I don't have much to say today. I am personally so saddened by the deaths of the children in Russia this morning that I feel a bit wrung out. Go visit this site for updates and photographs and translations from the Russian media sources.

This crime is beyond description for me. I keep coming back to the woman who had to choose between which of her two children she was going to send out of the school and which was going to remain as a hostage. The six year old or the two year old. How would you decide? She chose the two year old to go out, reasoning, or so I understand, that the six year old would be better able to bear up under the stress.

I am not a very religious person, but I feel compelled to ask: May God bless those children who died there in that school.

UPDATE:

Michael Darragh found the link to the story about the woman who had to choose between her children. Don't read this unless you really feel the need to break down and cry.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 10:53 AM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
Post contains 193 words, total size 1 kb.

One of the reasons there has not been a lot of activity here is that I have spent much of my morning engaged in the research of the Fair Use Doctrine, an exception and affirmative defense to a charge of copyright violation. I have satisfied myself about what I have done generally and, in doing so, have created a 5 or 6 page single spaced memo summarizing my research. I am somewhat loath (typo corrected) to post it here because I have a horror of someone thinking I am giving legal advice on my blog because that's the last thing I want to do. What do you think? Should I post something?

UPDATE:

I've decided not to post my little memo. I found something on the web that treats the subject much more exhaustively than I do and I highly recommend going to read it: The Stanford University Libraries Section on Copyright and Fair Use. This appears to be excellent. I enjoyed it and found it informative and I get out of my problem of fearing to appear to be giving legal advice to the whole world on the net.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 09:59 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 194 words, total size 1 kb.

1 How do you feel about free grammar advice?

Posted by: anon at September 03, 2004 02:48 PM (Mlped)

2 Ambivalent. If it's coming from a friend, happy to take it. Here, beats me since you declined to leave a name. In any event, I do know the difference between the two words and I regularly, especially when in a hurry, make typing mistakes.

Posted by: RP at September 03, 2004 02:56 PM (LlPKh)

3 Well, it's coming from a friend, but I'm loath to leave my name because I didn't want you to think I was being a jerk. Anyway, I figured you knew the difference--I guess I was just feeling snarky.

Posted by: anon at September 03, 2004 03:22 PM (Mlped)

4 Ok, well, as a friend, you go right ahead and correct me wherever you see a mistake. That's fine. As we say around the office, there's no such thing as good legal writing, only good legal re-writing.

Posted by: RP at September 03, 2004 03:53 PM (LlPKh)

5 Who'd have thought there were lawyers that didn't want to give their opinions on everything? You never cease to amaze me, RP.

Posted by: Simon at September 06, 2004 04:14 AM (8IuJM)

6 I swear, Simon, you must have gotten bit by a lawyer once!

Posted by: RP at September 06, 2004 06:58 AM (X3Lfs)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

I was walking to the train station this morning when I felt myself oddly suspended in some kind of nether state between morning and night. To my left, the sky was shot through with the pinks and oranges of a stunning sunrise, portending a spectacular day. To my left, I noticed an almost full moon still hung in the sky, like someone forgot to put it away from last night. One side, the sun. The other side, the moon. Where the f**k was I?

And then I was hit by the smell of someone cooking breakfast. I have never smelled anyone's cooking odors before on this walk. But it reassured me that I was still relatively grounded. And it got me thinking about cooking odors and cooperative living.

We used to live in an apartment house in New York City on the oh-so-posh Upper East Side, a ghetto for blondes. The first time over there from our Upper West Side apartment, my wife commented that she thought we were in Greenwich, Connecticut by mistake. We lived in a building with 6 apartments on our floor.

Apartment living is intimate, even in a pre-War apartment building like ours. You know when your neighbors leave for work, because the door slams. You know who favors stiletto heels, because you can hear it on the terrazzo or on the hardwood floors above you. You know what their reading habits are because you see their magazines when you go to recycle yours. And you pretend that you know nothing about anything when you actually see them face to face. That was the fiction, that you knew nothing about the different guys who were coming and going from your neighbor's apartment in the early morning hours. No problem. I could do that fiction. That changed, of course, when I was elected to the Board of the Coop, but thatÂ’s another story.

Another thing you learned about your neighbors is that no one cooked on the Upper East Side. I mean, why bother, right? Chinese food delivered in under 7 minutes. Seriously. And it was good and not much more than what you might spend to cook it yourself and way more efficient in use of time. One of our neighbors actually got a call from the local utility asking if she'd like them to turn the gas off to her apartment since they noticed that she had not once turned the stove on in the last eight years.

Well, I cooked and my neighbors had to learn to ignore my cooking odors. Unfortunately for them, I cook well. I like to cook things that smell really good, like slow braised beef with about 30 cloves of garlic that you cook for 4 or 5 hours on 250 degrees until you just cannot stand the smell of the yummy goodness any more and you have to tear the oven open and dip some bread into the cooking juices or you are going to kill somebody. Or roasted chickens. Or long simmering soups and pasta sauces. Things that just smacked you in the face when you got off the elevator. Yup, my apartment was that smelly cooking apartment.

No one ever said anything, but I know that they all wanted to come over for dinner.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 09:39 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 556 words, total size 3 kb.

1 That's me in our neighborhood. We live in a row of Victorian terraced homes, so we are smack dab in the middle, all of our houses the same on the outside. And both Mr. Y and I LOVE to cook, and when the weather is warm, we leave the door open while we do it. I have become well-known for my chocolate chip cookies and my applie pie (I bring you culture, my English friends! Eat at my table!) but we are also noted for our curries, roast chicken, and other sultry delights. It's great to be a part of the cooking population, isn't it?

Posted by: Helen at September 02, 2004 12:39 PM (4tEWI)

2 ok - hungry now - i am going to make lunch.

Posted by: kbear at September 02, 2004 12:44 PM (IAJcf)

3 I got hungry re-reading it and then reading Helen's contribution, too. Yup, been awhile since I made a good curry with fresh grated ginger.

Posted by: RP at September 02, 2004 02:44 PM (LlPKh)

4 In my apartment building we have a competion at dinnertime between French, Indian, Chinese, Italian & Spanish. Only those with an extremely strong will survive on diets. Now I'm hungry!

Posted by: Michele at September 02, 2004 03:58 PM (YK/wN)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

I had a moment of disperception this morning on the train. You know, a moment during which you feel suddenly weightless, no longer held to the bounds of the earth by bonds of rationality or ordered thought. I am not shocked by these moments now. I get them all the time while reading the NY Times. This one came whilst (I enjoyed sneaking that word in, pardon the digression) reading a book review concerning a book that holds that Europe is eclipsing the United States in the "good life". The Times surprised me by not giving the book a good review but that was not the disperceptive moment. Here's the quote that brought me up short:

It would be foolish, especially after the recent report of an increase in poverty in the United States, for even the most committed proponent of the American way not to admire much in Europe these days: its reduction of grinding poverty almost to a vestige, its low levels of violent crime, the quality of its culture.

It would be too much to fisk the whole thing, but one phrase jumped off the page at me: the quality of its culture. What the heck does that mean?

Firstly, is there such a thing as a European culture? Other than Yogurt? Europe, as we can all agree, is a CONTINENT, not a country, not a unitary social construct to which we can ascribe common beliefs and expressions such that we can call any expression by its citizens a manifestation of a culture. Even for the US, it's hard to do, considering we, too, are a continent and yet there are substantial cultural differences between the coasts and breaking down among the regions. So that blithe assumption bugged me.

Secondly, the quality? The quality? Is he kidding? Clearly not, I suppose since the reviewer thinks that this proposition is so self evident that it requires nothing more than a languid flip of the wrist to insert it in the article, then a pause as the cognoscenti silently concur, and then we continue on, all happily flattered to be considered in the know concerning the quality (superior, implied heavily) of European culture. Please. I think I need a drink.

How do you judge the quality? Do we have agreed upon standards? Is there a time period we are talking about? What is culture, exactly? Is it art, literature and music all by itself? If so, I'd say that Europe was hands down the home of quality culture during the Renaissance. That can't be too controversial, can it?

Is it the marketplace of new ideas? Well, Europe gave us Fascism, the Nazis, and Communism, some of the worst ideas ever. That ain't quality culture. And we have left plenty of dead Americans in Europe to prove it.

Is it architecture? Is it cooking? Food? Wine? What the hell is culture anyway?

I have no idea what the reviewer is talking about anymore. Are you all as confused as I am?

Posted by: Random Penseur at 08:56 AM | Comments (22) | Add Comment
Post contains 519 words, total size 3 kb.

1 Disperception, huh? Cool! I agree that it is much too arrogant for that reviewer, when speaking of Europe, to not follow up his statement concerning "the quality of its culture" with an explanation as to why he believes it to be so. He's either one of those people heavily influenced by european ideology or just one of those who simply believe that everything european is just plain better. As the cradle of western thought, music and art, their culture is historically significant to us. But as to their current contributions to world culture I believe they leave a lot to be desired. The "quality" of their culture is archaic, so much that you might call it out of touch, and just because it's older than ours does not in itself make it better.

Posted by: Mick at September 01, 2004 10:19 AM (VhRca)

2 Breathe. This IS the NYT, right? Think of it as Paris Match with shoulder pads. I say that the reviewer should probably go to Europe and immerse himself in the "culture". Immediately. What a lil' rodent.

Posted by: Emma at September 01, 2004 01:09 PM (MAdsZ)

3 That was a very good point. And a hell of an image: The Grey Lady in Shoulder Pads. How 80's.

Posted by: RP at September 01, 2004 01:17 PM (LlPKh)

4 What can I say? Apparently, I'm stuck there. ;o)

Posted by: Emma at September 01, 2004 01:28 PM (MAdsZ)

5 Actually I think the western concept of what culture is varies tremendously from the eastern concepts. To North Americans culture is radio (music prescribed by the corporation), tv, newspaper, books, and the stuff that's active in yogurt. To Europeans culture is art, music (not prescribed by corporations), food, drink, language, ambience, history, etc. I WISH I lived in a place that had buildings over 50 years old. In North America we tend to rip things down, blow them up, toss them aside as new more fandangled stuff comes along.

Posted by: Oorgo at September 01, 2004 01:29 PM (lM0qs)

6 Oorgo, I think you sell yourself and your countrymen waaay short. It might not make sense to try to do this based on your narrow definition of culture for North Americans, but, here goes: we gave the world music (jazz, blues, and the odd classical compositions of Philip Glass); theater (the Broadway musical, Eugene O'Neill etc.); some of the greatest painters ever (Singer; Winslow Homer; Rothko, the list goes on and on); we created the means to preserve great art that the Europeans destroyed in their pointless and barbaric internal wars; we have given the world a system of political culture with a stable and free and liberal democracy. We may not have buildings that are 500 years old, excepting the fantastic structures of the Mesa Native Americans out West, but we have a vibrant creative bunch of people living in our newer buildings who need not bow their heads to any one in the world when it comes to matters creative. (Please note that just because I left a statement unaddressed does not mean I agree with or concede the point. I disagree with just about every thing you said.)

Posted by: RP at September 01, 2004 01:39 PM (LlPKh)

7 Two words: Georgia O'Keefe. I have to agree with RP's disagreement. We gots us some culture!

Posted by: Emma at September 01, 2004 02:50 PM (MAdsZ)

8 A comment from Europe here. I think European culture is generally held in much higher regard around the world than America's. With Europe we associate high art, haute couture and thriving arts scenes. With America we associate Hollywood and Britney Spears. Not to say that USA doesn't have its fair share of artistic and cultural talent to rival Europe, but you guys just do a really hopeless job of promoting it The same could be said of my home country, Australia. Also, the culture here, as in parts of Asia, comes from 100s and 1000s of years of restoring and immortalising great cultural institutions. A few years I had the pleasure of standing in a theatre built in 300BC (Taormina, Sicily). OK, it was in shabby condition. But the important thing is that it is preserved to remind everyone of the important of culture in European life. I'm reminded of a tele doco I saw a few years ago about some Americans visiting a Euro themed casino in Vegas. After enjoying a gondola ride in 'Vienna' the Missus exclaimed with absolute conviction "no need to go to France now, I just had a ride on the Seine". And finally RP, I detect a certain amount of envy and jealousy in your post. No worries mate, you live in one of the cultural beacon cities of the world. ps. Life in Europe is fing fantastic So much tolerance and beauty and style and culture ... it's a little bit overwhelming

Posted by: mikeyinbarcelona at September 01, 2004 04:04 PM (vJk6k)

9 I agree with you on the accomplishments, North Americans have created musical genres, architecture, and technology to rival almost any country. Unfortunately a good majority of the innovators in culture you listed created things in the past. The progressive lack of public care about anything cultural in our countries is astonishing. I am a professional trumpet player (or I'd like to be if I could make a living at it), and I've seen firsthand the view of art, music, and culture in our countries. "If it isn't profitable don't bother", "If you can't make a bundle who cares", and "Why would you do that?" are questions I've had to answer and ask myself time and time again. How can you create great works of art/music etc. when the main thing on your mind is trying to find money for food/bills etc. Or the other side, how can you do the above when you have limited time after your full time job/kids/house? Consumerism, and capitalism eat away at creativity, that's my view, you are absolutely entitled to yours as well.

Posted by: Oorgo at September 01, 2004 04:15 PM (lM0qs)

10 Mikey, thanks for your comment and your European perspective. You don't comment often enough. This time, however, I disagree with you. First things first, you misread me if you detect envy or jealousy of Europe. It doesn't exist. I've lived in Europe, 2 different countries, and travelled extensively there. I do not envy or have jealous feelings about cultural life there. Not just because I live in NY, which is astonishingly vibrant culturally, but because I believe that America has culture and that Americans are cultured. Second, the tale of the Vegas trip. I absolutely believe that happened. And why not? There are people on every continent who have never travelled, never been exposed to new ideas, never had to check their cultural value systems. I think we could say the same for blue collar types all over Europe or the lager louts who invade football pitches. None of us have a monopoly on that kind of small mindedness. If European culture is held in higher regard, well, I couldn't say. Depends on how you define culture. I think that there are plenty of very smart people who hold American achievements in the high cultural field as high as they do European achievments. Maybe you're right about promotion. Or maybe it's the fault of the constant barage of anti-American writing put out by the top European newspapers and "intellectuals" who do their best to denigrate America and American culture at every turn. I am woefully ignorant about Australian culture and world cultural contributions. Care to educate me a bit? I'm usually open to new experiences. Was that theater perserved because of "culture" or because of a desire to attract tourists? You don't know and I don't either. Europe does not venerate culture historically. We do in the US because we have not grown up with the same ancient surroundings. But Europe? Europe invented total war and that included the destruction of "great cultural institutions". That even happened recently in Serbia where all of the old churches were put to the torch by one side and the other demolished the old mosques. Not to mention that beautiful old bridge.

Posted by: RP at September 01, 2004 04:21 PM (LlPKh)

11 Interesting observations all around. I think it's much too emotional an issue to have it discussed with full objectivity. Everybody "feels" one way or another about it. Thank you Random again, for providing such a wonderful topic and forum.

Posted by: Mick at September 01, 2004 04:39 PM (VhRca)

12 Mick, thanks for your comment. You are probably right that this is a good point to slow the discussion down. But first, . . . Oorgo, I don't know that I agree. You make a very valid point about past achievements, though. Take theater, for instance. There are way too many revivals on Bway now. Still, there is sooo much avant garde and new stuff taking place all the time. Ditto for modern dance (which I loooove). As for your point that capitalism eats away at creativity, what would you propose in its place? I note that communism was not good for art. Neither was fascism. Socialism, well, maybe but it tends to make artists very complacent since the handout is always there. Either way, I wish you the best with the horn!

Posted by: RP at September 01, 2004 04:56 PM (LlPKh)

13 I knew I had read about this just a few days ago. And without permission, I have copied from Helen's blog here, but you can read the whole post here I thought lunch would be a welcoming break. I sat with my team and some others I really like, and across from me is a thoroughly pregnant woman I had never met before. She is pregnant. Really pregnant. Like, bursting. And she had just flown in from Chicago for this meeting, making me wonder if there was a restriction with airlines as to the dates you could fly when pregnant, or if I dreamt I had read about that. She introduces herself as Teresa, from one of our suppliers to our contract. I heard the English accent right away, and asked her about it. Her: Oh yes, I'm English. But I've lived in the US for over 15 years now. I smile and sip my soup. Her: But you Americans. You simply have no culture. My spoon stops halfway to my mouth. Me: I'm sorry? Her: Yes, no culture whatsoever. It's sad really. She's serious. She's sitting in front of me, an American, and rubbishing my people? What a bitch. I hear that from time to time, that "Americans have no culture." To such people I want to tell them to trust me when I say that if you have a few generations of people under your belt as a society, then you have culture (there's that anthropology degree coming in handy finally!). Culture is the ability to pass knowledge, beliefs, traditions, rituals, and values through generations. Thanksgiving? An example of culture. High school prom? Yup, culture. Looking both ways before you cross the street? Bingo. So when people say that, they mean another form of it-that Americans are lacking aesthetics, basically. That because we don't around watching Masterpiece Theatre or practice kabuki theatre on a bi-weekly basis, we are numbnuts on the culture scale. Because we don't have Renaissance painters hanging next to the Vermeers or American author's works written on onion skin paper in the vaults of Vatican City then we are lacking. To which I say: wake up, and look at some of the other sparkly shiny things that America can produce. So were weren't painting in the 1600's? I offer Georgia O'Keefe or Rothko. And as far as authors go, we've given the world some great ones-Hemingway, Hurston, and Twain to name a few. So we're not without aesthetic culture either-you just have to appreciate that it's different to European culture. And yes, I think that emotions come into play but wouldn't YOU feel that way if someone suggested that your family isn't quite "up to par" as compared to the rest of the block? Gimme a break. (And that usage is what is considered pop culture.) I'm sorry to use someone else's words, but I'm afraid I would throw too much invective -- left to my own vocabulary. Respectfully submitted, Emma Apropos

Posted by: Emma at September 01, 2004 06:14 PM (MAdsZ)

14 RP - You'll like the article I blogged about on July 4th: http://www.calblog.com/archives/003815.html Credit for pointing me to the article goes to Linda at Auteriffic. Also, is "disperception" really a word? Something else you might enjoy is a book by one Lynne Truss entitled "Eats, Shoots and Leaves". It's a grammatical treatise.

Posted by: Mark D. Firestone at September 02, 2004 06:56 AM (XR2Cx)

15 Emma, I read that on Helen's blog, too. It was entirely appropriate. Mark, disperception is a word a friend of mine coined. We made it up because we felt it was needed, badly, in the language. It works. I'll go check out your piece today. Thanks for the reference.

Posted by: RP at September 02, 2004 07:52 AM (LlPKh)

16 I got quoted! I am being thrown up in literary circles! I am awed! Truthfully, I heard it again yesterday in the office-the whole culture/no culture issue. And you know? I have come to the following conclusion: Culture is for yogurt. People are just people.

Posted by: Helen at September 02, 2004 12:36 PM (4tEWI)

17 Well, as long as you are not being thrown up ON, you are probably doing just fine!

Posted by: RP at September 02, 2004 12:37 PM (LlPKh)

18 The word "disperception" has been used by orthomolecular physicians in the United States since the 1950s. It is not a new word. RP's claim to have made the word up is uninformed.

Posted by: Em at June 08, 2005 11:50 PM (mm/kv)

19 Thank you, Em, for your comment. I had never heard of orthomolecular physicians before. Having not lived in the 50's, I couldn't really say.

Posted by: rp at June 09, 2005 09:36 AM (LlPKh)

20 Odd..I just did a search for "disperception" and there were all of 47 instances in all of 8,058,044,651 web pages. Every single one (that wasn't an obvious spelling error) referred to a state of sensory misinformation. Not a single bit about orthopedic sciences, molecular or otherwise. Even more oddly, despite the fact that it has sporadic (yet common) usage, it does not appear in the Cambridge or Oxford unabridged dictionaries or the International Dictionary of Medicine and Biology. Why, it's almost like it hasn't been used in even an inconsistent fashion by the orthomolecular physicians in the United States since the 1950s. How very, very odd.

Posted by: Jim at June 09, 2005 11:53 AM (tyQ8y)

21 Type in the following terms in Google for more specific results: disperception + orthomolecular dispercetpion + copper Try looking up the author Abram Hoffer in the library or at health food stores. He is a popular author who practices and writes about orthomolecular medicine. As Jim has found there is very little on the Web still. In fact, I came upon this site/blog after typing in "disperception" as the search term in Google, and I was surprised to see this as the first result. I periodically search for this term precisely because so little of the word is used on the Web. I am working on an article theorizing that a filmmaker's work centers on his characters' experimenting with disperception as a means of solving their life problems. Sometimes this method deepens a character's troubles. Having a stake in introducing the word to film criticism, I was dismayed to see the word misused so flagrantly here by RP. I do not believe ignorance to be bliss. But having not lived in the 50s either, I guess I shouldn't know anything culturally significant from that era that have become anachronisms in our time. Consequently, bomb shelters and hula hoops should be beyond my grasp. The term "disperception" was not coined by orthomolecular doctors. I don't know how the word originated, but it was used by early psychoanalysts and neurologists to describe symptoms experienced by schizophrenics. I am guessing that the word's lack of use now has something to do with the pre-eminence of the DSM in the psychological field.

Posted by: Em at June 16, 2005 05:46 AM (UAb8w)

22 Em, as fun as this may be for you, you kind of come across as a jerk so I'm gonna just cut you off. Since this is my blog, I get to decide that I don't wish to bothered by your subtle digs. I will close with this: how can I be "uninformed" and at the same time misuse the word so "flagrantly" when by your own admission, the only way to have turned up your specialized knowledge would have been to conduct a google search with such great specificity that it presupposes the very knowledge that the search is designed to discover? No need to answer, I'm just pointing out that you may need to brush up on your logical reasoning. It's a pretty flagrant mistake.

Posted by: RP at June 16, 2005 06:39 PM (LlPKh)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Go send Jim some love and any helpful suggestions you can. He is really one of the good ones, you know?

Anybody know anyone in Atlanta who's looking for a real smart tech guy?

Posted by: Random Penseur at 11:12 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 42 words, total size 1 kb.

I received the following email this morning and just had to reproduce it, all but the link, of course:

Dear Sir/Madam;

From our records we understand that you are inquiring about a new profession.
We have a limited, ont time offer.
Our university can offer you a pre-qualified degree in your field of choice.
We offer signing bonuses of up to $15,000 in your profession.

To obtain your degree with valid transcripts & information on new career bonusus, follow our link:

I have left all the spelling mistakes in. Fascinating, no?

Posted by: Random Penseur at 09:06 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 105 words, total size 1 kb.

I promised a report from the Fair we went to on Friday and here it is, something between a full report and list of connected observations. In drafting this, I feel as if I am channeling Les Nessman, reporter extradonaire from WKRP. Remember Les? Coincidentally, eerily so, Richard Sanders, the actor who played him, just had his birthday on August 28.

So, first of all, the fairgrounds were huge. Acres and acres of barns and permanent structures. I take my hat off to the organizers for a tautly run show. The bathrooms were clean at all times. Can you believe that? At all times.

The fair was at heart an agricultural endeavor and was country at its best. Kids with "4H" shirts all over the place. Huge displays of new and used farm equipment and tack and agricultural materials. Ribbons all over the place. Tents devoted to the health department and the state agricultural department.

We saw cows. A lot of cows. Really big cows, impeccably groomed. We were all duly impressed. There were prize winning flower arrangements. We saw lots of horses.

There were carnival games. The Girl Child actually won two prizes by throwing 2 darts and popping balloons. I was seriously impressed. I had no idea that she was coordinated enough to do this and to win.

The Girl Child also conned me into going with her on the ride that causes you to go up and down and to spin around. I held on to her so tight. My vertigo is actually returning as I type this. I did not disgrace myself by vomiting. She did nothing but laugh with great delight through the whole ride. Well, she did reassure me a couple of times by telling me it was ok because she was holding on to me.

We missed the Oak Ridge Boys and (sorry, Amber) the husband calling contest.

The girls rode on an elephant by the name of Beulah. She was 35 years old.

We were all in agreement that the piglets were very cute.

We watched dog obedience and obstacle course runs, cheering loudly for all the dogs.

We over paid for lunch.

We bought fresh roasted peanuts from a booth with a huge peanut roaster and they were among the best peanuts I've ever tasted, even when they cooled off. The Boy Child also loved them.

What else to report? It was pretty darn hot and I congratulate myself on the foresight to have sunscreen applied to the little ones before we got there.

I saw no, not one single, Vote for Bush or Vote for Kerry shirt or sticker. That was nice.

Everyone was friendly and happy and looking for a good time. Even the State Police seemed relaxed. And they had one of the Cameros out on display. I imagine that they are pretty fast.

We closed the day with a purchase of maple sugar cotton candy. I abstained, but the Girl Child was enraptured.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 01:13 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 508 words, total size 3 kb.

The Games have ended in an orgy of odd dance returns and aged Greek entertainers. Did anyone else think that those fellows all dressed in black and shaking their money makers during a "war dance" performed while women harvested the wheat did not have the body form traditionally associated with dance? But I digress.

The Games are touted as a success all over the media. Were they? I have two small observations.

First, estimates now put the cost at $10 billion. How is this a success where, according to the World Bank (pdf file) average yearly income is a scant $11,660 a year? How are they going to pay for this? What is going to happen to the tax system? While people are crying about the security costs, by the way, please note that these costs were estimated to be about $1.2 billion, or not much more than 10% of the actual costs.

Second, what did the Greeks get for the money? They did not get attendance at the Games, particularly. Ticket sales were generally accepted to be poor and if you watched the Games, you saw that the stands were regularly empty or sparsely filled.

So, how was it a success? It cost a lot to put the show on and no one came.

I am not persuaded.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 08:55 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 227 words, total size 1 kb.

Hi, y'all, I'm hanging the Gone Fishin' sign on the door today. Yup, I'm taking the family, loading them into the car, and heading upstate to the:

According to the Dutchess County Fair web site:

Over a half a million visitors are expected at the 2004 Fair held August 24 through August 29. The Fair is the second largest agricultural event in New York State and has become the fabric of family life and tradition. Thousands of family members have grown up coming to the classic, old fashioned Fair year after year, experiencing something new on each visit.

The stars of the Dutchess County Fair are the farm animals. Over 1600 goats, sheep, hogs, cows, horses, chickens, cattle and rabbits will be judged for excellence at the six day event. In addition, vegetables, fruits, home crafts, baked goods, antiques, grain, flowers and more are entered in events celebrating Dutchess CountyÂ’s farming traditions and values.

Over three hundred commercial exhibitors will display and sell a wide variety of products. Demonstrations such as spinning, weaving and dyeing will be featured. There will be contests such as horse shoeing and forging, husband calling and hay bale throwing, to name a few.

I'll report back on the success of the petting zoo with the children and on whether my wife feels compelled to enter the "husband calling contest".

Have a great day!

Posted by: Random Penseur at 06:05 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 232 words, total size 2 kb.

Someone asked, in the comments section, about the Ghurkas of Nepal and I thought his inquiry merited a fuller response than a quick reply to comment so I decided to do a post. I know a bit about them. I have been fascinated by them since I was a child and intrigued by that whole region ever since I read, Kim, by Kipling.

Let's start with some background on Nepal. There is a really great US Government report on Nepal which probably will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about the place, although it is a little old. You can find it here. In case you don't feel like reading it, let me extract from it here, down in the extended section, in case you are not curious about the Mountain Kingdom:

more...

Posted by: Random Penseur at 08:03 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 1665 words, total size 11 kb.

According to Google, someone came calling at my blog because they searched for: "Things to do in bed with a girl".

If you need the help of the internet to fill in that blank, you have no imagination.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 08:07 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 48 words, total size 1 kb.

We own, outright, a Volvo station wagon. We bought it in the days following 9/11 when my wife's job was transferred to New Jersey and we needed a car in the City. Since then, we have moved out to Westchester and have been leading the you-gotta-have-a-car suburban life style. The Volvo has not been a fulfilling experience. Many electrical problems -- locks, windows, etc. Many other small problems. All of this means that I have lost confidence in our ability to drive this car another 75-100,000 miles as I had hoped we would do when we bought it. I bought the car with the intention that we would drive it into the ground. It appears as if I was wrong. Did I mention that it is very expensive to fix, too?

Well, the warranty on the beast is about to run out and I have been considering the cost of the extended warranties that Volvo will offer to me. They are several thousand dollars and they have deductibles, like an insurance policy does. They do not appear to replicate the original warranty on the car.

So, here's where the economics part of the post comes in. What to do? Buy the warranty or, and this is where things get more interesting, admit that the Volvo was as bad an investment as that JDS Uniphase stock and see if I can cash out the equity that remains in the car and buy another car for about or not much more than the cost of the extended warranty. Clearly, we'd be talking about a used car. That led to some investigation by my wife. She selected a couple of cars from Consumer Reports and compared them for safety and reliability. After Saturday afternoon driving four different SUV type cars (a moment of silence for the BMW X5, please, which was so great and so not a possibility), we have arrived at an Acura MDX. More precisely, the 2001 version, with around 29,000 miles. We will, I think, be able to swap out the Volvo for the Acura for a minimal amount above what the extended warranty costs for the Volvo.

The Acura will come out of their certified pre-owned program, is on the list of used cars recommended by Consumer Reports, has been serviced exclusively by the dealership selling me the car, and has a reputation for being a reliable car that can go the distance. Oh, and to extend the warranty (no deductible) on the Acura would be about 30% of the cost of doing so on the Volvo and I think that has to tell you something about the confidence that Acura has in its workmanship

Does anyone have any experience with Acura, generally, that they'd care to share? Anyone think that this transaction makes no sense and I have screwed up a major assumption? Did I get the economics right?

Posted by: Random Penseur at 09:00 AM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
Post contains 493 words, total size 3 kb.

Do not collect $100. Instead, go immediately to Helen's blog, Everyday Stranger (one of my daily must reads), and read her post about passion and her refusal to be "life's bitch" .

Words to live by. Hard to do maybe, but something we all ought to aspire to.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 08:44 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 56 words, total size 1 kb.

1 $100? When did I get a 50% pay cut? Drat.

Posted by: Jim at August 18, 2004 09:48 AM (IOwam)

2 When we got married.

Posted by: RP at August 18, 2004 10:14 AM (LlPKh)

3 I checked that post out. It's brilliant! Thanks for the link!

Posted by: Mick at August 18, 2004 03:31 PM (VhRca)

4 Thanks, babe Now go dote on your Mrs

Posted by: Helen at August 18, 2004 04:19 PM (mjc0R)

5 Will do, Helen!

Posted by: RP at August 18, 2004 05:13 PM (LlPKh)

6 Thanks for the link. What a wonderful virtual visit to Venice I had while reading Helen's post!

Posted by: Azalea at August 18, 2004 06:47 PM (hRxUm)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Did anyone happen to catch the portion of the Olympics television coverage last night when they did the story about the ancient Olympics site where the shot put and some other events will be held? It was actually not bad. And then, Bob Costas (is that his name?) got to speak and he showed that the English language is probably close to being on its last legs. This is what he said as the other correspondent signed off:

Props to you Dan for a fine report.

My wife looked at each other in stunned disbelief. Did we just hear him say, "props"? In the land which gave us the word, "kudos"? He said it so matter of factly, in that faux-gravitas newscaster's voice, the one that makes everything sound so important and so significant. There was no hint of mockery or self-doubt. No sense that he was being forced to use this term by an ever increasingly youth conscious marketing department trying to reel in the younger viewers. Nope. He used it like it was a perfectly acceptable synonym for the eminently serviceable word, "congratulations". I admit that hoary old thing as 5 syllables to the 1 in "props", but still. Not a reasonable excuse.

Normally, I don't look to sportscasters for examples of good English. In fact, the opposite is true. My favorite sportscaster malaprop was in the Fall of 1985 when, while watching the pre-game to some college football game, the announcer said:

It's very unusual to have these two teams meet so early in the season. This game could have national championship implifications

That one is so good that I have to think sometimes, almost 20 years later, before I use the word implication because implication doesn't sound as important as implification.

But I digress.

The reason Mr. Costas has me so heated up is that there is no good reason to reject many of the excellent words English has put at our disposal to signify congratulations or approval in order to replace them with the darling of the rapper set: "props". In my head, a prop is something you find on a set. Kind of like Mr. Costas, come to think of it.

We may not speak the King's English anymore, but we ought to draw the line somewhere. The way you speak in this country, while not as serious a matter as it is in England, will still serve to either limit or expand your opportunities. Many first generation immigrants will tell you that they learned to speak English here from the television. Teaching them that "props" is an acceptable way to convey congratulations is a dis-service to these people and to anyone else who might be led to think it's now appropriate to walk into the CEO's office and say, "Ms. Smith, props to you on that fine presentation you gave to the analyst community on our new cost accounting recognition system." Can you see that happening?

There are standards and we have them for a reason. Even if mine is the lone voice in the wilderness crying out for rigor and adherence to these standards, so be it. I know my wife will keep me company, at least, and English isn't even among her first two or three languages.

Here endeth the rant. Please resume your normal activities. I think sometimes that if it weren't for this blog, I'd be that guy in the corner. You know the one, the guy muttering to himself who makes you think, did he take his meds?

AN UPDATE

I just read the following article about the value of memorization in teaching children proper English and I extract the following paragraph for your consideration (in which the author does a much better job than I have done in expressing why the dumbing down of our language is such a problem with real consequences for those cheated out of an education):

All these benefits are especially important for inner-city kids. Bill Cosby recently pointed to the tragedy of the black kids he sees “standing on the corner” who “can’t speak English.” “I can’t even talk the way these people talk,” Cosby said: “ ‘Why you ain’t. Where you is.’ ” To kids who have never known anything but demotic English, literary English is bound to seem an alien, all but incomprehensible dialect. Kids who haven’t been exposed to the King’s English in primary school or at home will have a hard time, if they get to college, with works like Pride and Prejudice and Moby Dick. In too many cases, they will give up entirely, unable to enter the community of literate citizens—and as a result will live in a world of constricted opportunity.

It's like I posited above, if you think props is a real word, you constrict your opportunities.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 08:25 AM | Comments (17) | Add Comment
Post contains 819 words, total size 5 kb.

Jim, over at Snooze Button Dreams, was profiled in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

I think it has to make a nice change from the time he was profiled at the airport and they touched him in all of those inappropriate places.

Yay, Jim!

Posted by: Random Penseur at 12:05 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 46 words, total size 1 kb.

I have to go to the dentist this morning, and if that wasn't reason enough to be sad, I read the following things.

The first is from Little Green Footballs where Mr. Johnson shares an article about, in part, the opening ceremonies at the Olympics:

When the Palestinian delegation marched into the Olympic Stadium at the opening ceremonies last week, they were warmly welcomed. When the Iraqis came in, they got a standing ovation and the loudest cheers of the night. Even the Americans were greeted with polite, if unenthusiastic, applause.

But the small Israeli team — 36 athletes competing in 14 sports — was met with quiet so complete it was shocking.

The atheletes must have felt so isolated and so hated. How horrible. How un-Olympian in spirit.

The second thing I read was from Elizabeth at Ravings of a Corporate Mommy. Elizabeth writes, so movingly, of her defender, Paul, when she was a young girl and was teased so cruely by the other children. Go read it, but I warn you, it will make you sad because Elizabeth is a gifted writer who can really make you feel the pain of this little girl. But it's worth it.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 07:30 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 214 words, total size 1 kb.

If you are looking for me today, you will find me at my desk, busy at constructively ignoring what I cannot change today. I begin my appointed task very tired because the boy child gave us an unusually bad night (my poor wife is a wreck) so I am forced to ignore the fact that:

* I forgot to brush my teeth this morning (spare toothbrush at office, whew)

* I almost forgot to shave but I forced myself to remember deodorant

* I left the house without my glasses (but found old spare pair in desk! Yay!)

* I left house without an umbrella but returned to retrieve one (it was raining and that helped remind me) and,

* I ran the rusty tip of the umbrella along the side of my formerly clean pants, unintentionally, but leaving a streak of rust along the left outside knee.

It is only 8:50. I believe that I will face, with fortitude, the rest of the day's little surprises. And if not, I will, nobly and with great dignity, close my office door and weep quietly.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 08:52 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
Post contains 198 words, total size 1 kb.

Thanks a lot to Linda who deemed my emails to her worthy of a post about the joys of fatherhood.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 10:15 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 34 words, total size 1 kb.

The Next Generation Machine Gun fires grenades (click link to bring up image).

Thanks to John at TexasBestGrok for directing me to Ace's post on this topic.

Posted by: Random Penseur at 10:56 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 35 words, total size 1 kb.

I was just called and asked to assume the office of Interview Chair for the Alumni Admissions Counsel, NYC Chapter, of my University alma mater. They assured me I was their first choice. What's a girl to do? Of course, I said yes.

..Groan.. ..Buries face in hands..

Need. More. Coffee.

To borrow a little from Jim, can anyone tell me where the title comes from, without searching?

Posted by: Random Penseur at 10:27 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 84 words, total size 1 kb.