Hear No Evil

All speech, written or spoken, is a dead language, until it finds a willing and prepared hearer.
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–94), novelist, essayist, poet

From the mailbag: Mother Misanthrope sent a photo of a gent who is protecting his hearing aids from getting clogged by odorous political rhetoric.

Choked up the for the Wrong Reasons

We never really know what stupidity is until we have experimented on ourselves.
Paul Gauguin (1848–1903), artist

I was shocked to see this story. I thought we were the only teenagers innocently dumb enough to play this -- the choking game. Suffocation, which includes hanging, overtook gunshot in 1997 as the No. 1 way 10- to 19- year olds take their own lives, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as reported in the New York Times today.

Back in my day, about four or five of us would go up into a friend’s room and Mark (not On The Mark), who was the strongest in the neighborhood would take turns choking one of us so we could pass out and the others could watch the person twitch and jerk around. I only did it once; being choked was not to my liking.

According to the article: “Asphyxiation games have been with us for generations, but what makes the current generation’s execution of this game different is that more kids are willing to play it alone,” said Dr. Thomas Andrew, the chief medical examiner in New Hampshire, who has consulted on 20 cases around the country where the game was suspected.

We also experimented with hypnosis until we showed off to a friend’s mother that we could make the neighbor kid smell ammonia and he thought he was smelling perfume. I am sure the mother saw a massive lawsuit and huge liability insurance claims. That pretty much ended our fun; it was back to balloon water fights.

Surgery to remove growth

The great mass of people … will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one.
Adolf Hitler (1889–1945), German dictator

The headline in today’s New York Times: Bush Spokesman Schedules Surgery to Remove Growth, regarding Tony Snow’s medical condition, but I immediately pictured the following for growth removal, which applies to all in politics, but especially the corrupt Bush White House gang:

As the repugnant author of the quote above warned us, we need to question everything, thoroughly.

A Little Humor

Comedy is tragedy that happens to other people.
Angela Carter (1940–92), author

Looking for something humorous today, click over to APJournal Revived and find out the new generic name for Viagra under the post "Made me cry, I laughed so hard."

In Pharmacology, all drugs have two names, a trade name and a generic name. For example, the trade name of Tylenol also has a generic name of Acetaminophen. Aleve is also called Naproxen. Amoxil is also call Amoxicillin and Advil is also called ibuprofen.

The FDA has been looking for a generic name for Viagra. After careful consideration by a team of "government experts, it recently announced that it has settled on the generic name of...

Common Sense

I'm reading Craig Nelson's biography of Thomas Paine this weekend, and it's a great one -- the sort of book that makes you want to take up arms against injustice and strive forcefully for victory. These, too, are the times that try men's souls.

Bush in Brazil

Someone has some great photos of the anti-Bush protests in Brazil from this past week. Thanks, BoingBoing for letting us know about it! (Caution: some may be NSFW.)

Another White House Red Herring

Among a people generally corrupt, liberty cannot long exist.
Edmund Burke (1729–97), Irish philosopher

This is from one of my regular blog stops --Anything They Say. I was actually angry with myself for being fooled because this is exactly what the most corrupt White House Administration in the history of the United States does, and I was suspicious but I couldn’t pinpoint why exactly. I have my answer. I encourage you to visit the site and read the entire post.

The Redirection
The rolling pin of White House scandal continues to splay out an ever widening pastry of malfeasance, fraud, jobbery and iniquity. No sooner had VP Chief of Staff Lewis Libby been convicted on four counts of perjury and obstruction of justice than out rolled the next scandal à la mode: the U.S. Attorney purge....

Notable also now is the conveniently timed release of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's recorded confession to the 9/11 plot, garnered during a secret military tribunal to which no press or witnesses were allowed access. But the Pentagon says this guy confessed, so, by god, that's good enough. Though hardly a stunning revelation -- Mohammed's involvement has been long known -- the story served another and far more important purpose: bring back pained memories of 9/11, remind of us of the evildoers' evilness, and suck up the big headlines (see how that draws the eyes) while a picky Congress frets about a few lawyers getting fired. Suddenly, FBI malfeasance, Scooter Libby, Walter Reed and White House intelligence manipulation are relics of long, dusty, forgotten past.

Blinded By the Light…and the Mercury

We create the world in which we live; if that world becomes unfit for human life, it is because we tire of our responsibility.
Cyril Connolly (1903–74), British critic

I watched the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric, which was much better than the last time I watched, during her initial week. Last night there was a story on the big push for compact fluorescent light bulbs, but they didn't cover the most important aspect of this story. NPR’s All Things Considered, on February 15, covered the fact that "CFL Bulbs Have One Hitch: Toxic Mercury," but no other news outlet seems to be picking up the story:

The Environmental Protection Agency and some large business, including Wal-Mart, are aggressively promoting the sale of compact fluorescent light bulbs as a way to save energy and fight global warming. They want Americans to buy many millions of them over the coming years.

But the bulbs contain small amounts of mercury, a neurotoxin, and the companies and federal government haven't come up with effective ways to get Americans to recycle them.…

…Experts agree that it's not easy for most people to recycle these bulbs. Even cities that have curbside recycling won't take the bulbs. So people have to take them to a hazardous-waste collection day or a special facility.

As you consider helping the environment, just remember you can do far more harm than good if you don’t dispose of the bulbs properly.

After one look at this planet any visitor from outer space would say “I WANT TO SEE THE MANAGER.”
William Burroughs (1914–97), author

Holy Linux, Batman!

The Bat-computer runs Macintosh OSX -- saw this panel in a recent issue at the library, and showed the wife. She didn't really care, so I'm blogging it. Notice the tell-tale red/amber/green circles? Click the pic to see it bigger.

Alien Infidelity

BoingBoing never ceases to amaze me. Today they posted a link to a news story that makes me wonder, "what is the most ridiculous explanation a man could give his wife for suspicious long blonde hairs in their bed, and how far will he have to go to maintain that story in order to deflect her suspicion?"

[Link]

Anderson Cooper & Walter Cronkite Old Fashion Journalists

The best interviews—like the best biographies—should sing the strangeness and variety of the human race.
Lynn Barber. British journalist

I suppose it’s another sign of aging when I enjoy a public lecture series as much as any concert. The other night On The Mark and I went to see Anderson Cooper interview Walter Cronkite.

Despite Cronkite’s difficulty hearing (he is 90 years old after all), the show was very interesting. I have even higher regard for Cooper’s journalistic skills and integrity than I did prior to the interview. Until Cooper came out and provided a brief introduction to the evening and about himself and Cronkite, I wasn’t aware of Cooper’s depth. He is among the first television reporters to a major battle or catastrophe, he doesn’t have to go, he can send other reporters and question them about what is going, but he goes himself. He has seen the dark choler and rancor of human behavior as well as its caring and consider side. He expects more from politicians than just canned answers. He says that no one has truly accepted the blame for inactivity in New Orleans.

Here are a few of Cronkite’s observations:

• Anna Nicole Smith? (I don’t believe for one second he wasn’t aware of who she was)


• Anderson Cooper is the best newsman/anchor out there, because he is not afraid to go where the action is and report what is really happening.


• People don’t realize how dangerous the situation is in the Middle East. Anyone can be killed at anytime, anywhere. During WWII there was a clear enemy and a frontline for battles.


• We never should have been in Iraq. We should not be there now.


• He does not watch Fox News since it is a biased organization, beginning with the ownership.


• Bobby Kennedy asked Cronkite to run for Senate, but Cronkite did take him seriously, since Kennedy didn’t even know what state he lived in.


• The one person he would have loved to interview was Hitler.


• The most significant event of the 20th Century was an American walking on the moon.


• Cooper asked Cronkite if was ever left speechless, “Often, I would momentarily forgot the date as I was signing off on some nights."

Cronkite and Cooper made for a nice evening and one that made people long for a day when news was more than just ratings and salacious headlines.

Oscar Picks

Like Olympic medals and tennis trophies, all they signified was that the owner had done something of no benefit to anyone more capably than everyone else.
Joseph Heller (1923-1999), novelist

Here are my Academy Awards predictions for the categories I feel like venturing an opinion on, even though I have not see all the movies, or any of the movies in some of the categories. It's easy to guess when many of the awards have little to do with an actor or director's current work.

Best Picture
"Letters From Iwo Jima"* (I would say "The Departed," but it may be too violent for most people to pick, and "Babel" is "Crash" redux)

Director
Martin Scorsese for the “The Departed” (He is owed one)

Actor
Peter O’Toole for “Venus” (has deservedly been owed one for many years)*

Actress
Penelope Cruz for “Volver”*

Supporting Actor
Mark Wahlberg for “The Departed” (for growing up from being a bad boy)

Supporting Actress
Adriana Barraza for “Babel” (she was very good)

Adapted Screenplay
"Children of Men" (just a guess)*

Original Screenplay
“Letters From Iwo Jima”* (second guess is “Pan’s Labyrinth”*)

Animated Feature
“Happy Feet”* (no one is going to pick Disney/Pixar again, even if “Cars” was mildly cute)

Original Song
“I Need to Wake Up” from an “An Inconvenient Truth”* by Melissa Etheridge (here is an opportunity for Hollywood voters to make a political statement)

Original Score
“Babel” (I liked the music)

*have not seen movie, yet

Update: I kinda sucked in my picks. There’s always next year. blue denotes winner.

Homeless and No Future

More than a decade after our fellow citizens began bedding down on the sidewalks, their problems continue to seem so intractable that we have begun to do psychologically what government has been incapable of doing programmatically. We bring the numbers down—not by solving the problem, but by deciding it’s their own damn fault.
Anna Quindlen, journalist

I pass Mike (pictured below) most every morning. I sometimes wish him a good day or I ignore him and silently appreciate that he has already pushed the crosswalk button.


I read that William T. Vollmann has a new book out Tuesday called “Poor People,” which inspired me to ask Mike a couple of questions such as why is he here and in this condition.

I eagerly paid him for his time and photo. Mike told me he is HIV positive, was a millionaire, was addicted to heroin, was a substance abuse counselor, was featured on "20/20" and that an attorney across the street has a copy of the program on CD. He can’t get a job because he has no address and employers won’t hire him when he tells them he lives behind the bushes of a gas station.

I asked if I could take his picture and he immediately struck a pose and I then asked him to show his sign. I bumped into him again after lunch where I saw him pick up an old food container and start to eat from it (I had gave him enough for a good lunch and breakfast). I asked how he gained his millions and how he lost it all, since our earlier interview lasted maybe three turns of the light signal. He put his food container to the side told me he married his girlfriend when he was 18, even though he was gay. They blew all the money partying. He has no family, but once the show aired he discovered that he did have some siblings, but they were lost to the gangs.

All of the above may be true, but I somehow doubt it. I came away with the impression that Mike has deeper problems. It is heartbreaking that we allow people such as Mike to wander and struggle to survive in a society where we have let the safety net for the mentally ill get cut off. We continue to let the mentally ill wander aimlessly and feel good about ourselves when we give them a buck or two. But, I guess Mike is more fortunate than the paralyzed man the hospital just dropped off the other day a few blocks east of where Mike makes sure the signal works for hurried working class heroes.

Sorry you have cancer.

A new line of Hallmark greeting cards that borders on parodies seen on SNL and other venues in years past: Journeys. With lines like "No one said it would be easy to lose your hair," "I know how much a child would mean to you," and "Watching a parent change can be difficult"... it's almost too horrible to comment upon these cards.

I know there are real-life occasions in which you might think that these cards could be handy, but I can't imagine actually sending one out.

In case you're interested, they're all here.

A Romantic Outing Instead of Diamonds

Be good and you will be lonesome.
Mark Twain (1835–1910), author

Another quirky news item courtesy of the Wall Street Journal e-mail

Still looking for a special Valentine surprise for your sweetheart? Your local zoo may have just the thing: an adults-only, after-hours tour of the amorous aspects of the animal kingdom. According to a report by the Associated Press, zoos all over the country offer risqué tours that combine champagne, chocolate-covered strawberries and candlelight dining with an impressive array of information on the birds and the bees. New York City's Central Park Zoo offers "Jungle Love.'' San Francisco boasts "Woo at the Zoo.'' Some officials say that the program is a good way to get a different crowd in to see the animals. But others are more blunt. Jane Tollini, a former penguin keeper at the San Francisco Zoo who is credited with coming up with the whole idea, says "Sex sells. No matter what.''

Dispatches from the L.A. Zoo:Monkeys and Humans are Equally Stupid

The Los Angeles Zoo reportedly paid $4,500 to a feng shui expert to make sure that some monkeys on loan from China have a strong life force.

In plain language: They're paying someone $4,500 to rearrange the trees and rocks in the monkey house.

[Source]

Star Wars at the Science Center

The wife and I were guests at this weekend's gala ball at the California Science Center in Los Angeles... I've got a Flickr set here that features shots of the fans who were hired to wear their costumes at the ball and entertain the guests. Some stunning shots, I must say.

And if anyone can tell me why most of the Stormtroopers posed for photos making the above gesture with their hands, I'll be in your debt.

UPDATE

My wife asked me why I didn't feature the close-up photo of the actual Darth Vader prop costumer chestplate, which clearly shows Hebrew characters on the panels. Hmmm. She was right -- much more interesting than the Stormtrooper crotch shot.

Seven Deadly Sins:Harvard Hires a Lady

Harvard has announced that it will soon have its first female president and, frankly, I'm just embarassed.

The mysoginistic attitudes that led to this are so obvious that they almost need no comment, but this fine blog has always prided itself on confronting the hot-button issues head-on, so... on with the sins countdown!

Lust: 5 pts
It's clear that those sex-starved miscreants at Harvard are engaging in the oldest mysoginistic operation in the world: buying the services of a woman for their own selfish needs. Sure, they claim otherwise -- but they can't hide the real reasons. Richard P. Chait, a professor of higher education at Harvard, said “My own sense is that it... probably is not unrelated to gender." Probably not? And he's a Harvard professor? Duh -- of course it's about gender; it's about those lonely bearded bleeding-heart ivory tower liberals trying to buy something they could never get for free. 371 years is a long time to go without a woman...

Greed: 1 pts
Those high-button-collar types think that having money means they can do whatever they want -- including buying people! Who do they think they are!

Sloth: 5 pts
Too lazy to find a good male candidate? That's pretty damn lazy.

Wrath: 1 pt
The new president will be Drew Gilpin Faust, a historian of the Civil War South. I'm thinking these Cambridge Yankees are just looking to embarass their old Dixie rivals by stealing away one of their southern belles. Anger makes a man do bad things.

Gluttony: 0 pts
I think they might be hungry. Not sure that matters, though.

Envy: 1 pts
Tell me that this student is envious: George Thampy, a freshman, said “I think it’s a great step forward — a bona fide scholar who’s a woman.” Wow -- who would've thought a woman could be a scholar? Certainly not George Thampy; he was just hoping to get a little extra "tutoring" from the new pres. Or so we assume.

Pride: 3 pts
These gents are just too proud to come right out and say that they have to pay women to be around them; instead, they maintain the facade that this is for some sort of academic position. Come on; we all know what's going on. Just two years ago Harvard's then-president Lawrence H. Summers suggested women weren't smart enough to be president of Harvard! And now this?

FINAL SCORE: 16 pts
Sounds like someone needs to remind these ivy-covered folks that we're living in the 21st century, not the Dark Ages.

Was Anna Really Marilyn Redux?

And it seems to me you lived your life like a candle in the wind.
Elton John, musician, "Candle in the Wind" (song, lyrics by Bernie Taupin)













It's a sad story for both or both times.

Joe Lieberman, Star of "ALF"?

I know that Joe Lieberman isn't really Max Wright in his best role since Alf... but they do sound eerily familiar. Click Joe below and see if you can tell which part of this clip is Lieberman, and which is Wright (yes, the sync is off; I didn't bother to match it up):