rantings.next

"It takes strength to be still when others rush. It takes courage to be different, to go against the..."

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:45:40 -0400

“It takes strength to be still when others rush. It takes courage to be different, to go against the stream. But while others might think us weird at first, that’s OK. Sometimes it’s the weird ones that make the most difference.”

- find stillness to cure the illness | zen habits

"And it’s especially fitting that Dickey would be among the most compelling and uplifting stories in..."

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:04:07 -0400

“And it’s especially fitting that Dickey would be among the most compelling and uplifting stories in this lost season for a Mets team that will be remembered alongside the ranks of the 1975 squad (82-80) — which is to say it won’t be remembered at all.”

- New York Mets: The Epic Fall and Rise (and Fall?) of R.A. Dickey | Long Island News from the Long Island Press

Chuckling at his name aside, it’s a ton of fun to watch a quality knuckleball pitcher do his thing, and even more fun when the man confounding hitters is on the mound for the Mets.

"Our lives are filled with things we need to do. Until we look a little more closely at those needs."

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:28:31 -0400

“Our lives are filled with things we need to do. Until we look a little more closely at those needs.”

- » letting go of fake needs :mnmlist

Go, go Leo! “All it takes is the willingness to let go.”

"Finally, Computer Engineer Barbie has an appropriate place to sit down!"

Mon, 30 Aug 2010 10:22:21 -0400

“Finally, Computer Engineer Barbie has an appropriate place to sit down!”

- Homebrew Cray-1A | ChrisFenton.com

Computer Engineer Barbie needed a place to sit, that’s why.

"…one big reason why middle-class Californians began thinking more about themselves than posterity..."

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 11:00:50 -0400

“…one big reason why middle-class Californians began thinking more about themselves than posterity starting in the late 1970s: Their real incomes started to flatten. In the thirty years before that – when their parents invested in California’s education system and infrastructure – the median wage tracked productivity gains. The typical family grew so much better off it could afford to be generous. But then the median wage flattened even as productivity gains continued. Public-spiritedness is harder to inspire among people who feel they’re losing ground.”

- More on the intergenerational contract « The Reality-Based Community

And Robert Reich (who wrote Reason, which I highly recommend if you haven’t read it) on why the social contract changed, where I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out the parallels between the change in California’s (and, subsequently, America’s) social contract and the rise of Reaganomics.

Sure, it’s like dragging a horse to water by the balls, but sometimes you need to point out the obvious in 120-point, blinking goddamned fonts.

"This deal held until about thirty years ago, when for a variety of reasons, California voters..."

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 10:56:02 -0400

“

This deal held until about thirty years ago, when for a variety of reasons, California voters realized that while they had done very well from the existing contract, they could do even better by walking away from their obligations and spending what they had inherited on themselves. “My kids are finished with school; why should I pay taxes for someone else’s? Posterity never did anything for me!” An army of fake ‘leaders’ sprang up to pull the moral and fiscal wool over their eyes, and again and again, your parents and their parents lashed out at government (as though there were something else that could replace it) with tax limits, term limits, safe districts, throw-away-the-key imprisonment no matter the cost, smoke-and-mirrors budgeting, and a rule never to use the words taxes and services in the same paragraph.

Now, your infrastructure is falling to pieces under your feet, and as citizens you are responsible for crudities like closing parks, and inhumanities like closing battered women’s shelters. It’s outrageous, inexcusable, that you can’t get into the courses you need, but much worse that Oakland police have stopped taking 911 calls for burglaries and runaway children. If you read what your elected officials say about the state today, you’ll see things like “California can’t afford” this or that basic government function, and that “we need to make hard choices” to shut down one or another public service, or starve it even more (like your university). Can’t afford? The budget deficit that’s paralyzing Sacramento is about $500 per person; add another $500 to get back to a public sector we don’t have to be ashamed of, and our average income is almost forty times that. Of course we can afford a government that actually works: the fact is that your parents have simply chosen not to have it.

”

- A letter to my students « The Reality-Based Community

More ammunition on why I’m so grumpy this morning, politically.

"Malcolm Thomas, the superintendent of the Escambia County school district on Florida’s Gulf Coast,..."

Wed, 25 Aug 2010 10:40:37 -0400

“

Malcolm Thomas, the superintendent of the Escambia County school district on Florida’s Gulf Coast, has put supplies like plastic bags, Kleenex and soap under an “optional” category because “we know that people in our community are hurting,” he said. He also seeks donations from local businesses.

If those efforts don’t bring in enough supplies, it means either his teachers — who start at a salary of $32,500 — usually pay for the supplies themselves, or the district “would probably have to get into cutting personnel if we had to supply absolutely everything,” he said.

[…]
“We don’t expect Wal-Mart cashiers to buy the plastic bags for our groceries, or the mailman to pay for the gas to deliver our mail,” Ms. Cooper said.

”

- Budgets Tight, School Supply Lists Go Beyond Glue Sticks - NYTimes.com

This is getting beyond crazy. This is sad, and it’s the best sign that the Republican “ideals” of lower taxes at the expense of everything else is finally, finally taking its toll where it hurts the most.

What happened to the idea of the social contract, the concept that as a society, it’s the role of those who can afford to provide as much as they can to those who can’t - especially our children and the people whose job it is to teach them to live as adults?

What kind of message does it send, what kind of expectation does it set to my daughters that they’re expected to bring basic supplies to school, beyond the things they need to do their work?

It makes me very, very angry that this new status quo isn’t all over the front page of every news outlet in the country, that parents aren’t outraged, and that someone hasn’t turned to those outraged parents and said, “This is your fault. You put us in this situation when you said, ‘We won’t pay an extra 1% property tax.’”.

This level of American greed disgusts me.

"The Caddy is – at the risk of being political incorrectness – a man’s car. Hefty steering, locking..."

Tue, 10 Aug 2010 13:43:56 -0400

“

The Caddy is – at the risk of being political incorrectness – a man’s car. Hefty steering, locking rear diff, glowering aesthetics. This car isn’t going to appeal to everybody. Only a few good men.

As I said, these are the facts of the case and they are not in dispute.

”

- Cadillac’s CTS-V Coupe Makes German Rivals Look Like Taxis - Driver’s Seat - WSJ

The CTS sedan has been on my short list of lust-worthy cars for a number of years. And the coupe just sounds incredibly - dare I say it? - sexy.

Never-Before-Seen Twin Peaks Photos Go Behind the Scenes of...

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 16:27:51 -0400

Never-Before-Seen Twin Peaks Photos Go Behind the Scenes of Surreal Show | Underwire | Wired.com

All these years later, and I still think Sherilyn Fenn as Audrey is one of the most beautiful women, ever.

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Mon, 05 Jul 2010 17:24:00 -0400

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 17:08:49 -0400

Supernova Fireworks

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 17:08:49 -0400

Supernova Fireworks

Almost like looking at some alien spores, but just a flower.

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 01:35:00 -0400

Almost like looking at some alien spores, but just a flower.

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Sun, 27 Jun 2010 01:35:00 -0400

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Sun, 27 Jun 2010 01:35:00 -0400