Dogs vs Cats: Let The Great Debate Begin « The Dish:
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Fight to close California oyster farm divides community and gains national attention
Fight to close California oyster farm divides community and gains national attention | The Ticket - Yahoo! News:
"For more than 50 years, the modest farm, which looks like nothing more than a cluster of shacks, has been one of California’s leading producers of shellfish. Grown in the clear blue waters of what is known as Drakes Estero, Drakes Bay oysters make up a third of California’s annual shellfish production and are on the menu at some of the Bay Area’s top restaurants.
But the Lunny family, which purchased the farm in 2004, has been reluctant to begin planning cultivation for future seasons because they aren’t sure they will be here for much longer. For months, the Lunnys have been locked in an intense legal fight to keep the Interior Department from closing their farm—a closely watched case that heads before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Tuesday."
"For more than 50 years, the modest farm, which looks like nothing more than a cluster of shacks, has been one of California’s leading producers of shellfish. Grown in the clear blue waters of what is known as Drakes Estero, Drakes Bay oysters make up a third of California’s annual shellfish production and are on the menu at some of the Bay Area’s top restaurants.
But the Lunny family, which purchased the farm in 2004, has been reluctant to begin planning cultivation for future seasons because they aren’t sure they will be here for much longer. For months, the Lunnys have been locked in an intense legal fight to keep the Interior Department from closing their farm—a closely watched case that heads before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Tuesday."
The future is now
News from The Associated Press:
"The Navy for the first time Tuesday launched an unmanned aircraft the size of a fighter jet from a warship in the Atlantic Ocean, as it wades deeper into America's drone program amid growing concerns over the legality of its escalating surveillance and lethal strikes."
"The Navy for the first time Tuesday launched an unmanned aircraft the size of a fighter jet from a warship in the Atlantic Ocean, as it wades deeper into America's drone program amid growing concerns over the legality of its escalating surveillance and lethal strikes."
Daily Kos: It's official: The civil war has started.
Daily Kos: It's official: The civil war has started.:
"Each day forward, it keeps getting ratcheted up, little by little, day after day. We passed the point of no return several years ago. Like the calm waters before the waterfall, too many failed to see the horror on the horizon. There is no reversing it. Like being stuck the horizon of a black hole, our warnings cannot escape. Buckle you seats."
"Each day forward, it keeps getting ratcheted up, little by little, day after day. We passed the point of no return several years ago. Like the calm waters before the waterfall, too many failed to see the horror on the horizon. There is no reversing it. Like being stuck the horizon of a black hole, our warnings cannot escape. Buckle you seats."
Nathan Heller: Is College Moving Online? : The New Yorker
Nathan Heller: Is College Moving Online? : The New Yorker:
"Has the future of college moved online?"
I was among the first to teach an accredited college course online. When the hell was this? Before I started teaching here, so before 1997, Over 15 years ago, I taught an online screenwriting class accredited by Eastern Oregon University in La Grande.
A very telling way it all came together. I had my screenwriting website then, the first of its kind, tons of traffic. I decided I could teach online from a website, using it and a chat room. I started doing this. Some students wanted college credit for the class, so I checked into it. I proposed an online course to every college in the area here. No dice. Everybody was "studying in committee" if online courses were feasible. Blah blah blah. Very discouraging.
Then my old friend from grad school, the late Gerry McNamie, who taught at Eastern, had business in Portland and rode his motorcycle here. We had lunch. Catching up, I vented about my inability to find anyone who believed in online ed. He gave me a name at Eastern, saying, we do lots of distance ed., you might find a more receptive ear here.
So I emailed the guy. He loved the idea! I made my formal proposal. IN .LESS THAN A MONTH I was accepted into the Eastern curriculum, an online screenwriting class taught from the web, the first class there using this method. I even gave a couple of talks there about how I did it. And the class was a great experience but when I started here, it became too much, and I passed it on to an ex-student. Not sure if it still happens or not. The ex-student had to quit when she got a demanding job.
I had an invitation to teach a hyperdrama class online, for a college back east, but when I looked into the interface they used, it was a nightmare, a zillion times more complicated with more hassles than necessary. Something else came up and I was relieved to have to bow out.
Institutions can screw anything up.
"Has the future of college moved online?"
I was among the first to teach an accredited college course online. When the hell was this? Before I started teaching here, so before 1997, Over 15 years ago, I taught an online screenwriting class accredited by Eastern Oregon University in La Grande.
A very telling way it all came together. I had my screenwriting website then, the first of its kind, tons of traffic. I decided I could teach online from a website, using it and a chat room. I started doing this. Some students wanted college credit for the class, so I checked into it. I proposed an online course to every college in the area here. No dice. Everybody was "studying in committee" if online courses were feasible. Blah blah blah. Very discouraging.
Then my old friend from grad school, the late Gerry McNamie, who taught at Eastern, had business in Portland and rode his motorcycle here. We had lunch. Catching up, I vented about my inability to find anyone who believed in online ed. He gave me a name at Eastern, saying, we do lots of distance ed., you might find a more receptive ear here.
So I emailed the guy. He loved the idea! I made my formal proposal. IN .LESS THAN A MONTH I was accepted into the Eastern curriculum, an online screenwriting class taught from the web, the first class there using this method. I even gave a couple of talks there about how I did it. And the class was a great experience but when I started here, it became too much, and I passed it on to an ex-student. Not sure if it still happens or not. The ex-student had to quit when she got a demanding job.
I had an invitation to teach a hyperdrama class online, for a college back east, but when I looked into the interface they used, it was a nightmare, a zillion times more complicated with more hassles than necessary. Something else came up and I was relieved to have to bow out.
Institutions can screw anything up.
May 14, 1935
Climate change will displace hundreds of millions—soon
Daily Kos: Open thread for night owls: Climate change will displace hundreds of millions—soon:
""Hundreds of millions of people will be forced to leave their homelands because their crops and animals will have died. The trouble will come when they try to migrate into new lands, however. That will bring them into armed conflict with people already living there. Nor will it be an occasional occurrence. It could become a permanent feature of life on Earth.""
""Hundreds of millions of people will be forced to leave their homelands because their crops and animals will have died. The trouble will come when they try to migrate into new lands, however. That will bring them into armed conflict with people already living there. Nor will it be an occasional occurrence. It could become a permanent feature of life on Earth.""
RNC Director Of Hispanic Outreach Quits Party And Registers As A Democrat | ThinkProgress
RNC Director Of Hispanic Outreach Quits Party And Registers As A Democrat | ThinkProgress:
"Yes, I have changed my political affiliation to the Democratic Party.
It doesn’t take much to see the culture of intolerance surrounding the Republican Party today."
"Yes, I have changed my political affiliation to the Democratic Party.
It doesn’t take much to see the culture of intolerance surrounding the Republican Party today."
Monday, May 13, 2013
Do we really need this?
A new device put in your baby's diaper will send you a tweet when the kid poops!
42
Saw the Jackie Robinson movie yesterday. Not a great movie but an engaging tear-jerker and historic reminder that progress, ever so slowly, can happen. Best thing for me was Harrison Ford's portrayal as Branch Rickey. Worth the price of admission. Not among the best biopics ever made.
Too mellow to work?
Love mellow, slow days like this - except I haven't touched the workshop scenes yet. May not use them until Thurs. so no panic. I'll get a few done and the rest Wed. Meanwhile slow is good.
Great new app
I prefer reading long articles on my old Kindle, not the Fire, especially in daylight. A new app "Push to Kindle" lets me do this with ease. If I find a web page(s) I want to read, I select Share > Push to Kindle, and it soon appears on my old K, perfectly formatted for the device. Love this app. Should be using it almost daily.
Music, two ways
Perhaps nothing in my life has changed more or been more stable than my relationship to music: in the first case, as a performer; in the second, as a listener.
Until I moved to Portland in the late 70s, my guitar was practically an appendage. I took it everywhere - in SoCal, Eugene, the Eastern Shore. In Portland, a stranger now, I traded social playing for a more formal gig. I applied for and got a grant to develop a stage show about Woody Guthrie. I'd be performing this for the next 20 years. I stopped for a variety of reasons, perhaps summed up by "enough is enough." I put down the guitar but soon picked up the banjo, my main instrument in the army. I took clawhammer lessons. When I learned the style, I put down the banjo. I haven't played music in months. Hugh change.
What hasn't changed in 50 years is the music I listen to most of the time. West Coast jazz. It's even on the radio herr all the time. A curious constant among all the changes in my life.
Music, looked at two ways.
Until I moved to Portland in the late 70s, my guitar was practically an appendage. I took it everywhere - in SoCal, Eugene, the Eastern Shore. In Portland, a stranger now, I traded social playing for a more formal gig. I applied for and got a grant to develop a stage show about Woody Guthrie. I'd be performing this for the next 20 years. I stopped for a variety of reasons, perhaps summed up by "enough is enough." I put down the guitar but soon picked up the banjo, my main instrument in the army. I took clawhammer lessons. When I learned the style, I put down the banjo. I haven't played music in months. Hugh change.
What hasn't changed in 50 years is the music I listen to most of the time. West Coast jazz. It's even on the radio herr all the time. A curious constant among all the changes in my life.
Music, looked at two ways.
Round Bend Press: New Work
Round Bend Press: New Work:
TS approves of things going on over at my new website, new poems mainly, and believe me, I appreciate the support. A few others let me know as well. Nice to know this hideaway isn't totally disconnected. Onward.
TS approves of things going on over at my new website, new poems mainly, and believe me, I appreciate the support. A few others let me know as well. Nice to know this hideaway isn't totally disconnected. Onward.
Death is no ending
My best friend died in 1998, 15 years ago. But I have no sense of him being gone, just away, in the same sense we'd go months without seeing one another. Death is a change of form (man, did Lew Welch nail that one!), which requires a different relationship. But not "the end."
As Mondays go ...
... should be a mellow one. Caught up on scripts. Still have scenes to workshop but this is low key, fun labor. Might be a pretty good week.
Sunday, May 12, 2013
A Day for Harriet
Movie, Chinese food.
Mariners 6 outs from victory. Knock on my wooden head.
Student quota met today. Tomorrow look at scenes to workshop in class.
Shitty weather. Back to ... I think I already mentioned that.
Mariners 6 outs from victory. Knock on my wooden head.
Student quota met today. Tomorrow look at scenes to workshop in class.
Shitty weather. Back to ... I think I already mentioned that.
Youth, man
I marvel that I used to do all my student prep in one day. Now I struggle to do it in four days!
Still 3rd
M's lose by a run. Left bases loaded in 8th, two on in 9th, so they had their shots. Try again this afternoon.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Tastes so damn good
There's a great moment in the film Sideways when Miles finally gets it right. He's learned that not only has his ex, with whom he's been obsessed, remarried but she's pregnant. His fantasy that they'll get together again crashes. But instead of freaking out he does something for himself. He fetches a rare wine he'd been saving for an anniversary and sneaks it into a fast food restaurant, surreptitiously drinking it in a paper cup. His expression tells us how damn good it tastes.
I thought of this scene while eating a slice of coconut cream pie tonight. I'm sure I looked as ecstatic as Miles.
I thought of this scene while eating a slice of coconut cream pie tonight. I'm sure I looked as ecstatic as Miles.
Big Sky wrap up
Great track meet - loved watching it on the Fire. Like being there, i.e. a camera in the stands with a zoom lens.
Portland State men, small team, in 9th last I heard. Women much better, 2nd last check, lots of good performances.
This meet renewed my faith in college sports. The major schools should perform with such honor.
Portland State men, small team, in 9th last I heard. Women much better, 2nd last check, lots of good performances.
This meet renewed my faith in college sports. The major schools should perform with such honor.
On the deck
We have a great deck that we don't take advantage of as often as we should. Part of it is weather, which sucks most of the time. Really pleasant out here this morning.
Slow start on scripts. Last nice day ... may be a struggle ... catch up in bad weather tomorrow.
Noon some good stuff starts at track meet. And hugh Ms game tonight with win moving them into second place. Wow.
Slow start on scripts. Last nice day ... may be a struggle ... catch up in bad weather tomorrow.
Noon some good stuff starts at track meet. And hugh Ms game tonight with win moving them into second place. Wow.
Rooting for Sharapova
Serena Williams has Sharapova's number so is a big favorite in tomorrow's final in Madrid. I root against Williams no matter the opponent; don't like her attitude (I do like her sister). But I also think the Russian is all class. Starts live at 4 a.m. Go, Maria!
Friday, May 10, 2013
Quota
Met the day's requirements, 6 scripts read, tad of yard work, track meet on Fire. 6 more tomorrow, plus writing comments on 12, plus yard work on our last good day for a while, last day of meet, the best stuff. Hence a busier day tomorrow!
Mariners win 6-3!
Half game out of second. A win tomorrow would do it. Pretty exciting, considering how close the cellar was a while back.
Interface
Nothing more frustrating than a poor interface with a website. America One Sports, where I go for Big Sky streaming video, has a terrible interface, requiring repetitive logging in, a pain in the ass. In contrast, Calif Academy of Science has one of better interfaces I've used. Easy to watch penguins, not so easy to watch a track meet.
Observation
Portland State seems under-represented at the track meet, both M and W. Other schools have more participants in events. Not sure why.
Improvement
Better track coverage with start of running events today ... even with stadium announcer. 800m heats M and W were great. Beats the Super Bowl in my book.
Dubious record
Thursday we passed 400 ppm CO2 in the atmosphere for first time in human history, the symbolic number scientists warned us to avoid. And this little suicide soap opera is still in the second act! What a self-destructive species we are.
Who won?
At Big Sky the 3000m men's steeplechase the best event on Fire so far. Whoever wears blue came in first and third. I think PSU, green, came in sixth and seventh. Must look it up later.
Actual student athletes
Kindle Fire tuned into Big Sky track and field championships for the day. Nothing can be more different from watching the NBA or NFL or major college sports. No hype or ads or bullshit here ... just student jocks trying to beat personal bests. Watching high jump now, at 6-10. This is so refreshing!
Reagan and Berkeley
Excellent article in LAT on how Gov. Reagan ruined the previously outstanding U of Cal tuition free(!!!) higher ed system. Over-reacted to Free Speech Movement but also became the stern conservative father figure against emerging counter-culture.
Two early moments: calls in FBI to investigate students and faculty; ends free tuition, "We will not subsidize curiosity" (!). Cal has never been the same.
Two early moments: calls in FBI to investigate students and faculty; ends free tuition, "We will not subsidize curiosity" (!). Cal has never been the same.
China Daily
Been reading this for a few weeks. Fascinating. A communist country with a booming capitalist economy. Lots of national pride, energy, like 19th C America, confidence that the future is theirs.
One article today scolding the West: stop giving us economic advice! We should be giving you advice! We're the success story here. We don't promote austerity. We promote government spending. Some of our economists say the same but Congress doesn't get it.
We're done.
One article today scolding the West: stop giving us economic advice! We should be giving you advice! We're the success story here. We don't promote austerity. We promote government spending. Some of our economists say the same but Congress doesn't get it.
We're done.
Rivalry
School rivalry goes beyond football. USC just lured away UCLA's top two neuroscientists! Promised more lab support etc. Dozens of grad students are following them.
Not a new story. In the 70s Utah State lured U of O's famed folklore professor over similar issue, more support for archive. My wife had just finished Ph. D. with him or would have followed, as a few grad students did.
We all thought it was shameful that Oregon lost a top prof to ... Utah State!
Not a new story. In the 70s Utah State lured U of O's famed folklore professor over similar issue, more support for archive. My wife had just finished Ph. D. with him or would have followed, as a few grad students did.
We all thought it was shameful that Oregon lost a top prof to ... Utah State!
Thursday, May 09, 2013
Big series
Tomorrow night the Mariners start a home stand against the Athletics, the team ahead of them in 2nd place. A chance to gain - or not.
Big Sky diversion
Caught the 1500 that ended the men's decathlon on Fire with usual home video coverage, this time with sound. But not announcer sound, mic on sound, general sound, so I turned it off. U of Montana guy won, Idaho St guys second and third, in final ten events total.
Watching a track meet on video makes baseball feel like a sprint ha ha. I dig it.
Watching a track meet on video makes baseball feel like a sprint ha ha. I dig it.
A Different Perspective: Citizen Hearing on Disclosure
A Different Perspective: Citizen Hearing on Disclosure:
"What I’m saying is that no one is looking at the information being shared by credible people, no one is asking if the health problems of some of the witnesses is not related to their UFO encounters, and no one is asking to see the evidence and the documentation."
Excellent piece, written before it was over. But it went about as I thought, mostly ridiculed by the mainstream.
"What I’m saying is that no one is looking at the information being shared by credible people, no one is asking if the health problems of some of the witnesses is not related to their UFO encounters, and no one is asking to see the evidence and the documentation."
Excellent piece, written before it was over. But it went about as I thought, mostly ridiculed by the mainstream.
Petition update
Day 1 = 7 signatures
Day 2 = 0
Maybe my revised goal should be 10 ha ha.
Link under title above.
Day 2 = 0
Maybe my revised goal should be 10 ha ha.
Link under title above.
Wednesday, May 08, 2013
The art of Thomas Strah
thomasidaho on deviantART:
Check out his new website with paintings and writing.
 |
| Self-portrait, white on black |
Big Sky II
Finally found schedule of events for track championships. My main interest, distance races, mile and longer. Fri and Sat afternoon, eve. Can't wait.
Amit Goswami
Big Sky
Track and field championship starts today at Pacific U. I wish I had time to volunteer. But I can watch on my Fire, the same home movie coverage as before, which I am taking a liking to. Very Zen.
Mariners won!
Mariners won!
Weather
Supposed to be another warm day but not so far. Overcast, just turned up the heat.
Read two excellent script submissions by advanced students. I get high reading good student work. (I get depressed reading poor work.)
One more to go, taking a break.
What a nice rush of poems earlier. Not many recent ones as good as those in book, though. Maybe I'm losing the touch.
Read two excellent script submissions by advanced students. I get high reading good student work. (I get depressed reading poor work.)
One more to go, taking a break.
What a nice rush of poems earlier. Not many recent ones as good as those in book, though. Maybe I'm losing the touch.
Against the law
I swear, it should be against the law to enjoy anything as much as I enjoy my signature Comfort Breakfast: milk toast, fried scrapple, eggs up. Never lets me down. As reliable as Sketch. Yum!
Petition
A new prediction after one day of action. Since I'm not selling this on Facebook and Twitter etc, I figure 50 tops. Not many. Well, let's play the elitist's card and say we have an exclusive club of clear thinking folks here. Or not.
A good day
I expect a good day. A few scripts from advanced students to read, always engaging. A morning Mariners game, a treat. Tomorrow in class mostly settled. Yard work in afternoon. Barbecue dinner.
First, breakfast.
First, breakfast.
Tuesday, May 07, 2013
Daily Kos: Belief in the Second Coming is Stifling Climate Progress
Daily Kos: Belief in the Second Coming is Stifling Climate Progress:
"A new study suggests that the United States has been impeded, in part, by the Biblical “end time” belief. Research by University of Pittsburgh’s David C. Barker and David H. Bearce of the University of Colorado revealed that the belief, held by a large number of Americans, that the earth has a predetermined expiration date, is a motivating factor behind resistance to addressing climate change."
Sounds like a self-fulfilling prophecy to me. Let's end the earth to prove that it's end times!
"A new study suggests that the United States has been impeded, in part, by the Biblical “end time” belief. Research by University of Pittsburgh’s David C. Barker and David H. Bearce of the University of Colorado revealed that the belief, held by a large number of Americans, that the earth has a predetermined expiration date, is a motivating factor behind resistance to addressing climate change."
Sounds like a self-fulfilling prophecy to me. Let's end the earth to prove that it's end times!
Daily Kos: Anti-Intellectualism Is Destroying Democracy In America
Daily Kos: Anti-Intellectualism Is Destroying Democracy In America:
"Anti-intellectualism and anti-rationalism have become almost epidemic in America. In fact, a talented writer by the name of Susan Jacoby wrote an important book several years ago titled The Age of American Unreason. "
This is a very, very old story, a very old tradition. Hofstadter's monumental book on this came out in 1966. It was an old story then when he wrote about it.
"Anti-intellectualism and anti-rationalism have become almost epidemic in America. In fact, a talented writer by the name of Susan Jacoby wrote an important book several years ago titled The Age of American Unreason. "
This is a very, very old story, a very old tradition. Hofstadter's monumental book on this came out in 1966. It was an old story then when he wrote about it.
99 One-Liners Rebutting Denier Talking Points — With Links To The Full Climate Science | ThinkProgress
99 One-Liners Rebutting Denier Talking Points — With Links To The Full Climate Science | ThinkProgress:
"Physicist John Cook has done us a great service by posting good one-line responses and then updating them as the science evolves and as people offer better ways of phrasing. Below I have reposted the top 99 with links to the science. You can find even more here. Everybody should know the first 20 or so."
"Physicist John Cook has done us a great service by posting good one-line responses and then updating them as the science evolves and as people offer better ways of phrasing. Below I have reposted the top 99 with links to the science. You can find even more here. Everybody should know the first 20 or so."
The trouble with petitions
I keep checking to see if anybody signed it ha ha. Need to forget about it, especially since there's no way in hell anything will come of this. Easier said than done in these early moments, however.
Vultures
Article in Huffington Post about vultures taking only 45 minutes to eat body of woman hiker who fell from a cliff in France - and the local horror at this outcome.
A far cry from Lew Welch's decision to instigate similar outcome, re-entering the food chain in a new form, "not the bronze casket but the brazen wing."
See my screenplay, The Brazen Wing (formerly "Billy & Gramps")
A far cry from Lew Welch's decision to instigate similar outcome, re-entering the food chain in a new form, "not the bronze casket but the brazen wing."
See my screenplay, The Brazen Wing (formerly "Billy & Gramps")
Monday, May 06, 2013
National Death With Dignity Act
| At age 75 any American citizen is eligible to receive a medical prescription for a "peaceful pill" with which to terminate life. No questions asked, age being the only requirement. ---------- This is my petition to the White House. The site is down at the moment. Hmm. I'll keep trying. |
Natural blood bath
Orcas have arrived on the Oregon coast in order to feed on baby whales in migration with their parents. Often not a pretty sight. There's natural behavior for you.
We the People
At the White House website is a section where citizens can start a petition on any issue. 100,000 signatures online in 30 days get an official response.
What a haven for nuts! Most active now are about stopping white genocide or innocence of Boston bombers.
For kicks, I am drafting one regarding a national death with dignity act. Join the nuts!
What a haven for nuts! Most active now are about stopping white genocide or innocence of Boston bombers.
For kicks, I am drafting one regarding a national death with dignity act. Join the nuts!
Betrayal of vets
Our treatment of returning vets is shameful. Not only in health matters but in job security. An article in morning LA Times gives case after case of National Guard troops returning to find old jobs unavailable or changed, which is against the law.
If we had a draft, more families would be affected and outrage greater. Our private military gets away with murder.
If we had a draft, more families would be affected and outrage greater. Our private military gets away with murder.
Sunday, May 05, 2013
Russian radio
Tracked down the station playing gypsy, one of many categories of Internet music it provides - and if I read their stats right, I am only person in world listening to their gypsy station now. Martian!
Oregon women 4-peat!
NCAA indoor track & field champs for 4th year in a row -- every year Jordon Hasay has been on the team. Congrats, Ducks!
Superior tech
Wish I knew why the webcam at the Calif Academy of Sciences is so superior to any others I've seen. Quicker to load, better image. Everyone should be doing what they're doing.
Still a few more midterms.
Grill steak tonight.
Love the weather. Too bad I have so much work.
Still a few more midterms.
Grill steak tonight.
Love the weather. Too bad I have so much work.
Saturday, May 04, 2013
Historic after all
Not a jockey but a hall of fame trainer made history with first Derby win. Female jockey just missed third.
Jockeys
In some ways this is a jockey's Kentucky Derby, with several historic outcomes possible: the first female jockey to win; the first black jockey in over a century; a hall-of-fame jockey making an extraordinary comeback. Any of those results would make this one special.
One down
Did my grading-mowing quotas yesterday. Same today, with more interruptions: out to breakfast, Mariners day game, Kentucky Derby. Onward.
Friday, May 03, 2013
Track II
Checked back on track meet and much more coherent coverage. Saw some sprints and middle distance races. Women's high jump interesting: no one could make 5-3... one cleared in a couple dozen tries. These are true blue student-athletes! I really enjoyed watching them.
Strange video
It looked like a good deal. A Big Sky track meet, Montana hosting, live streaming video, free. Yes! So I check it out. No sound and video with a definite random home movie feel. No sense of order or focus. Pretty scenery. Jocks doing various things, the circus feel of a track meet. And much video random disorder. Bye.
Something in the Air
Really eager to see this new French film, coming of age story set against Paris student revolts of 1970s. Not even sure it will make Portland unless in festival.
4x
Four warm days forecast ... if true, four days of reading midterms and mowing lawn, spread out so no single day is a chore.
Thursday, May 02, 2013
Better late than never
After all this time I figured out how to read a Google book on Kindle Fire. You don't download it and convert it, you just access the website on the Fire and read! Duh. There are comments galore and complicated fixes for conversions etc, but this is direct and easy. Why didn't I read this somewhere? I just tried it on a whim, after accessing on computer, I thought, well, the Fire accesses websites, what would happen if ...? Maybe there's a downside I haven't discovered yet. Like maybe I can't take notes or something. At any rate, this is GREAT because I want to reread Love's Body but was trying to figure out how on the Fire, and it's a Google book as well as paperback. I also have a first edition hard cover, that H gave me as a present years ago, the sweetie.
Can't wait to start!
Can't wait to start!
A young Yemeni writer on the impact and morality of drone-bombing his country | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
A young Yemeni writer on the impact and morality of drone-bombing his country | Glenn Greenwald | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk:
"Drone strikes are causing more and more Yemenis to hate America and join radical militants; they are not driven by ideology but rather by a sense of revenge and despair. ."
Shouldn't this be obvious to our policy folks?
"Drone strikes are causing more and more Yemenis to hate America and join radical militants; they are not driven by ideology but rather by a sense of revenge and despair. ."
Shouldn't this be obvious to our policy folks?
A Fierce Green Fire: The Battle for a Living Planet
A Fierce Green Fire: The Battle for a Living Planet:
A new documentary from director of the excellent Berkeley in the Sixties.
A new documentary from director of the excellent Berkeley in the Sixties.
Wednesday, May 01, 2013
Hollywood fantasy
Watched American President, which I haven't seen since it came out in 1995. 18 years ago! - when the major issues facing Michael Douglas are gun control and climate change! And in this feel good film in the tradition of Frank Capra, the president finally tackles them head on with the suggestion that now we'll get a happy ending. This, the fantasy 18 years ago. My oh my.
No follow up
Disappointed there's been no quick follow up on the first Death Cafe meeting. Need to keep interest and energy high.
Sympathy for the devil
Having had a tad of investigative experience in the Army, I can sympathize with the FBI investigators trying to make sense of the Boston bombings under the glare of 24/7 news hounds eager to make mountains out of mole hills. There are good reasons to have certain information secret, though this gets frequently abused.
Sunny & chilly
Too cold for me at the moment. My weather app says 70 at five, maybe I can mow some yard then. And/or after class tomorrow and through the projected heat spell.
Original Kindle
Computer and tablet screens are useless in sunshine because of the glare. The exception is the original Kindle reader with a non-glare screen that is clear in direct sunlight. Wish they could make this screen more versatile. Video etc. For reading outside you can't beat it.
New from Thomas Strah
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| Self-portrait
GOOD MORNING!
Good morning! you shaggy bag of sleep.
Freshly squeezed orange juice? you incipient wormloaf.
Unslack those drooly lips, dear. I love your blond locks
Your eyelash crust. Crack those baby blues
Bound to see nothing. It’s a bright morning
Let’s take a quick stroll before whatever knocks
Did you sleep well? Tell me your dreams:
Who's to say what the Freud that means?
The light within, warm glow that expands
To fill your self, hotly certain faith
You call it. Did you dream it? Really.
Skin to parchment, bits to sluff; pus leaks don't you know?
The shell bloats because of gas
You won’t be able to down the waffles I made.
If you don’t get up, don’t blame me!
What’s that smell? The coffee’s cold
Come on, sugar, give me a kiss
Oh my, dead to the world are we? |
Comfort breakfast
Especially comforting this morning. Maybe it's the fresh batch of scrapple. Maybe it's the projected hot spell, today the transition. Maybe it's the calm before collecting midterms tomorrow. No idea but I'll take it.
Goldencents
SF Chronicle with article on jockey riding Goldencents Saturday in Kentucky Derby. He thinks he has a Triple Crown winner. I hope he's right. Overdue.
Parades
Been thinking about those two Calif. high schools finishing one, two in the national Academic Decathlon. What an achievement! I know kids winning the Little League World Series would return to much fanfare. These kids deserve more. Part of our national decline that they don't get it, not even in liberal Calif. (well, compared to conservative Oregon). Sad.
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