Drive-by blogging

No time for a real post today. Just passing along this link about another symptom in the slow death of American beekeeping. In the name of full disclosure, I should note I have a horse in this race, my partner and I having (hopefully) two hives of bees. But if you like to eat, you have a horse in this race, too:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/27/business/27bees.html?em&ex=1172811600&en=7a00a5a2ae3626af&ei=5087%0A

Oh, no! Missed a day of blogging! [swoon]

Weather postponed the show we were supposed to see over the weekend, so attending the rescheduled performance last night left no time to post. Noel Coward frou-frou, but fun stuff. At one point in my adolescence, my highest aspiration was to live something of that lifestyle--minus the martinis and the cigarettes, of course. Not likely for a gal (mostly) brought up in a two-bedroom apartment (and a neighborhood whose character steadily degraded) until she left for the wider world on no more than a liberal arts degree and a part-time job. Living proof that the Gods do sometimes look after fools, in other words.

Speaking of moving out, I realized that this Thursday is my 18th month anniversary in my latest job, which is a good excuse to polish up the resume and scope out the market, if only to get a baseline. Not that I'm looking to leave anytime soon, mind you. But with the Dow dropping over 400 points today, I'd just as soon land on my feet this recession.

Coming up for air

I've been pretty buried today in the endgame of a nasty project for school (the calculus of AM radio and Fourier series). So thank goodness for partners who send you links to cool stuff that you don't have time to read (but do anyway).

Enjoy!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7544360

Bonding time with my inner Hufflepuff

I haven't had time for much other than duty today, but I just made a quick news-cruise and found something off the AP top-ten that bothered me. In case it needs pointing out, I am unabashedly left-leaning. But the article about the history of polygamy in Mitt Romney's family tree almost smacked of character assassination to me. To be fair, the writer pointed out at both beginning and end that Romney has been monogamous, and so were his parents. But if the idea was to generate a human interest piece, the result was well wide of the mark. "Prurient interest piece" would have been closer to the effect.

When the jungle drums first said that Romney was throwing his hat into the proverbial ring, I was intruigued. The conservative governor of the truest of the bluest states has to know a thing or two about compromise. And we desperately need that, no matter which party supplies it. But, like McCain and Guiliani, Romney's since tossed off his sheep-suit to run with the wolf-pack of the Right. So I've written him off. All the same, it's not like you can choose the family you're born into. But in recent years, insinuation almost doubles for incrimination. I dearly want to see Hufflepuff take the (White) House Cup in 2008. But not by stooping to Slytherin tactics.

Don't get me wrong: I've enjoyed as much schadenfreude as the next liberal these past few months. But Will Rogers (I think) said, "The problem with giving someone a lesson in meanness is that they usually learn it." And I fear that the Left has learned that lesson from the neocons and theocons in the past six-plus years. If the Right falls into eclipse and exile, it should be the wages of their hypocrisy and chicanery and jack-booted hubris. Not whispers and wink-wink-nudge-nudge innuendo. Leave that to Fox Noise.

The sound of double-standards: Silence

Today's news that (male) circumcision can cut the rate of AIDS infection somewhere between 50 - 60 percent must surely provoke a call from the Religious Right for an end to the practice. Because we all know that if men don't live in fear of mortal disease, they might engage in promiscuous sex.

Right???

So I actually held my nose for long enough to visit various theocon websites, and what do I see on the topic? Nada. Squat. Diddley. Zilch. Bupkis to the power of Sweet F.A.

But...but...surely the crowd that thundered so recently about the HPV vaccine should be firing off press releases on fully auto even as I write? Isn't their self-righteous brand of voyeurism just as obsessive about men's sex lives as it is about women's?

Why, no, actually.

Dunno about anyone else, but I shan't hold my breath waiting for the latest screeds from our latter-day Puritans. (As an aside: I do not use that comparison lightly. When I do, I'm not thinking so much of Hester Prynne as I am of Oliver Cromwell, of Quakers hanged for being not-Puritan, of a pre-schooler jailed for witchcraft.) Because if anyone believes that women can expect the same treatment as men from the Jesus-jihadists, they're just flat-out delusional. Give any of these extremists the helm, and we'll all be living in the Republic of Gilead faster than you can say "Baptist Taliban".

I fear that, while the silence speaks volumes about the hypocrisy and inherent mysogyny of the Religious Right, many people will just hear silence.

No time for nostalgia

The weather's warmed in the last few days, approximately coeval with my realization that the days are noticeably longer. So as I basked in my sun-warmed car (to a classic rock soundtrack) during my noon hour run, I could nearly believe that 20 years had fallen away. As many of we "d'une certaine age" folks feel under comparable circumstances.

I'd be lying if I said that I didn't smile at the recurring, enduring charm of that notion. But this was the first season that something in me stiffened and said, "No thank you." to the illusion. Losing 20 years would rewind me to a person I (mostly) don't care to be. Someone who saw The Real World as something to be joined after jumping through the hoops of schooling. The me that I am now understands that, for most purposes and barring extreme circumstances, you really do make your own world--for good and ill.

I flatter myself that I've been able to stand back from the zeitgeist--where it is, where it's likely headed--for years. But the sensation of being on the outside looking in solidified only recently. It feels rather like watching flotsam tossed about on the waves inexorably pulled in or out with the tide, but no longer feeling the urge to sport in the waves myself. Just being content to roll up my pant legs and dig my toes into the smooth, damp sand while the water regularly laps at my ankles. To watch for sails (or ominous clouds) on the horizon, to collect shells or other treasures from the sea.

I will be hoisting my own sails again at some point in the next year or so, but being tossed about like sea-froth by the tide is not in the plan. That's the difference that 20 years makes. Or one difference, at any rate. Apparently, a certain resistance to the coquettish side of proto-Spring is another.

I can quit anytime I want...

New book!

Never mind that I haven't finished the one I picked up for vacation (Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell by Suzanna Clark). I thought that it was interesting that Joel Spolsky (co-founder of Fog Creek Software, and my dream boss before he got a little too full of himself) was running with some fast company when Jessica Livingston interviewed him for Founders at Work. There he's rubbing shoulders with the founders and early employees of Apple, Adobe, Lotus, TiVo, etc. (And, as it coincidentally turns out, Blogger.com) So I ordered it.

I've been on the corporate leash long enough that I'm feeling the itch to start something of my own, even if it's merely dipping my toe back into the shallow end of consulting. I don't plan taking any coursework this summer, so I'm angling to line something up for that time-frame. Worse come to worst, I plod away on one of my own projects. Something that directly benefits ME (for a change), in any case...

But in the meantime, yay for new books! ;-)

So much for conventional wisdom

In the two times I've had to study PC hardware in my schooling, certain things were passed on as accepted wisdom. Interestingly, some of the material I had to memorize, regurgitate and try to forget is contradicted by the Real World.

This hit my radar simply because the hard drive on my (Dell) PC at work started generating error messages about a bad sector and within--if I remember correctly--less than a hour just crashed and burned. (When your I/T dude says, "Wow, I've never seen one go down that hard that fast," you know you're in trouble...)

Kewl perspective on archaeology

I ran across this article in my news-cruise this afternoon and thought that I should pass its goodness on:

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-childs16feb16,0,5843083.story?coll=la-opinion-center

I already emailed a couple other folks about this, joking that I had the sudden urge to buy a copy of "Motel of the Mysteries," which I have (scandalously) not made time for, even though its bubble-bursting style of humor appeals to me.

Much to do in the next few days, between work and school and extracurriculars. If it weren't for the unexpected benevolence of having President's Day off, I'd be starkers by Friday. And speaking of obligations, it is to them I must return now.

Hypocrisy on steroids

I have a confession to make: For several years I bought into John McCain's "maverick" schtick. Now, of course, I know better. I should be more annoyed--with myself more so than the Senator from Arizona. But I suppose that it's like any breakup: It always seems like the "you" who believed in your "significant other" was a whole 'nuther person. The "me" back then actually thought that McCain had real cajones when he teamed up with Feingold for campaign finance reform. That he had truly atoned for his days as 20% of the "Keating 5" S&L scandal of the late '80s. Now he's so obviously the "kept man" of the theocons who still think that they own America that it's just nauseating. And rather than cop the "I was duped!" line that most old-school conservatives are using these days, I will simply own up to utter political naifishness.

I wouldn't mind so much if McCain were simply your run-of-the-mill (political) crack-whore looking for his next hit. (Sadly, we're used to that as America continues its long slide into Plutocracy.) It's the fact that he won't give Joe and Jane America credit for having two brain cells to rub together. It's always the insult more than the injury...

Today's declaration that he wants to see Roe vs. Wade overturned is one thing. Fine. Nail your flag to the mast early on. That's merely truth in advertising, and I'm All About an informed electorate. But, in the next breath, to promise to appoint people who "won't legislate from the bench" just brought on a sharp pain between the eyes.

[Pardon me whilst I slip into the cant usage of the blogosphere, and ask: WTF?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!]

Let me see if I have this straight, Senator: Appointing ONLY judges who intend to overturn the ruling of the Highest Court In The Land is NOT legislating from the bench?!? How stupid do you think people are, Mr. Senator?!? Which begs the question, how stupid are YOU? Apparently, when you and Jerry Falwell were trading blow-jobs, you picked up something far more serious than the mere clap. Namely, a complete imperviousness to reason and falliability. And there ain't no penicillin for that. Not to mention that the recovery rate is abysmal. Sorry, jack: We've had six-plus years of hubris already, thank you (and your tribe) very little. Go simper at someone else. You've lost my vote for good.

Now, understand that I believe in a strong multi-party system because I don't think that either the right or the left has a monopoly on good ideas or love of country. But if McCain is the best that the G.O.P. can field, the Democrats should be throwing their hats in the air right now. And--more to the point--if that's the level to which the G.O.P. is willing to drag political discourse, I will watch with rapt enjoyment as they're handed their heads in 2008. Makes me want to take up knitting in the honorable tradition of Madame DeFarge.

The first post--or as the Romans would have said, "Ave, viator!"

I'm late--as always--to the Carnivale we fondly refer to as "the internets". Nevertheless, welcome to my little corner of it.

Mostly I started this just to have my say on various topics without annoying the few non-trolls on various message boards. To avoid wasting your time, here are some things you should know about me and the opinionating/pontificating to come:

1.) I have a number of wierd interests, ranging from medieval re-creation to beekeeping to computer programming.

2.) If I bother to have an opinion on something, it's usually a strong one.

3.) My favorite line from any movie/book/tv show ever is from the "A Late Delivery from Avalon" episode of Babylon 5, wherein the ousted Narn ambassador-turned-freedom-fighter G'Kar is celebrating with a guy who thinks he's King Arthur, following their pummelling of a gang of two-bit thugs: "That was great! No moral ambiguities...no hopeless battle against an ancient enemy. We were right; they were wrong. And they made a most agreeable 'Thump!' when they hit the ground." That's also, IMO, one working definition of a good day.

So, again, welcome to my niche of the blogosphere. If I'm not edifying, I'll try to be entertaining.