Philosophy

Being the basically shallow person I am (and one who NEVER tires of that “Annie Hall” reference)… I tend to agree with Edie Brickell when she says sings “Philosophy is the talk on a cereal box/walk on a slippery rock.” That said… I found this quiz interesting. And since the Quiz Results code appears to be broken, I took a screen-shot of my results, rather than attempt to paste broken code into this post. You’ll note we're in a dead heat when it comes to our philosophical alignment:

I’m a lil bit confused as to why “Justice” isn’t triumphant over “Hedonism” in the percentage rankings, even though the narrative is aligned properly. That's because of the way I answered this:

Tie Breaker

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. [X]

Pleasure should play a central role in our lives.

But, yeah. We ARE a bit hedonistic. More than a bit, actually, and there ain't a THING wrong with that. We're also big, big fans of “truth, justice, and the American Way” in these parts, as well. The two ain't exactly mutually exclusive. As for being 45% apathetic... Who gives a shit?

Here’s another one, which purports to tell you which of the leading philosophers you are most in alignment with:

Well, OK… I’ll buy that. The oh-so-brief narrative anyway. Except for the bit about the world following logic and common sense, what with precious little of either being immediately apparent to MY eyes these days.

Oh… and Edie’s song? “Embedding disabled by request.” But you can refresh your memory here, if the spirit moves ya. Good tune.

h/t for the quizzes: Phil at The Archer Pelican, by way of comments made by Doc at various places, including right here at EIP.

Facebook

Some of you Gentle Readers already know I bit the bullet, swallowed my Luddite tendencies whole, and created a Facebook account. My initial impressions? It's fun... BUT. The interface is about as clunky as it gets. The Help files... such as they are... are more opaque than the writings of any 18th century philosopher you'd care to name. But I'm surprised at the number of folks I know that are on Facebook: literally tons of 'em.

And it's addictive, which is synomonous with fun. I just pulled an unintended all-nighter... the finishing touch of which was putting up a photo album of 20 (selected) pics I took in Arches National Park towards the end of 2007's Great Mid-Life Crisis Mo'sickle Trip (which was chronicled in these pages in May and June of 2007). Stuff like this:

All y'all who've been along for the ride since Spring of 2007 have already seen this stuff, or most of it, anyhoo. There may be some new-to-you shots at the link. And those of you who've stumbled upon EIP in the past year or so probably haven't seen any of it.

I'm rambling now. Must sleep...

Yet MORE Blatant Thievery

Stolen from a comment by Joan of Argghh at Lex's place... a visual aid for those concerned about the fiscal effects of the latest round of bail-outs, which begins with the dimensions of a single dollar bill and progresses to this:


And moves to this, with a few intermediate stops:

And ends with an illustration of what a stack of one-dollar bills totaling $315 billion looks like. Now multiply that by THREE and you have the approximate size of the "stimulus" The One is proposing. Where the HELL is all that money gonna come from? I'm thinking the Chinese just may have had enough of this shi'ite... defined as our profligate ways... so my question remains: "Where's it gonna come from?"

This fiscal irresponsibility is rapidly becoming the ONE thing that scares the livin' BeJeezus out of me... more so than the threat of terrorism. And it's a self-inflicted wound.

Starters

Some amazing stuff here: 40 Amazing 3D Fractals Using Apophysis. Like this:

And you really should click for larger, as the color and detail in this image are just amazing. As are all the other images at the link. This particular image was created by someone who goes by the nom de plume of “mynameishalo” and was taken from deviantART. There’s other great stuff there, as well, but it was the fractal images that rang my bell.

―:☺:―

Apropos of nothing… I found this in comments to a post at Lex’s place yesterday:

Your comment is awaiting moderation. This is often because you appear to be a first-time contributor to our community, a voluntary association that prides itself on civility and intelligent discourse. If you’ve ladled your comment with gratuitous profanity, egregious inanity or pugnacious stupidity, do not be surprised if it doesn’t make the moderation cut: Although heterodoxy of opinion is welcome, life’s too short to wrestle with pigs. Unless of course the siteowner chooses to make sport of you, which is admittedly well within the realm of the possible. Otherwise, welcome aboard!

One of Lex’s regulars, who isn’t accustomed to the indignity of comment moderation,* posted the quoted moderation message as part of a “WTF?” comment. I’d never seen the moderation message before myself, given I’m also a regular. But… having posted comments at Lex’s place from off-site locations (read as: hotels), I’m fairly certain he employs some sort of IP address-based filtering system.

But this newest message? Just dead on perfect. Lex is serious about the collegiality in his comments section, and his blog is one of the few places on these here inter-tubes where one can discuss a difference of opinion at length, as long as one obeys the rules. But… if you’re dumb enough to ignore basic civility in your comments, then rest assured Lex will “make sport of you.” And believe me: you don’t want Cap’n Lex to do that. Oh no, My Precious… you doesn’t.

* Let’s say this about that: I hate comment moderation. I believe there is but ONE good reason for it, that reason being if one is being stalked and/or one’s blog is frequented by an egregious troll or trolls who just won’t give up. Same difference, in other words, and a LOT of military or mil-support blogs get this sort of incredibly offensive traffic. Some blogging platforms don’t support “banning,” and comment moderation is the only way out in this case. But… if you’re NOT being stalked or haunted by trolls, comment moderation says but one thing to me: control freak. And I’m not particularly fond of control freaks.

―:☺:―

And finally... My Thrill of the Day, if not the century. Enter the following phrase in Google's search box... exactly as typed: "oh shit oh dear" +Tom Robbins ... and hit the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button. Report back...

T-Weeds, Part Deux

Forgive me, Gentle Reader, but I remain amazed and mystified at the tumbleweed collection amassed just outside my door. Thus a few more pics now that it's warmed up considerably and the coffee's been consumed. I NEVER go out without being fully caffeinated, ya know.

That meter box on the pole is about four feet off the ground. The last image (a close-up of one of the offending buggers) illustrates why cleaning these things up ain't so easy, even with thick work gloves. Being as how tumbleweeds are thistles by definition they are RIFE with stickers. And the damned things get in your clothes, yadda, yadda. Obnoxious vegetation, if there ever was such a thing.

Philosophical Commentary... In Song

The opening shot across the bow... concerning American beer... is well-taken, even though I'd heard it before (long ago and far away, whilst living in Ol' Blighty). Aussies have little, if ANY, grounds to criticize our beer, tho. I mean... Foster's? C'mon...

But... it ain't about the beer, ya know. It's the comment on the Thinkers of the Ages that's pretty danged funny. That and the shots taken at El-Eh.

h/t: Barry.

They're Coming to Take Me Away...

An outlander could be forgiven for thinking this is some sort of alien invasion; we're only 93 miles from Roswell, after all. And: "whatever made us think they'd come in spaceships?" From my kitchen window, mere minutes ago:


This year's tumbleweed crop is impressive... and I've never seen anything like this in the six years I've been docked in Beautiful La Hacienda Trailer Park. The grounds are overrun with these damned things. And yeah, I could take better shots if I were outside... but I just got up and haven't gotten dressed yet. Besides that, it's cold outside and I've just poured my first cup.

Priorities, Gentle Reader. Priorities.

(ed: I added the alien stuff after I first posted. I wasn't completely awake yet.)

In Today's Mail

"Dear Mike,

Don't hold your breath, Buddy. I appreciate the spiffy membership card and all that, but My Tribe has been a serious disappointment of late. I'm beginning to believe you guys couldn't pour piss out of a boot if the directions were on the heel. But thanks for postage-paid return envelope you included with the beg. That was a nice touch.

Love,
Norman"

Linkage

Blog-Bud Lou and daughter Jess did a getaway to San Antonio recently... and Jesse has posted photos of that trip... in four installments. There's some seriously good photography on display here... such as this:

Go check it out... I guarantee you'll NOT be disappointed. Bonus: margaritas! And lots of 'em!

Another Useless Mélange

A lot of folks don’t see any redeeming qualities in Twitter. At all. I didn’t either at first, but I’m beginning to realize Twitter’s value is all in whom one follows. No deep-diving analysis is forthcoming, as I’m basically a shallow person with few well-formed ideas, opinions, or arguments on/about anything. Nope… my simple observations are these:

(1) Twitter is great for keeping up with folks whose blogs you read. Sort of real-time mini blog updates.

(2) There are obvious “friends and family” aspects.

(3) Twitter is sort of like hanging out at the bar and overhearing fragments of conversations. Stuff like this:

Lileks: So Friends can turn into Fans on Facebook? Is there a premium level where they turn into Loyal Subjects, or is that just for Saudi royalty?

I found that uproariously funny! But then again… I just told you I’m basically a shallow person*.

Now. Shall we talk about Facebook? I find that concept to be totally without redeeming qualities. But, Hey! Who am I to argue with 100 million people?

*(second graf, fourth sentence)

―:☺:―

Department of Stupid Associations and The Paths We Follow While Surfing: I started reading all of Amazon's One-Star reviews on “Annie Hall” as a result of searching for that “shallow” link above. And I found this:

I guess I've always resisted watching this movie because it was awarded the Oscar for Best Picture over "Star Wars." That, and I really don't like Woody Allen.

What? Can this BE? The movie that spawned an entire subculture of (pardon!) slavish devotees who will queue for days… in Princess Leia drag or worse… outside a theatre before the latest “Star Wars” re-flog is shown? A movie that has single-handedly kept the Halloween Costume Industry in the black for over three decades (and… toys!) lost to a sappy introverted comedy about the demise of a neurotic New York City schmuck’s love affair? Say it ain’t so!

It’s so.

I take back all the bad shit I’ve said in the past about the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and its members, just for that one act of purity, truth, and justice back in 1977. Well… some of it, anyway. Hardly any of it, actually. They still suck.

―:☺:―

I guess The One will just have to make do with Dubya’s hand-me-downs, as Dubya did with the Big Dog’s, etc., etc.:

Looking for a New Air Force One: The Air Force has launched an effort to find the next fixed-wing aircraft to serve as primary Presidential transport, replacing the Boeing VC-25s that have flown US Presidents since 1990. The VC-25, based on Boeing's 747-200, is approaching the end of its 30-year design life, and, with commercial versions leaving airline service, the cost for parts and maintenance has increased. According to a Jan. 7 sources sought announcement, the Air Force conducted an analysis of alternatives, vying the cost of maintaining the current aircraft against buying a new one, and found that "replacing the VC-25 was the most cost-effective option." The new Air Force One, like its predecessor, will be a highly modified commercial wide-body aircraft that USAF expects to see delivered—complete with communications, interior, and aerial refueling capability modifications—in Fiscal 2017, followed by a second and third aircraft in two year increments. The Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio-based Aeronautical Systems Center, which is managing the Presidential Aircraft Recapitalization program, expects industry responses to its contractor capability survey by Jan. 28.

From the January 12^th edition of the Air Force Associations’ Daily Report newsletter. I think the current Air Force One is pretty danged cool as it is. But there is that life-cycle thing to consider. Which, of course, is true in other areas. Most especially other areas.

―:☺:―

Now get back to work. You’re paying for my retirement, ya know, and while I can overlook a little blog surfing on company time, enough’s enough. Keep that productivity up — my livelihood depends on YOU! And while we’re at it… thanks for the raise, guys! That was really nice of ya!

Point, Counterpoint

Yeah... it's one of those "Jane, you ignorant slut!" kinda things. Doubtless all y'all have seen this:

I received the above twice in e-mail and saw it on at least two of my Daily Reads, either directly or as linkage. Well... a counterpoint has begun circulating that you may or may not have seen... "not" being much more likely, given as how Popular Opinion isn't exactly "in synch" with this:

And more's the pity.

(h/t: Via e-mail from My Buddy Greg in Detroit, who just happens to be an engineer with GM)

"Awards," a Lil Hockey, and a Lil Kultur

From the inimitable David Burge…

You May Already Be a Winner

Ah, January... when all the world's abuzz about the awards and nominees, and the nominators who nominate them, and the awarders who award them. Not to mention the inevitable celebrity feuds, catty backstabbing and shameless studio campaigns that provide another rich layer of drama to the spectacle. The Oscars? Of course not! I'm talking about the most coveted media prize on the planet: the Bloggie Award Thingy.

Unfortunately, there is a dark side to the Awards Week glitter of Pixeltown. For every winner of Best Canadian Pet Grooming Site, or Best Mid-Low-Major Blog With Moon in Scorpio, there will be millions of losers. After the gift baskets are distributed and the red carpet rolled up, you will find these broken souls in a private VIP booth at the Viper Club, face-down in mountain of cocaine, angrily muttering about the injustice of it all.

I hear you, tortured blogosphere artists. But take heart, for The International Center for Extreme Internet Excellence has just named your site as 2008 International Blog of the Year!

As a token of this prestigious honor, please accept this distinctive genuine synthetic golden jpeg proclaiming your site's historic achievement. Feel free to proudly display on your sidebar, print out as a handsome medallion, or perhaps tattoo it on your neck. And, as an official inductee into this elite club of winners, you have been officially deputized by the ICEIE to regift this fabulous award to any other blogger you deem worthy. You have been entrusted with an awesome power, so please exercise responsibly.

Hey! Cool! That’s me he’s talking about, Gentle Reader! Woo-hoo! (/sarcasm)

But, all kidding aside, Mr. Burge touches upon a subject that is near and dear to my curmudgeonly heart. By that I mean all these blog awards bestowed by one blogger on another… or five others, if not more. The award in question is always some sort of home-grown badge that proclaims to the world that you, Dear Blogger, are “Kreativ,” “Excellent,” a “Best Friend Forever,” you’re “Really, Really NICE!” or some such. Don’t get me wrong: I appreciate recognition as much as the next guy or gal (proof of which resides in my sidebar). But a mention (link) in the body of a post, including me on your blog-roll, or some such thing is entirely adequate. Unless you happen to the owner of some sort of blogging award determined by reader votes or some sort of panel or the like. In other words… the major league awards (Heh. Fat chance EIP has there.). An Instalanche would nice, too. Just once… but we digress.

But spare me the cutesy Photoshop creations. I don’t want to seem like The Mom of All Ingrates (or whatever the male equivalent is)… I just think it’s silly. And I’m simply not in to “silly.” YMMV, of course. And that’s OK with me.

Just one more digression and then we’ll MoveOn. OTOH… there’s a distinct lack of certain awards in the ‘sphere, as this commenter at IowaHawk notes:

It's all well and good to create awards for internationally established bloggers, but what about an award for those too lazy to create/host/maintain a blog of their own, but are skillful in dumbing the work of others down in the Comments section? We need a Blog Commenters award, dammit.

Most Annoying Troll
Most Posts while Intoxicated
Most Fearful of Punctuation
Greatest inability to use adverbs
Most dreadful fatality while posting a comment

I shall now nominate myself as Longest Post on this Thread with no Apparent Reason Other than to Amuse Myself.

Heh. I agree completely. I just might create a Blog Award in the highlighted category, as misuse of punctuation and general abuse of the Mother Tongue is one of my minor hot-buttons. I’m such a pedant in this space… always have been, always will be. But you know I won’t create that award for “Creative Punctuation Use,” Gentle Reader. Coz I’m just too nice, even though I don’t have one single badge proclaiming that fact to the world. So misuse the English language to your heart’s content. And please don’t remind me of my “comma problem” or my inability to write a simple declarative sentence. We’re working on those.

―:☺:―

Realignment talk:

Scott Burnside: Funny how your memories of our events together often vary dramatically from mine, or from reality in general. But you are right, my friend. When you see compelling games like the Flyers-Caps tilt the other night, it makes you pine for more. It brings us to the question of realignment, which pops up every now and then, and will likely continue to do so as we discuss the future of franchises in Phoenix, Atlanta and Nashville, among others.

The assumption has long been if the NHL ever gets to a point where it is serious about realigning the conferences, the first order of business will be to move Detroit into the Eastern Conference, which would set up some interesting rivalry possibilities with Toronto, Buffalo and Ottawa.

LeBrun: Scotty, I wouldn't be so sure about moving Detroit. I think Chicago, among others, would have serious issues with that. While I agree it's never made any sense to have the Wings in the Western Conference, the Original Six tie to the Blackhawks would be tough to break up. But this topic made me dig up one of my old notes from December 2006, when the NHL last floated realignment to its governors.

It’s just talk, though, albeit among two very knowledgeable hockey writers. I favor a realignment that puts Detroit in the East, because it’s ALL about the travel. Anyone who’s done any amount of business traveling knows it’s a bitch… a real bitch. Your body clock gets disrupted, you don’t sleep in your own bed, and you eat mediocre food… at best. I suspect it’s the same sort of situation for professional sports teams, even those with their own airplane. But… travel is especially onerous during the playoff run, and MOST especially for the Wings… whose likely opponents during the second and subsequent playoff rounds (Ins’hAllah!) are ALL on the West Coast… or way the Hell up in Alberta. The best Detroit can hope for in the current conference alignment (in terms of travel) would be early playoff series against Chicago, St. Louis, or Nashville. It’s still a long flight from Hockeytown to places like Dallas… never mind El Aay.

But… if Detroit were in the East the worst case scenario would involve travel to Florida (not much chance of that, given the pathetic state of both the Panthers and Lightning) or Carolina (fat chance, yet again). Otherwise? Montreal, Boston, Washington, Philly, Pittsburgh… all pieces of travel cake compared to shuttling back and forth to, say, Anaheim. And think of the renewed rivalry between Detroit and Toronto… not to mention the other Original Six teams in the East. Yeah, it would be sad to see the renewed rivalry between the Hawks and the Wings die on the vine and I’d most certainly miss watching the Wings beat up on Colorado. But we’ve made our point as far as the Avs go, and it’ll be years before that formerly proud franchise returns to something resembling its glory days. (Sorry, Andy… but it’s true.)

So… yeah. Speaking strictly from a Detroit perspective, the NHL should seriously consider realigning the conferences. It would be also good for the game all the way ‘round, methinks.

More hockey talk… Eric Duhatschek of the Globe and Mail gives us his mid-season review, the guys at SI do the same.

―:☺:―

Today’s Pics: A few shots taken at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, back at the turn of the century. The first two shots were taken in the Contemporary Gallery, the other two were taken in the statuary garden, including one of YrHmblScrb… who doesn’t know a whole helluva lot about art but definitely knows what he likes… examples of which abounded in the statuary garden.

More on my day at the MFAH here. The MFAH official web site is here. (The usual disclaimers/notices apply... such as "first-generation digital pics - apologies" and click to embiggen.)

An Interesting Site...

... for political junkies. This site features political logos from US elections... all the way back to 1960. The rest of you may disregard, if you ain't all that political.

I found images such as the one above to be interesting memory joggers. Not ALL the memories were good ones, tho. It really hurt to see that damned McGovern logo from 1972 (which I oh-so-proudly displayed on my rear bumper, back in the day)... among others.

More Blatant Thievery

Stolen from a commenter at Daphne's place... oh-so-real social comment on men being sick (1:25):



Yeah... like that. Well, it used to be like that. These days we suffer alone and in silence when we're ill. Can I get a "poor BABY?"

(I'm not sick, btw. Just sayin'.) (and there's more rilly cool vids at the link [ed: clarification... there are more cool vids at the YouTube site where these came from, NOT at Daphne's place. Sorry for the confusion, if any.]... follow any link titled "Man Stroke Woman" and you will be mightily entertained! Some of 'em are pretty racy but I like that in short films, ya know. YMMV.)

Update: Oh, my. I have a feeling I'm gonna be here for a LOT more than just a while. Does this ring a bell, Gentle Reader? I'll not indulge in self-incrimination, but... (1:25)



Heh. I have a couple o' tee shirts that look an awful lot like this one.

Awaiting the Kick-Off...

... to the BCS Championship Game on Fox. I've been on the fence as far as who I'll root for... right up until now. But I've made up my mind:

Go GATORS!

Apropos of Nothing, Part X

I counted. This is the tenth "Apropos of Nothing" titled post I've put up. But we digress, as is our wont. I'm just in from another mid-winter Happy Hour, the soundtrack to which was provided by Pandora. Here's one such tune from this afternoon's soundtrack:



I loves me some early Fleetwood Mac, particularly the Peter Green years. Those of you who know me know I'm a big fan of Da Blooze in all its permutations, but particularly from those Brit-bands of the late '60s and early to mid-'70s, who did SO much to advance the genre in America. But, all that said, Fleetwood Mac's later stuff (from which this tune comes) is as good as any of their work, and this tune is better than most. It ain't Da Blooze, but it sure as Hell is good music. O! The memories this particular song invokes... but let's not go there. Let's just enjoy.

Just Another Placeholder

Was it yesterday or the day before that I mentioned I might post a pic of that War Trophy, as displayed here in El Casa Móvil De Pennington? Well might turned into will... as in "will post."

The top shot was taken with with the SLR; the second with the grab-shot camera. Both pics were taken from the same place and shot with available light, which is to say with the flash disabled. And please... no comments from the peanut gallery on my housekeeping, or lack of same. I did make my bed in honor of the occasion. But that was it... and more than likely will remain "it" for the rest of the day.

Didja Miss the Skyscrapers? Didja Miss the Long Freeways?

I think I can let the cat out of the bag now...



I had an e-mail conversation with SN1 just after 0100 hrs this morning. He was in Baltimore, with his flight home scheduled for an 0530 departure. I was cautioned not to tell Erma (my DIL) as his arrival was gonna be a surprise. One assumes he should be home safely by now.

Welcome home, Buck. We're ALL so glad you're "livin' in the USA" again! And thanks.

Playing For Change

Lotsa video here at EIP lately. Here's another:

I first saw the video above… or one very much like it, and a lot more… on PBS’ Bill Moyers Journal. Here’s an excerpt from the “Playing For Change” piece on Moyers’ site:

October 24, 2008

Bill Moyers sits down with Mark Johnson, the producer of a remarkable documentary about the simple but transformative power of music: PLAYING FOR CHANGE: PEACE THROUGH MUSIC. The film brings together musicians from around the world — blues singers in a waterlogged New Orleans, chamber groups in Moscow, a South African choir — to collaborate on songs familiar and new, in the effort to foster a new, greater understanding of our commonality.

Johnson traveled around the globe and recorded tracks for such classics as "Stand By Me" and Bob Marley's "One World" — creating a new mix in which essentially the performers are all performing together — worlds apart. Often recording with just battery-powered equipment, Johnson found musicians on street corners or in small clubs and they would in turn gather their friends and colleagues — in all, they recorded over 100 musicians from Tibet to Zimbabwe.

And for those of you Gentle Readers who just might be raising an eyebrow because I’m linking Moonbat Extraordinaire Moyers… remember that ol’ saw about stopped clocks being right twice a day. I’ve mentioned at least once before that Friday night is Moonbat Night here at El Casa Móvil De Pennington, wherein I watch “Now” and “Bill Moyers Journal.” I hit the mute button on my teevee quite often during Moyers’ shows… better than half the time, actually… but he does have socially-redeemable content occasionally. The “Playing For Change” piece is one such example.

Good, innit?

Just About THE Coolest Present, Ever

Checked my snail mail a few minutes ago... and a couple of packages from SN1 were in my box, including the following:

Along with a United States flag, obviously. I have precious little wall space here in El Casa Móvil De Pennington upon which to hang something, anything. But you can bet yore boots this cert WILL be framed and hung... somewhere. (As ever: click for larger)