Friday, December 30, 2005

I Mess With Texas, Part 7



Yes, sirree bob, this is a bumper crop of a state. Not a few weeks ago they were struggling with the earth-shattering freezing temperature of 24, and now, the place is on fire.

I'm completely sympathetic with the so-far four people who've died. That's a bad way to go, and to lose your home and only be able to rescue photos -- terrifying and horrific. And now I have to worry about my family, because the flames are coming towards Austin.

But you know what? If I ever had any worries that I might be wrong that Texas is somehow a great state, they've long been laid to rest. And why?

From one of the above articles:

Severe drought set the stage for the fires, which authorities believe were started mostly by people shooting off fireworks, tossing cigarettes or burning trash in spite of bans imposed because of the drought. A fallen power line apparently started one Oklahoma blaze.

It's dry as a bone out, hun! Let's entertain ourselves outdoors! With sparks and flames! That sounds like fun! Woooooooo-whee! And that little ciggie you were smoking? Just crush it out underfoot. Or better yet, toss it in that trash bin. Yippie-ki-yay!

And what's the fine for ignoring a burn ban? Most I saw was $500. What a wonderful Republican-led place! With such focused, incisive minds!

If the slogan of this state is currently "it's like a whole other country," then y'know what? I think it's time to cut it free. Issue passports. Institute immigration status. Better yet: Let Mexico have it back again. This place is an embarrassment.

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

I Mess With Texas, Part 6



When I was in high school, I took an amazing course: History of Religion. For a public high school in a non-Bible belt state, this was pretty revolutionary. But as was pointed out to us by our teacher -- the love-her or hate-her Mrs. Penn -- it wasn't about religion. It was about studying the history of how religion developed.

It was one of the most interesting classes I took. You were required to attend two religious services not your own, so I got to sit in on a Catholic mass and a Quaker meeting (after which I met David Byrne's mother and had some of her banana bread!) and bring in someone to discuss your religion. If they started to preach, though, they'd have to leave. It was brilliant, and spurred my interest in studying the origins of religion -- I minored in it in college. And I'm not a particularly religious person.

That said, this fries my weenies. At what point did Bible Study become an OK elective course? The "National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools"? At what point did that happen? And more importantly, the main text to be studied "promoted creationism and taught that the Constitution was based on Scripture."

Please. Everyone mess with Texas, immediately. Few states have needed such messing around with before.

From the NY Times:
December 22, 2005
Texas District Adopts Disputed Text on Bible Study
By BARBARA NOVOVITCH

Correction Appended

ODESSA, Tex., Dec. 21 -Trustees of the Ector County Independent School District here decided, 4 to 2, on Tuesday night that high school students would use a course published by the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools for studying the Bible in history and literature.

The council is a religious advocacy group in Greensboro, N.C., and has the backing of the Eagle Forum and Focus on the Family, two conservative organizations.

The vote on the disputed textbook, for an elective Bible study course, has not ended the matter. Critics say the book promotes fundamentalist Protestant Christianity.

The district superintendent, Wendell Sollis, said Wednesday that he had recommended the textbook over a newer one by the Bible Literacy Project, published this year through the Freedom Forum and an ecumenical group of scholars and endorsed by a group of religious organizations.

"I felt like the National Council was a better fit for Odessa, because they're on several campuses here in Texas and because of their longevity," Mr. Sollis said.

David Newman, a professor of English at Odessa College, said he planned to sue the district because the curriculum advocated a fundamentalist Christian point of view.

The school board president, Randy Rives, said of the curriculum, which uses the King James Version of the Bible: "If you're going to teach something, it's better to use the source. I have complete confidence that we can teach this within the parameters of the law."

Professor Newman said, "If the beliefs of others don't match theirs, then the beliefs of others are irrelevant."

Last summer, the Texas Freedom Network, which promotes religious freedoms, asked a biblical scholar at Southern Methodist University, Mark A. Chancey, to examine the council course. Dr. Chancey said it had factual errors, promoted creationism and taught that the Constitution was based on Scripture.

A district trustee here, Carol Gregg, said she favored the Bible Literacy Project because it was "more user friendly toward teachers" and "more respectful of minority and majority" religious views.

Unlike the competing curriculum, it mentions several versions of the Bible.

Correction: Dec. 24, 2005, Saturday:

An article on Thursday about a Texas school district's adopting a course published by the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools for studying the Bible in history and literature misstated the position of Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian group. Focus on the Family has not endorsed the council or its Bible curriculum.

Sunday, December 25, 2005

Happy Hanukkah! Merry Christmas! Happy Solstice!



Ciara wishes everyone, including Lois, Larry, Craig, Kris, Sydney, Julia, Lynda, Rebecca, Valerie, Alexis, Jerry, Joey, Michael, Darron, Alan and all of their attendant family members a very happy spirit of the day. She herself is demonstrating the true spirit of the season with her newfound "friend," Allie the Alligator, who soon will be going to Croc Heaven. That true spirit being....


Rending, tearing, ripping


Dismemberment and gouging of eyes


And sheer, exhaustive joy.

Happy freaking holidays!

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Merry Duranmas to all, and to all a good night



One of the better holiday gifts I've gotten so far is here.

Duran Duran wish you a merry holiday -- and let you mix their lyrics.

Deeply cheesy, and that's what it's all about. On first seeing the photo, I thought Robert Palmer had gotten revenge on his former Power Station bandmates by making them -- and their fellow Durans -- dress all alike, a la his music videos, but then I had a different cognitive dissonance moment: They're all holding guitars. Even Roger, who you never seen outside his kit. And who looks like he has a cramp. Even Nick, who here appears to be playing a mandolin of some sort. I wonder if they had to photoshop it, or if they all actually posed. Yes, I think of these things. And then I go mix songs.

Elsewhere, the strike is over! I now get to see what the world is like outside my apartment. The last few days, the time has just sped by in a blend of meals, soaps, staring at the computer, working, interviewing (hey, it's not incidental that I got Chris Noth and Vincent D'Onofrio to call me at my house, heh heh, love the gig), editing, and fighting to get my VOIP to work 24/7. Somewhere, Earthlink seemed to think it was optional. It's much less so when you've got to work from home. So, I don't heart VOIP as much as I once did.

But I digress: The strike is over! Now we all get to reappreciate the joys, the smells, the touches, and the weirdness of the NYC subway, all over again. Yay!

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

There is power in a union



So, yeah. These were the options today, at least if you live where I do:

1) Get a ride with someone from work. You have to fit 4 people in the car, and the guy says he has to be in the office by 8:30 in the morning and you know it's going to be nightmarish with traffic, and plus if he gets in at 8:30 he probably has to leave by around 4:30 in the afternoon .... etc.

2) Walk about 15 blocks to the commuter train connection. (Commuter trains are running.) Squeeze on. Exit at 34th Street. Walk about 30 blocks south to work. End of day, rinse and repeat.

Neither was particularly savory, and I'm sympathetic with anyone who had to go through it. (There was a sense of camaraderie and novelty to the day, based on what I saw on the news; a group had even set up free coffee on the end of the Brooklyn Bridge for the walkers -- kind of like what happened on 9/11, without the horrific terrorist tragedy element.) Mercifully, I have bosses who are sane and understand there's no point in my going into the office under those conditions -- so I get to work from home. Today, tomorrow and probably until the end of the week, assuming this continues (And I think we should assume in this case.) If it goes into next week, well -- then we'll see. In any case, I got to do my interviews and get email and check email and do pretty much whatever I had to do ... all from the comfort of my home desk. Sweet!

The only downside: Sometime around 8pm, my VOIP went down. Apparently it's a nationwide issue. Earthlink is on the case. Achem. You can find this out for yourself, if you're willing to hang on the phone for a half hour. So anyone trying to call, this is why you can't reach me! Even though I'm home! Sigh.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Woof!

Ciara sends her love.



Though not to the chew toy.



And she wants to know when dinner starts.

Monday, December 12, 2005

I Mess With Texas, Part 5



I forgot one more excellent reason to mess with Texas.

Tom DeLay.

Apparently the House majority leader, currently facing some legal troubles of his own, has engineered some others that the Supremes are now taking into consideration. From this New York Times article:

Supreme Court to Review Texas Redistricting Dispute
By DAVID STOUT

WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 - The United States Supreme Court agreed today to review the constitutionality of the Texas redistricting plan that was engineered by Representative Tom DeLay, the House majority leader until recently, and helped Republicans add to their majority from the Lone Star State.

The justices will consider several lawsuits by Democrats and minority groups challenging the redrawn maps of voting districts pushed through in 2003. The redistricting has been credited with helping Republicans gain five more seats in the Texas delegation to the House of Representatives in 2004, increasing the Republican ranks to 21, compared with 11 Texas Democrats.

Today's announcement by the Supreme Court comes 10 days after the Justice Department acknowledged that some of its top officials had overruled a determination by the agency's civil rights division staff in 2003 that the redistricting plan would dilute the voting strength of minorities in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1965.


Because after all, once you're in charge the first thing you want to do is solidify that death-grip on the system, so that you can always and forever, amen, keep yourself in charge. Even when you have to know that means calcification, oligarchy, and despotism. Get rid of the challenge, rather than make your constituents better off. Nice work!

**************

Unrelated, though not entirely: Caution to all who decide to re-gift. If you re-gift, oh, say, a large ticket item that includes storage devices, then pass it off as a brand-new present, do erase your old "tests" on the machine first. Because, you see, if you don't, those "tests" have storage dates. And they can be seen once they're downloaded. And then the person you gave the item to, who believed it to be new, will realize it is in fact over a year old and therefore likely something you bought for yourself, didn't care for, and are now pawning off. The gift is generous, the spirit behind it is less so. At the very least, announce it as a re-gift. The basically brand-new nature of the item, plus the large-ticket price, isn't a problem (in my book). Not revealing it as a re-gift, however, is deceitful.

Those who know what I'm talking about will also know the connection to Texas on this one.

Rockinghorse People Eat Marshmallow Pies



Thanks to everyone who came! A marvy, and messy-chocolatey time was had by all. Oh, and there was vodka. My, was there vodka.







Friday, December 09, 2005

I Mess With Texas, Part 4



My brother is in Austin, Texas. According to Mom, he says the house is so big "you could get tired walking from the living room to the front door." My SIL arrived Tuesday with Syd in tow. Mom and Larry get there Sunday.

From a newsgroup today:

"It got below freezing around noon. We've had about a 1/4 of freezing rain/sleet/snow. Big emergency. More than 100 auto accidents. School in the city delayed by two hours in the morning, and more parochial and rural schools are closed. Many staples were stripped from the shelves in the local store by 4 p.m. It might get as cold as 24 F before morning. In Austin this is major winter storm disaster."

24. Degrees. Above zero. Ninnies. Put down some damn salt.

Other version here.

God, it's so obvious, and mean, but I'll say it: Hell does freeze over. And we're supposed to tremble at the greatness of the stateness of Texas?

Thursday, December 08, 2005

Snow shark!



More of these wonderful things here.

No, that's not the most preoccupying thought in my head at the moment (that would be Saturday's anxiety-inducing party, with attendant fountain activity), but it'll do for now.

Something I was thinking of recently:

While living in London in the early 1990s, I came across several things which appeared quaint, many which seemed advanced, and some of which were brilliant but utterly unlikely to ever appear in the U.S. These latter included:

1) Galaxy and Cadbury bars (subhead: Those little Christmas-era baskets of samplers, called "Promises" and suchlike)
2) Prepaid phone cards
3) Train notifications in the subway
4) OK! magazine
5) Use of slang like "shite" and "sketchy" and so forth in regular non-Brit conversation

Anyway, so much for my predictor status. All of those are here now. I just find it interesting that Britain was ahead of the technologically-advanced (achem) U.S. in various important (well, OK! Magazine aside) ways.

Boy, I gotta get back over there.

Monday, December 05, 2005

I Heart VOIP

Okay, so they say all good relationships have some push-pull, some arguing, some long phone conversations. I've had all of those with Earthlink and their Voice Over Internet Phone in the past month.

Today, we connected Ethernets and made up. I now have a working, incoming phone again. I can dial by clicking a button on a Web page. I can forward my calls. I can block numbers I don't want to hear from. And I have this, plus more, for $15 per month for 500 minutes.

Now, I just need to figure out how to get my newsgroups back.

Sunday, December 04, 2005

Snow Day



This may be the second snowfall of the season (while I was in Maryland I think some may have fallen), but it's the first for me. For some reason I got up early today and was a little startled to see snow (I didn't know it was coming), but pleased. The dog isn't happy, but we went out for our morning (::achem::) constitutional and it was so early everything was still in that half-formed peaceful mode, the quiet and stillness about as complete as you get in this neighborhood on any given day. And it's still coming down, gently.



In unrelated but welcome good news that has no bearing on anything in particular except if you want to make a 411 call for free, here's a new service: 1-800-FREE-411. You might hear a 12-second ad, but it's not painful, apparently. I haven't used it, but Snopes is king of all, and they have this to say about it.

Snow and free calls! Works for me.

Friday, December 02, 2005

I Mess With Texas, Part 3



Or, more accurately, McSweeney's does.

"Socially Awkward Situations In Which It Would Be Acceptable to Mess With Texas"

My favorite:
Texas demonstrates little respect for "personal space."

Hee.

Thanks, Paul!