Wednesday, December 26, 2007
White Men Cant Jump
One-on-One With Obama
Posted: Monday December 24, 2007 10:12AM; Updated: Monday December 24, 2007 10:12AM
By S.L. Price
Here's the beauty of pickup basketball: You may be a U.S. senator, a living symbol of racial healing and perhaps even the next President of the United States, but if you're gliding in for an easy layup and each point is precious, I've got no choice then, do I? You're getting hacked. So, yes, I'm hammering that arm and crashing headlong into your whippet-thin frame; and, yes, it's a foul so flagrant, so absurdly desperate, that all you can do, body buckling, is laugh. Hey, it's pickup. Everyone, even you, uses whatever he's got to win.
"Believe me," Barack Obama says, walking to the top of the key, "you can get shot for doing that."
He's not serious. I think. But he wants me off his back, and invoking jumpy Secret Service men is a wise ploy. With the race for the Democratic presidential nomination whisker-close, Obama can't afford to show up for some Dubuque meet-and-greet with a mysterious fat lip. His wife, Michelle, warned me, "Don't break his nose, give him a black eye or knock his teeth out. Or I'll have to come find you."
Actually, Michelle understands. She hails from a Chicago family that believes the game -- when you pass, when you call fouls, how you check the ball -- reveals character. Once her romance with Barack got serious, she pressed her brother, Craig Robinson, to conduct the acid test: Go play. Robinson tried to duck it; he had starred at Princeton, and Barack had been a benchwarmer for his Hawaiian high school team. "All I could think was, This guy's going to be terrible, and I have to report that back," says Robinson, who's now the coach at Brown. "And you can't fudge it, because if he turns out to be a jerk and you knew but didn't say it, you're in trouble."
He liked what he saw. Obama was confident but not cocky, unselfish but unafraid to shoot. On court he showed the same balance that has fueled his political rise; he could talk trash without seeming mean, compete feverishly without seeming angry. Yet few knew how central the sport -- "my first love," he calls it -- was to his self-image as a mixed-race child: How the greatest gift from his absent dad was a basketball, how playing gave him his closest white friends and a place where black skin wasn't a disadvantage. When a coach, a close friend, casually threw out the word n-----, Obama says, "It reminded me that race is complicated, that people are complicated, that you could have ugly strains even among people who were otherwise decent.... It does not necessarily mean they're bad people."
So it's no surprise that Obama bit at the chance to play one-on-one. We met at the YMCA in Spencer, Iowa, in a gym with signs scolding, do not dunk balls or hang on rim! No problem. We both graduated high school in 1979, and the days when a soda bottle could roll beneath our jumping feet have long passed. At 6' 1 1/2", Obama is all lefty, quick with long arms. Before we start, he grabs some opposition research from my son, who readily says I'm "not in basketball shape" and will thus spend his teenage years peering through the barred windows of our basement.
"All right," Obama announces. "I've got your game cased out."
"It's all over?" I ask.
"It's all over."
Obama exudes none of that anxious Washington ambition; he's not weighing words. He's here to play.
The first game flies by in a blur of missed (mine) and made (his) jumpers: I lose 11-5. Obama throws out a cheap "Wooooo!" whenever I shoot but never resorts to ticky-tack calls; before the second game he notes our 15-pound weight difference. "If you wanted to bang inside a bit," he says, "you could."
I'm no fool. I start banging. After I commit that criminal foul under the basket, he lofts an air ball and I pull ahead 2-1. But we're both gasping, and proceed to play the ugliest, slowest game in history. A handler steps in, says his man must leave, so we decide to play to seven.
Obama hits two jumpers to go up 3-2, and I remember what Michelle told me: "He's very good at the last minute."
"All right," I say coyly, flipping him the ball. "This is for the presidency...."
He drills a 19-footer, heels barely leaving the ground. "Did you hear me?" I say.
"Why do you think I hit it?" he says.
I back him down twice to tie 4-4. He drains two more, but I swish one to cut it to 6-5. Now Obama closes in, blocks my last shot, grabs the ball. He shuffles out wide, turns and sets, face blank. I thunder toward him, arm outstretched, feeling suddenly like Hillary and Edwards and anyone else in Iowa trying desperately to stop Obama's rise.
The ball drops through the net like a stone.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Monday, December 10, 2007
Who thinks the Garden of Eden is in Missouri?
A couple points of about this...
I am a fan of Big Love
I am a bigger fan of Lawrence O'Donnell
I don't think Eleanor Clift should be allowed to use the word "dis".
A side discussion about the absence of Eleanor Clifts defense of Odonnell.
In a tone that seemingly justified Mitt Romney’s devout Belief in the “religion of his forefathers”, the Mormon religion, Clift makes the point that she thinks all religions have crazy ideas. This apparently means that this is not a fight she thinks she can win and I guess its a fight not worth fighting.
Religions are crazy, and that matters when people believe that America should be run as a religious country, rather than a moral country. When this happens, a failure to hold people accountable for their wacky beliefs is not insignificant.
Let me put this another way…
Preparing for the marathon I knew I had a hurt knee. During the months that led up to the race I couldn’t run more than 7 miles without feeling some pain during a run. If I ran more than 12 miles I would feel knee pain for the next day. On race day at the half-way point (13 miles) I knew it was to be going to be a struggle because I not only felt the predictable knee pain but also some blister formation and chafing. The next 6 miles was a physical transition from a running a marathon to wandering the streets of the bronx.
The constant cheering of the crowds motivated me to keep going both physically and mentally. With 7 miles (140 blocks) ahead I futilely tried to not think about anything but the end. Our return to Manhattan was a relief but the crowds were much lighter than earlier in the race. This leg of the race feels different than the rest. Above 110th street, Fifth Avenue is lined mostly one deep with sparsely cheering locals who probably live within a 2 blocks.
As runners streamed passed me, and as I limped through the streets of harlem, I noticed this old man with a bible sitting in a lawn chair. Up to that point I had been hearing comments like “You look great”, “ Go You”, “You are a superstar.” All these were nice thoughts by people but completely untrue. I then looked at the man in the chair and this is what he said --- “I didn’t come all the way out here just to watch you walk”…
He was right. That is what I have to say to democrats leaders, the liberal pundits, and the rest of the people in Washington who are supposed to be representing me. I don’t care what you think you have done to deserve your spot as my voice, If you aren’t constantly fighting for ideals and creating results for the better it is time for you to step aside.
I am a fan of Big Love
I am a bigger fan of Lawrence O'Donnell
I don't think Eleanor Clift should be allowed to use the word "dis".
A side discussion about the absence of Eleanor Clifts defense of Odonnell.
In a tone that seemingly justified Mitt Romney’s devout Belief in the “religion of his forefathers”, the Mormon religion, Clift makes the point that she thinks all religions have crazy ideas. This apparently means that this is not a fight she thinks she can win and I guess its a fight not worth fighting.
Religions are crazy, and that matters when people believe that America should be run as a religious country, rather than a moral country. When this happens, a failure to hold people accountable for their wacky beliefs is not insignificant.
Let me put this another way…
Preparing for the marathon I knew I had a hurt knee. During the months that led up to the race I couldn’t run more than 7 miles without feeling some pain during a run. If I ran more than 12 miles I would feel knee pain for the next day. On race day at the half-way point (13 miles) I knew it was to be going to be a struggle because I not only felt the predictable knee pain but also some blister formation and chafing. The next 6 miles was a physical transition from a running a marathon to wandering the streets of the bronx.
The constant cheering of the crowds motivated me to keep going both physically and mentally. With 7 miles (140 blocks) ahead I futilely tried to not think about anything but the end. Our return to Manhattan was a relief but the crowds were much lighter than earlier in the race. This leg of the race feels different than the rest. Above 110th street, Fifth Avenue is lined mostly one deep with sparsely cheering locals who probably live within a 2 blocks.
As runners streamed passed me, and as I limped through the streets of harlem, I noticed this old man with a bible sitting in a lawn chair. Up to that point I had been hearing comments like “You look great”, “ Go You”, “You are a superstar.” All these were nice thoughts by people but completely untrue. I then looked at the man in the chair and this is what he said --- “I didn’t come all the way out here just to watch you walk”…
He was right. That is what I have to say to democrats leaders, the liberal pundits, and the rest of the people in Washington who are supposed to be representing me. I don’t care what you think you have done to deserve your spot as my voice, If you aren’t constantly fighting for ideals and creating results for the better it is time for you to step aside.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
"Blogger Nerd" on Daily Kos with comments
The above video about the blogger nerds got cross-posted at dailykos today, where i view daily but never write. It got some great feedback from the rest of the kossaks. Some of the comments were interesting.
Negin Farsad was on CBC last week (0/0)
being interviewed by Q's Jian Ghomeshi about her new documentary. She was quite engaging. I found her hilarious when she, unintentionally I think, kept saying things like "speaking American" instead of speaking English. Then she'd remember she was speaking to a Canadian audience and apologize, which always endears an American to a Canadian audience.
by paul2port on Wed Dec 05, 2007 at 06:59:38 AM PST
[ Reply to This Recommend ]
Negin, If you needs some ESL Lessons I would be glad to offer my wonderful amazing language expertise. I also have a red-headed friend who is a writer and teaches english to highschool students who might be able to help..
Anyway, I responded to paul2port with my first response ever.
Negin (0 / 0)
I know from first hand experience with her that she would probably stab herself in the eye with an icepick if she ever used the term "speaking American" in an non-ironic context. If she used it multiple times in the same interview she would probably stab herself in the other eye with one of those WMD's she has been storing in her tiny manhattan apartment.
by East Village Blue on Wed Dec 05, 2007 at 07:22:05 AM PST
[ Parent Reply to This ]
Friday, November 30, 2007
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Filtering By Commute Times
Cool new feature.
So what Raf, Dan and I were talking almost 3 years ago down in South Florida (when we were kicking ourselves for not getting in on google before it got too expensive at 200 dollars a share) seems to have been implemented succesfully by street easy in conjunction with hop stop. They have created a neat option to search apartments for rent or sale by commute distance.
Now if only someone creates this application for craigslist in addition to the old bootleg mapping application. Someone who maybe is taking advance programming classes...
So what Raf, Dan and I were talking almost 3 years ago down in South Florida (when we were kicking ourselves for not getting in on google before it got too expensive at 200 dollars a share) seems to have been implemented succesfully by street easy in conjunction with hop stop. They have created a neat option to search apartments for rent or sale by commute distance.
Now if only someone creates this application for craigslist in addition to the old bootleg mapping application. Someone who maybe is taking advance programming classes...
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Where do you see yourself in a year, two years, five years?
On a beach, a bike, in the woods or -----
The widely recognized postwar modern exteriors of the 55-year-old steel and glass Secretariat tower and its companion General Assembly Hall have aged well, but inside, the years have taken their toll. The $1.876 billion project is scheduled to take five years.
Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
This decade-long search has ended now with a decision to begin a five-year, $1.876 billion renovation of the complex in the spring and to house the 2,600 people who must move out in rented space in Manhattan, across the East River in Long Island City and a temporary conference building on the United Nations campus.
...Hesham Mohamed Eman Afifi, an Egyptian diplomat, said at budget committee hearings last month that the only element of the project that had stayed on schedule was the periodic bill received by member states.
...The author of the new plan is Michael Adlerstein, 62, an affable Brooklyn-born former National Park Service architect involved in the preservations of Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, the New York Botanical Garden and the Taj Mahal and a man with 20 years of experience dealing with lawmakers in Washington.
...“I think there is now a general tone that I have found of total support to get this thing done,” he said. “I’ve been dealing with many of the member states on a one-to-one basis — the U.S. one of them — and I have found nothing but support.”
...He is unfazed by the problems that have plagued past plans.
...“I took the job because it’s an ideal challenge for an architect at this point in my career,” he said. “It’s an iconic building of great stature in the world. You can show a picture of this building to people in remote, rural locations in the world and everyone will know it.”
...While the famous exteriors will be unchanged, the insides will be brought up to 21st century standards of efficiency and security and reconfigured to consume 40 percent less energy.
...The glass curtain wall will be replaced by a heavily laminated one that appears identical but is far stronger and able to withstand the blast of a bomb attack.
...“Skanska has its audits,” he said. “We have our own audits. There are several different levels of oversight to make sure this is done right. It will be done right. There’s too much money at risk here not to do it right.”
...The cost of the project will be borne by the 192 member states in supplementary annual dues over the five-year period, with the United States responsible for 22 percent, or $413 million. The United Nations has leased office floors in a building at 305 East 46th Street and is negotiating for space nearby and in Lower Manhattan and Long Island City.
NPR AUDIO
Morning Edition, September 27, 2007 · U.N. headquarters was built 55 years ago, and there haven't been many improvements in the building since then. But next spring, a makeover will begin, with a price tag of nearly $2 billion.
The widely recognized postwar modern exteriors of the 55-year-old steel and glass Secretariat tower and its companion General Assembly Hall have aged well, but inside, the years have taken their toll. The $1.876 billion project is scheduled to take five years.Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
This decade-long search has ended now with a decision to begin a five-year, $1.876 billion renovation of the complex in the spring and to house the 2,600 people who must move out in rented space in Manhattan, across the East River in Long Island City and a temporary conference building on the United Nations campus.
...Hesham Mohamed Eman Afifi, an Egyptian diplomat, said at budget committee hearings last month that the only element of the project that had stayed on schedule was the periodic bill received by member states.
...The author of the new plan is Michael Adlerstein, 62, an affable Brooklyn-born former National Park Service architect involved in the preservations of Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, the New York Botanical Garden and the Taj Mahal and a man with 20 years of experience dealing with lawmakers in Washington.
...“I think there is now a general tone that I have found of total support to get this thing done,” he said. “I’ve been dealing with many of the member states on a one-to-one basis — the U.S. one of them — and I have found nothing but support.”
...He is unfazed by the problems that have plagued past plans.
...“I took the job because it’s an ideal challenge for an architect at this point in my career,” he said. “It’s an iconic building of great stature in the world. You can show a picture of this building to people in remote, rural locations in the world and everyone will know it.”
...While the famous exteriors will be unchanged, the insides will be brought up to 21st century standards of efficiency and security and reconfigured to consume 40 percent less energy.
...The glass curtain wall will be replaced by a heavily laminated one that appears identical but is far stronger and able to withstand the blast of a bomb attack.
...“Skanska has its audits,” he said. “We have our own audits. There are several different levels of oversight to make sure this is done right. It will be done right. There’s too much money at risk here not to do it right.”
...The cost of the project will be borne by the 192 member states in supplementary annual dues over the five-year period, with the United States responsible for 22 percent, or $413 million. The United Nations has leased office floors in a building at 305 East 46th Street and is negotiating for space nearby and in Lower Manhattan and Long Island City.
NPR AUDIO
Morning Edition, September 27, 2007 · U.N. headquarters was built 55 years ago, and there haven't been many improvements in the building since then. But next spring, a makeover will begin, with a price tag of nearly $2 billion.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Like Watching a Car Wreck
Watch the action starting about 1:35 into the video. Who says Cross-Country is for wimps?
…At the 1- and 2-mile markers, Markwardt was on a personal-best pace. Then, as
she entered the stadium at Columbus' Scioto Downs, with about 400 meters to go, she heard her left leg crack.
The leg had been sore on and off for the previous two weeks, prompting Berkshire coach Julie Cole to limit Markwardt in practice. When she heard the crack, Markwardt thought it was a muscle pull or tear. She thought she could gut it out to the finish line.
"There was a runner from one of our rival schools right in front of me," she said. "I kept staring at the back of her jersey and pushing myself to catch her."
But some 200 meters later, Markwardt heard the leg crack again. And again. Then there was a louder crack, and her entire leg gave out. She fell to the ground as onlookers winced at the sound and the sight of what happened.
One of Markwardt's teammates, unaware of what had happened, encouraged her to get up. She tried, using her right leg. But as soon as she shifted weight to the left, the loudest crack yet came. And her leg gave out again.
...Doctors told her they believed her original soreness was a stress fracture made worse by running in the state meet. They said she likely suffered a partial crack of her tibia at first, but when she pressed on, she shattered the bone in multiple places. And when she stood up to try to finish the race, doctors told her, that's when they believe she broke her fibula.
"When I saw her crawling, I wanted to cry," said Richard Markwardt, Claire's father. "I was just so incredibly proud -- as proud as any father could be."
Monday, November 26, 2007
Like the dead mouse in the hallway..
Bank of America Takes Lead in Backing `SuperSIV' Fund (Update2)
By David Mildenberg and Christopher Condon
Nov. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp., the nation's second-largest bank, will lead efforts by Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to convince smaller competitors to help finance an $80 billion bailout of short-term debt markets......
.....Loomis Sayles & Co. declined to invest after receiving one of 16 invitations for a personal meeting last week with current Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, said Daniel Fuss, who oversees $22 billion as chief investment officer at the Boston-based firm. The Securities Industries Financial Markets Association trade group extended the invitations, Fuss said.
``It's so nice to get a personal invitation to go to Washington and have a one-hour visit with Ben Bernanke,'' said Fuss, who decided participating wasn't worth the risk to his firm. ``Oh, boy, did I feel important for about 27 seconds, and then you smell a rat.''
Market is making me crazy...
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
The man reads Gilead for the love of ...
Maybe we should choose a president by their reading choices - or how witty their jokes are - or whether they can distinguish between fiction and non-fiction.
Last fictional book they read:
Democrats
It looks like The Dream Giver is the bat-shittiest book here with the right wind revenge fantasy Term Limits coming in a close second.
Last fictional book they read:
Democrats
- Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware: Runaway Jury by John Grisham.
- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York: Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin.
- Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut: The Broker by John Grisham.
- John Edwards, former North Carolina senator: Exile by Richard North Patterson.
- Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio: Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman.
- Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson.
- Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico: "The administration's energy plan."
Republicans
- Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas: The Dream Giver by Bruce Wilkinson with David and Heather Kopp.
- Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York City: The Beach House by James Patterson and Peter De Jonge.
- Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas: "My oldest son's screenplay."
- Rep. Duncan Hunter of California: "The Democrats' proposal to balance the budget."
- Sen. John McCain of Arizona: A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway.
- Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts: Term Limits by Vince Flynn.
- Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado: An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore.
It looks like The Dream Giver is the bat-shittiest book here with the right wind revenge fantasy Term Limits coming in a close second.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Themes of Hope
RFK
"It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."
BHO
"I am in this race for the same reason that I fought for jobs for the jobless and hope for the hopeless on the streets of chicago. For the same reason I fought for justice as a civil rights lawyer, for the same reason that I fought for Illinois families for over a decade. Because I will never forget that the only reason that I'm standing here today is because somebody somewhere stood up for me when it was risky, stood up when it was hard, stood up when it wasn't popular. And because that somebody stood up, a few more stood up, and then a few thousand stood up, and then a few million stood up."
"It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."
BHO
"I am in this race for the same reason that I fought for jobs for the jobless and hope for the hopeless on the streets of chicago. For the same reason I fought for justice as a civil rights lawyer, for the same reason that I fought for Illinois families for over a decade. Because I will never forget that the only reason that I'm standing here today is because somebody somewhere stood up for me when it was risky, stood up when it was hard, stood up when it wasn't popular. And because that somebody stood up, a few more stood up, and then a few thousand stood up, and then a few million stood up."
Friday, November 09, 2007
Water in the Universe
A new planet has been detected around a nearby sun-like star, orbiting at a distance where water would exist in liquid form:
Bad Astronomy -- Astronomers announced today that the star 55 Cancri — known to have had a system of planets for some time — is now known to have at least five planets orbiting it. The existence of a fifth planet was just confirmed.
The new planet is 45 times the mass of earth, making it in all likelihood a bloated giant painted with pastel bands and angry whorls of hydrogen gas like a turbulent Easter egg. While a world of such size and composition would be inhospitable to oceans or life as we know it, any large moons in tow might well be more accommodating.
55 Cancri is a binary system about 40 light-years away in the constellation of Cancer. The companion star of the quintuple solar system is a red dwarf orbiting Cancri A at a distance of about 100 billion miles.
To get an intuitive handle on those formidable numbers, consider that if our sun was the size of the period at the end of this sentence, the earth would be a microscopic dot a mere 2 inches away. On that same scale, the two stars in the Cancri binary would be separated from one another by 50 yards, but reside a whopping 75 miles away from the earth and sun! The fastest spacecraft to date would take about half a million years to reach 55 Cancri. And it's one of the closest stars. Most are much, much farther away. Imagine that immense, pitch-black void, lit only by a scattering of tiny, precious sparks of light swallowed effortlessly in the endless night. For our universe is so big, empty, and dark, it's enough to send shivers up and down your spine
Monday, November 05, 2007
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Why populism will survive a rudy victory.
Again, the difference between him and Bush shows in their taste in cronies. Both are mindlessly devoted to cronyism, but Bush picks out genial, no-talent losers like himself--folks like Michael Brown and Harriet Miers and Alberto Gonzalez--and sticks them in high-profile positions of power where they're fated to humiliate themselves. Basically, he's been Dan Quayling us to death. Giuliani likes scumbags, real, one hundred-proof pieces of shit, like Bernard Kerik and Alan Placa, who've been with him forever; he wound up abandoning Kerik, but that's a testament to how thoroughly squalid everything about Kerik was; it's Giuliani's original determination to put Kerik at the head of Homeland Security that's the true indicator of his character, that and his not having any problem with carrying that particular barnacle around with him for so many years. People like Kerik are good guys in Giuliani's eyes because they have no career plan beyond following him around and keeping their mouths shut when they're not kissing his ass. People like the dismissed Chief Bratton are among the bad guys just by virtue of their having enough ability to make something of themselves outside of the great man's shadow. Maybe the best way to sum up the differences between the two is this: George Bush, Jr. may not have had the intelligence or the moral code to see that Dick Cheney had no business having an important say in how this country is run, but he still needed Dick Cheney to inform him that he was going to be his vice president. Giuliani might have actually sought him out, especially if they'd played together on the same stick ball team.
Rudy thinks Bush made mistakes executing a good plan. It is a bad plan. People will figure that out eventually, even if it is only after Rudy is elected.
So the country and the world might collapse but at least the strain of democratic populism will finally establish itself as the dominant viewpoint of the opposition.
So, we got that going for us..
Friday, November 02, 2007
The Progressive's Dilemma
Ala Hunter form DailyKos
Look, if we have Clinton as our nominee I'll certainly work to get her elected. But Clinton is an establishment Democrat in every possible sense of the word. Somewhere along the line, "establishment" Democrats abandoned populism, instead being convinced by an army of some of the worst political consultants to ever grace the halls of power that in order to win you had to court the mythical middle, and that the mythical middle was, bafflingly, corporate-leaning moderate conservatives, in spite of the fact that polls at every step of the way showed more support for progressive positions than conservative ones.
The result was a minor collapse of the party. While Bill Clinton prospered because of his charisma and skill and, yes, populist speech, Democrats in the House and Senate got clobbered. The whole party turned wishy-washy. The Democrats became just as beholden to lobbyists and corporate-written legislation as the Republicans, but they didn't get any more votes from it: the moderate conservatives the strategists kept insisting the party appeal to weren't about to go for fake conservatism when they could have the real thing, and independents and true progressives became bitter and disillusioned and, finally, apathetic.
Right now, the "establishment" Democrats are in a pickle, again, and seem damn determined to take the opportunity given them by rampant disgust at Republican/conservative politics and flush it down the consultant toilet, once again. Nobody wants to speak out too strongly against corporate interests, even though it's transparently obvious that industries like the health insurers and media conglomerates are actively damaging the interests of the nation. Nobody wants to speak out too strongly against the Bush administration, because there's this "mythical middle" of people who like torture, in small doses, and like the president breaking laws, and you just can't take the risk of pissing those people off.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
I Fear Huckabee.
I have been hesitant to say it, but the one that scares me the most is Huckabee. All the rest I imagine as beatable by a well run campaign funded by equal dollars.
The rest of the field have qualities that will keep the religious crowd either apathetic enough not to vote or maybe even flippable for the democratic candidate. In addition, they don't speak at all convincingly about protecting the little guy, the middle class, the underprivileged. Even the dems have problems getting these ideas, their ideas, across.
So preacher Huckabee, the man who will give lip service to populist ideals without doing it, might be problematic to the next 20 years of progressive democratic rule.
Too bad their leaders want a war-monger.
The rest of the field have qualities that will keep the religious crowd either apathetic enough not to vote or maybe even flippable for the democratic candidate. In addition, they don't speak at all convincingly about protecting the little guy, the middle class, the underprivileged. Even the dems have problems getting these ideas, their ideas, across.
So preacher Huckabee, the man who will give lip service to populist ideals without doing it, might be problematic to the next 20 years of progressive democratic rule.
Too bad their leaders want a war-monger.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Friday, October 19, 2007
Prisons and Diners
I think I even confused myself trying to explain the difference between the prison experiment and the prisoners dillema .
Speaking of dilemmas.... In what seem like a another era, I actually used to go out for lunch with my coworkers. One of the reasons I stopped was the ever-presence of a particular co-worker who I call Mad Dog. Mad Dog would order the most expensive item on the menu, and proceed to make comments like "what does it matter, we are all going to split the bill evenly anyway."
I didnt know there was a economic term for such prickitude. I give you the diners dilemma.
I dont get unnatural fear of wiki out there. Is free open source based information unamerican ?
Speaking of dilemmas.... In what seem like a another era, I actually used to go out for lunch with my coworkers. One of the reasons I stopped was the ever-presence of a particular co-worker who I call Mad Dog. Mad Dog would order the most expensive item on the menu, and proceed to make comments like "what does it matter, we are all going to split the bill evenly anyway."
I didnt know there was a economic term for such prickitude. I give you the diners dilemma.
I dont get unnatural fear of wiki out there. Is free open source based information unamerican ?
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
ALCS Game 4 Commentary on Manny
copied from espns sports guy
10:29: Good battle brewing here with Ramirez and Indians reliever Jensen Lewis. We're on about 25 pitches in this at-bat already. It's always funny when Manny plays in Cleveland, if only because he always has a bemused look on his face, like he's thinking, "This is so weird, I feel like I used to play here or something."
11:18: Mark from Philly offers an inspiring defense for Manny's home run preening: "When Manny went deep, my first thought was, 'Quit posing, Manny, we're still down 7-3.' Then it dawned on me that Manny probably had no idea what the score was. In fact, he probably isn't aware that baseball games are determined by which team scores more runs. Manny's only point of differentiation comes when, after hitting a home run, he sees his teammates waiting for him at home plate -- it's at that point he knows it's time to go to the strip club."
10:29: Good battle brewing here with Ramirez and Indians reliever Jensen Lewis. We're on about 25 pitches in this at-bat already. It's always funny when Manny plays in Cleveland, if only because he always has a bemused look on his face, like he's thinking, "This is so weird, I feel like I used to play here or something."
11:18: Mark from Philly offers an inspiring defense for Manny's home run preening: "When Manny went deep, my first thought was, 'Quit posing, Manny, we're still down 7-3.' Then it dawned on me that Manny probably had no idea what the score was. In fact, he probably isn't aware that baseball games are determined by which team scores more runs. Manny's only point of differentiation comes when, after hitting a home run, he sees his teammates waiting for him at home plate -- it's at that point he knows it's time to go to the strip club."
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
The Villification of Graeme Frost?
or The War on Twelve Year olds.
The basic plot is awesome. Usually this type of slander is fleeting and not hollywood or indie material. The media narrative moves on to the next insane rightwing smear but this, this, might have some legs. Long enough for a heart warming afternoon special at least.
Here is the premise. A family gets into an accident. The children go to the hospital. The family gets coverage from the government. The injured children have no coverage. The state pays.
So up to that point I think we have 50% of america agrees that this is the way it should be done. Even though universal healthcare is not a political reality I think, regardless of income, it makes sense to a large percentage of us that that the general populace (35%) should be covered or, at the very least, children (another 15%).
Then there is the next group who thinks it should be only covered if the family doesn’t have the ability to pay for it themselves. Now unlike the way the group is portrayed by the republican leadership, I don’t think this next group is that far off from the our group above. They just don’t want super rich lazy people being subsidized. In fact the very thought of this happening makes them upset. It is this feeling that the last 30% play on.
Unfortunately for them the Frosts qualify for the program because they meet the working families requirement for the SCHIP program of making less than $55,000 a year for a family of 4. So this program covers these people because they meet the requirement of someone that *needs* help. As one conservative commentator stated
4) That said, even if Graeme Frost is basically middle-class-ish, that wouldn't be a stunning indictment of S-Chip. No system is without error; all will let through some people who don't deserve benefits, and miss some people who do. That there has been one error, in either direction, is not necessarily an indictment of the system, but merely an indication that we live in an imperfect world. Moreover, in the case of children, I'm perfectly content to bias the system towards including too many undeserving children, rather than take the chance of missing too many deserving ones. I find S-Chip's practice of covering adults problematic, but frankly, the prospect that Graeme Frost might have gotten some undeserved healthcare ranks, on my list of things to worry about, somewhere between pandemic toe fungus, and finalizing the guest list for my Chicago Cubs World Series Victory Party.
I think that gets us to another 20%. Normally that would be it. A soft 20% in additon to a hard 50% giving us only 70 freakin percent. However, I think the push back by the right end of the dial is going to solidify that 20% and push us into converting the crazies. Here is a USA today snippet about the pushback.
The blogs were "pretty insulting stuff, and really just low," Halsey Frost, Graeme's father, said Tuesday.
Bloggers said the house was worth more than $400,000. It turns out it was bought for $55,000 in 1991 in a Baltimore neighborhood where "there were drug dealers and prostitutes on our street," Bonnie Frost said. Halsey Frost, a woodworker, did most of the renovations, which are "still not done," Bonnie said.
Bloggers said Graeme and Gemma go to private Park School, where tuition costs about $20,000. Graeme gets a scholarship, while Gemma's brain injuries were so severe that the city pays to educate her at a school for children with disabilities, the couple say.
The commercial property, which bloggers noted was bought for $160,000 in 1999, was intended to house Frostworks, Halsey's business. It folded soon after, he said — partly because of the cost of health insurance.
He has worked for small companies and is trying to restart his own business. She works part time for a consulting firm. The couple — who have four children in all —earned about $45,000 last year, well below the $55,220 limit for a family of six set under the original SCHIP program. Maryland's program goes higher, to nearly $83,000 for a family of six. "We are struggling," Bonnie Frost said. "We live paycheck to paycheck. "
Bloggers who helped circulate financial information about the family over the weekend backed off a bit Tuesday. "It's the difference between Google and journalism," said Rick Moran, who penned a piece for The American Thinker. "It's been proven that the family was means-eligible." His editor, Thomas Lifson, said, "It's just more complicated than might have appeared in the first round of investigation."
Both said the Frosts became fair game by putting their family in the political arena. They questioned Democrats' decision to use a 12-year-old as their spokesman. "It just smacked me as being unfair," Moran said. "You cannot criticize the program without being accused of going after the boy." .
Is it not fair that someone who wants to deny monetary assistance to pay hospital bills of a sick injured child is labeled a bully? Boo Hoo
Similar to the wingnuts, I myself have done some own online research of the families vast wealth. Below is a photo of the family, only slightly modified, showing conclusive proof of there means. As one can see by the suitcases full of money ( both clear and cartoon), gold grills, and the diamond encrusted english crown these frosts are clearly abusing the system. disgusting.
Lastly, here is a comment from a conservative commentator in that soft 20%.
5) Reading the comments on this, I have to ask conservatives and libertarians: is this really the hill you think we should die on? I do understand your objections to the program, but an informal survey of swing voters, in their current incarnation as my mother, indicates that this is killing you with the moderates. Save it for national health care next year, is what I'm saying. This debate is framing the issue in a way that is going to make things harder, not easier, when Hilarycare is on the table again.
Please get up on that hill. Pretty please.
UPDATE
It looks like I beat krugman and time to the punch. Their headlines are pretty good. Hey Olbermann "The War on Twelve Year Olds" is still up for grabs...
In the end I think my graphics give me the edge.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Senator Wide Stance Staying Put
I'll tell you why the un-resignation of our foot-tapping senator makes me happy ?
because it is a lead weight on the whole party.
This elephant looks like it has a wide stance no, too bad the bathroom stalls in minneapolis are so narrow?
Larry Craig isn't going anywhere. He will not resign his seat and will fight to clear his name in the Senate ethics committee.
"I have seen that it is possible for me to work here effectively," Craig said in a written statement certain to disappoint fellow Republicans who have long urged him to step down.
Well that puts some people on the spot, doesn't it? We had the Republican Senate leaders forced to cancel a press conference today because they didn't want to have to deal with the Craig story, and we've got a whole lot of Republicans in Idaho (29, in fact) who've applied for the job and a governor who had decided on a replacement and was just awaiting Craig's resignation, all dressed up with no place to go.
"There is core support here that thinks Craig has been railroaded and there’s another group that thinks he should stick it out," LiCalzi said.
"It’s not over until Larry Craig says it’s over," LiCalzi said.
because it is a lead weight on the whole party.
This elephant looks like it has a wide stance no, too bad the bathroom stalls in minneapolis are so narrow?
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
last throes
Article I
Article II
Article III
Article II
The most lethal attack was on Monday evening in Baquba, when a man wearing a suicide vest walked into a reconciliation meeting at a Shiite mosque in Shifta, a suburb of the provincial capital, and exploded his device as several hundred people drank tea after breaking the daylong Ramadan fast, according to an American military report.
The police chief, Brig. Ali Dlyan, was killed along with 11 other police officers, two of whom were senior commanders. There were differing accounts of the death toll, with the American military saying that 24 died and 37 were wounded and Diyala health officials saying they had received 18 bodies. The Baquba hospital reported receiving 27 with wounds.
The governor of Diyala Province, who was wounded in the attack, was saved from death by his bodyguards, who saw the bomber going toward the governor and threw themselves on top of him. All five of his bodyguards died and the governor had to be dragged from underneath them, said a provincial official in Diyala who rushed to the scene to help with the rescue. He requested anonymity for fear of becoming a target.
Article III
A confrontation between the U.S. military and the State Department is unfolding over the involvement of Blackwater USA in the shooting deaths of Iraqi civilians in a Baghdad square Sept. 16, bringing to the surface long-simmering tensions between the military and private security companies in Iraq, according to U.S. military and government officials.
In high-level meetings over the past several days, U.S. military officials have pressed State Department officials to assert more control over Blackwater, which operates under the department's authority, said a U.S. government official with knowledge of the discussions. "The military is very sensitive to its relationship that they've built with the Iraqis being altered or even severely degraded by actions such as this event," the official said.
Anger in Baghdad has been growing over private security guards, who often travel in armored SUVs. (By Hadi Mizban -- Associated Press)
"This is a nightmare," said a senior U.S. military official. "We had guys who saw the aftermath, and it was very bad. This is going to hurt us badly. It may be worse than Abu Ghraib, and it comes at a time when we're trying to have an impact for the long term." The official was referring to the prison scandal that emerged in 2004 in which U.S. soldiers tortured and abused Iraqis.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Friday, September 14, 2007
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Monday, August 13, 2007
Economics 101 -- take your lumps
Bonddad breaks down whats happened and what is happening with the markets. My interest started when I looked at housing prices and peaked when i saw the clip above.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/8/13/71555/9633
Taking to cuz yesterday he brought up the term "moral hazard". The idea is that if you find yourself bailed out from a bad place after making a risky decision that you are only going to take greater and greater risks until everything falls apart. Though, until that happens everything is puppy dogs, rainbows, and icecream. Funny how lawyers are familiar with this term?
My man barry over at big picture has more on this concept.
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/
So, if the fed drops enough money on the markets through either an interest rate drop or an actual drop of a bunch of money many people this thing will be easily solved.
My man Bonddad thinks, and I think kentistan agrees, this is not an effective solution.
Until more information is available on the scale of exposure to complex debt derivatives created in the U.S. subprime market and sold worldwide, analysts said it will be hard to restore a lasting investor calm.
Urbandigs think that the most likely outcome of this whole thing will be a temporary flatening of manhattan realestate prices.
In short, there are plenty of vultures flying around waiting for Manhattan real estate prices to dip.
Manhattan sure but what about previously fringe areas like Billyburg, LIC, and even the EV? Have these hoods passed the tipping point to be as stable as midtown and the UES, UWS in a nationwide housing slump. I am not so sure, but then again i have been consistently wrong for the past 7 years.
What do you think?
Thursday, August 02, 2007
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trafficking_in_human_beings
Select Pictures from the Friday Night Auction
Monday, July 30, 2007
Archiving ( and deleting) some old work emails...
If I wrote it would look something like this....
12/11/03
This is.. This feels.. This sucks. Detroit was the home of the one of the fifty greatest jewish baseballs player Hank Greenberg. The automotive industry, which fueled this country’s development, is located a few miles from the airport. For Chrissake, Motown was born in Detroit – and I love motown. I need to listen to some more Motown. What the fuck.
Realistically, I guess I should expect it. I mean if you make enough mid winter flights from new york to someplace even frikin colder you should expect some delays. On the way out here I took the company car service, Tel Aviv. No ..that’s not it. Its... Fuck this always happens when I get tired.. Goddamnit.. its All City. Anyway, the black car picked me up at 6:30AM Sunday morning three hours after 12” of the divine lords all mighty frozen tears finished blanketing the city. I was hungover and sleep deprived after warming my body by drinking and watching reverend al’s sushi bit on SNL. (Am I the only one who knows what funny is anymore). I get to the airport early, saunder on over to the e-ticket machines. No walking for me, I saunder all the way. I interface with the machine and try to pull up my boarding pass before I pass out from hungover tired dizziness or puke on the floor. The stupid machine didn’t work so I saunder on over to the main counter.
“Hi, I’d like to check in.” I give her my ID and my credit card. I don’t mention the previous attempt at checking in. I don’t want to discuss it, I don’t want to even think about it. All I want is my ticket so I can hurriedly go through security and sit at the gate for an hour and a half. “When is your flight?” Easy enough. “Its the 9 AM to Detroit.” She looks back down at the screen. ”Sir, did you use the machines.” God damn it. What the Hell is wrong with this woman. Doesn’t she see I don’t want to talk about the e-check in machines which were designed for morons but apparently that’s one level above me. “Yeah, there was something wrong. It wouldn’t print out my ticket because I don’t have my confirmation number.” About two minutes of not so furious typing occurs. Why is this so complicated? Shouldn’t this be relatively easy for her? I try not to think about it. “Well, you didn’t confirm your ticket. You never purchased it -- or the return flight on thursday. The flight is booked because of the snow and all of the rest of the flights are booked because of the cancellations the past two days.”
Fucking great. I fucked this one up royally didn’t I. Retarded children can book a flight through expedia and I cant even buy a ticket in the northwestern website after simultaneously signing up to be a northwestern frequent flyer. I remember receiving confirmation. I received confirmation of my frequent flyer number. “I need to get to Detroit today.” NEED is the word I use when I want to take my assertiveness up a notch. In general, I’ll use CAN about ninety percent of the time. “There is nothing left in coach. The only thing left is a $800 dollar ticket that is first class to Detroit and coach the way back.” I am giving her the chance to be my saviour and she basically responds--- this is my job, I do this everyday, here is your best course of action -- give us another $600. Why don’t I make a stink. Why am I just inwardly resigned to the fact that I am going to buy this ticket at four times the original price -- so I can get to DETROIT in DECEMBER.
When I was seven and Patty took me to cancun via the international airport in texas (houson?) she forgot to get signed permission from peter to let me leave the country. Apparently the Mexican officials were afraid of mothers running away from abusive husbands and were valiantly trying to prevent being used as a refuge. The flight agent wouldn’t let us on the plane until she got peter’s permission so she called our house to contact him. He didn’t answer. Now, I don’t know if he was at OTB, buying a pack from the store, soaking in the tub, or asleep in front of the TV, all I know is he didn’t answer. I threw a fit. I threw, what might be, the biggest fit ever. I whined, and cried, and cried, and moaned. Patty held my hand and kept telling me we wouldn’t be able to go unless the woman got through, so I cried and whined some more. Every time she didn’t get through in front of me I got worse. I ended up aggravating the whole arrival desk area. After thirty minutes of emotional hysteria the woman decides to goes to make the calls from the backroom. She gets the confirmation, approves us, and whisks us to the plane, which is just about to shut the doors. I find my seat and collapse. Now, there was no confirmation. A miracle did not happen. They just wanted to get rid of me. Years later I asked my mom about the emotionally draining experience and she said she was egging me on. She thought that if I made a big enough stink they would let us on the plane.
Where is my killer instinct? Come on you idiot say something more than need. Goddamnit. “Ok I’ll get the ticket” I suck. I suck big time. The flight is delayed. We piss around on the tarmac for an hour while they de ice us. I am still hungover. When I am tired and hungover sometimes I get a headache which lasts days. During the landing I thought I had an aneurism. An intense pain right between the bridge of my nose and my eyesocket last for about 10 minutes. I jamb my thumb into the top of my eyesocket and apply pressure until we reach the gate. I really don’t know what the hell that was. I finally leave the airport its rainy and there is fog. I take a 10 minute shuttle to the hotel. Its one o’clock on Sunday afternoon and I am taking a nap at the Detroit metro Hilton Suites.
I do my ridiculous assessment thing. The week is cold and windy and everyone smokes, gambles and has spent some time in the military. I finish early and get back to the airport at 2:30PM today. I am going to get an early flight. I am seven hours early for chrissake and northwestern has about ten flights to the nyc area every day. I mean its not like its Spirit Air.
I walk up to the entrance to the regular ticketing area. A greeter greets me with “Do you have ticket or an eticket.” Oh, Fuck no. not this again. Maybe I can fool her. “Oh, hear it is.. its regular” I wave some paper in front of her. Damn it, she looking at it. “Oh, this is an e-ticket. The e-ticket area is over there” She points to the other side of the concourse as she blocks the entrance to the roped off regular ticket area with her body. She is an Indian woman about 30 years old, 5’4 110 pounds. I am pretty sure that I could take her out. I am not a big guy but I think If I tried I could past her. I mean, I may even be quicker than her, I wouldn’t even have to tackle her or anything. ”Yeah, I just want to talk to somebody. I want to switch to an earlier flight.” That’s, right challenge her with your wits, you young genious. ”You can change your flight on the machine. It all can be done on the machine.” “Are you sure?” “Yes.” God damn fucking greeter. So I slowly saunter over to the machine and attempt to increase my intelligence level to that of a lobotomized republican. I use the module and discover there are four flights to new york airports between now and nine. This is going to be no problem. Next flight is at 3:15 gets in at 5. Wow, I am going to fucking beat rush hour. Awesome. I push the button to change the flight.
PLEASE SEE AGENT, God damn it. I meekly nod at one of the E-teller help people. I mumble, ”It says, please see agent” to the Jenny Jones look alike. She escorts me to the end of the aisle like I am the class clown being reprehended for planting a whoopee cushion. Jenny says “There is a lot of air traffic in new york. A lot of flights have been delayed because of High Winds.” High winds. Not snow, not rain, not fog but high winds. High winds and low visibility does not sound like something I want to fly into. Whatever. ‘Welcome to my world’ as wasserman once said.
Jenny continues. “All the flights are booked but I can put you on standby for the 530 to LGA and you ll have a good shot of getting on”. She seems like she knows what she is talking about but I don’t think she is explaining everything to me. “What happens if I don’t get on”…”If you cant get on ask another agent to sign you up for the 7 PM to LGA. And if you miss that you can always take your original 9PM to JFK. ”Hey everybody, didn’t you know everything in this life is easy. Everything always works out. “What happens to my luggage if I cant get on the La Guardia flights?” As is evident by now I usually don’t ask meaningful questions in ninety percent of my conversations. But every once in a while…”Well you go to JFK and you luggage goes to Laguardia.” Shit. Shit. Shit. “Is there anyway that I can switch it back?” “ No. Your luggage is definitely going to La Guardia.”
Alright take control for once in your life. What would Patty do? She’d take the risk of the flight and she’d get on. She’d make the flight. Take the flight – or you can ask another question. “So what are my chances of getting on the flight.” “Pretty good. There’s a good chance. There are only a few standby’s ahead of you.” Jenny speaks loudly and with dramatic facial movements which gives the impression she knows what she is talking about. I don’t think she would mislead me. I think I remind her of her nephew. Ahh, who am I kidding, I remind her of some guy who was nice to her at the DMV. ”I’ll take the ticket”
The Nortwestern wing of the Detroit airport for all of its modern conveniences, its elevated tramway, its wireless internet, its bathroom’s motion sensored paper towel dispensers is really a quiet boring place. Quiet that is, until all the midday flights to new york start getting delayed and cancelled because of zeus like winds in the new york area.
I walk up to the gate an hour and a half before departure time which ends up being three hours before it eventually leaves. “Excuse me miss.. umm.. I noticed that the previous flight recently got cancelled and I was wondering about the standby list. I was told that I had a pretty good shot of making the flight. Has it been …reprioritized?” Other than the Indian greeter everyone in the suburbs out here looks about the same. The woman I am talking too looks like a plumper, more downtrodden version of the woman at the front desk. She says “Whats your name” I give her my ID my boarding pass, my standby boarding pass, my luggage claim ticket and say “wolff.” “Mr. Wolff, your standby number is 41”.
Hmmm. The flight is booked. The flight holds 120 people. Thirty percent of the people would have to not show up for me to make this flight. It is time for an executive decision. “What are my chances of getting on the 7PM” .A few seconds of typing. “There is a long standby list and it is two hours delayed”. Its three hours before the flight leaves, the plane isn’t even on the ground yet. I can salvage something. I make this happen “Alright cancel the standby and put me back on the original flight. Also, I NEED to get my luggage off the flight and put back on the original flight” She ponders for a minute or two, types frantically for another minute and then she then prints out something from what looks like a dot matrix printer. She gives me back all my flight material and says she is going to show me what she has done. She comes out from behind the desk and stumbles over nothing. This is giving me tons of confidence. She give me the paper with text which says in no uncertain terms ”notice to groundscrew, please put the luggage of Mr. Jake Wolfe on flight 1927 to JFK”. Oh yeah, I am sure this is going to work.
So I have been sitting in the airport for six hours. I can’t get the wireless internet to work. I only can ride the tram so many times, and amazingly enough the paper tower dispensers get old after the third time. I decided to type all this out because otherwise all I am going to think about is how I have to take a taxi from JFK to LGA to the east village all after get in at 11:30PM. I figure it would be more productive of me to relive the experience. Patty would be proud.
12/12/03
ADDENDUM.
The old eastern european baggage handler at JFK was very helpful with confirming that my luggage was waiting in the baggage claim at LGA. My Russian cabdriver, Igor Shamalev, was very amuzed about the intermediate stop to la guardia. Igor and I arrived around midnight at the arrivals area of LGA during a traffic situation caused by some police profiling of a middle eastern man driving a van with tinted windows. I think he was just picking up his tinted middle eastern relatives. Igor decided the best place to avoid traffic and wait was to loop to the taxi waiting area near the edge of the terminal, where there were no police, no lights, no cameras. Not that I am a vulnerability assessor but …. So, I get out of the taxi, enter the baggage claim area, talk to the handicapped black woman in charge of the luggage. I point to the orange scrunchy on top of the bag, grab it and head home.
12/11/03
This is.. This feels.. This sucks. Detroit was the home of the one of the fifty greatest jewish baseballs player Hank Greenberg. The automotive industry, which fueled this country’s development, is located a few miles from the airport. For Chrissake, Motown was born in Detroit – and I love motown. I need to listen to some more Motown. What the fuck.
Realistically, I guess I should expect it. I mean if you make enough mid winter flights from new york to someplace even frikin colder you should expect some delays. On the way out here I took the company car service, Tel Aviv. No ..that’s not it. Its... Fuck this always happens when I get tired.. Goddamnit.. its All City. Anyway, the black car picked me up at 6:30AM Sunday morning three hours after 12” of the divine lords all mighty frozen tears finished blanketing the city. I was hungover and sleep deprived after warming my body by drinking and watching reverend al’s sushi bit on SNL. (Am I the only one who knows what funny is anymore). I get to the airport early, saunder on over to the e-ticket machines. No walking for me, I saunder all the way. I interface with the machine and try to pull up my boarding pass before I pass out from hungover tired dizziness or puke on the floor. The stupid machine didn’t work so I saunder on over to the main counter.
“Hi, I’d like to check in.” I give her my ID and my credit card. I don’t mention the previous attempt at checking in. I don’t want to discuss it, I don’t want to even think about it. All I want is my ticket so I can hurriedly go through security and sit at the gate for an hour and a half. “When is your flight?” Easy enough. “Its the 9 AM to Detroit.” She looks back down at the screen. ”Sir, did you use the machines.” God damn it. What the Hell is wrong with this woman. Doesn’t she see I don’t want to talk about the e-check in machines which were designed for morons but apparently that’s one level above me. “Yeah, there was something wrong. It wouldn’t print out my ticket because I don’t have my confirmation number.” About two minutes of not so furious typing occurs. Why is this so complicated? Shouldn’t this be relatively easy for her? I try not to think about it. “Well, you didn’t confirm your ticket. You never purchased it -- or the return flight on thursday. The flight is booked because of the snow and all of the rest of the flights are booked because of the cancellations the past two days.”
Fucking great. I fucked this one up royally didn’t I. Retarded children can book a flight through expedia and I cant even buy a ticket in the northwestern website after simultaneously signing up to be a northwestern frequent flyer. I remember receiving confirmation. I received confirmation of my frequent flyer number. “I need to get to Detroit today.” NEED is the word I use when I want to take my assertiveness up a notch. In general, I’ll use CAN about ninety percent of the time. “There is nothing left in coach. The only thing left is a $800 dollar ticket that is first class to Detroit and coach the way back.” I am giving her the chance to be my saviour and she basically responds--- this is my job, I do this everyday, here is your best course of action -- give us another $600. Why don’t I make a stink. Why am I just inwardly resigned to the fact that I am going to buy this ticket at four times the original price -- so I can get to DETROIT in DECEMBER.
When I was seven and Patty took me to cancun via the international airport in texas (houson?) she forgot to get signed permission from peter to let me leave the country. Apparently the Mexican officials were afraid of mothers running away from abusive husbands and were valiantly trying to prevent being used as a refuge. The flight agent wouldn’t let us on the plane until she got peter’s permission so she called our house to contact him. He didn’t answer. Now, I don’t know if he was at OTB, buying a pack from the store, soaking in the tub, or asleep in front of the TV, all I know is he didn’t answer. I threw a fit. I threw, what might be, the biggest fit ever. I whined, and cried, and cried, and moaned. Patty held my hand and kept telling me we wouldn’t be able to go unless the woman got through, so I cried and whined some more. Every time she didn’t get through in front of me I got worse. I ended up aggravating the whole arrival desk area. After thirty minutes of emotional hysteria the woman decides to goes to make the calls from the backroom. She gets the confirmation, approves us, and whisks us to the plane, which is just about to shut the doors. I find my seat and collapse. Now, there was no confirmation. A miracle did not happen. They just wanted to get rid of me. Years later I asked my mom about the emotionally draining experience and she said she was egging me on. She thought that if I made a big enough stink they would let us on the plane.
Where is my killer instinct? Come on you idiot say something more than need. Goddamnit. “Ok I’ll get the ticket” I suck. I suck big time. The flight is delayed. We piss around on the tarmac for an hour while they de ice us. I am still hungover. When I am tired and hungover sometimes I get a headache which lasts days. During the landing I thought I had an aneurism. An intense pain right between the bridge of my nose and my eyesocket last for about 10 minutes. I jamb my thumb into the top of my eyesocket and apply pressure until we reach the gate. I really don’t know what the hell that was. I finally leave the airport its rainy and there is fog. I take a 10 minute shuttle to the hotel. Its one o’clock on Sunday afternoon and I am taking a nap at the Detroit metro Hilton Suites.
I do my ridiculous assessment thing. The week is cold and windy and everyone smokes, gambles and has spent some time in the military. I finish early and get back to the airport at 2:30PM today. I am going to get an early flight. I am seven hours early for chrissake and northwestern has about ten flights to the nyc area every day. I mean its not like its Spirit Air.
I walk up to the entrance to the regular ticketing area. A greeter greets me with “Do you have ticket or an eticket.” Oh, Fuck no. not this again. Maybe I can fool her. “Oh, hear it is.. its regular” I wave some paper in front of her. Damn it, she looking at it. “Oh, this is an e-ticket. The e-ticket area is over there” She points to the other side of the concourse as she blocks the entrance to the roped off regular ticket area with her body. She is an Indian woman about 30 years old, 5’4 110 pounds. I am pretty sure that I could take her out. I am not a big guy but I think If I tried I could past her. I mean, I may even be quicker than her, I wouldn’t even have to tackle her or anything. ”Yeah, I just want to talk to somebody. I want to switch to an earlier flight.” That’s, right challenge her with your wits, you young genious. ”You can change your flight on the machine. It all can be done on the machine.” “Are you sure?” “Yes.” God damn fucking greeter. So I slowly saunter over to the machine and attempt to increase my intelligence level to that of a lobotomized republican. I use the module and discover there are four flights to new york airports between now and nine. This is going to be no problem. Next flight is at 3:15 gets in at 5. Wow, I am going to fucking beat rush hour. Awesome. I push the button to change the flight.
PLEASE SEE AGENT, God damn it. I meekly nod at one of the E-teller help people. I mumble, ”It says, please see agent” to the Jenny Jones look alike. She escorts me to the end of the aisle like I am the class clown being reprehended for planting a whoopee cushion. Jenny says “There is a lot of air traffic in new york. A lot of flights have been delayed because of High Winds.” High winds. Not snow, not rain, not fog but high winds. High winds and low visibility does not sound like something I want to fly into. Whatever. ‘Welcome to my world’ as wasserman once said.
Jenny continues. “All the flights are booked but I can put you on standby for the 530 to LGA and you ll have a good shot of getting on”. She seems like she knows what she is talking about but I don’t think she is explaining everything to me. “What happens if I don’t get on”…”If you cant get on ask another agent to sign you up for the 7 PM to LGA. And if you miss that you can always take your original 9PM to JFK. ”Hey everybody, didn’t you know everything in this life is easy. Everything always works out. “What happens to my luggage if I cant get on the La Guardia flights?” As is evident by now I usually don’t ask meaningful questions in ninety percent of my conversations. But every once in a while…”Well you go to JFK and you luggage goes to Laguardia.” Shit. Shit. Shit. “Is there anyway that I can switch it back?” “ No. Your luggage is definitely going to La Guardia.”
Alright take control for once in your life. What would Patty do? She’d take the risk of the flight and she’d get on. She’d make the flight. Take the flight – or you can ask another question. “So what are my chances of getting on the flight.” “Pretty good. There’s a good chance. There are only a few standby’s ahead of you.” Jenny speaks loudly and with dramatic facial movements which gives the impression she knows what she is talking about. I don’t think she would mislead me. I think I remind her of her nephew. Ahh, who am I kidding, I remind her of some guy who was nice to her at the DMV. ”I’ll take the ticket”
The Nortwestern wing of the Detroit airport for all of its modern conveniences, its elevated tramway, its wireless internet, its bathroom’s motion sensored paper towel dispensers is really a quiet boring place. Quiet that is, until all the midday flights to new york start getting delayed and cancelled because of zeus like winds in the new york area.
I walk up to the gate an hour and a half before departure time which ends up being three hours before it eventually leaves. “Excuse me miss.. umm.. I noticed that the previous flight recently got cancelled and I was wondering about the standby list. I was told that I had a pretty good shot of making the flight. Has it been …reprioritized?” Other than the Indian greeter everyone in the suburbs out here looks about the same. The woman I am talking too looks like a plumper, more downtrodden version of the woman at the front desk. She says “Whats your name” I give her my ID my boarding pass, my standby boarding pass, my luggage claim ticket and say “wolff.” “Mr. Wolff, your standby number is 41”.
Hmmm. The flight is booked. The flight holds 120 people. Thirty percent of the people would have to not show up for me to make this flight. It is time for an executive decision. “What are my chances of getting on the 7PM” .A few seconds of typing. “There is a long standby list and it is two hours delayed”. Its three hours before the flight leaves, the plane isn’t even on the ground yet. I can salvage something. I make this happen “Alright cancel the standby and put me back on the original flight. Also, I NEED to get my luggage off the flight and put back on the original flight” She ponders for a minute or two, types frantically for another minute and then she then prints out something from what looks like a dot matrix printer. She gives me back all my flight material and says she is going to show me what she has done. She comes out from behind the desk and stumbles over nothing. This is giving me tons of confidence. She give me the paper with text which says in no uncertain terms ”notice to groundscrew, please put the luggage of Mr. Jake Wolfe on flight 1927 to JFK”. Oh yeah, I am sure this is going to work.
So I have been sitting in the airport for six hours. I can’t get the wireless internet to work. I only can ride the tram so many times, and amazingly enough the paper tower dispensers get old after the third time. I decided to type all this out because otherwise all I am going to think about is how I have to take a taxi from JFK to LGA to the east village all after get in at 11:30PM. I figure it would be more productive of me to relive the experience. Patty would be proud.
12/12/03
ADDENDUM.
The old eastern european baggage handler at JFK was very helpful with confirming that my luggage was waiting in the baggage claim at LGA. My Russian cabdriver, Igor Shamalev, was very amuzed about the intermediate stop to la guardia. Igor and I arrived around midnight at the arrivals area of LGA during a traffic situation caused by some police profiling of a middle eastern man driving a van with tinted windows. I think he was just picking up his tinted middle eastern relatives. Igor decided the best place to avoid traffic and wait was to loop to the taxi waiting area near the edge of the terminal, where there were no police, no lights, no cameras. Not that I am a vulnerability assessor but …. So, I get out of the taxi, enter the baggage claim area, talk to the handicapped black woman in charge of the luggage. I point to the orange scrunchy on top of the bag, grab it and head home.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
How to be a pundit
BROOKS: But, so you think "OK, get out." On the other hand, if we leave....we could see 250,000 Iraqis die -- you had the John Burns quotation earlier in the program. So are we willing to prevent 10,000 Iraqi deaths a month at the cost of 125 Americans?
That's a tough moral issue, but it's also a tough national interest issue, because we don't know what the consequences of getting out are. And the frustration of watching the debate in Washington, very few people are willing to grapple with those two facts: that there's gonna -- the surge will not work in the short term, but getting out will be cataclysmic. And you see politicians on both sides evading one of those two facts, but you've got to grapple with them both....
WOODWARD: And the problem, though, is we don't know. People can say, "Oh, it's going to be a disaster." I mean, you've -- you cite numbers which are pulled out of the air -- "10,000 dying" -- I mean that's -- where does that come from?
BROOKS: Well, A, it comes from John Burns. Second, it comes from the national intelligence...
WOODWARD: Well, no, he doesn’t say 10,000.
BROOKS: Well, no, no, but it talks about genocide.
WOODWARD: Yeah.
BROOKS: So I just picked that 10,000 out of the air
KRISTOL: There's been a certain amount of pop sociology in America ... that the Shia can't get along with the Sunni and the Shia in Iraq just want to establish some kind of Islamic fundamentalist regime. There's almost no evidence of that at all.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Another blog I skim..
Good old apartment therapy
In response a reader posted this
Good Questions: How To Start a Book Collection?
Hello AT, I am working with a client who has a new apartment, loads of beautiful bookshelves and no books. We'd really like to build a book collection relatively quickly. We'd like it to be based on his taste, but also be a great collection of classics and aesthetically as pleasing as the work that's gone into the rest of the apartment. Do you have any advice or know anyone or any place that can help??Thanks, Moore
In response a reader posted this
I'd like to create a photo wall in my home but none of my
friends and family photograph very well. Any suggestions?
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
And now for something completely different...
Stayed up to watch Christopher Walken on the Daily Show. I guess I could have just watched it online this morning.
I really cant believe jon didn't know about Walken's dancing childhood. Has TDS jumped the shark?
"I used to be prettier than I am, but I think I look better now. I was a pretty boy. Particularly in my early movies. I don't like looking at them so much. There's a sort of pretty thing about me."
Hi everyone,
Please join us at Stout on July 27 where we will be hosting a party to benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The highlight of the evening will be a Bachelor/ette date auction where we will auction off dates with several of NYC's finest ladies and gentlemen. We are each training for a marathon this fall (B is running in San Francisco, R is running in Chicago and L is running in New York) with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training. We are fundraising for this cause while they help us prepare for the races. The $15 donation will be a small price to pay for the fun night out and will be much appreciated to those who benefit from the services, education and research of the Society.
Who: B K, L K, R K and 15-16 Bachelors and Bachelorettes
What: An evening of fun, including a Bachelor/Bachelorette Auction
When : Friday, July 27 (Door opens at 6:30, Auction starts at 8:30)
Where: Stout (133 W. 33rd St, http://www.stoutnyc.com/)
Why: To raise money for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
Cost: $15 at the door
RSVP: Email LLSDateAuction7.27.07@gmail.com to add your name to the guest
list
Please help us spread the word about the party to all of your
friends and colleagues. Trust us, this is an event they will not want to miss.
I really cant believe jon didn't know about Walken's dancing childhood. Has TDS jumped the shark?
"I used to be prettier than I am, but I think I look better now. I was a pretty boy. Particularly in my early movies. I don't like looking at them so much. There's a sort of pretty thing about me."
New East Village/ L.E.S./Nolita hotspot --- Whole Foods? There is nothing worse than Prune or Ninth Street Market on the weekends. Maybe I can hit this up in my running gear after a two bridge run.
I was at the cleveland VA from 4/4/04 to 4/7/04 ... So this cant possibly be me.
It looks like we need a couple more runners for our team for a hundred mile relay race through the green mountains. Any low maintenance extreme runners out there?
Finally, I was told to inform the masses about this event through the extensive readership of my blog. Guess who is up for sale?
Hi everyone,
Please join us at Stout on July 27 where we will be hosting a party to benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The highlight of the evening will be a Bachelor/ette date auction where we will auction off dates with several of NYC's finest ladies and gentlemen. We are each training for a marathon this fall (B is running in San Francisco, R is running in Chicago and L is running in New York) with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training. We are fundraising for this cause while they help us prepare for the races. The $15 donation will be a small price to pay for the fun night out and will be much appreciated to those who benefit from the services, education and research of the Society.
Who: B K, L K, R K and 15-16 Bachelors and Bachelorettes
What: An evening of fun, including a Bachelor/Bachelorette Auction
When : Friday, July 27 (Door opens at 6:30, Auction starts at 8:30)
Where: Stout (133 W. 33rd St, http://www.stoutnyc.com/)
Why: To raise money for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
Cost: $15 at the door
RSVP: Email LLSDateAuction7.27.07@gmail.com to add your name to the guest
list
Please help us spread the word about the party to all of your
friends and colleagues. Trust us, this is an event they will not want to miss.
Monday, July 16, 2007
But how long does it take to set up that harness?
Fred
Friday, July 06, 2007
Monday, July 02, 2007
And the Republican Nominee isn't...
My first failed predicition of the 2008 election season. More to come..
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Thursday, June 21, 2007
No Buffy the Musical, No Dawsons Creek
Feel free to suggest viewing material -- but be warned this isnt a democratic process.
There are two types of films I am going to show
Movies you acted in , made, or had a hand in producing --- and -- movies I want to show.
The first list is short and out of my control. So feel free to submit your junior highschool rendition of Hair. Just remember to have it transferred to DVD from video. The second list is long, in my head, and amorphous. The list below is not all inclusive but it should give you a feel and if it doesn't, too bad.
Goonies, Jaws, One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest, Maltese Falcoln, Chinatown, African Queen, Midnight Cowboy, Annie Hall, Butch Cassidy. The Third Man, Do the Right Thing, French Connection, Warriors, Rear Window, North By Northwest, Oh Brother Where Art Though, Dr Strangelove, Philadelpia Story, All Quiet on the Western Front, Giant, The Apartment. A Fish Called Wanda, The Search for the Holy Grail, Say Anything, E.T, Trainspotting.
As for suggestions of what is acceptable let me quote Justice Potter Stewart, "I cant describe it, but I know it when I see it."
There are two types of films I am going to show
Movies you acted in , made, or had a hand in producing --- and -- movies I want to show.
The first list is short and out of my control. So feel free to submit your junior highschool rendition of Hair. Just remember to have it transferred to DVD from video. The second list is long, in my head, and amorphous. The list below is not all inclusive but it should give you a feel and if it doesn't, too bad.
Goonies, Jaws, One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest, Maltese Falcoln, Chinatown, African Queen, Midnight Cowboy, Annie Hall, Butch Cassidy. The Third Man, Do the Right Thing, French Connection, Warriors, Rear Window, North By Northwest, Oh Brother Where Art Though, Dr Strangelove, Philadelpia Story, All Quiet on the Western Front, Giant, The Apartment. A Fish Called Wanda, The Search for the Holy Grail, Say Anything, E.T, Trainspotting.
As for suggestions of what is acceptable let me quote Justice Potter Stewart, "I cant describe it, but I know it when I see it."
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Itsmeed
I had asked Ed to measure the eyebolt diameter because I wanted to get the right size wire to hang the screen in a more stable fashion. The eyebolts, which supported the metal retractable housing, were really small but I couldn’t remember if they were 3/8” or 3/16” so I asked for help in sizing.
“ itsmeed, I have some bad news. Call me.”
I’m informed that the setup in my room was tenuous at best and during the effort to measure the holes diameter the whole thing came crashing down. The metal housing cracked and the screen unrolled and became permanently unretractable. Arriving home from work to full of engineering wisdom I tried putting it back together. In order to salvage the screen I decided to cut off the top bar with a razor blade and try to hang it from the lighter rod on the bottom. While it will leaves the screen in a position where its easier to get damaged, harder to role up and store, it is also much lighter, and much easier to work with.
So that still leaves me with my original quandry of how to get that screen in the optimal location. Last night after work, I drew up the following plans based on the concept of using a bunch of 2x4s to create a frame which cantilevered off the deck and rested against the neighbors building ( 412). I went to the hardware store and found out that in order to get anything longer than 8ft long pieces I would need to go to a lumber yard. Other than the fact that uncut lengths are unavailable within walking distance, there are a number of other issues involved including the total cost of the assembly, and how to stabilize the back post ( wires, heavy base… etc.)
In the mean time, I bought a concrete masonry bit to drill against 410’s back wall. Unlike 412s wall, this is a location I have ready access to. The hole was drilled about 9 ft up. A lot of dust came in when I drilled, and when i placed the screw it never really locked it just kept turning. Somehow, I found a sweet spot but I think a more permanent solution is needed. The equipment was all put on the new rack at the far side of the deck. (I got this new rack to hold all the associated nonsense, otherwise it would be a mess of chairs, step stools, with electronics and wires coming out of it).
In the end the whole thing worked out looked great and I am less interested in building my Hangman’s noose apparatus than before. The image does fill the entire screen but the picture was great and I think a 4 foot wide image is good enough, given the size of the deck . The ambient light is minimal in this location and the noise from the yaffa can be drowned out.
 |
| Outdoor Trial of Projector |
It is a little bit of a hassle since it takes about 40 minutes to set the whole thing up and take the whole thing down, but since time might be tickin down at 410, I am going to try and watch as much as can outside. This includes dinner BBQs and post dinner movies.
Stay tuned
Monday, June 18, 2007
Walking the Plank...
The ideal place to project is on the neighbors wall as shown. Ambient noise and light from the neighbors ( Yaffa) are at a minimum for this location and the setup of the projector leaves more room to roam around the patio during a viewing. How the heck I am going to get this screen up there is driving me crazy. It seems to me that a combination of Extension ladders and masonry drill bits are all things which might be beyond reach.
Here is a coworkers suggestion. Not quite sure who those people are supposed to be.
The new plan is to get something working by this weekend so I can do a test run.Saturday, June 16, 2007
Why do I have to be Mr. Pink?
The projector, dvd player, speakers, and screen are set up and work. The hitch is that they are set up in my room not on the porch. Next step is figuring out how to project it outdoors. Time is running out on the outdoor viewing possibilities. The inaugural movie was Pelham One Two Three. The pace is fast, Mathau is Mathau, and the dialog is awesome. What really is remarkable is how the film holds up for its nyc feel or at least how it feels in my mind. Lots of great shots of NYC in the 70's.
I was worried that movie wouldn't be a great projector movie because of the plethora of subway scenes. I read online that a major problem with projectors is showing detail during dark shots. Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised.
Rico: Wait a minute I just figured out how they are going to get away
Lt Z. Hows that rico.
Rico: They are going to fly the train to Cuba
I was worried that movie wouldn't be a great projector movie because of the plethora of subway scenes. I read online that a major problem with projectors is showing detail during dark shots. Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised.
Rico: Wait a minute I just figured out how they are going to get away
Lt Z. Hows that rico.
Rico: They are going to fly the train to Cuba
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Notes from the Midwest
Seriously ... seriously...seriously... the woman with the boots.. the great grandmother...s he was born in 1919 a few months after the WWI paris peace conference. One might naturally wonder --What is she doing with a shovel full of dirt?
Anyway I dont have a good answer for what she is doing in the picture. I think she is planting trees and getting rid of tent caterpillars. Here are some full grown trees she help plant a couple years back.
Anyway I dont have a good answer for what she is doing in the picture. I think she is planting trees and getting rid of tent caterpillars. Here are some full grown trees she help plant a couple years back.
What is a tent caterpillar? There is a rumor they defoliate trees. I just think its a myth to get her active.
Below is a picture of her a few years back before my uncles put her to work on the farm. (1935)
In other news this is what an irish dance competition looks like from the vantage point of the younger brother.
And this is what it looks like when the Big Sis wins.
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