and I don’t know why they “couldn’t” be these things. I’d prefer to be saying, “If I were a doctor…” etc., since I could have been one...

I've always been of the opinion that anyone could do pretty much anything they set their mind to, so I concur that a more "optimistic" statement would be "If I were an X, I'd do Y." However, looked at another way one might say the difference between "could be" and "were " is this: "Could be" denotes that wishful thinking - what if I could be anything I wanted? "Were" denotes what would have most likely happened had one followed that course in life,

e.g.
If I could be a professional athlete, I'd play short stop for the Braves.
If I were a professional athlete, I'd be an Olympic luger. (I was actually told by an Olympian when I was an early teen that I had the perfect body structure for it: medium hieght and skinny)

So the "could be" is the dream while the "were" is the missed (or not yet explored) opportunity. In the spirit of the original meme, I'll answer the "could be" side. Maybe another meme will start down the "were" (or "will be?") path.

If I could be a Scientist
I'd be a field paleontologist. Just like a lot of kids, dinosaurs always fascinated me. I'd love to be able to go out on digs, solving the puzzles of the fossils, adding knowledge to the world.

If I could be a Musician
A rocker, definitely. I was in a number of crappy garage bands in high school and college, but I never had the drive to actually do it for a living. If I could, I'd be hanging with Bono, Chris Martin, and Geddy Lee, playing gigs all over the world and helping Bob Geldof with Band Aid 20.

If I could be a Doctor
Mrs. P is a nurse in a GP's office, so I know a little about what this is like. And I definitely wouldn't be a GP. I'd much rather be on the research end of things - this overlaps with the Scientist answer above, I suppose. I'd like to imagine I'd end up at someplace like the CDC rather than a corporate R&D lab.

If I could be a Painter
Interesting. Hard to say - painting minis has been a geek hobby of mine for a long time, so I already am a painter by avocation. It would be fun to be able to do it for a living - it's quite a niche market, tho.

If I could be an Innkeeper
Easy. A little resort hotel on the Florida panhandle. My long-term goal is to retire down there, rent out a catamaran to the touristas, ogle bikini-clad women and be a dirty old man in general. Mrs. P fully supports this goal. I think.

And finally, I think the only thing I've disappointed my parents on has been not finishing college. One of these days....

So, tagging up: 1031, you're it. Rook, you too.

Oh, and Pam, let me know when you come into town. We should meet up and have a brew.

The Seven Gummie Sins: Pride

The Seven Gummie Sins: Pride
Originally uploaded by Wiedmaier.

Wiedmaier has a set of gummie bears enacting the seven deadly sins on the world's latest coolest website, Flickr. This is Pride, my personal favorite. I love how the bear's head is turned up and away from the viewer. Go check out the rest here.

Tuscaloosa News On Rep. Allen

The Tuscaloosa (AL) News ran an editorial on 4/22 regarding the introduction of Gerald "don't wanna read about no fags" Allen's bill into committee:

Allen says the legislation is not about hate but is a response to concerns of citizens about cultural preservation and government spending.

The motivation, however, is quite obvious -- and not just to the gays who complained about it at the committee meeting on Wednesday. It treats homosexuality as a contagious sin, spread by casual contact -- a concept that belongs in the Dark Ages.

Allen has tried to make his legislation more palatable by excluding college libraries, allowing for some of Shakespeare’s plays to be read in K-12 classes and letting college theater groups perform Tennessee Williams’ “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."

...

Committee Chairwoman Yvonne Kennedy, D-Mobile, who is black, ably articulated [the lack of principle behind the bill] when she closed the meeting:

“I am one who has been discriminated against," she said, “and I will not be part of anything that fosters discrimination."

Ouch. Great framing by Rep. Kennedy. Replace "homosexual" with "black" and see what kind of outrage it would spark.

You can read the entire editorial here, though it requires registration (or a BugMeNot link!!)

If you live in LA, it doesn't matter

Yeah, yeah - I've been a bad blogger this month. I've been working on a project at the office that's been kicking my ass up and down - I mean, I'm dreaming about this stuff. Argh! Anyway, it's almost complete so hopefully I'll be able to post more often soon. To try to get back into the groove, here's a beaut from a name we're all familiar with:

Do you want a seven-day weather forecast for your ZIP code? Or hour-by-hour predictions of the temperature, wind speed, humidity and chance of rain? Or weather data beamed to your cellphone?

That information is available for free from the National Weather Service.

But under a bill pending in the U.S. Senate, it might all disappear.

The bill, introduced last week by Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., would prohibit federal meteorologists from competing with companies such as AccuWeather and The Weather Channel, which offer their own forecasts through paid services and free ad-supported Web sites.

I used to surf to the Weather Channel to get my forecasts until they started hiding them. They've gotten better lately, but remember when you'd have to search for the input box to enter your zip, then all you got was golfing ads? Now that I use Firefox, I keep track of the weather using the Forecast Fox extension. Much sweetness.

Anyway, back to the story. Here's the reasoning, straight from a completely unbiased source:

"The National Weather Service has not focused on what its core mission should be, which is protecting other people's lives and property," said [AccuWeather's executive vice president Barry] Myers, whose company is based in State College, Pa. Instead, he said, "It spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year, every day, producing forecasts of 'warm and sunny.'"

Santorum made similar arguments April 14 when introducing his bill. He also said expanded federal services threaten the livelihoods of private weather companies. [emph. mine]

"It is not an easy prospect for a business to attract advertisers, subscribers or investors when the government is providing similar products and services for free," Santorum said.

Looks like Senator ManOnDog is taking his talking points from "industry leaders."

I love NWS's response:

"If someone claims that our core mission is just warning the public of hazardous conditions, that's really impossible unless we forecast the weather all the time," [NWS director of strategic planning and policy Ed]Johnson said. "You don't just plug in your clock when you want to know what time it is."

.251

= the career batting average of one Brian Schneider - the man who hit a 2-run double to give Kolb Atlanta's first blown save of the season. Kolb managed to waste an excellent start by Tim Hudson who limited the Nats to a solo homer over eight innings. I'm glad Smoltz is starting again, but if Kolb doesn't get these 2-run save opportunities (especially against a team like Washington) it's gonna be a long season full of ulcer-inducing ninth innings.

1.216

= Atlanta's Team OPS (On-base Plus Slugging %) tonight vs. Montr- er - Washington. 11 runs, 15 hits (7 for extra bases) and 8 outstanding innings from Mike Hampton = 1 happy Pierce. Of course, Bonds had a OPS of 1.421 last season. But that's Bonds.

50,939

Chipper at the Plate
Originally uploaded by piercingwit.

=the attendance at Friday night's game. A win, woohoo! All in all, a great game - good pitching, good defence and timely hitting. Here's a pic from our seats at the game. Every year, Jake and I go to Opening Day at Turner Field. It's turned into a bit of a tradition now - 5 years running. A couple of years ago we found the hook up for the tickets so now we splurge and get 1st or 2nd row. Click the pic to visit my Flickr account for more pix from the game.

15

= Number of Ks Smoltz had. Still got the loss though. The Braves have two losses so far and both belong to Smoltzie. Still - he looked great Sunday and I have no worries about him over the rest of the season.

That's more like it

An Atlanta Braves-type game: extra-innings, low scoring, winning on a Chipper Jones home run. That's the way it should be.

A word for everything

Friday's word of the day from AWAD:

esprit d'escalier (e-SPREE des-kal-i-YE) noun, also esprit de l'escalier

Thinking of a witty remark too late; hindsight wit or afterwit.
Also such a remark.

[From French esprit de l'escalier, from esprit (wit) + escalier (stairs).]

How many times has this happened to me? No telling, but at least now I have a way to describe it.

Do yourself a favor and go subscribe.

32.4

The average number of pizzas eaten by the average American per year?

How many more months left in the Bush administration?

My age?

Nope. That's John Smotlz's ERA after today's opening game. To put it into perpective for you non-baseball folks, that means that if he pitched an entire game like he did for the 1 2/3 innings he was on the mound today, the opposing team would score 32 runs. The record for most runs scored in nine innings (in the modern era) is 29. Ah well, it was better than work.

And there are still 161 games left.

Friday Hannah

Hannah
Originally uploaded by piercingwit.

The final introduction - the world's most devious dog! Hannah is so smart (how smart is she?) that she'll notice that I've put on my shoes and know that it's time to go outside. She also gets pouty if I don't spend enough time with her.

McSweeney's: Reviews of New Food

Go read the funny.

McSweeney's Internet Tendency: Reviews of New Food: "Remember when you were 5 and Bambi's mother gets shot offscreen? Right, well, for reasons best known only to themselves, Jamaicans have made a soda out of that, and Mexicans have taken it upon themselves to bottle it. The dominant ingredient in Goya's whimsically named 'Jamaican Ginger Beer' is neither ginger nor beer—it's capsicum. Sound familiar? It does if you read the bit between 'keep away from children' and 'keep away from face' on the side of a canister of pepper spray. No kidding, go check it out if you need to. How it can be legally called 'ginger beer' rather than 'keep-away-from-face beer' in a country that won't let toys shoot soft plastic missiles is beyond me, but you won't drink this stuff twice unless the agent interrogating you doesn't like your first answer."

It's the most wonderful time of the year.....

Next Friday night, I'll be watching my Braves beat the stuffing out of those crappy Mets for the first of 19 times this year. That most perfect game is back.

Cool: Clocky

MIT Media Laboratoy: Press Images - Clocky

Yeah, I'm a bad waker-upper. I've gotten better in the past few years, but I still struggle at times to get out of bed - especially on the weekends. Back in my single days I had to buy a new alarm clock every few months because I'd: 1) get used to the buzzer and sleep straight through it or 2) my muscles would learn where the snooze button was and automatically slap it without me waking. Nowadays, Mrs. P gets up before I do and wakes me. Whew.



This guy at MIT has the same problem, but he's an engineer and actually decided to do something about it. I'm not sure about the shag carpeting, but I guess he's hoping it could do double duty as a duster. As my favorite chef Alton Brown says, "No tool should be single-purpose. Except the fire-extinguisher."

The future of liner notes?

qwantz has started something. See also here, here, here, here, and here.

The Day After Tomorrow

What?

Where does he get all those wonderful toys?

PSPworld: PSP 101: Everything you need to know about the PlayStation Portable

Spidey vs. Lowell

From 1031:

Recent Oscar nominee Thomas Haden Church has been cast as the villain in Spider-Man 3, which is set to begin production early next year.

Cool it down

First read this. Then read this. Don't drink milk during the second one.

Cool: Flickr Postcard Browser

Flickr Postcard Browser via Waxy

Odd Comics

Cheston
Warning, some are slightly NSFW

Local Blogs

I've found a few Alabama blogs out there that I'd like to point out.

LocalTint covers politics from Hoover, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham. Here's a recent post regarding WorldComs' Bernard Ebbers' conviction and how it relates to our own local boy, Richard Scrushy:

Ah, but did Ebbers buy a local TV station and air manipulative pro-Ebbers propaganda? Did he play the God card (in a town already vulnerable to religious manipulation) and go from a suburban whitebread to urban black church in order to pose as a millionaire oppressed and victimized by the feds? And did he, most egregiously, by proxy play the race card? Didn't think so.

Libertyflash is "committed to restoring each of the rights of all Alabamians." A recent example:

Independent Alabama has ten election reform bills being considering by the Alabama legislature. We call the package the “Make Every Vote Count” Act. To read the overviews and the text of the bill, please download this Word Document.

As part of this legislative effort, we have created our first television commercial. The theme of the advertisement is a group of people who ordered pizza. When the deliveryman arrives, he gives them pepperoni pizza. There is a problem, though. They didn’t order pepperoni.

The World Around You is produced by the duo of Kristopher and Susan. Susan lives in Hoover as well while Kristopher hails from Prattville (which is closer to the heart of the beast: Montgomery). A recent post regarding Alabama's penal problems:

The steady drumbeat is being heard on the altering of sentencing standards. Alabamians are beginning to understand that we cannot keep taxes low and lock everyone up for non-violent drug offenses.

There have to be reductions in the sentences for non-violent crime and alternative sentencing programs need to be made available for those with drug addiction. We also need to put more resources into preventing drug abuse on the front end, as I have said many, many times before.

Go and take a gander at some of the local talent we have in Alabama. We won't give this state over!

Friday Casey

Casey
Originally uploaded by piercingwit.

As promised, puppy pix. This is Mrs. P's baby Casey, who turns nine years old this June. Casey is by far the sweetest dog ever created. Very empathetic, she can sense her momma's moods and reacts accordingly.

She has an incredibly expressive face. We took her to the vet a while back to have a nodule checked. The vet tech said, "Wow, she has such a worried look on her face. Does she always look like that?" My response: "Only when she's worried."

Friday blogroll

Once again, I've been linked without knowing it. I love it when that happens! As much as I've been slacking lately its negative reinforcement. Anyways, Blogenlust has added me to his roll and that means (dum dum daaa!) he's now an Official Friend (TM) of piercingwit! So go visit already!

Also, as promised I've added Cool Tools to the (what else) Cool section. Enjoy.

Puppy pictures later this evening.

Look!

EW, The Wife's favorite magazine, has a new sister publication named Look. Since we've subscribed to EW for the past decade or so, we got the first issue in the mail the other day. I'd read about the mag somewhere on the 'net and figured we' pick it up so it was nice getting a comp copy. So I flipped through it this week and lo and behold, a two page article from our favorite monkey - John Rogers. It's all about his experience writing and pitching (or pitching and writing) the Transformers movie script including his meeting with the Godfather himself, Spielberg. If you've any interest in movies, pick up the mag - it's got less fluff than EW and looks (winkwink) to be a keeper.

The Rise of the Blogger

I've always been entraced by charts, graphs and statistical data. Give me an almanac and I'm good for the evening. Maybe that (partially) explains my love of baseball. Aside from baseball being the most perfect game ever, that is.

Anyway, Sifry is doing a series of posts on the State of the Blogosphere. Interesting stuff - go read.

Link found on BoingBoing, where else?

Orgy* o' Destruction

Odd little game. The more damage you do to your little buddy, the more different stuff you can buy. Addictive. Very addictive. Just make sure you don't throw too many missles at once or you'll hose up the Flash player.

*heh, he said "orgy"

Frickin' Cool

Wow. Just... wow. Everything from the world's simplest water cannon to Mukluks. This'll be going in the Cool links section soon. Thanks to Kung Fu Monkey for the link.

Nyahhh

Nyahhh
Originally uploaded by Mittwoch.

I just posted up Oscar's blog entry and saw this photo. Too funny.

Friday Oscar

Pets 108
Originally uploaded by piercingwit.

We were driving back from my mother's house in Georgia two years ago on Oscar weekend. We normally stop at the state line rest area on this trip, and this time was no exception. As we walked to the restrooms, we saw a very friendly cat - a kitten, really. Being animal people, we stopped and petted the cat, looked around for an owner, checked for tags, etc. It was pretty obvious the cat was a stray or a dropoff. We hemmed and hawed over it for a minute, then went on to the restroom. When we came out, it was still strolling around the parking lot. We petted it a bit more before finally deciding to pick her up and stick her in the car. Mrs P always travels with a pillow for comfort - in this case, the comfort belonged to Oscar, the newest member of the Pierce clan. BTW, Oscar is a girl-kitty.

Landmine Eradication

Boing Boing links to an amazing commercial regarding the UN's landmine eradication program. You can see it here. Warning - somewhat graphic and pretty disturbing, but that's pretty much the point. Boing Boing reports that "CNN and other networks don't want to air the ad."

Why not display the 10 Commandments?

There's a great column in yesterday's Birmingham Post-Herald written by Rev. James L. Evans. He lists 10 reasons why the 10 Commandments shouldn't be displayed on public property. I'll copy it here rather than try to trim the article:

No. 10. Posting the Ten Commandments endorses Protestant Christianity.

Almost all of the displays use the King James Version of the commandments — a Protestant distinctive. Roman Catholics and followers of Judaism use a different translation.

No. 9. Public displays of the Ten Commandments reduce all other religions to second-class status.

Not all religions in our country are part of the Judeo-Christian tradition. And because it is still possible to be a citizen of this country without being a Christian, all religions must be treated equally.

No. 8. Displaying the Ten Commandments as a way of trying to improve the social order reinforces a magical view of religion.

Proponents say that if we display the Ten Commandments, children will behave better in school and our nation will be blessed for acknowledging God.

Thinking this way reduces the Ten Commandments down to the level of a lucky rabbit's foot. The impact of the Ten Commandments comes when they are taught by faithful teachers, not when they are dangling from a keychain.

No. 7. Public displays of Scripture corrupt the true purpose of religious practice.

God did not send the Ten Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount in order to "create a more perfect union."

These Scriptures represent an ideal community far more difficult to attain than the mere democracy we struggle with.

No. 6. Public displays of Scripture corrupt the true purpose of government.

Every time in history the state has acted on behalf of God, blood has flowed in the streets. God may work through the state as God chooses, but that does not mean everything the state does is God's will.

Keeping church and state separate makes it possible for the faith community to remind the state of its temporal limitations as needed.

No. 5. Public displays of the Ten Commandments are a form of idolatry.

Anytime we treat as ultimate something we have made with our own hands, we are worshipping idols. Even if the words on the monument are God's, the monument is ours. That's why one of those commandments warns against graven images.

No. 4. Grouping the Ten Commandments with other historical documents distorts the history of all.

The United States was established as a secular state, not a theocracy. And Moses was not present at the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

No. 3. Public displays of religion promote social disorder by setting groups of people against each other.

The only way America works is if we guarantee equal freedom for everyone.

No. 2. A public display of Scripture trivializes what is supposed to be important and profound.

Do we really want our sacred texts treated like soda pop ads?

And the No. 1 reason the court should rule against public displays of the Ten Commandments — God wants them written on our hearts, and that's not going to happen just because they are on display down at the courthouse.

Rev. Evans is the pastor at Auburn (AL) First Baptist Church. I plan on writing him a note to thank him for being a voice of reason.