To Do List for 2005

SPEAK OUT
by Lawrence Ferlinghetti  2003
  
And a vast paranoia sweeps across the land
And America turns the attack on its Twin Towers
Into the beginning of the Third World War
The war with the Third World

And the terrorists in Washington
Are shipping out the young men
To the killing fields again

And no one speaks

And they are rousting out
All the ones with turbans
And they are flushing out
All the strange immigrants

And they are shipping all the young men
To the killing fields again

And no one speaks

And when they come to  round up
All the great writers and  poets and painters
The National Endowment of the Arts of Complacency
Will not speak

While all the young men
Will be killing all the young men
In the killing fields again

So now is the time for you to speak
All you lovers of liberty
All you lovers of the pursuit of happiness
All you lovers and sleepers
Deep in your private dream
Now is the time for you to speak
O silent majority
Before they come for you!

(Thanks to MAS for this)

Calmer Now

Climbing down from the rarified atmosphere of the soap box before trip -

Interesting that almost no animal carcasses have been part of the enormous loss of life from the tsunamis.  I've read that elephants likely "hear" through their feet, able to detect the approach of other elephant herds.  It's not much of a Leap of Logic to infer that other animals were able to discern the 9.0 tremor (tremor, hell) and, as with all sentient beings in danger, instinctively head for high ground.

And, have I ever mentioned that I have grandchildren?  Here's proof positive:

 

Bush League

Finally. 

More than four days after likely more than 100,000 lives were lost all around the Indian Ocean, GWBush, pissy from missing his nap, reluctantly takes a few minutes away from his vacation time at his ranch in Crawford to tell the tv that Americans are generous, not stingy as was alleged by the head of an international charitable organization. 

An administration that has sacrificed more than 1300 American lives, countless Iraqui and Afghani lives, and continues to pour more than six billion dollars each month into the futile War Of Fabricated Circumstances in Iraq and Afghanistan can pledge only 35 million dollars. 

Let's see:  if the US is spending 6 billion each month for the war, that's more than 8 million dollars per hour.  So, for a humanitarian cause, in our name, the administration has pledged a bit more than 4 hours worth of war time.  What an embarrassment.

Quite A Nudge

I read today that the earthquake that spawned the horrific tsunami through the Indian Ocean pushed the entire island of Sumatra more than 100 feet.

I looked it up.  Sumatra is about the size of Arizona and Nebraska combined.  Damn.

Knowing as little about plate tectonics as I do about almost everything else, I'm fearing there will be aftershocks, more tsunamis.  (A threesnami?)  And with that enormous displacement of mass and energy, I'll bet the rotation of the earth will be affected, too.  It won't be noticeable except to the extraordinarily precise instruments now in orbit, but I'm covering bets.  Watch  this space.

Freeware I Like And Almost Freeware

Celestia - a not too large freeware program with which you can zip at superluminal speed between many of the solar system's major orbiters.  www.shatters.net/celestia/download.html

Open Office 1.1 - a fully featured freeware suite with Word, Excel and Powerpoint analogs.  Almost all the features I use in the Microsoft versions, and seemingly fully compatible with the Microsoft versions  http://download.openoffice.org/  Prolly won't be long until the mantra at Microsoft will be "The coding ain't done 'till OpenOffice won't run."

Keyhole - a not-quite superluminous but still speedy way to get around Biosphere I.  You zoom out to what must be close to the LaGrange point, and then back in to the specific address you've entered.  I found the places we stayed in London, Paris, Vancouver, our previous homes, and the White House.  (Interesting, the images of the White House roof are very clear, but when you move east to Capital Hill, the images have been blurred.) You can get a week's free trial, but it's only, like, thirty dollars for a year of unlimited service, and it let me load it on my laptop, too, at no additional charge.  Gives precise longitude/latitude, and somewhat less precise elevations.  Highly recommended.  http://www.keyhole.com/

Turf War

Molly is in town for the holiday, hot on the heels of her most recent return to the States from India.  It's great having her around to hug on and laugh with, the whole family together, unabated noise and nonstop bustle.

Bella, as vigilant a three-year old as ever was, took keen notice of the new tall girl in town, and all the attention she was getting.  Molly reports that when the two of them were a bit aside from the group, Bella caught and held Molly's eye and said slowly, distinctly and very pointedly, "My grandma. My nanna." 

Interloper, be warned.

Snow Trolls

Arizona is such a great place.  Yesterday morning we awakened in Flagstaff to the small yet forceful cries "Nanna!!  Gampa!!" at our Inn Suites door. 

Outside it was nineteen degrees.  We loaded up the fams and drove up to the Snow Bowl, admonished every quarter mile "No Sledding At Ski Area", "No Parking On Snow Bowl Road", "No Stopping, Ever", so we went away from that place.  We did find an area with small hills where we disembarked, clambered, and sledded almost to G & B's content.  There was a bit of a meltdown when we finally had to leave, but everybody got upended, everybody ate snow, lots of screeching and laughs and no permanent disfigurements - other than those we came with.

Two hours later, 120 miles from the site of the nineteen degree wake-up call, the temp outside the BigRedTruck was 78 and we had the air conditioner on.  Kidlettes were watching a seeming endless-loop of Mary Poppins in the second row of seats, kidlettes' parental units in the way-back appeared (through the rear-view mirror) to be playing some permutation of Slap & Tickle that involved SB's socked foot repeatedly thrust under Joe's chin.  A great couple of days.

What A Man Likes To Hear

"Honey, I'm up more than three hundred dollars!  Don't you want to come play with me?"

I was in the office of the Treasurer of the Colorado River Indian Tribes, and on his wall hanged a T shirt with an old sepia photo of several of the bros, holding their spears and bows, clad in headdresses and full regalia, lined up there, looking fearsome, mostly. 

The caption below the picture is "Fighting Foreign Terrorism Since 1492."  Gotta get me one of those.

Oh, the quote - herself, out of the blue, was given a nice "extra" honorarium for a talk she did today, so we treated her to some time at the casino.  She did pretty good until I came to play with her. 

 "My life story" she mumbles.

Curmudgeon

So here we are, early Deciembre, my least favorite holiday in the offing (mmm no, my least favorite holiday is Columbus Day, but as our commander in chief likes to say, "Irregardless") and it's been raining for two days straight. 

I'm not kidding.  Two consecutive days of rain here is a once-yearly occurence at most.  Couldn't play golf.  Took an umbrella to get the christmas tree.  I'm in my traditional funk, cubed.  Worked in the office while Herself hung decorations hither and yon, trimmed the tree, strung the lights, baked the Kringlas.

She's making comments about personal cleanliness.  Implying that someone who misses a shower and doesn't shave is not going to get to the bonus round of Naughty Diabetes Educator, my favorite game that doesn't involve a ball.  (But then again, oh never mind (a chorus of EEEeewwwwwws goes up similtaneously in East Mesa and in Virginia)).

Implying, hell.  She's got me classified as, ,,,,, I don't know, UnPleasant.  Hmmpf.  I finally come downstairs for ESPN Sunday night football and she says, Do you mind if I go to the casino for a bit?  Whoa.  Terra Incognita.  Good news: I dont' have to go.  Bad news: I wasn't invited. 

Of course I dont' mind, says I. 

She's gone now.  I've showered and shaved, mostly.  I'll bet she'll be crazy for my new and novel plan for facial hair adornment.  Tay stuned.