Nightfall on N. America

Sue sent me a batch of pictures taken by astronaut Sunita Williams. You can find more here and information about her mission here . Things look a lot more peaceful from a distance.

Privacy

"Each new heinous act will prompt government appeals for greater surveillance powers......in the ensuing dread and panic, a frightened public will grant those new powers." David Brin, The Transparent Society © 1998

"I worry about this participatory panoptikon more than I do private detectives or government spooks...What's happening is that everybody is now a tiny piece of one colossal Big Brother." Bruce Sterling quoted by Suzanne Stefanac

Almost everyone I know is tired of one-sided privacy. An example would be dealing with local government. (S.F.) After presenting various identification strings to prove your bona fides, you're refused a name in return. (policy) Climbing the inevitable ladder becomes more difficult without an initial rung. Your official records seem to be available to any government employee, of any ilk, but getting a copy for yourself, oy³! Yes, there are firewalls in place, guidelines du jour, and sunshine laws-o-rama, but without a lawyer at hand, access is only for the infinitely patient.

On a larger scale, cyberspace itself is privacy's death of a thousand cuts. I'm sure Obama's new computer security initiative will include autonomous editing bots, but I doubt they'll be available off the shelf at Office Depot. The best I can currently offer is: 1) Think first, then call, than think some more, then post. I do pay a monthly fee to keep this Verizon e-leash on my belt. 2) Push for some two-way transparency in government. If their so darn busy protecting my interests, give me a name and address so I can thank them. After all, they know where I live.

Personal Notes

Personal notes:

• My trip to N.Y., to see my niece before her wedding, is finally starting to fall into place. I admit it may not be green, but one of my favorite things to do is drive the back roads of upstate N.Y. in the early summer.
• I was in the library's magazine room yesterday (Saturday 3:00) and some whiz-bang decided to set the shelf of current newspapers on fire. The fire had a good start before another patron saw it, and with some help, she pulled the burning papers off the shelf and stomped them out. As far as I know, the perp got away. There is no need to wonder why my default setting is cynical.
• My friend, Geri Green, was slammed in print by Debra Saunders ( why I oughtta) A bragging rights bumper sticker is in order.
• A young lady down the hall has decided to sing a snippet of a song over and over. It's been three days now. The piece contains the tail end of a verse and the first part of the bridge. Unfortunately the second note of the bridge is a tad above her natural range. It's attempt number three million four hundred and thirty two thousand five hundred twenty six and she still hasn't managed to hit that darn note. Score: Enthusiasm 9+, Pitch 0.
• An e-mail from Carol Dauley this morning: As of May 22nd I am Carol Quin Dauley, now I just have to deal with DMV. It's not been fun with them. I couldn't be happier. Carol.

Media Sales Kit

I note the resurgence of a sales tool that's been around forever. Sometimes labeled epideictic rhetoric, sometimes disconnected logic, it's a favorite of political pitchmen of all stripes. I'll use the debate about teaching methods as an example.

The first premise is that all individuals learn differently. This is almost self evident. I have no trouble with manipulating strings of numbers, but spelling words correctly , no. ( thank-you spellchecker, thank-you dictionaries) The second premise is that ( insert group here) has to be taught in such and such a way due to shared characteristics. The disconnect is the movement of the specific to the general without logical cause. Moving from handwaving to more specific examples:

Since Retired Catholic Archbishop Rembert G Weakland has been accused of a cover-up, all the ecclesial hierarchy are engaged in a cover-up.

Since Rush Limbaugh is a goombah, anyone calling themselves a conservative must be a *%$#**.

.....and so on. Moving from a single example to a disconnected general conclusion is the kind of lead-'em-by-the-nose thinking that PR. people love. Muttering about a counter example just proofing the rule ain't worth jolly-Jack. Lazy thinking is lazy thinking, and just because it's easy or common doesn't give it any added value.

Scribd

This is a first try. The code for embeding documents is a bit cranky. ( no, operator error isn't a possibility, I checked it myself ) A toggle in the right hand side of the frame will give you a full page view. http://scribd.com/

Music Theory - Advanced

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Sheet Music & Lyrics music theory

Gwaker

Recently, a lot of bandwidth has been burned because the vampire show, BloodCopy, purchased a look-alike link button at the bottom of Gawker ( or my preference, io9) Suddenly co-managed sites are deeply concerned about their credibility and promise to get right to the bottom of this controversy. The publicity is damaging! The public is tweeting their outrage!! In the interest of milking this puppy dry, I decided what the heck.

OMG...The snarkors have become the snarkees and now they're all pooffity about it... Gr8

There, I'm glad that I got that useless piece of jangle out of my system.

Maker Faire

     __It's time for the Maker Faire this weekend__

Jose Sanchez

Jose is the head chef at the Federal Reserve. When I worked there he kept me more or less in line. Today (Thursday) is his birthday so....Happy Birthday, Jose!

Red Meat

Red Meat, by Max Cannon, is a strip that ran in the S.F. Weekly until a few weeks ago. I miss it and have written in hopes of getting it reinstated. Red Meat has a web page with back content and a Google will turn up some related games and schwag.

Dang!

Mr. Limbaugh: Is there anything the man can't do? Consulting with President Cheney on national security, leading the Republican Party, and providing the intellectual rigor and framework that makes us American.

Now we find that in-between the guest appearances, wives, hillbilly heroin, and establishing the brand, Rush found the time to get a first rate legal education. Not ten minutes after the Sotomayor nomination he had her number cold. With the name of a single Court case in hand, he was on point, telling us the way it should be. Those progressives from Pinkostan can't put one over on our boy.

Bloviation et al.

Every so often I find a small batch of words, usually obscure, that I like for one reason or another. Usually they contain an idea that is little remarked upon or requires a paragraph of less specific words to define. Sometimes words get the nod just because they sound so good. (i.e. cacafuego)

Bloviation: Orate, stem-winder, talk pompously. Most often used in reference to politicians for some reason.

Pejoration: A semantic shift which results in a less favorable connotation. For example, the work villain originally meant farm laborer. At one point, liberal meant someone who was attached to or approved of liberty. Currently, the word empathy is undergoing this process.

Parnel: A priest's mistress. It's odd that there should be an old word for something that doesn't exist.

Herrenvolk Democracy: One set of rules and principals for the occupier, another for the occupied.

Theseus's Paradox: A paradox that raises the question of whether an object which has had all its component parts replaced remains fundamentally the same object. The paradox refers to the Ship of Theseus, but can be taken to include our self-identity as our body rebuilds over time and our mind changes and grows.

Stephen Yerkey

While intertubing, I found a video from Steve, dated a few years back. At one point in time I mixed for him, but since then I've lost track of him. Does anyone know of his current whereabouts? Mail To

Edgar Mueller

This is a street painting, done in chalk, by Edgar Mueller. As you can see he takes it a bit beyond the usual. You can Google him or go here for more images and pictures of work in progress.

Happy Birthday

The twins have a birthday tomorrow. I'd like to wish them a happy birthday.

Pelosi vs. the CIA

Who's fibbing? Did the Bush CIA, known worldwide for their forthcoming nature, tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth to a socialistic Democrat from S.F.? Was grandma Nancy, that consummate, caring and selfless outsider, a political servant of the people, mislead behind closed doors by agents from black ops. Is this another example of a commie politician dissembling when pressed or the secret rule of an elite? Why waste an opportunity like this. Drive that wedge home.

Politicians and talking heads love to jibber-jabber obtusely about it because this is so important, a divisive issue that shows how morally committed the bloviator is to being on point, providing decisive leadership on vital issues in perilous times, cutting through the fog and taking up the reins of a ship gone astray, stepping up to the mound, standing up for America, unveiling the TRUTH, and showing that he, not the others, is the defender of justice and champion of the People, how the other side is predictable, unbalanced and lacks nuance......shocked, well and justly shocked... defending our troops, our security, our great nation...apple pie, Acorn, solemn duty...our way of life...our mom's open market security...our..... freeeeeedoms...........( ok, times up )

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Review: Mirrored Heavens

Yes kids. You can write a novel so "white-hot" and "action-jammed and audacious" that you can blow off the need for a story. Chapter after chapter of cyborg soldiers killing everything, especially each other, with super weapons that never run out of energy. Everything and everyone turning on each other and storyline that jumps from blowing this up to killing that to neutralizing those. Why go from point A to point B when you can burn massive swaths of real estate along the way. A gamer's fever-dream where no one is a civilian. Mirrored Heavens By David J.Williams Autumn Rain

Pop

This one is for Scott. Although he's a jazzer at heart, he's a sucker for a good pop song. ( as am I )

Levi Plaza

Warm weather is here, at least for the moment.

Summertime

It's almost June, and that means large amounts of heavy gauge wire all over the waterfront. Sun guard, check: VOM, check: cranky knees, check and check: looking forward to seeing everyone, check.

X-files Theory

From the book Teranesia, a science fiction book by Greg Egan: .....and all the other social justice movements were getting more and more support. So in the 1980's ( this is where the X-Files theory comes into it ) the CIA hired some real clever linguists to invent a secret weapon: an incredibly complicated way of talking about politics that didn't actually make any sense......It spread through all the universities because it sounded so impressive. "So instead of going to the people in power and saying, 'How about upholding the universal principles you claim to believe in?' they end up saying things like"My truth narrative is in competition with your truth narrative', and the people in power replied, 'Woe is me, you've thrown me in the briar patch!' .....And the secret weapon lived on in the universities for years because everyone who played a part was too embarrassed to admit what they had done." I know it's a fictional device, but.......