Month: November 2003

Last night’s adventure was to pick up my new portable dishwasher a la eBay.

The initial plan was for my bro to meet me after work, and we would sojourn to Brooklyn together. Instead he went to hang out with his friend Tiago IN Brooklyn, somewhere near the Carrol Ave stop on the F train. I got stuck at Rockafeller center for almost a half hour, only to finally emerge in Brooklyn to a brother whose cellphone battery was dead.

So I called Tiago, and he was gone already – no way to get ahold of him, hanging in a random train station in Brooklyn. He finally showed up around 20 minutes later. Then we got on the road to find the place where the dishwasher lay. Unfortuantely for me, the directions I had were limited to access from the Brooklyn bridge, which we were already well across. We got on 278 going the wrong way, for about 15 minutes, before the woman selling the dishwasher called me back. She informed us of the msitake, and we 180’d.

Around 8:30 we got to the dishwasher. It worked fine, except for the lack of a sink adapter (which, after a lot of seraching, I finally managed to track down from Whirlpool). In short, I payed around 200$, and enjoyed a lot of running around for a dishwasher that is not going to work for 7-10 business days =/. Still beats 500$ for a new one, I guess.

Overall, a sucessful venture. I am indebted to my brother for his aid in the endeavor.

In other news, chellez’ momutt escaped bedroom confinement yesterday (he has been on a destructive romp of late) and attacked the trash, which contained a turkey carcass from the previous night’s potluck escapades. As a result, he had some really rank gas all evening, an experience I would mch rather never experience again.

CT tomorrow, for a friend-filled fun Thanksgiving. Friday is post-tday bash at che Robinson north, and this weekend I need to tutor Richelle in Coldfusion and database stuffs.

Here is my update for a great many days:

Friday evening was very pleasant. Lots of cleaning, and some minor organizing, followed by lots of cooking. I made my red wine garlic duck, and bruteforcemethd came over to enjoy that, and some good conversation, and a bottle of decent red. I was pleased with the goose, though it was not quite the same without the mushroom stuffing. I guess that is just as well, because chellez didn’t really like the duck too much anyhow. However, the stuffing I did make, along with my creamy walnut rice, and the tricolor salad went over very well.

Saturday was a mostly lazy day. I am about 3/5ths of the way through Gladius, which is a pretty kickass game (it took a while to grow on me). Hooray for procrastination. I managed to get some work done, as well as a little writing as well. Hopefully Julie looked over some of my poetry while she was in Taipei, I dunno if she did or not, I keep forgetting to ask her.

Saturday I also decided that this was going to be a thin xmas. I usually go all out, but not this year. I hate xmas, but I enjoy making people happy, especially gift-giving, so I tend to try to outdo myself year-to-year. Money will just not be there – I have been considering doing writing gifts – poems and the like, but I don’t know if the time/energy will be there for that.

Saturday night brought a delightful repast at Trio with my old friend Dar, and Chellez. Dar is going to Brooklyn Law, and needed to borrow a laptop so she didn’t have to handwrite her exams. The food was rather good at Trio, though priced to match. Both Dar and Chellez had prosciutto-wrapped filet mignon with mustard gratin, wild mushrooms, sautéed spinach & roasted farmer’s potatoes. I had gorgonzola-stuffed breast of chicken seasoned with fresh herbs over sweet peas & broccoli rabe. The wine by the glass was adequate, the grappa was fantastic (along with the custard and fruit, and the best damn biscotti I have had in ages). The highlight of the evening, IMO was the olives. Definitely tops.

Sunday started slowly. Chellez had a headache, I made some pancakes, not a whole lot going on. I got a dishwasher over eBay (something we have been wanting since we moved), and then tried to get my bro to help me go pick it up. Instead we are doing it today, I hope. Sunday afternoon Chellez went out to get snowboarding gear, while I geeked around with the bro. Carnivale Sunday night – one episode left, I hope it is not a signature cliffhanger.

Yesterday was eventful – shot out of work a little early to get some serious shopping done for the NHPA bi-monthly potluck. I elected to make turkey pot pies for ~ 20 people (mini pot pies that is). Unfortunately, A&P had a rather anemic selection of turkey breasts, so I ended up buying/cooking an entire turkey. According to feedback today, things went very nicely as far as the pot pies were concerned, which is good, because I was horribly concerned over the reheatability of them.

Today has been a pretty awful day at work – exceptionally dismal, and wrought with many pressures. I am very glad this is a short week.

Today I go to get the dishwasher. I hope that it fits in my brother’s car. If not, I am going to be a very unhappy person. “Stabby”, to steal a phrase coined by sempereadem.

Ski trip plans are building – I’m psyched to be able to ply my culinary talents, but I am worried about having to prepare ion a kitchen which I have never seen. Such are the woes of vacation cooking I guess.


1639 – The transit of Venus (its passage across the Sun’s disc) was first observed by astronomer Jeremiah Horrocks.

1642 – Abel Tasman discovered Van Diemen’s land, named after his captain and later renamed Tasmania.

1859 – Charles Darwin’s controversial “Origin of Species” was published. His revolutionary theory of evolution had its critics, notably the church, which feared the book undermined religious belief.

1871 – The National Rifle Association was incorporated.

1874 – Joseph Farwell Glidden of DeKalb, Illinois patented barbed wire.

1903 – D.J. Coleman of New York City patented the automatic self-starter.

1922 – Robert Erskine Childers, Irish author and nationalist, was executed for his support of the republican cause.

1937 – NBC Radio broadcast music from the Raymor Ballroom in Boston, Massachusetts across the United States. Special guests during this broadcast were Glenn Miller and his Orchestra.

1937 – The Andrews Sisters, recorded Decca record number 1562, one of their biggest hits: “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen”.

1938 – It was decided that for a national tournament played in Wichita, Kansas in 1939, the National Semipro Baseball Congress would use a yellow baseball.

1939 – Imperial Airways and British Airways merged to form the British Overseas Airways Corporation.

1944 – Strasbourg was re-captured by a French armoured division under Leclerc with help from the United States Seventh Army.

1947 – The Cleveland Indians renewed Lou Boudreau’s contract as manager for an additional two years.

1947 – The first United States Postmaster General to be promoted from the within the postal service was named. J.M. Donaldson who became a letter carrier in 1908, got a promotion.

1950 – Frank Loesser’s musical comedy, “Guys and Dolls”, opened at the 46th Street Theatre in New York City. The show ran for 1,200 performances.

1952 – Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap” opened in London.

1958 – Jackie Wilson’s “Lonely Teardrops” was released, as was a Richie Valens’ album featuring “Donna” on one side and “La Bamba” on the other.

1958 – Harold Jenkins, who became Conway Twitty, got his first #1 hit with “It’s Only Make Believe”, which was the United States’ most popular song for one week.

1961 – The Lion Sleeps Tonight became the first African song to hit the Number 1 spot on the American pop chart. The American version, recorded by the Tokens, was a translation of a South African folk song known variously as “Mbube” or “Wimoweh”.

1963 – Lee Harvey Oswald, assassin of President Kennedy, was shot dead by Jack Ruby at Dallas Police headquarters.

1964 – For the first time since 1800, residents of the District of Columbia were permitted to vote in a presidential election.

1965 – Sheikh Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah became ruler of Kuwait following the death of his brother.

1967 – Gary Collins, actor and television host, married former Miss America 1959, Mary Ann Mobley.

1969 – United States Army Lieutenant William L. Calley, charged with the massacre of over 100 civilians in the Vietnamese village of My Lai in March 1968, was ordered to stand trial by court martial.

1969 – Apollo 12 returned to Earth after its moon landing.

1970 – The United States’s outstanding collegiate football player of the year was awarded the Heisman Memorial Trophy. The winner was Jim Plunkett, quarterback for the Stanford Cardinal, who later went on to a sterling career in the NFL.

1972 – A Friday night show to compete with NBC’s “Midnight Special” premiered, “In Concert” featuring Chuck Berry, Alice Cooper, Blood Sweat and Tears, Seals and Crofts and Poco. Robert W. Morgan of KHJ, Los Angeles, California was the offstage announcer for ABC-TV’s show staged before a live audience. “In Concert” was created by the man who thought up fictitious group, The Archies, and brought fame to The Monkees, rock promoter, Don Kirshner.

1973 – After more than two years of retirement, Frank Sinatra returned with a NBC television special titled, “Ol’ Blue Eyes is Back”. Despite finishing third in the ratings, in a three-show race, one critic called the program, “the best popular music special of the year.”

1976 – An earthquake struck Turkey’s Van Province, killing nearly 5,300 and injuring more than 5,000 others.

1976 – At an appearance at Winterland in San Francisco, California, the group, The Band, aannounced this was to be their last public performance.

1986 – Buffalo Sabres center Gilbert Perreault announced he was hanging up his skates after 17 seasons.

1986 – The American Eagle silver dollar, like its gold counterpart, sold out on its first day of issue. Coin dealers ordered an additional 250,000 coins.

1989 – Elias Hrawi was elected president of Lebanon following the assassination two days earlier of the newly elected Rene Muawad.

1989 – The entire presidium and secretariat of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, including leader Milos Jakes, resigned following mass demonstrations in Prague. Karol Urbanek succeeded as General Secretary.

1991 – Flamboyant British rock star, Freddie Mercury, died in his sleep in England at age 45, just one day after he publicly announced he was suffering from AIDS. The charismatic lead singer of the group Queen, Mercury’s death was the result of bronchopneumonia brought on by the AIDS virus. His sudden death stunned the rock world.

1993 – In England, two 11-year-old boys were sentenced to be detained indefinitely after they were found guilty of the murder of two-year-old James Bulger.

1994 – The film comedy “Junior,” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito, and Emma Thompson, opened in United States theaters. Schwarzenegger and Thompson were later both nominated for Golden Globe acting awards.

1995 – Director, writer, and cinematographer Louis Malle died in Beverly Hills, California, at age 63, from cancer. One of the French Nouvelle Vague (“New Wave”) directors of the 1950s and 1960s, he made Pretty Baby in 1978, which introduced newcomer Brooke Shields. Jacques-Yves Cousteau hired him as a camera operator on the “Calypso”. Cousteau soon promoted him to be co-director of Le Monde du silence (1956) aka “The Silent World”. For that film, they collaboratively won the Golden Palm Award at the Cannes Film Festival. Years later, Cousteau called Malle the best underwater cameraman he ever had. Malle had been honored for his films many times, including receiving a British Academy Award and César award for Au revoir les enfants, and a British Academy Award and Golden Globe nomination for directing Atlantic City. Malle was married to actress Candice Bergen.

1995 – Ireland voted in a referendum on whether to end a 70-year-old ban on divorce. It passed 50.28 percent to 49.72 percent.

1996 – Following its United States opening weekend, Star Trek: First Contact brought in $30.7 million at the box office.

1998 – The Spice Girls’ “Live at Wembley” video was released by Virgin Music Video, and the following year was certified platinum.

This fucking song is going to be stuck in my head all day.

Over the years, I have worked up a method for removing songs stuck in your head. It involves memorizing the first four minutes of the 70’s classic by Iron Butterfly. Then all you have to do is get THAT song out of your head, which is easy to do, once you have mastered the trick to it.

Now, unfortunatley, his method is not foolproof – and Ipanema is one of the few that slips through my mental cracks. The reason? It boomerangs! This song can safely be out of your head for hours, hell, i’ve even gond days, then BOOM – it is back.

Last time I experienced this was from spme dumfuck movie a few years ago where this was the song playing in the elevator right before/during a gunfight. It took me WEEKS to get it out o me skull!

If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port,
and the bus is interrupted at a very last resort,
and the access of the memory makes your floppy disk abort,
then the socket packet pocket has an error to report.

If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash,
and the double-clicking icon puts your window in the trash,
and your data is corrupted cause the index doesn’t hash,
then your situation’s hopeless and your system’s gonna crash!

If the label on the cable on the table at your house,
says the network is connected to the button on your mouse,
but your packets want to tunnel to another protocol,
that’s repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall.

And your screen is all distorted by the side effects of gauss,
so your icons in the window are as wavy as a souse;
then you may as well reboot and go out with a bang,
‘cuz sure as I’m a poet, the sucker’s gonna hang.

When the copy on your floppy’s getting sloppy in the disk,
and the macro code instructions are causing unnecessary risk,
then you’ll have to flash the memory and you’ll want to RAM your ROM,
and then quickly turn off the computer and be sure to tell your mom!

1. A kindergarten pupil told his teacher he’d found a cat, but it was dead.

“How do you know that the cat was dead?” she asked her pupil.

“Because I pissed in its ear and it didn’t move,” answered the child
innocently.

“You did WHAT?!?” the teacher exclaimed in surprise.

“You know,” explained the boy, “I leaned over and went ‘Pssst!’ and it
didn’t move.”
____________________________________________

2. A small boy is sent to bed by his father. Five minutes later….

“Da-ad….”

“What?”

“I’m thirsty. Can you bring drink of water?”

“No, You had your chance. Lights out.” Five minutes later:

“Da-aaaad…..”

“WHAT?”

“I’m THIRSTY. Can I have a drink of water??”

“I told you NO! If you ask again, I’ll have to spank you!!” Five minutes
later……

“Daaaa-aaaad…..”

“WHAT!”

“When you come in to spank me, can you bring a drink of water?”
__________________________________________

3. An exasperated mother, whose son was always getting into mischief,
finally asked him “How do you expect to get into Heaven?”

The boy thought it over and said, “Well, I’ll run in and out and in and out
and keep slamming the door until St. Peter says, ‘For Heaven’s sake, Dylan,
come in or stay out!'”
____________________________________________

4. One summer evening during a violent thunderstorm a mother was tucking her
son into bed. She was about to turn off the light when he asked with a
tremor in his voice, “Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?”

The mother smiled and gave him a reassuring hug. “I can’t dear,” she said.
“I have to sleep in Daddy’s room.”

A long silence was broken at last by his shaky little voice: “The big
sissy.”
____________________________________________

5. It was that time, during the Sunday morning service, for the children’s
sermon. All the children were invited to come forward. One little girl was
wearing a particularly pretty dress and, as she sat down, the pastor leaned
over and said, “That is a very pretty dress. Is it your Easter Dress?”

The little girl replied, directly into the pastor’s clip-on microphone,
“Yes, and my Mom says it’s a bitch to iron.”
____________________________________________

6. A little boy was doing his math homework. He said to himself, “Two plus
five, that son of a bitch is seven. Three plus six, that son of a bitch is
nine….”

His mother heard what he was saying and gasped, “What are you doing?”

The little boy answered, “I’m doing my math homework, Mom.”

“And this is how your teacher taught you to do it?” the mother asked.

“Yes,” he answered. Infuriated, the mother asked the teacher the next day,
“What are you teaching my son in math?” The teacher replied, “Right now, we
are learning addition.” The mother asked, “And are you teaching them to say
two plus two, that son of a bitch is four?”

After the teacher stopped laughing, she answered, “What I taught them was,
two plus two, THE SUM OF WHICH, is four.”
____________________________________________

7. One day the first grade teacher was reading the story of Chicken Little
to her class. She came to the part of the story where Chicken Little tried
to warn the farmer. She read, “…. and so Chicken Little went up to the
farmer and said, “The sky is falling, the sky is falling!”

The teacher paused then asked the class, “And what do you think that farmer
said?”

One little girl raised her hand and said, “I think he said: ‘Holy Shit! A
talking chicken!'”

The teacher was unable to teach for the next 10 minutes.

Either tonight or friday is going to be duck night, depending on my bro. I am psyched, it has been over a year since I last made duck. My good friend Rebecca is in town this week, and Thursday night is drinks with her at Collins Bar. If you are reading this, you are invited. Drinking commences @ 6ish, and the bar has free popcorn.

I have rendered my migraine obsolete using an ancient hangover-obliterating technique. I partook in the ice water/near-boiling-water head-dunking thing. It definitely helped, but was hell on my hair, lots of which got tangled in the process. Richelle said my symptoms were atypical to a “classic” migraine, rather than a “typical” which is what I ususally have. I hope i stay typical, since this latest delve into the classical period left me reeling.

Richelle and I had a good talk last night – I kept her awake when she wanted to sleep, but it was still worthwhile, I think. Definitely gave me a gain in perspective, which was very soul-satisfying. This is the second such talk we have had this week – it is funny how these things come in droves and dry spells.

I really want to buy the LOTR:TT extended edition, but cannot bring myself to waste the $. I will buy them all when the series is boxed and tidy, rather than respending money then. Perhaps I will simply netflix it and not return it in the meantime =).

I am psyched that sleeping_hitman is coming out to NYC for NYE – that is pretty ffin cool.

Speaking of outings – the great cookie menu plan is starting to take shape. Thusfar, the tally is here. This enterprise has finally got me off my ass in terms of making my voting interface for my site… a little at a time at any rate.

I am going to get back in the habit of one decent, down-to-earth LJ post a week. I need to force my writing back up the hill, maybe I should sign up for an item or two on an zine or something.

i had to buy wine for my erstwhile famous red wine garlic duck (which will be made later in the week). i could not find a bottle of ravenswood, and when the checkout clerk directed me to it, three people piled up at checkout. He voided my near 40$ in purchases, but left them bagged. I reneterd the line – when I returned, he charged me 13 dollars, and handed me all the wine.

hooray for vino!

So Richelle had the worst day she has had in a long time yesterday. As a result, she didn’t make it out last night, which totally sucks. Plus, to boot, i apparently snore “like a mariachi band(jesus optional)” – so much so that I woke Richelle up from the other room (I crashed on the couch because I didn’t want to risk keeping her up).

She has had a really bad week.

I am on a campaign for her to have a good time tonight – with or without me – whatever is going to make her happy, or at least get some positive balance back.



I did it in 4 seconds.
I deserved an A++!!
Take the How Dexterous Are You? Quiz!!


1812 – In their retreat from Moscow, the remnants of Napoleon’s Grand Armee crossed the River Berezina; 10,000 stragglers were left behind.

1859 – A flying trapeze act was performed for the first time in a circus.

1867 – A major eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Italy began and lasted for several months.

1893 – An agreement was signed between Afghanistan and Britain marking the boundary between Afghan tribal lands and British territories.

1912 – Spanish Prime Minister Jose Canalejas was assassinated by anarchist gunman Manuel Pardinas, who then shot himself.

1912 – A search party found the remains of British explorer Captain Robert Scott and his companions after the ill-fated South Pole expedition.

1915 – Harvard University’s Theodore W. Richards became the first American to be awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry. He was given his award in Stockholm, Sweden.

1918 – Austria was declared an independent republic, one day after the end of World War I.

1919 – The first flight from England to Australia, flown by Ross and Keith Smith, took off from Hounslow, near London. They landed at Darwin on December 13.

1920 – Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis accepted a contract to be the first commissioner of baseball, taking office after the Black Sox scandal of 1919, remaining commissioner for seven years.

1923 – In Germany, Adolf Hitler was arrested for failed attempt to seize power.

1925 – Louis Armstrong began his world famous career when he recorded “My Heart”.

1927 – Joseph Stalin became ruler of the Soviet Union.

1927 – After forty years in blue jerseys, Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish got a new uniform of bright green jerseys and stockings. They played against Army in New York City, and have been wearing the lucky green uniforms ever since.

1931 – In Toronto, Canada, Maple Leaf Gardens opened as the new home of the National Hockey League’s Toronto Maple Leafs.

1940 – Walt Disney released “Fantasia”; called by one critic “As terrific as anything that has ever happened on the screen.”

1941 – On RCA Victor records, Hot Lips Page provided vocals for Artie Shaw’s very long and very slow version of “St. James Infirmary”.

1942 – The naval battle of Guadalcanal began between Japanese and American forces during World War II.

1942 – The British Eighth Army under Gen. Bernard Montgomery captured Tobruk, Libya, taking at least 30,000 prisoners.

1944 – The German battleship Tirpitz, sister ship of the Bismarck and Hitler’s last major warship, was sunk by Lancaster bombers at Tromso Fjord in northern Norway.

1946 – The first drive-up bank facility, with ten teller windows with slide-out drawers, opened at the Exchange National Bank in Chicago, Illinois.

1948 – A war crimes tribunal sentenced Japanese Premier Hideki Tojo and six other World War II Japanese leaders to death.

1954 – Ellis Island, the United States immigration station in New York harbor, closed after processing more than 20 million immigrants to the United States since 1892.

1955 – Jockeys Eddie Arcaro, Earl Sande, and George Woolf became the first three members of the Jockey Hall of Fame in Pimlico, Maryland.

1955 – The worst recorded attendance to a football game occurred in the Washington State vs San Jose State game at Pullman, Washington. The game was played as scheduled, despite high winds and a temperature of 0 degrees F. The total paid attendance was 1.

1967 – On Broadway, Pearl Bailey took over the lead role in the musical, “Hello Dolly”. “Pearlie Mae”, as Buck was called, was a hit.

1967 – The Detroit Lions set an NFL record by fumbling the football 11 times and losing it 5 of those times.

1968 – The United Nations General Assembly voted against admission of Communist China.

1969 – Author Alexander Solzhenitsyn was expelled from the Soviet Writers Union for anti-social behavior.

1969 – The United States army announced for the first time that it was investigating William Calley for the alleged massacre of civilians at the Vietnamese village of My Lai in March, 1968.

1970 – After a successful run in London, Anthony Quayle starred in “Sleuth’s” Broadway opening.

1970 – In East Pakistan a cyclone and tidal wave hit several districts, causing the deaths of at least 200,000 people.

1974 – South Africa was suspended from the United Nations General Assembly over its racial policies.

1977 – In West Germany Ingrid Schubert, a founding member of the Baader-Meinhof gang, committed suicide in her prison cell.

1979 – After Islamic students seized the United States Embassy in Tehran on November 4, President Jimmy Carter announced an immediate halt to all imports of Iranian oil.

1980 – John Lennon’s “Starting Over” was released featuring Lennon and Yoko kissing on the cover.

1981 – The space shuttle Columbia was launched for the second time; it was the first space vehicle to be used more than once.

1982 – Yuri Andropov was elected First Secretary of the Soviet Communist party following the death of Leonid Brezhnev.

1982 – Polish Solidarity union leader Lech Walesa was freed after 11 months detention in a state-owned hunting lodge.

1983 – Lionel Richie started the first of four consecutive weeks at #1 on the music charts as “All Night Long (All Night)” became the United States most popular song.

1984 – Joseph Allen became the first astronaut to rescue a satellite. Allen was on board the “Discovery” space shuttle to make the $35 million rescue.

1986 – For the first time in the history of the NBA both head coaches were absent from the game when coached K.C. Jones and Don Nelson were too sick to be at the Boston-Milwaukee game. The Boston Celtics had their 44th straight home victory as they defeated the Milwaukee Bucks 124-116.

1990 – Emperor Akihito was enthroned in Japan.

1991 – Leroy Witucki, a 10-year police veteran in Indiana, pleaded guilty to stealing a pair of tickets to a George Thorogood rock concert off the body of a motorist killed in a car crash. He gave the tickets to a family member, who sold them to friends. Relatives of the crash victim were surprised when the ticket holders sat next to them at the concert 3 weeks after the fatal accident. Witucki resigned from the police force, and faced up to three years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

1996 – 349 people were killed when a Saudi Arabian jumbo jet and a Kazakh airliner collided in mid-air over India.

1997 – The United Nations Security Council imposed new sanctions on Iraq for constraints being placed on United Nations arms inspectors.


DEBATE – STERILIZATION OF SUBSTANCE ABUSERS

WHEN: Thursday, Nov. 13, 2003, 12:15pm
WHERE: New York City, Columbia University Law School, Jerome Greene
Hall Room 106
WHAT: Debate between Lynn Paltrow, Executive Director of NAPW and Jim
Woodhill, Donor and Board member of C.R.A.C.K. (Children Require A
Caring Kommunity)
INFO: If you are taking the subway, just take the 1/9 train all the way up
to 116th street, get off and head east through the campus gates all the
way across and out the other gates, cross Amsterdam Ave, and you
will be at the law school

Please join us Thursday, November 13, 2003 at Columbia University Law School for a debate between Lynn Paltrow, Executive Director of NAPW and Jim Woodhill, Donor and Board member of C.R.A.C.K. (Children Require A Caring Kommunity) “Debate: Sterilization of Substance Abusers”

The debate begins at 12:15pm in Jerome Greene Hall Room 106, at Columbia University School of Law. Jerome Greene Hall (the main law school building) is located at the NE corner of Amsterdam Ave. and 116th Street.

C.R.A.C.K. also known as project prevention offers $200 for current and former drug users to get sterilized or to use certain long acting birth control methods. Please attend and let Mr. Woodhill know that CRACK’s misinformation and prejudice will not be tolerated.

Excerpts from Paltrow’s forthcoming article about C.R.A.C.K.

Much of what CRACK says about their clients is simply untrue or unsupported by the numbers they present. Instead of research, legitimate data, and honest inquiry, CRACK presents selective anecdotes, false information and horrific images of bad women who not only do not deserve to have children, but also do not deserve any form of compassion or support. As Assata Zerai and Rae Banks argue, this kind of “dehumanizing discourse” has a significant influence on public policy responses.

By promoting a vision of pregnant women with health problems as “child abusers,” by portraying healthy children as damaged, by disdaining science and evidence based research, and by fostering stereotypes, prejudice, and medical misinformation, CRACK undermines rather than promotes the welfare of children and caring communities, increases the likelihood of government sanctioned punitive responses, and decreases the likelihood that desperately need services will ever be adequately funded.

People who make contributions to the organization are not merely helping to fund outreach to people who could benefit from sterilization and contraceptive services. They are, as the discussion below demonstrates, also supporting a form of political action and propaganda that discourages public support for the very things –contraceptive services, drug treatment, safe communities for children to live in — that CRACK claims to promote. . . .

Indeed, statements by their founder and Director, Barbara Harris not only provide clear examples of negative stereotyping, they also make clear that control, not empowerment, is in fact CRACK’s primary purpose. As one commentary, quoting Ms. Harris observed,

“Addict, recovering addict, dirty, clean . . . whatever. The distinction hardly matters to CRACK (Children Requiring a Caring Kommunity), the group that gave [the client] the money. ‘As long as they stay on birth control,’ says founder Barbara Harris, ‘That’s all we care about.’

Similarly, Ms. Harris has stated: “Finally I realized. . . . that if I wanted these women to take birth control, I’d have to do it on my own.” Similarly and quite explicitly she has written: “We don’t say we’re concerned with the welfare of the mothers. Crack’s mission is to stop them from having more doomed babies.” . . .

The notion of empowerment assumes respect for those who are to be “empowered.” But CRACK’s chief spokesperson, has, in the past, expressed only disdain for the program’s targets. Ms. Harris has repeatedly compared them targets to animals: “I’m not saying these women are dogs, but they’re not acting any more responsible than a dog in heat.” She has also stated: “We don’t allow dogs to breed. We spay them. We neuter them. We try to keep them from having unwanted puppies, and yet these women are literally having litters of children.” And again, in another context: “They’re having litters. They are literally having litters.” On the television news program 60 Minutes II, Ms. Harris was asked about these comments and given an opportunity to distance herself from them. She replied: “Well you know my son that goes to Stanford said ‘Mom, please don’t ever say that again’ But its the truth, they don’t just have one and two babies they have litters.” The Director of CRACK Houston Chapter, Laura Love, analogizes their clients to mules who need “smacks” on the head with a stick to get them to move.

CRACK’s founder also regards her clients as “irresponsible.” For example, Ms. Harris asserts that, “They’re getting pregnant only because they’re irresponsible,” and claims that “Birth control is available to these women and it’s free, but they’re not interested in being responsible.” Expressing both her desire for control and her contempt for the targets of her program she told People Magazine:

“These women are not getting pregnant because they love children,. . . but because they’re totally irresponsible. It’s sad that they’re on drugs, but the bottom line is, I don’t want them to get pregnant.”

“The bottom line” Harris has said on the record, ” is I don’t want them to get pregnant. . .If the state won’t do it, I’ll do it myself.”

From http://www.drugpolicy.org


hedonism – as defined by the OED:
aesthetic – as defined by the OED

The etymology, clearly, shows the connection between these two words – and, to an extent, the modern application of them. The question, which was brought up in a previous post by bruteforcemethd, is the following:

Which of these two “philosophies” is closer to hitting the mark of the “meaning of life” insofar as living it to the fullest is concerned?

Clearly, one needs to have a desire to pursue beauty or sensual pleasure to create it – but should that pursuit be for the sake of the creation and its process alone, or the selfish desire to attain that creation or process for ones-self?

How does your answer to this question relate to your own personal moral code, especially in regards to how you prioritize your goals in life?

I have written a great many of my best things, then deleted them shortly thereafter. Why I continue to do this is not totally clear to me, but I do. I guess that puts me more in the aesthetic camp my action, but, in thinking, I would love to be able to make a living off my writing, or a creative process similar to it.

Response to this post, obviously, is not compulsory, but I guarantee it will get more interesting the more people who throw their hats into the ring.

1483 – Martin Luther, German religious reformer who began the Protestant Reformation, born.

1775 – The United States Marine Corps was authorized under authority of the Continental Congress.

1801 – In the United States the state of Tennessee outlawed the practice of dueling.

1871 – Henry M. Stanley, journalist and explorer, found David Livingstone, a missing Scottish missionary in central Africa, and delivered his now famous greeting: “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”

1885 – Paul Daimler became the world’s first motor-cyclist when he rode his father Gottlieb’s new invention for six miles.

1888 – 13-year-old violinist from Austria, Vienna, Fritz Kreisler, made his United States debut in New York City.

1900 – The play, “Floradora”, opened in New York City, received by cheering audiences.

1917 – 41 suffragists were arrested in front of the White House.

1928 – Hirohito was crowned Emperor of Japan. He had effectively become head of state and named Regent when his father became ill in 1920. He ruled until his death in 1989.

1939 – On Bluebird Records, Muggsy Spanier and his band recorded “Dipper Mouth Blues”.

1939 – At the Auto Show in Chicago, Illinois, the first air-conditioned automobiles were displayed.

1942 – Buoyant after the desert victory at El Alamein, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill said: “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

1950 – “The Magnificent Montague”, debuted on NBC radio starring Monty Woolley.

1950 – The Country Girl, written by Clifford Odets, opened at the Lyceum Theatre in New York City. Uta Hagen, in the lead role, won a Best Actress Tony for her performance. A few years later, the play was made into a film, and Grace Kelly received the Best Actress Oscar for the same role.

1951 – Direct-dial, coast-to-coast telephone service began as Mayor M. Leslie Denning of Englewood, New Jersey, called his counterpart in Alameda, California.

1953 – Walt Disney’s The Living Desert was released to theaters. It was very popular and became a box-office smash, later winning the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Critics, however, felt there were too many gags and humor with music, which weakened its documentary claim. Disney toned down the comedic antics with subsequent nature documentaries.

1953 – The film How to Marry a Millionaire, starring Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable, and Lauren Bacall, premiered in New York on this date. It later received an Oscar nomination for Best Costume Design.

1954 – The Iwo Jima Memorial was dedicated in Arlington, Virginia.

1956 – After a 3 year absence, Billie Holiday returned to Carnegie Hall in New York City to give a concert called a high point in jazz history.

1960 – Britain and Romania signed a financial agreement providing for final settlement of British claims arising from their 1947 peace treaty.

1964 – Kenya became a one-party state by consent.

1969 – Twenty years after the first release of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”, Gene Autry was awarded a gold record for the single.

1969 – Sesame Street premiered on PBS, featuring Jim Henson’s Muppet characters and lie actors and cartoons. The teachings and antics of Kermit the Frog, Big Bird, Bert and Ernie, Oscar the Grouch and Cookie Monster filled the minds and hearts of thousands of preschool children, and the award-winning educational series was a tremendous success. Sesame Street was produced by the Children’s Television Workshop.

1972 – Mickey (Arthur) McBride owner of the Cleveland Browns in the 1940s and 1950s, and a taxicab company, died today. Browns’ coach Paul Brown had a special squad of five non-roster players that could practice with the team in case a regular player was injured. The squad’s salaries were paid by McBride’s taxi company giving rise to the term, “taxi squad”. According to Terry Pluto, in “When All the World was Browns Town”, taxi squad members never drove cars.

1975 – The sinking of the “Edmund Fitzgerald”, the worst Great Lakes shipwreck of the day occurred. It was a cold, stormy Lake Superior, known to Native Americans as Gitche Gumee, that caused the deaths of 29 crew members of the ore carrier. When the ship was launched, it was the largest bulk carrier on the Great Lakes.

1975 – The United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution equating Zionism with racism. However, the world body repealed the resolution in December 1991.

1976 – The Utah Supreme Court gave the go-ahead for convicted murderer Gary Gilmore to be executed, according to his wishes. The sentence was carried out the following January.

1982 – The newly finished Vietnam Veterans Memorial was opened to its first visitors in Washington, D.C.

1984 – The Maryland Terrapins set an NCAA football record when they came from a 31-0 halftime deficit to beat Miami’s Hurricanes, 42-40. The game broke the previous record set on October 20, 1984, when Washington State came from 28 points behind to beat Stanford, 49-42.

1986 – “Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Live/1975-85”, the highly watched for, long-anticipated album by “The Boss”, wemt on sale in record stores. Fans made the LP a sellout in one-day, buying over a million copies and generating more first-day money than any record in 30 years. The hit album was a five-disc, 40-song set.

1989 – Bulgarian leader Todor Zhikov stepped down as Communist Party chief and head of state after 35 years in power.

1990 – Veteran socialist leader Chandra Shekhar was sworn in as India’s new prime minister at the head of its second minority government in less than a year.

1993 – John Wayne Bobbitt was acquitted on the charge of marital sexual assault against his wife who sexually mutilated him. Lorena Bobbitt was later acquitted of malicious wounding her husband.

1995 – President Alija Izetbegovic of Bosnia and Franjo Tudjman of Croatia initialled an agreement shoring up their federation in the first breakthrough of United States-led talks aimed at ending four years of war in the former Yugoslavia.

1995 – Hsu You-shend and Gary Harriman were partners in the first (not legally binding) gay wedding in Taiwan.

1997 – WorldCom Inc. and MCI Communications Corp. agreed to a $37 billion merger, the biggest in United States history.

This weekend involved a lot of wheel turning, but not a lot of movement.

Friday night was great – albiet short – I was too exhausted to do muh of anything after an evening of eating and drinking.

Saturday kinds started out suck. My PC died, and needed to be ressurected (and I was fresh out of chicken blood) AND there was an internet outage. Even if I had a PC i couldn’t have done anything with it! Richelle got back safe and sound – thank goodness. Later that evening I wrestled with the infection of OMS I was exposed to whilst eating with an infectee Friday night – I was in bed before 11. Apologies to all I bitched out on.

Sunday, yesterday, involved changing the tire on Richelle’s car, cleaning/rearranging some firniture, then dinner at the folks. This weekend involved copious amounts of sausage making at my parent’s place – much keilbasa, asian sausage, and franfurters were produced – over 100lbs of meat before grind. I got to take some home for the freezer – soo good.

Lots to do – I think I am going to be busy at work straight through New Years. I have a party Thursday night – but no other plans until then. Hopefully, somewhere between here and there I can get some havey consulting done to make some moneh – next weekend should involve some more wedding planning!

I jsut got done with a huge argument with my mother about my personal appearance… man, I thought this shit went away like 15 years ago!

I am so tired.

The server was about as uncooperative as one can imagine. I finally got everything back up at around 11pm- let’s see if it stays there.

Two nights back to back with 3-4 hours sleep, and it has now been every day since 3 before I left for Fla that I have had to wrestle with post-work work.

I donlt ever recall being this tired in my life. Even when I used to work a 60-70 hour week on a regular basis.

Phlegh.

So due to the late hour, I can neither confirm nor deny the existance of multiple endings to the latest Matrix release. That, in my estimation, is about all that could provide much entertainment value for the 11 bucks. Read on if you want, but be forewarned of outrage and spoilers.


Vapid.

I am dissapointed that I was duped into the third installment. It came as an even more botched version of the second – no explanation for most of the action – everything was set in #2 – no really memorable dialouge, no particularly good acting – except for the guy who played the Smith-made flesh.

The potential of the first film lost rapid ground in the second imo. It was not an irreversable loss, it simply required some good twists and writing for a closer. Unfortunately these were as nonexistant as the plot development – weak weak weak.

The quasi-intellectual speech by the Architect in Reloaded, combined with the questions it raised ( and the little intellectual game of the Merovingian) is what saved it for me. There is no big speech by the Architect in this one, but there is plenty of fortune cookie bullshit provided by an ill-explained Oracle replacement. There is no depth – this is T3 with a a cast of Geigeresque bots instead of shiny silver Battlestar Galactica ripoffs.

Am I dissapointed that one of, in my estimation, the _best_ scifi backdrops of our generation sucked. Revolutions, ultimately, amounts to a fancy CGI Dragonball Z episode, complete with painfully long and pointless fight scenes. Am I pissed that this became all about the kung-fu and Starcraft ripoff goliaths blowing the crap out of endless sentinels? You bet your fukin little green line of code.

Disheartened, dissolusioned, and dismally moronic. I stopped being the moviegoer that could call a movie ‘good’ based on special effects alone shortly after Friday the 13th hit its double roman numeral installations. Yes, some of the CGI scenes with the sentinel mobs were breathtaking, as were some of the expanded bots, and the defenses of the robo ciity – offset that with the donkey crap that we are supposed to choke down as a happy ending, and you get a smooth-looking nutty flavor to gag on.

The fact that a styrafoam turd like Revolutions could pass for an acceptable ending to what started out as a great idea makes me want to lose my lunch. All I can hope for is that Lucas does not surpass my disapointment in this series with the last chance up to bat he has in the mythos of his little world.

Man, I am pissed.

So, let us assume for the moment that we exist in a fabricated reality – and the actions and interactions with both each other, and our environment have little bearing on the true state of our existence, short of death leading to a true termination on both planes.

If this is the case, then what hold should morality(even relative) have in the day-to-day existence? Should not everything break down into hedonistic impulse/instinct lifestyle?

Defend your answers, cuz you know I’m gonna be following up on this one.

so i am being ffed with on my server – that or my idiot cousins shared the directory i made with them with all thier little friends.

either way – ARGH!

Richelle is on her way to GA – and work is craaaazy.

Friday night, plans were wiggled this way and that. Ultimately, I ended up going out with some folks from work briefly, then coming home and watching the original “EVIL DEAD” on DVD with Richelle. Such a classic – not the busiest Halloween I’ve ever had, but far from the worst (which involved aspirating a full can of Barbasol against my will, after spraining my ankle trying to run from the guys who did it). Course – that was 14 years ago.

I updated my photos page again, this time with pics from the halloween party we went to last night. It was much fun – good to see a crowd I don’t see anywhere as often as I once did. There were awards for the best costumes by category – bubbabobobbrain got “lamest” (she was a chinese pumpkin), sean got most disgusting (i got my man-ass quota for the next 10 years last night), kev and his g/f got overall best (they were the spartan duo of SNL renound – great idea!), and chellez got “sexiest” – she got a ripped codomn as a prize.

The party was really a great time – nice food, good fun, old friends. A very nice way to spend an evening.

In other news, Richelle has been migraney for almost a week now. She has knocked it down a few times, but it keeps coming back. I feel so bad that there is nothing I can do for her.

We (for some unknown reason) watched a chunk of “Clean Sweep” after we got home last night – I think I should get my folks on that show – they have more crap then they could ever hope to deal with.

I worked most of yesterday. Today looks like much of the same – however, I want to get some cleaning done around the house too.. They are having a god concert in the park across the street – i am all for freedom of religion, but does it have to be so fuckin loud? Progressive xian rock sucks worse than pop or assrock.