Risible Hominid
[Reviewing the New York City Telephone Directory] But it is the opinion of the present reviewer that the weakness of plot is due to the great number of characters which clutter up the pages. The Russian school is responsible for this. - Robert Benchley
Saturday, May 07, 2005
Friday, May 06, 2005
Col. David Hackworth is dead
Vietnam Vet, Journalist Hackworth Dies - Yahoo! News
He was a good man who moved many with his unrelenting honesty. May he rest in Peace.
He was a good man who moved many with his unrelenting honesty. May he rest in Peace.
Gore to Get Lifetime Award for Internet, while Bush still tries to make money for Oil Companies
If Bush weren't dyslexic, would he then read the Internets?
The Man who won the Popular vote in 2000, and who should be president, has received some of the honors he deserves. Meanwhile Bush is trying his best to bring America to its knees, and doing a pretty good job. Under Clinton, no one would have thought or predicted the decline or demise of America. Not so anymore. And if we are stupid enough to elect another Republican after George, the nails in the coffin of our dying country will be hammered shut, and down we go.
I'm reminded of a scene in "Patch Adams" where the nefarious administrator is trying to tell Patch how it is done, and Patch says bluntly, "But you suck at it!"
Republicans: You suck at governing. Under your daft "leadership" there is no chance of there being exuberance, rational or otherwise. Only terror, war and manufactured fear works to your ends. The more astute of the duped are figuring this out.
The Man who won the Popular vote in 2000, and who should be president, has received some of the honors he deserves. Meanwhile Bush is trying his best to bring America to its knees, and doing a pretty good job. Under Clinton, no one would have thought or predicted the decline or demise of America. Not so anymore. And if we are stupid enough to elect another Republican after George, the nails in the coffin of our dying country will be hammered shut, and down we go.
I'm reminded of a scene in "Patch Adams" where the nefarious administrator is trying to tell Patch how it is done, and Patch says bluntly, "But you suck at it!"
Republicans: You suck at governing. Under your daft "leadership" there is no chance of there being exuberance, rational or otherwise. Only terror, war and manufactured fear works to your ends. The more astute of the duped are figuring this out.
newsobserver.com |Welcome to N&O blogs
newsobserver.com |Welcome to N&O blogs
"Welcome to N&O Blogs, a collection of Web-exclusive, frequently updated writings by N&O editors and reporters. These blogs are intended to expand the paper's reach and timeliness, and give you, our readers, a greater role in the process.
As we grow, we will add blogs pertaining to a variety of subjects, from local media to outdoor activities. The only constant will be the emphasis on issues of importance to the Triangle community. We want to hear your ideas."
"Welcome to N&O Blogs, a collection of Web-exclusive, frequently updated writings by N&O editors and reporters. These blogs are intended to expand the paper's reach and timeliness, and give you, our readers, a greater role in the process.
As we grow, we will add blogs pertaining to a variety of subjects, from local media to outdoor activities. The only constant will be the emphasis on issues of importance to the Triangle community. We want to hear your ideas."
North Carolina Baptist Church Purges Democrats
Scrutiny Hooligans
Is your good, clean, Christian church bedeviled by DEMOCRATS?
Do you have problems delivering for the paymasters because certain people will not drink the koolade?
Rid your church of this menace! These are the Left who are Left Behind anyway! Reprobation itself!
Your church can follow the lead of the avant-garde East Waynesville Baptist church, long known for being at the cutting edge of atavism, and spearhead your own devolutionary purging.
Why wait? Now you can take your disillusionment out on someone else. No need to admit defeat. No need to question the ethics of taking those bribes disguised as faith-based initiatives.
You are playing army! And if you can't beat the Iraqis, by God you can beat the Democrats!
This and more with Scrutiny
Is your good, clean, Christian church bedeviled by DEMOCRATS?
Do you have problems delivering for the paymasters because certain people will not drink the koolade?
Rid your church of this menace! These are the Left who are Left Behind anyway! Reprobation itself!
Your church can follow the lead of the avant-garde East Waynesville Baptist church, long known for being at the cutting edge of atavism, and spearhead your own devolutionary purging.
Why wait? Now you can take your disillusionment out on someone else. No need to admit defeat. No need to question the ethics of taking those bribes disguised as faith-based initiatives.
You are playing army! And if you can't beat the Iraqis, by God you can beat the Democrats!
This and more with Scrutiny
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
Love, Devotion, Surrender : Some sequences are better than others.
New Poll: 57% Now Say Iraq War 'Not Worth It'
Retreat is not surrender.
Where the graceful exit?
But graceful for whom?
The remaining yet-to-die
Children of God?
Man is no greater than God.
This is egothink, delusion.
George is no greater than God.
He has three years.
On a good day.
Songs are meant for singing.
What was so bad about exuberance?
Peace and prosperity a little too, what, boring? Thinthitive?
Heavenish?
War is indeed Hell.
But who owns it?
And is there no exit.
No exit.
No windows. No mirrors.
And doors than only enter.
And no shade from the shame.
-anon
Retreat is not surrender.
Where the graceful exit?
But graceful for whom?
The remaining yet-to-die
Children of God?
Man is no greater than God.
This is egothink, delusion.
George is no greater than God.
He has three years.
On a good day.
Songs are meant for singing.
What was so bad about exuberance?
Peace and prosperity a little too, what, boring? Thinthitive?
Heavenish?
War is indeed Hell.
But who owns it?
And is there no exit.
No exit.
No windows. No mirrors.
And doors than only enter.
And no shade from the shame.
-anon
"an unfortunate conflation of two rhetorical devices treasured by politicians of both parties but best kept a few paragraphs apart"
In Praise of Bush's Honesty (Honest) - Michael Kinsley
"The comic high point of the president's prime-time news conference was this muddled disquisition on how the American people don't want the president to do what polls say the American people want the president to do."
"The comic high point of the president's prime-time news conference was this muddled disquisition on how the American people don't want the president to do what polls say the American people want the president to do."
First there was the SUV, Now there is the 15-pound hamburger
It's quantity, not quality, or so says consumptives.
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
What is the Republican Party?
City Pages - The Undoing of America - Gore Vidal
EXCERPT
What is the Republican Party? Well, it used to be the party of the small-town businessman, generally in the Middle West, generally sort of out of the mainstream. Very conservative. It now represents nothing but the gas and oil business. They own it. And the people who go to Congress are simply bought. They are lawyers who are paid to represent Halliburton, big oil, big banking. So the very rich corporate America has a party for itself, the Republican Party. The Democrats don't have much of anything but a kind of wistful style. They just want everyone to be happy, and politically correct at all times. Do not hurt other people's feelings. They spend so much time on political correctness that they haven't thought of what to do politically about anything. Like say "no" to these preemptive wars, which are against not only the whole world's take on war and peace, but against United States history.
Learn more about your dying country, and how it is being killed.
EXCERPT
What is the Republican Party? Well, it used to be the party of the small-town businessman, generally in the Middle West, generally sort of out of the mainstream. Very conservative. It now represents nothing but the gas and oil business. They own it. And the people who go to Congress are simply bought. They are lawyers who are paid to represent Halliburton, big oil, big banking. So the very rich corporate America has a party for itself, the Republican Party. The Democrats don't have much of anything but a kind of wistful style. They just want everyone to be happy, and politically correct at all times. Do not hurt other people's feelings. They spend so much time on political correctness that they haven't thought of what to do politically about anything. Like say "no" to these preemptive wars, which are against not only the whole world's take on war and peace, but against United States history.
Learn more about your dying country, and how it is being killed.
Monday, May 02, 2005
Proof the Right Wing is dumbing down
Right-Of-Center Bloggers Select Their Favorite Columnists - Right Wing News (Conservative News and Views)
What has softened the skulls of the Right Wing of late? Is it that they are expected to follow their fuhrers where'er they may lead, and in the process have, themselves, had to slow their cerebrations to a point where fossilized cryptonazis in the bright autumn of their senescence, boys like Rich Lowry, or anyone named Limbaugh suffice as thought leading?
Thanks to the Right Wing News for sharing the embarrassing results of their very scientific study (shown on the other side of this link.)
Give the list a serious pondering, and ask yourself if you envision yourself as someone who would be impressed by such folk as listed there. And should the answer be a resounding "yea"...you may want to redouble your efforts at trying to understand why you never saw reasons to finish high school, or pay attention in college, were you one of the lucky ones.
Oh sure, there are one or two in the favorite columnist list who actually do think thoughts. Hitch and Brooks come to mind. But Coulter, David Limbaugh, Michael Barone?
Thoughts don't convey any better when yelled, and yet yelling seems to be a favorite mode of speech among the more famous voices of the Reich. What is so wrong with speaking in modulated tones, like they do on NPR, PBS, BBC, or other non-Rightwing sources of information. And what is wrong with information? What is so great about hearing Purchased Opinion day in and day out? If opinion is your gig, why not shoot for unpaid opinion? How do you know paid-for opinion is not just PR? Would Rush Limbaugh give a fair assessment of Gutter Helmet? What are the down sides of this unusual sartorial accessory, and would a good haberdasher recommend wearing one? Certainly not with white tie.
So while the Left and Center have to suffer folks like Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Bruce Springsteen, Bill Moyers, Garrison Keillor, James Joyce, Shakespeare, Rumi, Lao Tse, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and other Princes of Peace, the Right get to skim from the very top of humanity, and find such radiant sources of Eternal Light as Ann Coulter and Rich Lowry? Sure they are cute, but so is a puppy just learning to walk.
I remember when I first became interested in philosophy. I found great delight in finding a philosopher I liked, and then searching for the thinkers THEY liked. And then the ones THEY liked, and on back to God. Never, in a million years, would I end up at William F. Buckley or Charles Krauthammer or George Will -- fine folks though they may be.
Sometimes it is best to look beyond our time and our place, in order to get a view that is not, in some way, influenced, or paid, or purchased by this or that company, group or movement.
The people on this list are too often at odds with time-tested universal wisdoms, and I can only think that it is either because they are unfamiliar with time-tested universal wisdoms, or that they are simply saying basically what they are paid to say.
One cannot impart even a tenth of one's understanding to another man, and only half to another woman, but that does not mean we should not lament the dumbing down, the awful rowing toward ignorance and ignobility.
It does little good to worry about it, and it is probably best that people learn from their own mistakes.
But, if you find that you are one of those who swoon and gush at the opinions of such and such on said list, it would do no harm to ask: Who are their influences? Whom do they find to be worthy of study? And then go to them, if there is a them. Trace them on back. If nothing else, it will free you momentarily from the Drudge.
What has softened the skulls of the Right Wing of late? Is it that they are expected to follow their fuhrers where'er they may lead, and in the process have, themselves, had to slow their cerebrations to a point where fossilized cryptonazis in the bright autumn of their senescence, boys like Rich Lowry, or anyone named Limbaugh suffice as thought leading?
Thanks to the Right Wing News for sharing the embarrassing results of their very scientific study (shown on the other side of this link.)
Give the list a serious pondering, and ask yourself if you envision yourself as someone who would be impressed by such folk as listed there. And should the answer be a resounding "yea"...you may want to redouble your efforts at trying to understand why you never saw reasons to finish high school, or pay attention in college, were you one of the lucky ones.
Oh sure, there are one or two in the favorite columnist list who actually do think thoughts. Hitch and Brooks come to mind. But Coulter, David Limbaugh, Michael Barone?
Thoughts don't convey any better when yelled, and yet yelling seems to be a favorite mode of speech among the more famous voices of the Reich. What is so wrong with speaking in modulated tones, like they do on NPR, PBS, BBC, or other non-Rightwing sources of information. And what is wrong with information? What is so great about hearing Purchased Opinion day in and day out? If opinion is your gig, why not shoot for unpaid opinion? How do you know paid-for opinion is not just PR? Would Rush Limbaugh give a fair assessment of Gutter Helmet? What are the down sides of this unusual sartorial accessory, and would a good haberdasher recommend wearing one? Certainly not with white tie.
So while the Left and Center have to suffer folks like Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Bruce Springsteen, Bill Moyers, Garrison Keillor, James Joyce, Shakespeare, Rumi, Lao Tse, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and other Princes of Peace, the Right get to skim from the very top of humanity, and find such radiant sources of Eternal Light as Ann Coulter and Rich Lowry? Sure they are cute, but so is a puppy just learning to walk.
I remember when I first became interested in philosophy. I found great delight in finding a philosopher I liked, and then searching for the thinkers THEY liked. And then the ones THEY liked, and on back to God. Never, in a million years, would I end up at William F. Buckley or Charles Krauthammer or George Will -- fine folks though they may be.
Sometimes it is best to look beyond our time and our place, in order to get a view that is not, in some way, influenced, or paid, or purchased by this or that company, group or movement.
The people on this list are too often at odds with time-tested universal wisdoms, and I can only think that it is either because they are unfamiliar with time-tested universal wisdoms, or that they are simply saying basically what they are paid to say.
One cannot impart even a tenth of one's understanding to another man, and only half to another woman, but that does not mean we should not lament the dumbing down, the awful rowing toward ignorance and ignobility.
It does little good to worry about it, and it is probably best that people learn from their own mistakes.
But, if you find that you are one of those who swoon and gush at the opinions of such and such on said list, it would do no harm to ask: Who are their influences? Whom do they find to be worthy of study? And then go to them, if there is a them. Trace them on back. If nothing else, it will free you momentarily from the Drudge.
Poor Red States! Poor, poor Red States!
The American Street - A Surprising Find in the List of Median Income By State
Why is it that Red States tend to be below the national average when it comes to median income? Would the numbers come out differently if you didn't factor in slaves? With millions of limosine liberals pimping desperate househoes should not the manufacturer of the chariots at least be warned of the impending swarms of locusts? And what of man's counter-inhumanity to unman? Will Jack smack the skeet? Green dreams sleep furiously, and yet yellow turtledoves are slow becoming extant, aneusly. Alight! The mose knows, only canst but tell William, caccinative in his land. Formicate your conscious gland. Blue water, blue sky, green grass and you. Tell me, what are you gonna do.
Why is it that Red States tend to be below the national average when it comes to median income? Would the numbers come out differently if you didn't factor in slaves? With millions of limosine liberals pimping desperate househoes should not the manufacturer of the chariots at least be warned of the impending swarms of locusts? And what of man's counter-inhumanity to unman? Will Jack smack the skeet? Green dreams sleep furiously, and yet yellow turtledoves are slow becoming extant, aneusly. Alight! The mose knows, only canst but tell William, caccinative in his land. Formicate your conscious gland. Blue water, blue sky, green grass and you. Tell me, what are you gonna do.
Idea Consultants: May 2 - Dave Winer Day
Idea Consultants: May 2 - Dave Winer Day
Idea Consultants would like to consider May 2...Dave Winer Day in honor of the gentleman who made much of our fascinating lives possible, through his tireless efforts.
Happy Birthday, Dave!
Idea Consultants would like to consider May 2...Dave Winer Day in honor of the gentleman who made much of our fascinating lives possible, through his tireless efforts.
Happy Birthday, Dave!
Sunday, May 01, 2005
Friday, April 29, 2005
Thursday, April 28, 2005
Where to find business blog feeds
Business Blog Feeds
When you search Google for "business blog feeds", at least today, you come up with zilch. Time to change that. Too much to learn to go racing everywhere for their feeds, when time is of the essence.
Therefore, I am cobbling together a page where those who often blog about business blogging are syndicated through the magic of java, rss, and so on.
There are plenty of good businesses with nothing to hide, and these should flock to blogging. For one thing, the ones that shy away are going to seem suspect before long. What is wrong with transparency, communicating, sharing, learning, educating, being educated, growing, evolving?
When companies and people share what they know, it has the potential of helping people who might not be helped otherwise, and it creates a situation where you want to keep learning, so as to have better and better things to impart. You grow and learn. Everybody grows and learns. People begin to trust you, and want to enter into a dialogue. The monologues of slow companies will grow tedious in the ears of those who, at best, sit on the phone for sometimes hours waiting for a machine to give them more hoops to jump through. As Harry Beckwith once noted, "Work is personal". But you couldn't tell it by the way some businesses behave today.
Blogs can help humanize a company. As a networking tool, it may well be unparalleled.
And if one considers the 19 or 20 critical subsystems necessary for life of a living system, blogging certainly supplies or enhances the Input Transducer, Internal Transducer, Channel and Net, Decoder, Associator, Memory, Encoder, Output transducer, even Decider, although it has little to do with Matter/Energy processes. But this is good, because a system is more likely to live the more it processes information over matter/energy. Dinosaurs are the converse. So are large, lumbering, deaf and dumb companies, organizations and prisons.
So I've created this page where you can learn about changing your company by seeing how others are changing theirs.
It's not my usual fare, but alas, I contain multitudes. :)
When you search Google for "business blog feeds", at least today, you come up with zilch. Time to change that. Too much to learn to go racing everywhere for their feeds, when time is of the essence.
Therefore, I am cobbling together a page where those who often blog about business blogging are syndicated through the magic of java, rss, and so on.
There are plenty of good businesses with nothing to hide, and these should flock to blogging. For one thing, the ones that shy away are going to seem suspect before long. What is wrong with transparency, communicating, sharing, learning, educating, being educated, growing, evolving?
When companies and people share what they know, it has the potential of helping people who might not be helped otherwise, and it creates a situation where you want to keep learning, so as to have better and better things to impart. You grow and learn. Everybody grows and learns. People begin to trust you, and want to enter into a dialogue. The monologues of slow companies will grow tedious in the ears of those who, at best, sit on the phone for sometimes hours waiting for a machine to give them more hoops to jump through. As Harry Beckwith once noted, "Work is personal". But you couldn't tell it by the way some businesses behave today.
Blogs can help humanize a company. As a networking tool, it may well be unparalleled.
And if one considers the 19 or 20 critical subsystems necessary for life of a living system, blogging certainly supplies or enhances the Input Transducer, Internal Transducer, Channel and Net, Decoder, Associator, Memory, Encoder, Output transducer, even Decider, although it has little to do with Matter/Energy processes. But this is good, because a system is more likely to live the more it processes information over matter/energy. Dinosaurs are the converse. So are large, lumbering, deaf and dumb companies, organizations and prisons.
So I've created this page where you can learn about changing your company by seeing how others are changing theirs.
It's not my usual fare, but alas, I contain multitudes. :)
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Cooking makes us far less beastly
Charlotte Observer | 04/19/2005 | Kathleen Purvis
Cooked food delivers more nutrition in less time, freeing us to do all kinds of things, like hunt, plant and eventually invent the drive-through lane.
Cooked food delivers more nutrition in less time, freeing us to do all kinds of things, like hunt, plant and eventually invent the drive-through lane.
Happy Birthday!: Jim Beckwourth & The Hubble Telescope
Synchronicitously, serendipitously I picked up one of my books on Jim Beckwourth and began to read: "I was born April 26, 1798 in Fredericksburg, Virginia."
Granted, it would have been stranger if I had done that today, but alas it was yesterday. This fact doesn't change the fact of Jim remarkable life, which I summarized into next to nothing in the Wikipedia:
James Pierson Beckwourth (a.k.a. Jim Beckwourth, James P. Beckwith) was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia in 1798 to Sir Jennings Beckwith and an African-American woman about whom little is known.
His father saw to it that his son would not suffer the vicissitudes of slavery, and thrice had him manumitted at court.
Like his father, Jim enjoyed nature, native Americans and adventure, and it was not long before he set out to explore the vast expanses of what would become that which kept the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans apart.
Places still bear his name.
Later in his life, Jim recounted his astonishing life to Thomas D. Bonner, who set the book The Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth, Mountaineer, Scout, and Pioneer, and Chief of the Crow Nation of Indians to type. As notable as are the adventures, Jim's linguistic and stylistic prowess also impresses as being beyond the normal scope of reportage. The lessons of the book have currency, and much can be learned that might help us understand the role of alcohol in the US Government, how occupations effect the occupied, our historical relationship to diseases, wildlife, and the environment...among other things, including massacres and war.
and added his father's mini-bio today:
Sir Jennings Beckwith is perhaps best known for being the father of James P. (Jim) Beckwith (Beckwourth), or more commonly known and spelled as Jim Beckwourth, who, among other things, was a writer, raconteur, trapper, trader, explorer, mulatto and Indian Chief. Jennings Beckwith was the son of Sir Jonathan Beckwith, signer of the Virginia Stamp Act, and grandson of Sir Marmaduke Beckwith who documented nearly every aspect of life in that part of the Northern Neck of Virginia which produced such statesmen as Washington, Lee, Mason, Carter, Tayloe, Fauntleroy, Brockenbrough, and others whose influence on the early republic was felt far and wide.
As it was a fondness of Virginians, at the time of Sir Jennings Beckwith, to regard time with relative disregard, and consider it something that one "kills", so too did Jennings have such an attitude. One obituary even said that he had "insuperable objections to spending his time profitably". But because of this freedom, he was able to travel to, what was then, the Far West, and thus help expand America...which he did -- and took his family, some of whom were of African-American descent, through their mother.
It seems Jennings Beckwith may well have brought his family out west in order to shelter them from such a life, as on three seperate occasions he saw to it that his children were manumitted. And it is obvious, from the magnificent liguistic inventory of Jim Beckwourth that he had been taught the fine details of the language.
Jennings Beckwith died at Mount Airy, the beautiful palladian ancient home of the Col. John Tayloe family. Story is told that his spirit still visits the ancient mansion.
Happy birthday, Jim!
It is also the birthday of the most wondrous invention ever...the Hubble Telescope.
Again! May you have many more years!
Granted, it would have been stranger if I had done that today, but alas it was yesterday. This fact doesn't change the fact of Jim remarkable life, which I summarized into next to nothing in the Wikipedia:
James Pierson Beckwourth (a.k.a. Jim Beckwourth, James P. Beckwith) was born in Fredericksburg, Virginia in 1798 to Sir Jennings Beckwith and an African-American woman about whom little is known.
His father saw to it that his son would not suffer the vicissitudes of slavery, and thrice had him manumitted at court.
Like his father, Jim enjoyed nature, native Americans and adventure, and it was not long before he set out to explore the vast expanses of what would become that which kept the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans apart.
Places still bear his name.
Later in his life, Jim recounted his astonishing life to Thomas D. Bonner, who set the book The Life and Adventures of James P. Beckwourth, Mountaineer, Scout, and Pioneer, and Chief of the Crow Nation of Indians to type. As notable as are the adventures, Jim's linguistic and stylistic prowess also impresses as being beyond the normal scope of reportage. The lessons of the book have currency, and much can be learned that might help us understand the role of alcohol in the US Government, how occupations effect the occupied, our historical relationship to diseases, wildlife, and the environment...among other things, including massacres and war.
and added his father's mini-bio today:
Sir Jennings Beckwith is perhaps best known for being the father of James P. (Jim) Beckwith (Beckwourth), or more commonly known and spelled as Jim Beckwourth, who, among other things, was a writer, raconteur, trapper, trader, explorer, mulatto and Indian Chief. Jennings Beckwith was the son of Sir Jonathan Beckwith, signer of the Virginia Stamp Act, and grandson of Sir Marmaduke Beckwith who documented nearly every aspect of life in that part of the Northern Neck of Virginia which produced such statesmen as Washington, Lee, Mason, Carter, Tayloe, Fauntleroy, Brockenbrough, and others whose influence on the early republic was felt far and wide.
As it was a fondness of Virginians, at the time of Sir Jennings Beckwith, to regard time with relative disregard, and consider it something that one "kills", so too did Jennings have such an attitude. One obituary even said that he had "insuperable objections to spending his time profitably". But because of this freedom, he was able to travel to, what was then, the Far West, and thus help expand America...which he did -- and took his family, some of whom were of African-American descent, through their mother.
It seems Jennings Beckwith may well have brought his family out west in order to shelter them from such a life, as on three seperate occasions he saw to it that his children were manumitted. And it is obvious, from the magnificent liguistic inventory of Jim Beckwourth that he had been taught the fine details of the language.
Jennings Beckwith died at Mount Airy, the beautiful palladian ancient home of the Col. John Tayloe family. Story is told that his spirit still visits the ancient mansion.
Happy birthday, Jim!
It is also the birthday of the most wondrous invention ever...the Hubble Telescope.
Again! May you have many more years!
The Commonly Confused Words Test
OKCupid! The Commonly Confused Words Test
English Genius
You scored 92% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 100% Advanced, and 93% Expert!
You did so extremely well, even I can't find a word to describe your excellence! You have the uncommon intelligence necessary to understand things that most people don't. You have an extensive vocabulary, and you're not afraid to use it properly! Way to go!
Thank you so much for taking my test. I hope you enjoyed it!
For the complete Answer Key, visit my blog: http://shortredhead78.blogspot.com/.
Well, I got one question wrong. So shoot me!
English Genius
You scored 92% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 100% Advanced, and 93% Expert!
You did so extremely well, even I can't find a word to describe your excellence! You have the uncommon intelligence necessary to understand things that most people don't. You have an extensive vocabulary, and you're not afraid to use it properly! Way to go!
Thank you so much for taking my test. I hope you enjoyed it!
For the complete Answer Key, visit my blog: http://shortredhead78.blogspot.com/.
Well, I got one question wrong. So shoot me!
Monday, April 25, 2005
RSS Feeds at Charlotte.com
The Charlotte Observer now has a host of syndicable feeds for ye blognoscenti.
I have already stocked "My Yahoo" with a number of them.
Now all they have to do is allow commenting, and invite community bloggers into their fold. And podcast, of course.
I have already stocked "My Yahoo" with a number of them.
Now all they have to do is allow commenting, and invite community bloggers into their fold. And podcast, of course.
Sunday, April 24, 2005
The Mood of the Newsroom
First Draft by Tim Porter
Tim Porter, who will be attending BlogNashville from California, as he puts it: "interviewed several hundred journalists - reporters, photographers, copy editors, executive editors, designers, graphic artists. I've been in newspaper newsrooms of more than 500 people and in newsrooms of less than 50. It has been an immersion course in the mood of the press - and much of it hasn't been pretty."
He goes on the surmise the following:
Here is the litany of shame that echoes in newsroom after newsroom:
We don't have the money.
We don't have the time.
We don't have the people.
We have lousy editors.
We have lousy reporters.
We can't communicate.
We don't talk.
We don't listen.
But he also shows some bright spots, such as Greensboro.
"There are plenty of ideas for change out there and some very smart people pushing them. "
An excellent read, with much else besides...
Tim Porter, who will be attending BlogNashville from California, as he puts it: "interviewed several hundred journalists - reporters, photographers, copy editors, executive editors, designers, graphic artists. I've been in newspaper newsrooms of more than 500 people and in newsrooms of less than 50. It has been an immersion course in the mood of the press - and much of it hasn't been pretty."
He goes on the surmise the following:
Here is the litany of shame that echoes in newsroom after newsroom:
We don't have the money.
We don't have the time.
We don't have the people.
We have lousy editors.
We have lousy reporters.
We can't communicate.
We don't talk.
We don't listen.
But he also shows some bright spots, such as Greensboro.
"There are plenty of ideas for change out there and some very smart people pushing them. "
An excellent read, with much else besides...
Going to BlogNashville
Are you going?
It has been a while since I looked at the list of folks already signed up to "please come to Nashville for the springtime", and so I am going blog my perusal of the additional folks I have yet to discover...
I peeked earlier and saw that the legendary Dana Blankenhorn is planning on attending, which spawned my excitement of yet other possibilities. I have read Dana's work since the mid-90s, and hope to get an opportunity to speak with him.
Now...whom else??
Weel, there is chris muir of daybydaycartoon.com who is coming up from Melbourne. Maybe he can bring my dear old friend, Ken Phillips, who lives right down the street in Palm Bay. He and I held each other's hand during the learning phases of the Internet, back in 94...when I decided to climb back in. An idea anyway. Carpooling is healthy.
Ross Myers from Greensboro! Awesome! Is Tara coming too? Hmm...
Minky Worden, from Human Rights Watch, and so many more. Too many to name really. Over 200. Maybe I'll just stay at home.
Naa.
Maybe YOU should come, instead! Can I git a witness!
It has been a while since I looked at the list of folks already signed up to "please come to Nashville for the springtime", and so I am going blog my perusal of the additional folks I have yet to discover...
I peeked earlier and saw that the legendary Dana Blankenhorn is planning on attending, which spawned my excitement of yet other possibilities. I have read Dana's work since the mid-90s, and hope to get an opportunity to speak with him.
Now...whom else??
Weel, there is chris muir of daybydaycartoon.com who is coming up from Melbourne. Maybe he can bring my dear old friend, Ken Phillips, who lives right down the street in Palm Bay. He and I held each other's hand during the learning phases of the Internet, back in 94...when I decided to climb back in. An idea anyway. Carpooling is healthy.
Ross Myers from Greensboro! Awesome! Is Tara coming too? Hmm...
Minky Worden, from Human Rights Watch, and so many more. Too many to name really. Over 200. Maybe I'll just stay at home.
Naa.
Maybe YOU should come, instead! Can I git a witness!
Saturday, April 23, 2005
NO BLOG? NO BUSINESS.
Blogs will change your business.
Are you prepared?
Stamping out shitty businesses
Business Week: Our advice: Catch up...or catch you later
excerpt:
I'm reminded of the updated...
UNIVERSAL BUSINESS BLOG MANTRA
Authenticity.
Passion.
Transparency.
Originality.
Integrity.
Interactive Community.
If your business does not have a blog, or its equivalent, the assumption will be that you are inauthentic, you lack passion, you are hiding something, you are unoriginal and lack integrity, and you are not community-friendly.
Well...maybe it is true! And perhaps you deserve to lose customers to more receptive, friendly, and open providers. Maybe business blogging will help weed out those who are only in it for themselves anyway. Everyone learns from each other. Or at least they could, if they factored in sharing.
I hear that the Blogfather, Mister Ed Cone, is going to take the matter even further in the upcoming ZD publication. We'll let you know when that one comes out. These are exciting times!
Are you prepared?
Stamping out shitty businesses
Business Week: Our advice: Catch up...or catch you later
excerpt:
Go ahead and bellyache about blogs. But you cannot afford to close your eyes to them, because they're simply the most explosive outbreak in the information world since the Internet itself. And they're going to shake up just about every business -- including yours. It doesn't matter whether you're shipping paper clips, pork bellies, or videos of Britney in a bikini, blogs are a phenomenon that you cannot ignore, postpone, or delegate. Given the changes barreling down upon us, blogs are not a business elective. They're a prerequisite. (And yes, that goes for us, too.)
I'm reminded of the updated...
UNIVERSAL BUSINESS BLOG MANTRA
Authenticity.
Passion.
Transparency.
Originality.
Integrity.
Interactive Community.
If your business does not have a blog, or its equivalent, the assumption will be that you are inauthentic, you lack passion, you are hiding something, you are unoriginal and lack integrity, and you are not community-friendly.
Well...maybe it is true! And perhaps you deserve to lose customers to more receptive, friendly, and open providers. Maybe business blogging will help weed out those who are only in it for themselves anyway. Everyone learns from each other. Or at least they could, if they factored in sharing.
I hear that the Blogfather, Mister Ed Cone, is going to take the matter even further in the upcoming ZD publication. We'll let you know when that one comes out. These are exciting times!
CNN Guerrillas in the Midst: A Viral Marketing Campaign Exposed
This is CNN: the only major news network using your blog for an experimental guerrilla marketing campaign.
Nick Lewis
excerpt:
This week, CNN broke ground as the first news network to attempt a viral marketing campaign in the blogosphere. But the sophisticated, insightful, deceptive, and even aggressive tactics that I’ve unearthed are all part of a much bigger story: CNN is gambling that they can use the blogosphere to gain a competitive advantage over their seemingly invincible arch rival Fox News[5].
If CNN’s viral marketing tactics succeeded [1], than make no mistake: Fox will retaliate; and they are likely to use the exact same methods. Allowing these guerrilla marketing campaigns to continue could result in our blogs -- leftwing and rightwing alike -- to become the battlefield in ratings war between two of the largest media giants.
Nick Lewis
excerpt:
This week, CNN broke ground as the first news network to attempt a viral marketing campaign in the blogosphere. But the sophisticated, insightful, deceptive, and even aggressive tactics that I’ve unearthed are all part of a much bigger story: CNN is gambling that they can use the blogosphere to gain a competitive advantage over their seemingly invincible arch rival Fox News[5].
If CNN’s viral marketing tactics succeeded [1], than make no mistake: Fox will retaliate; and they are likely to use the exact same methods. Allowing these guerrilla marketing campaigns to continue could result in our blogs -- leftwing and rightwing alike -- to become the battlefield in ratings war between two of the largest media giants.
Friday, April 22, 2005
"I'm in the blogosphere to escape from this degradation of values." - David Weinberger
Joho the Blog: The spit fight that ended my career at MSNBC
(hat tip to Ed Cone)
"I'm in the blogosphere to escape from this degradation of values." says David Weinberger, citing one of the reasons he has said No to the MSNBC.
(hat tip to Ed Cone)
"I'm in the blogosphere to escape from this degradation of values." says David Weinberger, citing one of the reasons he has said No to the MSNBC.
Starting Monday...The Myth Of Charlotte Pollution
The Charlotte Capitalist (TM)
I went ahead and tossed out the following questions:
A few questions you might wish to answer:
1. It is somewhat understandable how someone would defend polluters when they are paid to do so. How do you explain unpaid defenders of polluters?
2. On more than one occasion, Charlotte has had a "Code Purple Race Week" (or "Code Purple" "Race Week", if you don't like the implication of the former). How much air pollution is added to Charlotte's air because of car racing? Will Charlotte be the first city to host Solar car racing? (It would be nice to go to a race and not choke on the air.)
3. Certainly one of the worst-smelling air polluters in the area is the Pipe & Foundry, just across 277 from the Bank of America Stadium.
Higher Standards would also demand higher air quality standards. When will the stadium folks tell the polluters to put a cork in it?
4. Is our addiction to cars chaining us to a future of greater congestion, in traffic and in health, because of the concomitant air pollution?
5. Why is it that polluting, and the defense thereof seems to be a peculiarly Republican activity? How much money is spent by polluters to defend and distort the truth?
A concerned citizen
-anonyMoses
I went ahead and tossed out the following questions:
A few questions you might wish to answer:
1. It is somewhat understandable how someone would defend polluters when they are paid to do so. How do you explain unpaid defenders of polluters?
2. On more than one occasion, Charlotte has had a "Code Purple Race Week" (or "Code Purple" "Race Week", if you don't like the implication of the former). How much air pollution is added to Charlotte's air because of car racing? Will Charlotte be the first city to host Solar car racing? (It would be nice to go to a race and not choke on the air.)
3. Certainly one of the worst-smelling air polluters in the area is the Pipe & Foundry, just across 277 from the Bank of America Stadium.
Higher Standards would also demand higher air quality standards. When will the stadium folks tell the polluters to put a cork in it?
4. Is our addiction to cars chaining us to a future of greater congestion, in traffic and in health, because of the concomitant air pollution?
5. Why is it that polluting, and the defense thereof seems to be a peculiarly Republican activity? How much money is spent by polluters to defend and distort the truth?
A concerned citizen
-anonyMoses
Spiritual Leaders Speak out on the Religion of the Future
A Dialogue with Andrew Cohen and Rev. Michael Beckwith
Andrew Cohen (l) - Rev. Michael Beckwith (r)
“If we are willing to let go of our biases and our prejudices and appreciate someone else’s stance, and then begin to see that, in essence, religions are the same, there will be a revolution in the evolution of religion,” Beckwith said in his recent interview in What Is Enlightenment? magazine. “If you start to break down the shell of religion, then this essence will be more available to everyone.”
Lenox, Mass., April 4, 2005 – Andrew Cohen, editor-in-chief of Lenox-based What Is Enlightenment? magazine, and Reverend Michael Beckwith, founder of the Agape International Spiritual Center in Los Angeles, will explore “religion of the future” in their first public dialogue together. The event is Wednesday, April 27 at 7:30pm at the Foxhollow Forum, 4 Foxhollow Dr., Lenox, MA, and is presented by the Voices from the Edge speakers series, which is sponsored by What Is Enlightenment? magazine. Tickets are available online at mktix.com (recommended) and at the door: $12. For more information log on to wie.org/voices or call 800.376.3210.
Andrew Cohen (l) - Rev. Michael Beckwith (r)
“If we are willing to let go of our biases and our prejudices and appreciate someone else’s stance, and then begin to see that, in essence, religions are the same, there will be a revolution in the evolution of religion,” Beckwith said in his recent interview in What Is Enlightenment? magazine. “If you start to break down the shell of religion, then this essence will be more available to everyone.”
Lenox, Mass., April 4, 2005 – Andrew Cohen, editor-in-chief of Lenox-based What Is Enlightenment? magazine, and Reverend Michael Beckwith, founder of the Agape International Spiritual Center in Los Angeles, will explore “religion of the future” in their first public dialogue together. The event is Wednesday, April 27 at 7:30pm at the Foxhollow Forum, 4 Foxhollow Dr., Lenox, MA, and is presented by the Voices from the Edge speakers series, which is sponsored by What Is Enlightenment? magazine. Tickets are available online at mktix.com (recommended) and at the door: $12. For more information log on to wie.org/voices or call 800.376.3210.
Thursday, April 21, 2005
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
U2 coming to Charlotte's new uptown arena
U2 will play Dec. 12 in Charlotte, in the first concert announced for the city's new uptown arena...
Tickets for the U2 concert, which start at $49.50, will go on sale Saturday, team officials said. For more information, go to www.newcharlottearena.com
Robarchek writes his Living Will
via Charlotte Observer
Charlotte's master of risibility, Doug Robarchek sets the record straight...
Let's make it clear here
We don't know who was "right" in the Terri Schiavo case. Personally, we can't imagine anyone wanting to go on indefinitely in that twilight between life and death. For ourself, to be perfectly clear in case the question ever arises:Unplug me. Turn me off. Unhook the tubes. Shut down the machinery. Cash me out. Write a big "30" at the bottom of my paper. Call the game on account of darkness. The last one out, turn out the lights.
Cancel my subscription. Shut down the power plant. Pull me out of the game, coach, and clean out my locker.
Give me the deep six. Hang up the phone. Cancel my card and close my account. Take the coffeepot off the stove. Take me off the clock and retire my number. Announce that "Doug has left the building."
Tell the milkman no more deliveries. Turn off the camera, cut the film, send the crew home and say, "That's a wrap." Throw my glass in the fireplace and pass around what's left in the bottle.
Wish me a peaceful rest and don't set my snooze alarm. Make my bed, light the light, tell the blackbird I said bye-bye, and don't wait up.
Are there any questions?
Charlotte's master of risibility, Doug Robarchek sets the record straight...
Let's make it clear here
We don't know who was "right" in the Terri Schiavo case. Personally, we can't imagine anyone wanting to go on indefinitely in that twilight between life and death. For ourself, to be perfectly clear in case the question ever arises:Unplug me. Turn me off. Unhook the tubes. Shut down the machinery. Cash me out. Write a big "30" at the bottom of my paper. Call the game on account of darkness. The last one out, turn out the lights.
Cancel my subscription. Shut down the power plant. Pull me out of the game, coach, and clean out my locker.
Give me the deep six. Hang up the phone. Cancel my card and close my account. Take the coffeepot off the stove. Take me off the clock and retire my number. Announce that "Doug has left the building."
Tell the milkman no more deliveries. Turn off the camera, cut the film, send the crew home and say, "That's a wrap." Throw my glass in the fireplace and pass around what's left in the bottle.
Wish me a peaceful rest and don't set my snooze alarm. Make my bed, light the light, tell the blackbird I said bye-bye, and don't wait up.
Are there any questions?
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Red State/Blue State
There are two kinds of people in the world, those who believe there are two kinds of people in the world and those who don't.
-Robert Benchley, Benchley's Law of Distinction
-Robert Benchley, Benchley's Law of Distinction
Monday, April 18, 2005
Saturday, April 16, 2005
Viewfinder BLUES: A Chat with the Blogfather
Lenslinger picks the brain of Ed Cone.
Predicts the Blogosphere will NOT reverse the Earth's rotation.
Predicts the Blogosphere will NOT reverse the Earth's rotation.
James Randi visits Coturnix' "Science and Politics" blog
Science And Politics: Record of all records!
The skeptic's skeptic, James (The Incredible) Randi, paid a virtual visit to Carolina, and gave Bora a boost. Bravo!
The skeptic's skeptic, James (The Incredible) Randi, paid a virtual visit to Carolina, and gave Bora a boost. Bravo!
mistersugar: We're all poor
mistersugar: We're all poor
via Anton
We're all poor
This week and next, WUNC is offering some excellent interviews, stories and discussions about poverty with its North Carolina Voices: Understanding Poverty series. Each poverty story makes me remember two times in my life, when I was temporarily poor (a distinction a number of experts have along with explaining the difference in the poor of underdeveloped nations).
via Anton
We're all poor
This week and next, WUNC is offering some excellent interviews, stories and discussions about poverty with its North Carolina Voices: Understanding Poverty series. Each poverty story makes me remember two times in my life, when I was temporarily poor (a distinction a number of experts have along with explaining the difference in the poor of underdeveloped nations).
Friday, April 15, 2005
Why use A9.com
Searching the Web and Beyond...
The current list of searches (and their sources) includes:
The web (Google)
Search Inside the Book® (Amazon.com)
Images (Google)
Movies (Internet Movie Database)
Reference (definitions, encyclopedic entries and other topics by GuruNet)
Learn more about the search features on A9.com
The current list of searches (and their sources) includes:
The web (Google)
Search Inside the Book® (Amazon.com)
Images (Google)
Movies (Internet Movie Database)
Reference (definitions, encyclopedic entries and other topics by GuruNet)
Learn more about the search features on A9.com
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Daily Kos :: Blogging, Podcasting & "Social Media" on Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins
Who will be the guest speakers?
Stay tuned and find out!
Feel free to send questions even before the show. The interest will increase the likelihood a more shows on similar topics. Besides...it's a great show! It is replayed at 7PM, and is available on the internets.
Stay tuned and find out!
Feel free to send questions even before the show. The interest will increase the likelihood a more shows on similar topics. Besides...it's a great show! It is replayed at 7PM, and is available on the internets.
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Monday, April 11, 2005
Sunday, April 10, 2005
Friday, April 08, 2005
Thursday, April 07, 2005
Robarchek and Shepard on The American Street
High Weirdness from The Charlotte Street
Today's column examines Gay Football and Charlotte Minister of Forward-Wing Politics, Doug Robarchek and his historic role as editor of the Constitution.
Today's column examines Gay Football and Charlotte Minister of Forward-Wing Politics, Doug Robarchek and his historic role as editor of the Constitution.
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Greensboro is ululating
"You have got a lot of good, clean, Christian yogurts."
AND MORE!!!
The conversation everyone is talking about.
Well, some people.
AND MORE!!!
The conversation everyone is talking about.
Well, some people.
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Jamzoo: Where Art Meets Music
The Art & Music of Charlotte's Woody Williams
Something about them NC Williamses!
-What's the difference between a musician and a mutual fund?
-The mutual fund will eventually mature and earn money.
Peter Jennings has lung cancer
Descendants of EDWARD I OF ENGLAND
I feel a certain connection with Mister Jennings, largely because of history and genealogy.
............................... 17 PETER JENNINGS 1664 -
............................... 17 ANNE JENNINGS - 1691
............................... 17 ELIZABETH JENNINGS
................................... +ROGER BECKWITH
...and so when I heard him reveal his condition, I was moved on different levels...even though he is not the historical Peter Jennings. One of the odd by-products of genealogical research...
I feel a certain connection with Mister Jennings, largely because of history and genealogy.
............................... 17 PETER JENNINGS 1664 -
............................... 17 ANNE JENNINGS - 1691
............................... 17 ELIZABETH JENNINGS
................................... +ROGER BECKWITH
...and so when I heard him reveal his condition, I was moved on different levels...even though he is not the historical Peter Jennings. One of the odd by-products of genealogical research...
Monday, April 04, 2005
Carolina: "Good game, Chicago!"
So. A baby seal walks into a club...
Glad I didn't have to use:
Carolina: The Clay Aiken of Football
For you, Dad!
I love you!
To all the folks in Chapel Hill, alumnae and Ed, John, Elizabeth, Jude...I share your exuberance!
Well deserved.
Glad I didn't have to use:
Carolina: The Clay Aiken of Football
For you, Dad!
I love you!
To all the folks in Chapel Hill, alumnae and Ed, John, Elizabeth, Jude...I share your exuberance!
Well deserved.
Sunday, April 03, 2005
Charlotte/Matthews Bloggers meetup at Kaldi's Koffee House at &pm Saturday
Quality vs Quantity
Notes from our first meet-up!
When I walked into Kaldi's Blog Cafe, I could have been faced with a throng of angry young Hitlers...in which case I could have called the meeting a smashing success because of all the people who attended. But alas, it is quality, not quantity. So instead of a throng of screeching Hitlers, I got two young men, one of which I brought myself, and the other of whom wandered over to where my driver and I were eating quiche, pastries and fruit, and drinking Kaldi's high-octane house blend, and said, in English, "Is this the blog group"? That young man was Steve Dunn, of the Begging to Differ blog, and president of the Plaza-Midwood Association. The fellow I brought was Jack (Le Petit Jacques) of History of Time Travel.
As I had only posted the meeting 2 days before, I really didn't expect anyone to be there, except maybe Pam, whom I wanted to help with blogging. And so to even have one show up was a bit of a miracle. Steve himself said that he had only seen the announcement an hour or so earlier.
My first impression of Steve Dunn was that he could have been a twin brother of Jack my my dear friend, Rob Urban, with whom Jack and I like to party in Amsterdam, Paris, Manhattan, Charleston, and occasionally Charlotte. So when I blurred my vision, which is something we right-brainers like to do, I could imagine three old friends once again gathered...only the setting was more reminescent of the Harvard Club than the funky European haunts (although The Grand had some elegant spaces, and is highly recommended), and so to incorporate that image, I would have to blur Jack into, say Ken Phillips, and Ken, Rob and I had some great conversations at The Club, while Jack, even though his sister lives and teaches in Cambridge, never made it up to visit.
And so people are blurring left and right, and I'm thinking "this is some goood coffee"!
Unblurring my eyes, I began to see that Steve was not Rob, and Jack was not Ken, and I was not Clay Aiken. I was Sidney Poitier. A white Sidney Poitier. Well, off-white. Clinton-white. And Jack and Steve were having a discussion.
I finally finished wolfing down my food and joined in...
The discussion ranged from Sidebars, to Amsterdam, to bloggercons and meetups, and on to pedagogy; How and what does one need to teach when teaching blogging, and what are the best ways to effect that change?
My own vision is that we will grow a network of blogger meetups through our large county, and focus on teaching the teaching of blogging. In other words, we can teach people how to blog, and then teach them how to teach others how to blog. In this way, we can grow the Charlotte blogosphere in a most efficient manner, and, among other things, have a goodly number of bloggers with important things to convey when the September 17th BlogFest, BloggerCon, or whathaveyou comes to Charlotte.
One of the things we discussed was what I perceive to be a certain slowheadedness in Charlotte when it comes to innovation. Steve tended to disagree, but I am not sure what proff he could point to to show how fast we are. And I know that the folks in Greensboro and Chapel Hill will tend to back me up, as their blogosphere has evolved far beyond Charlotte's blogosphere, which, alas, it still largely inchoate. But Steve did make some good points in support of a fastheaded Charlotte, and when compared with, say, Gastonia or Marshville, he certainly has a point. But as I was discussing with Jack on our return home...we, in Cambridge, were discussing HDTV in 1980, while I never heard a peep about it here until, oh, the late '90s. And when I moved back to Charlotte, from Massachusetts, back in '96, having been on the Net for a couple of years...very few people had even heard of the Internet. Now the same applies to blogging.
I wish it were otherwise. But alas, Charlotte does not have a Harvard, an MIT, a BU or BC, a Brandeis, a Radcliffe or Wellesley...where the future is constantly being created. But some of the people in Boston would point to the West Coast, and that that there is where the future is actually being created. It is a relative thing, but take a drive out into the boonies, and you will see this relativity in practice.
And so a compromise is in order... Charlotte is in between Greensboro and Spartanburg...and I'm glad we are ahead of Spartanburg.
The Laws of Physics states that for every action there is a reaction, and so one comes to expect that no matter what one says, there will, sure as Physics, be a reaction, and often an opposing reaction. And, just as with Begging to Differ, there will be Thesis, Antithesis, and, occasionally, Synthesis. All to please Hegel, the comb-over philosopher.
But I digress...
Steve, it turns out, lives about 3 blocks from me, and so I suggested we find a closer place to have microlocal meetups...but we both agreed that Kaldi's is a good place to have them until that point where splinter groups are needed. Until that time, I hope to continue to meet and grow other meetups. As President of the Plaza-Midwood Neighborhood Association, Steve could teach and organize those folks, and I can talk to the folks at the Commonweath-Morningside Neighborhood Association and get them involved.
John McBride is blogging for the Elizabeth neighborhood, so I will talk with him, and see if we can get our adjoining neighborhoods together on some projects as well. And where help is needed, help will go. At least as far as I am concerned.
I'd like to see what the folks in Dilworth, NODA and other areas of town are doing about it. Charlotte is so big, and such a car-dependent city, the notion of having a city-wide meetup for all time is simply impractical. This is what BloggerCons are for. But prior to that time, I hope to see a thousand pints of Lite springing up all over this county. We will need all the help we can get.
I am going to contact the good folks in Greensboro, Chapel Hill and Cambridge to learn not to reinvent the wheel, and to glean the good things they have already discovered.
If the Charlotte media is going to have an essential blackout of blogging, which seems to be the case, it will be up to bloggers themselves to spread the word. I am excited about the prospects.
Steve, Jack...thanks for coming out. It was a real pleasure, and I look forward to picking your ample and protean brains again very soon. And for those who may want to join us...don't worry if you don't have a laptop or even a computer. If you have one, you will be accommodated, but what is more important is simply your presence.
I didn't even bring pencil or paper. And your level of skill is also unimportant. If you are a seasoned blogger, you can help with the planning of the BloggerCon. If you are new, you can receive help on getting started. Liberal, Conservative, Libertarian, Progressive...it doesn't matter. This is about education, not culture war. All viewpoints are welcome.
Go Tarheels!
When: Saturday, April 2, 7:00 PM
Where: Kaldi's Koffee House, 157 N. Trade Street, Matthews, NC
What: Charlotte/Matthews Bloggers meetup
Notes from our first meet-up!
When I walked into Kaldi's Blog Cafe, I could have been faced with a throng of angry young Hitlers...in which case I could have called the meeting a smashing success because of all the people who attended. But alas, it is quality, not quantity. So instead of a throng of screeching Hitlers, I got two young men, one of which I brought myself, and the other of whom wandered over to where my driver and I were eating quiche, pastries and fruit, and drinking Kaldi's high-octane house blend, and said, in English, "Is this the blog group"? That young man was Steve Dunn, of the Begging to Differ blog, and president of the Plaza-Midwood Association. The fellow I brought was Jack (Le Petit Jacques) of History of Time Travel.
As I had only posted the meeting 2 days before, I really didn't expect anyone to be there, except maybe Pam, whom I wanted to help with blogging. And so to even have one show up was a bit of a miracle. Steve himself said that he had only seen the announcement an hour or so earlier.
My first impression of Steve Dunn was that he could have been a twin brother of Jack my my dear friend, Rob Urban, with whom Jack and I like to party in Amsterdam, Paris, Manhattan, Charleston, and occasionally Charlotte. So when I blurred my vision, which is something we right-brainers like to do, I could imagine three old friends once again gathered...only the setting was more reminescent of the Harvard Club than the funky European haunts (although The Grand had some elegant spaces, and is highly recommended), and so to incorporate that image, I would have to blur Jack into, say Ken Phillips, and Ken, Rob and I had some great conversations at The Club, while Jack, even though his sister lives and teaches in Cambridge, never made it up to visit.
And so people are blurring left and right, and I'm thinking "this is some goood coffee"!
Unblurring my eyes, I began to see that Steve was not Rob, and Jack was not Ken, and I was not Clay Aiken. I was Sidney Poitier. A white Sidney Poitier. Well, off-white. Clinton-white. And Jack and Steve were having a discussion.
I finally finished wolfing down my food and joined in...
The discussion ranged from Sidebars, to Amsterdam, to bloggercons and meetups, and on to pedagogy; How and what does one need to teach when teaching blogging, and what are the best ways to effect that change?
My own vision is that we will grow a network of blogger meetups through our large county, and focus on teaching the teaching of blogging. In other words, we can teach people how to blog, and then teach them how to teach others how to blog. In this way, we can grow the Charlotte blogosphere in a most efficient manner, and, among other things, have a goodly number of bloggers with important things to convey when the September 17th BlogFest, BloggerCon, or whathaveyou comes to Charlotte.
One of the things we discussed was what I perceive to be a certain slowheadedness in Charlotte when it comes to innovation. Steve tended to disagree, but I am not sure what proff he could point to to show how fast we are. And I know that the folks in Greensboro and Chapel Hill will tend to back me up, as their blogosphere has evolved far beyond Charlotte's blogosphere, which, alas, it still largely inchoate. But Steve did make some good points in support of a fastheaded Charlotte, and when compared with, say, Gastonia or Marshville, he certainly has a point. But as I was discussing with Jack on our return home...we, in Cambridge, were discussing HDTV in 1980, while I never heard a peep about it here until, oh, the late '90s. And when I moved back to Charlotte, from Massachusetts, back in '96, having been on the Net for a couple of years...very few people had even heard of the Internet. Now the same applies to blogging.
I wish it were otherwise. But alas, Charlotte does not have a Harvard, an MIT, a BU or BC, a Brandeis, a Radcliffe or Wellesley...where the future is constantly being created. But some of the people in Boston would point to the West Coast, and that that there is where the future is actually being created. It is a relative thing, but take a drive out into the boonies, and you will see this relativity in practice.
And so a compromise is in order... Charlotte is in between Greensboro and Spartanburg...and I'm glad we are ahead of Spartanburg.
The Laws of Physics states that for every action there is a reaction, and so one comes to expect that no matter what one says, there will, sure as Physics, be a reaction, and often an opposing reaction. And, just as with Begging to Differ, there will be Thesis, Antithesis, and, occasionally, Synthesis. All to please Hegel, the comb-over philosopher.
But I digress...
Steve, it turns out, lives about 3 blocks from me, and so I suggested we find a closer place to have microlocal meetups...but we both agreed that Kaldi's is a good place to have them until that point where splinter groups are needed. Until that time, I hope to continue to meet and grow other meetups. As President of the Plaza-Midwood Neighborhood Association, Steve could teach and organize those folks, and I can talk to the folks at the Commonweath-Morningside Neighborhood Association and get them involved.
John McBride is blogging for the Elizabeth neighborhood, so I will talk with him, and see if we can get our adjoining neighborhoods together on some projects as well. And where help is needed, help will go. At least as far as I am concerned.
I'd like to see what the folks in Dilworth, NODA and other areas of town are doing about it. Charlotte is so big, and such a car-dependent city, the notion of having a city-wide meetup for all time is simply impractical. This is what BloggerCons are for. But prior to that time, I hope to see a thousand pints of Lite springing up all over this county. We will need all the help we can get.
I am going to contact the good folks in Greensboro, Chapel Hill and Cambridge to learn not to reinvent the wheel, and to glean the good things they have already discovered.
If the Charlotte media is going to have an essential blackout of blogging, which seems to be the case, it will be up to bloggers themselves to spread the word. I am excited about the prospects.
Steve, Jack...thanks for coming out. It was a real pleasure, and I look forward to picking your ample and protean brains again very soon. And for those who may want to join us...don't worry if you don't have a laptop or even a computer. If you have one, you will be accommodated, but what is more important is simply your presence.
I didn't even bring pencil or paper. And your level of skill is also unimportant. If you are a seasoned blogger, you can help with the planning of the BloggerCon. If you are new, you can receive help on getting started. Liberal, Conservative, Libertarian, Progressive...it doesn't matter. This is about education, not culture war. All viewpoints are welcome.
Go Tarheels!
When: Saturday, April 2, 7:00 PM
Where: Kaldi's Koffee House, 157 N. Trade Street, Matthews, NC
What: Charlotte/Matthews Bloggers meetup
Saturday, April 02, 2005
Triangle BloggerCon TV
The Real Paul Jones - PLUS! Dan Gillmor...clothed!!
Get them while they're HOT!!!!
Now you can see your favorite blogger IN 4-D!!!
offerexpiresimmediatelyuponpurchase
youmaynotpassgoyoumaynotcollecttwohundreddollars
Get them while they're HOT!!!!
Now you can see your favorite blogger IN 4-D!!!
offerexpiresimmediatelyuponpurchase
youmaynotpassgoyoumaynotcollecttwohundreddollars
Cool Light: Chemiluminescence - Light without Heat
Chemiluminescence - Light without Heat
LEDs’ Advantages
(Thanks to Weekend America on NPR for the profile.)
LEDs’ Advantages
(Thanks to Weekend America on NPR for the profile.)
Friday, April 01, 2005
Democrats "unhappy" you say?
You hear it all over the Purchased Opinion..."Democrats are unhappy".
Let's test this hypothesis. Study these websites, and tell me who is the happier.
Michelle Malkin
Michelle Maklin
National Review Online
National Rebuke Online
World Net Daily
World Nut Doily (Today only)
Or try this on for size. Or this. Or this. Or this. Or this. This. And this. How 'bout this. Finally this.
Where are the Republican equivalent to these? Where is the fun? Where the love?
Again...Follow the Love!
At the Charlotte Observer Forum...
Ace Pryhill comments on a pregnant post found in the Charlotte Observer, where a reader writes:
Mr. President, I want my GOP back
When I became a Republican 25 years ago, the party stood for individual rights and personal freedom, fiscal responsibility and judicial fairness. Now the Bush administration and the congressional Republican leadership spend their time exploiting a tragic family matter for political profit. Separation of power, states rights, and an independent judiciary are being ignored.
Ask yourself this question: If Terri Schiavo were black, without white evangelical Christian parents, would President Bush and congressional Republicans have been so eager to leap to her defense?
Michael A. Clark, Charlotte
To which Pryhill responds:
Or, another scenario: Imagine if Terri Schiavo was a lesbian, and it was her longtime partner who wanted to keep her on the feeding tube, at odds with her parents' desires. Would President Bush, congressional Republicans, and especially the flocks of Christian demonstrators been so eager to leap to her defense?
And to which I responded...but the comment crashed:
Excellent points! Thanks for the information too!
I didn't realize that her parents were white evangelicals, although I did suspect they were white, or at least beige.
Your point brings out one of the main reason why I cannot ever see myself in alignment with that party in its present incarnation; Racial and sexual bigotry. Bigotry is unintelligent, and I am not unintelligent. Nor will I cheerlead for the unintelligent. I am glad to see people like you who are not obsequiously deferential to the eleventh commandment, which basically says it's okay to lie and obey the stupid.
and you responded...
Mr. President, I want my GOP back
When I became a Republican 25 years ago, the party stood for individual rights and personal freedom, fiscal responsibility and judicial fairness. Now the Bush administration and the congressional Republican leadership spend their time exploiting a tragic family matter for political profit. Separation of power, states rights, and an independent judiciary are being ignored.
Ask yourself this question: If Terri Schiavo were black, without white evangelical Christian parents, would President Bush and congressional Republicans have been so eager to leap to her defense?
Michael A. Clark, Charlotte
To which Pryhill responds:
Or, another scenario: Imagine if Terri Schiavo was a lesbian, and it was her longtime partner who wanted to keep her on the feeding tube, at odds with her parents' desires. Would President Bush, congressional Republicans, and especially the flocks of Christian demonstrators been so eager to leap to her defense?
And to which I responded...but the comment crashed:
Excellent points! Thanks for the information too!
I didn't realize that her parents were white evangelicals, although I did suspect they were white, or at least beige.
Your point brings out one of the main reason why I cannot ever see myself in alignment with that party in its present incarnation; Racial and sexual bigotry. Bigotry is unintelligent, and I am not unintelligent. Nor will I cheerlead for the unintelligent. I am glad to see people like you who are not obsequiously deferential to the eleventh commandment, which basically says it's okay to lie and obey the stupid.
and you responded...
Daily Kos : Better than Free Republic
Why Daily Kos is better than Free Republic
Our friend who left Free Republic might find more love at Daily Kos.
Compare for yourself and see:
Daily Kos
Free Republic
Our friend who left Free Republic might find more love at Daily Kos.
Compare for yourself and see:
Daily Kos
Free Republic
Follow the Love: A Freeper jumps ship
A freeper says: "Time to part company"
Excerpts:
The whole Terri Schiavo case has changed everything for me. A mob mentality took over the first few days after the order to pull the tube was given. Anyone who did not toe the line was attacked. I saw a dedicated active-duty member of our armed forces called a “Maine liberal” for simply asking why troops in harm’s way did not get the same sort of “all-nighter” attention that Terri Schiavo got. It was a reasonable question – we have 40-year-old P-3s still out there. We have a war on terrorism still going on, in case folks have not noticed.
...
I’m sick of the way the Terri threads spun out of control, and the vicious attacks launched at reasonable people who came to a different conclusions about the situation or who pointed out facts that certain people found inconvenient. This is not what I signed on here for.
...
I do NOT want the federal government to be involved in any culture war. “Culture” was never mentioned in the constitution, thus I believe it is left to the States or TO THE PEOPLE (see the Tenth Amendment).
...
In the process of Free Republic leaving me, I now find that I fear the social conservatives as much as I fear the loony left. As a result of coming to this conclusion, I ask that my account be deleted and all posts I have made, save for this opus and the ping to my friends be removed.
I predict that more and more people will learn that it is better to follow the love than chase after money and popularity, and good people like Leach, Chaffee, Snow, Shays, Spector, Warner and others will realize that "the love" is no longer in their party. It has been pushed out by hate, reaction, bloviation, diversion, irresponsibility, obscurantism, greed, micranimity and a lack of respect for Truth.
Excerpts:
The whole Terri Schiavo case has changed everything for me. A mob mentality took over the first few days after the order to pull the tube was given. Anyone who did not toe the line was attacked. I saw a dedicated active-duty member of our armed forces called a “Maine liberal” for simply asking why troops in harm’s way did not get the same sort of “all-nighter” attention that Terri Schiavo got. It was a reasonable question – we have 40-year-old P-3s still out there. We have a war on terrorism still going on, in case folks have not noticed.
...
I’m sick of the way the Terri threads spun out of control, and the vicious attacks launched at reasonable people who came to a different conclusions about the situation or who pointed out facts that certain people found inconvenient. This is not what I signed on here for.
...
I do NOT want the federal government to be involved in any culture war. “Culture” was never mentioned in the constitution, thus I believe it is left to the States or TO THE PEOPLE (see the Tenth Amendment).
...
In the process of Free Republic leaving me, I now find that I fear the social conservatives as much as I fear the loony left. As a result of coming to this conclusion, I ask that my account be deleted and all posts I have made, save for this opus and the ping to my friends be removed.
I predict that more and more people will learn that it is better to follow the love than chase after money and popularity, and good people like Leach, Chaffee, Snow, Shays, Spector, Warner and others will realize that "the love" is no longer in their party. It has been pushed out by hate, reaction, bloviation, diversion, irresponsibility, obscurantism, greed, micranimity and a lack of respect for Truth.
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Are they going to keep the Pope alive?
Should the Pope be hooked to the proverbial machine that goes ping, and kept alive a la Terry Schiavo over the past dozen or so years? What effect would this have on the succession of Popes?
If he were kept technically alive by machines, and he was unable to say or do anything...would he remain the Pope? Such matters are above my pay grade...
May he, and the world, be at peace.
If he were kept technically alive by machines, and he was unable to say or do anything...would he remain the Pope? Such matters are above my pay grade...
May he, and the world, be at peace.
World Bank: "Lower Standards"
Architect of "Dead Wrong" Blunder Promoted to Head of World Bank
Keep an eye on your wallet, World!
Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy defense secretary and one of the Bush administration's "dead wrong" hawkish hyperventilatives, was unanimously confirmed as the new president of the World Bank today by the institution's ludibund executive board.
Keep an eye on your wallet, World!
Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy defense secretary and one of the Bush administration's "dead wrong" hawkish hyperventilatives, was unanimously confirmed as the new president of the World Bank today by the institution's ludibund executive board.
Terri Schiavo is Dead
Back to God she goes...
Condit and Sharks to make their long overdue reappearance
13 Days After Feeding Tube Removed. 13. Not 14. Not 12. Proof Amerigeddon is upon us...
Condit and Sharks to make their long overdue reappearance
13 Days After Feeding Tube Removed. 13. Not 14. Not 12. Proof Amerigeddon is upon us...
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Naomi Klein Reveals New Details About U.S. Military Shooting of Italian War Correspondent in Iraq
Democracy Now!
Three weeks after being shot by US forces in Iraq, veteran Italian war correspondent Giuliana Sgrena is released from a military hospital. New details are emerging about the killing of the Italian agent who saved her life. We speak with independent journalist Naomi Klein, who just returned from meeting with Sgrena in Rome. [includes rush transcript]
Three weeks after being shot by US forces in Iraq, veteran Italian war correspondent Giuliana Sgrena is released from a military hospital. New details are emerging about the killing of the Italian agent who saved her life. We speak with independent journalist Naomi Klein, who just returned from meeting with Sgrena in Rome. [includes rush transcript]
w o r d s - Save Our Ecosystem Service Provider
Part of our Blogs as Food Series: ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
Cracker To Play Raleigh Show For Tsunami Relief - markturner.net
thanks go out to markturner.net for finding this. They used to hang out in Richmond. Had no idea they were still together...
Thanks again!
Thanks again!
Black Mountain Poet, Robert Creeley, has died
from Psychedelic 60s: The Black Mountain Poets
Born in Arlington, Massachusetts, Robert Creeley attended Harvard but dropped out before taking his degree. After living in the south of France in Aix-en-Provence and in majorca, Spain, where he founded the Divers Press, he joined teh faculty of Black Mountain College in 1954 at the invitation of Charles Olson. There he founded the Black Mountain Review. While Creeley left the college itself in 1955, his influence on Black Mountain poetics has been significant. Associated with the State University of New York at Buffalo since 1966, he was named poet laureat of the state of New York in 1992.
excerpt:
THE BLACK MOUNTAIN College began as an experimental school in 1933 and was located in a rural mountain community in North Carolina. Various avant-garde poets were drawn to the school through the years, most notably Charles Olson, Robert Duncan, Denise Levertov, Jonathan Williams, and Robert Creeley. Robert Creeley was hired to teach and to edit the Black Mountain Review in 1955, and when he left two years later for San Francisco, he became the link between the Black Mountain poets, the poets of the San Francisco Renaissance, and through Allen Ginsberg the Beat writers of Greenwich Village. A partial list of contributors to Volume 7 of the Black Mountain Review (the last issue) shows the connection between the three groups and the influence they had on each other Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Gary Snyder, Michael McClure, Philip Whalen, Charles Olson, Denise Levertov, and Jonathan Williams.
Born in Arlington, Massachusetts, Robert Creeley attended Harvard but dropped out before taking his degree. After living in the south of France in Aix-en-Provence and in majorca, Spain, where he founded the Divers Press, he joined teh faculty of Black Mountain College in 1954 at the invitation of Charles Olson. There he founded the Black Mountain Review. While Creeley left the college itself in 1955, his influence on Black Mountain poetics has been significant. Associated with the State University of New York at Buffalo since 1966, he was named poet laureat of the state of New York in 1992.
excerpt:
THE BLACK MOUNTAIN College began as an experimental school in 1933 and was located in a rural mountain community in North Carolina. Various avant-garde poets were drawn to the school through the years, most notably Charles Olson, Robert Duncan, Denise Levertov, Jonathan Williams, and Robert Creeley. Robert Creeley was hired to teach and to edit the Black Mountain Review in 1955, and when he left two years later for San Francisco, he became the link between the Black Mountain poets, the poets of the San Francisco Renaissance, and through Allen Ginsberg the Beat writers of Greenwich Village. A partial list of contributors to Volume 7 of the Black Mountain Review (the last issue) shows the connection between the three groups and the influence they had on each other Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Gary Snyder, Michael McClure, Philip Whalen, Charles Olson, Denise Levertov, and Jonathan Williams.
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Pray for Jerry Falwell
CNN - Falwell in critical condition - Mar 29, 2005
I have never been a big fan of Jerry Falwell. I won't even go into the reasons. I just hope he regains good health, and maybe realizes, as we all maybe should...that we are all bozos on this bus, so we may as well love and care for one another. It may be the only elegant escape.
(Thanks to the legendary Patrick Eakes for the link and reminder.)
I have never been a big fan of Jerry Falwell. I won't even go into the reasons. I just hope he regains good health, and maybe realizes, as we all maybe should...that we are all bozos on this bus, so we may as well love and care for one another. It may be the only elegant escape.
(Thanks to the legendary Patrick Eakes for the link and reminder.)
N.C. Newspaper Uses Blogs to Reach Readers - BizReport
N.C. Newspaper Uses Blogs to Reach Readers - BizReport: "'When the paper's overhaul is complete, it may be a model for the sort of 21st century paper that many journalism big thinkers have been talking about, chewing over, and confabbing on for the last few years,' wrote the industry-watching magazine Editor & Publisher. 'Greensboro will be the first place where this conceptually newfangled newspaper actually exists.'
'It's a wonderful idea,' said Phil Meyer, a journalism professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 'It's important for newspapers to try dangerous experiments.' His only reservation: The paper hasn't added any staff to work on its electronic experiment. 'I'd rather they were willing to make an investment in this.'
Other papers are watching. The Houston Chronicle, The (Portland) Oregonian, (Raleigh) News & Observer and USA Today have all called News & Record editor John Robinson to discuss what his paper is doing."
'It's a wonderful idea,' said Phil Meyer, a journalism professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 'It's important for newspapers to try dangerous experiments.' His only reservation: The paper hasn't added any staff to work on its electronic experiment. 'I'd rather they were willing to make an investment in this.'
Other papers are watching. The Houston Chronicle, The (Portland) Oregonian, (Raleigh) News & Observer and USA Today have all called News & Record editor John Robinson to discuss what his paper is doing."
The World of Charlotte Bloggers
Charlotte by Night
I have just updated my Charlotte Bloggers blogroll (on the right sidebar), and am sure I left some out. John...could you send me your neighborhood blog again. I forgot the &$*%# address (being old and stupid and all). In deference to space, I have clumped them all together on this post like a giant amoeba, which it may well be. Need to check with the scientists and creationists, and see if they can split the difference and come up with a reasonable explanation for the blogamoeba you now behold. The new are emboldened.
CHARLOTTE BLOGGERS a100wwe's blog of news, politics, and sci/techAce PryhillAffecting FrankAfter Hours w/ Jason WorkmanAku-Rei*Ana Kova*Anna BananaanonyMosesBanter, Bitching & Moaning Begging To DifferBeth CherryBlackHoleIraqBrady Gaster (TatoChip)Cada dia, cada vez...Carolina Panther PageCharlotte Weblogger Meetup GroupCheerful Malcontent Cold FuryCollection of Thoughts, ACozmic BlondeDarryl's JourneyDaveTemple.comDione Rochell*Don't cry for me, pas de calais (Skyfi)DrainMyBrain.comEruanne Grace*Frocky (Doombilly)From the Ashes (Meishi Namida)Funk-Rhythmgabuyafa*Garrick WellsGene G. McLaughlin*Greg Burnett web logGrinsNLaughter Guyana GyurlHistory of Time TravelHitched to Everything Hugh R. F. CampbellHyperLincolnIncoherent MumblingsInside These Walls Jamzoo Ken Webster Legend of the SlashfiendLiberals Lie (Brian Simms) mitch*weblogMocklive Monkey ChatteringsMore than Expression (Jennifer Medlock)Caleida (My Lenore)*Natural Mystic's Random Musings NerdiiBlackBoyNorth Cacalacky PoliticsNorth Carolina Experiment, Thensikora*Ogre's ViewPatrick McElhaneyPerpetual Insanity Perpetual PlatitudesPhilobloggerPseudomuffin Art*Random IndentationsRandomURLRaphael D'Angelo*Reality BlogsRhapsody Radish Richard Jones Write Site*Rich BarrettRight-Wing NewsRockSchoolRuby RedSample RealitySimply IdleSister ToldjahSir Shannon Soaring Dragon*Soneji's Domain.Spilt MilkStatmark's Reasonable BlogStojak: Blithering Idiom*Tempting Talesterri's cellar doorThe 704.comThe Allan Handelman Show The Charlotte CapitalistThe Labyrinthine Mind The SeanachaiTheTrenchcoat ChroniclesThis is not the greatest blog in the world. (Kathy Kraly)T. L. Crowe*tokitikki*True Confessions of an Ex-Human Tweak & Beat*vintage: a lasting originawebakerYada yada yada*YesButNoButYesZhunZi
Monday, March 28, 2005
Sunday, March 27, 2005
Anais Mitchell and The Near Misses delight Charlotte crowd
Anais Mitchell
I am reminded of a post I did a week or so ago on good/bad luck.
The night of the Anais Mitchell concert was such a night...
Let me back up.
It was a day like any other. Terry Schiavo was in full omnipresence thank to the paralysis of the American media corporate defenders of whomever has the money, and eve of yet another Bushweather holiday, and yet I had Anais Mitchell and Lea Pritchard to look forward to, a well as the possibility of being joined by some of my favorite hominids...Robert (the Philoblogger), Woody (Jamzoo), Erika (inchoate claymationista) and le petite Jacques (History of Time Travel) . Woody, as expected, never materialized, and we only materialized AFTER Anais had finished her set.
And what was our lame excuse for this bad luck?
3 things.
1. I just HAD to play my new vocal composition for Jack. (Figgering the headliner would play last, and the boy band would be first.)
2. A friend called at around 8, and wanted to listen in, and talk.
3. Robert and Erica were saying they weren't going to go, and I wanted to spend some time with them.
As it turns out, help with the entrance fee smoothed over their apprehension, and so we all piled into Jack's bus and headed over.
What's this? Anais is done? We missed it? And I've already paid entrance fees?
But good luck would have it that I also liked the second band, at least I knew I liked Lea Pritchard, as I had seen her for years, and appreciated the fact that she is the center of the internet musical universe, at least here in Charlotte...from what I have seen. If there are better, we are blessed indeed!
But my luck got even better when I discovered that Shana Blake was now conjoined with Lea. I probably suggested it to her at some point. It's astonishing to have two great talents in one band, and yet the other three Misses are most excellent too.
The highlight of the music had to be Shana's beautiful anthem near the end of the show, whose title slips me, so let me get back on that. Like Anais' "1984", it is one that should become as ubiquitous as Terry Schiavo.
After the concert was over, I went to congratulate the band, and as I was talking to Shana, Anais walked up and Shana complimented her on her performance. Thinking ever at the top of my intelligence, sadly, I was able to ascertain that this elegant woman dressed in black flowing silk velvet was the great Anais. And her name fits her most succinctly. Especially with her new hair, which should have been her hair all along, it fits so well together, and is so reminescent of her namesake.
I had gotten my money's worth, and then some. When, later, she appeared on the sidewalk, and I said to Robert, Erika and Jack, "This is Anais Mitchell", and Robert had one of those John Malkovich moments, you know, in True West, where he snaps up, cigarette stuck to his lower lip, and says, "Maybe it was Fresno!" Well, it looked that way to me.
We chatted about Richmond, Anais Nin, Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer and then she was swept away by other adoring fans.
A few minutes pass, and we talk about our dinner with Andre, only it wasn't dinner and it wasn't Andre although the first two letters are the same.
When I suggested they meet Shana and Lea, "one star per night, please", was what I heard.
But I did it anyway, and talked Shana into saying hello to "my shy nephew", who, by the way, had ascertained her "coolness" earlier on, and made comment to that effect.
(Ah! How appropriate! William Ackerman just came on the radio! Impending Death of the Virgin Spirit, I believe it is called.)
So after some cordial exchanges, and sensing that it was becoming quite chilly, we parted, and headed home.
If you have the chance, make it a point to go and see these fine artists.
Here is Anais' schedule (She is going to be at Passim's in Cambridge, New York, and other fine places.)
...and website
...and blog.
Here are The Near Misses.
Bust: For women with something to get off their chest
Amy Sedaris, not Julia Roberts
Our Amy Is True
BUST’s April/May issue featuring a stranger-than–fiction cover-interview with Stangers with Candy star Amy Sedaris by SNL’s Maya Rudolph.
Saturday, March 26, 2005
Alan Greenspan: Wrong-Way Corrigan and his irrational lack of exuberance
-THE CUNNING REALIST-: "He has been utterly, disastrously wrong at virtually every important inflection point in his professional career."
Mister Mister, fanks fer dis. Iz ossum.
Humpty dumpty had a great fall...
Mister Mister, fanks fer dis. Iz ossum.
Humpty dumpty had a great fall...
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