Today was a day off. Had finished all my standard weekend tasks and related procrastination, and am between video game addictions. Was going to go to the beach, but windchills around zero cancelled that plan. Cleaned bedroom. Moved cedar chest to the TV room, where it won't have anything that lives on top of it, to may actually be functional. Did 3 loads of laundry. Went to IKEA, obtained a 1-door wardrobe of shelves (Danish), a set of unfinished pine shelves, each one with at least one great big knothole, for the utility closet (Russian) and little metal frame with nylon drawers for the bottom of the clothes closet (Chinese). Also 6 water glasses, and in the one off-list adventure, 16 decent wooden coathangers. Spent only 2 1/2 hours and $150 dollars at IKEA, a personal best. Reorganized utility and clothes closet, not to mention the bedside tables. Managed to part with 2 shirts that never fit and which had worn through at the collar. Not only does the closet door close, my initial goal, there is nothing on the floor of the bedroom that isn't either furniture or footwear. The next task, next time a fit of this nature comes over me, will be a purge and reform of the bookshelves. Am going to have to formulate guidelines for what makes a book worth keeping.
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09:27:36 PM,
Monday 27 February 2006
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Number of books uncovered in the bedroom: 56
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(4)
12:00:35 PM,
Monday 27 February 2006
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Never having lived in a major city before, I find the lack of distinction between local news and national news somewhat disorienting. There was a time I would find it somehow life affirming that a local politician could make national headlines. I'm not sure whether I have a point.
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05:12:05 PM,
Wednesday 22 February 2006
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This Dubai company buying the British company that operates in 5 major east coast ports, (not to mention Vancouver, Southampton, Marseille, Sydney, Columbo and Beunos Aires*) is going to be interesting for me, as a way of seperating the politicians and commentators with a shred of integrity left from the opportunists and partisan hacks. TPM is tottering on the brink, trying to use it to attack Bush while staying on the fence on the policy question: Bush is always wrong, and if he isn't wrong, well then he's a hypocrite for straying from his principle of incorrectness. I don't think Frist, Boxer, Schumer and friends are honest anti-arab bigots. I think they're something at least as bad: disingenuous, pandering vote-chasers after the anti-arab vote. In their defense, some may also be ill-informed loudmouths. Some of them appear to think it's the NY Port Authority that's been sold.
*Original Reporting! I went to their website^ and everything.
^I don't link after midnight.
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(2)
12:56:47 AM,
Wednesday 22 February 2006
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What I'm morose about this morning:
David Irving sentenced to 3 years in prison. I have two problems with this. The more important is that locking up bad historians is a power that no state should take upon itself. Orhan Pamuk was tried for insulting Turkey. History is too important for government. If we set aside the underlying truth of the claims, there isn't much to choose between the cases. Both are politically motivated attempts to undermine an opposition movement. The second problem is that this is incredibly counter-productive; it's only going to sell more copies of his books and pad his resume. I don't believe his recent change of heart is sincere, so why would his target audience? I suppose it will stop high-profile holocaust deniers lecturing in Austria, which is a legitimate goal, and were I Austrian I might think that was worth more than my liberal ideals. From my godless perspective, it's like banning a religion, or, if you prefer, shooting Napoleon. Yes, David Irving trades in dangerous nonsense. So does the Pope. We shouldn't lock up the Pope. For one thing, I don't trust any government, democratic or no, to determine dangerous nonsense, dangerous truth, and harmless nonsense. I don't trust myself to do so. For another, I would rather have the dangerous nonsense spoken out loud than whispered. Finally, even the most harmless nonsense can become dangerous if pressed. China would have had less trouble from Falun Gong and it's little spinning abdominal cosmoses, had it left it alone. (cosmos shouldn't need a plural) Government cannot protect people from nonsense? I'm not quite convinced. I believe in consumer protection. I like the FDA. Hm.
The only good that has come out of all this time I've spent thinking about this free speech tangle is that it provided an excuse to buy some Havarti cheese.
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(1)
12:34:18 PM,
Tuesday 21 February 2006
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I lack spine. My plan not to work any Fridays in February has been a complete and utter failure. I'm going to end up working every single one of 'em.
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(1)
11:31:14 AM,
Friday 17 February 2006
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I put my lunch in the microwave just before 1pm. I only just remembered it.
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(2)
05:26:34 PM,
Thursday 16 February 2006
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No, that isn't a new idea either: a chocolate heart.
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(1)
01:10:17 PM,
Wednesday 15 February 2006
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A guide to filters for digital cameras.
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12:46:31 PM,
Wednesday 15 February 2006
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I'm probably going to have to steer clear of blogs for a week or so until this Cheney story dies down if I don't want to get upset about the sheer nastiness that is considered acceptable towards public figures. Assuming that this was intentional crosses some sort of line of taste for me. It isn't even humor, it's dehumanization of the enemy.
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(10)
07:08:16 PM,
Sunday 12 February 2006
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Someone just drove past on one of those horrible 2 stroke off-road quad bike things. Extreme suburban adventures, apparently.
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01:10:57 PM,
Sunday 12 February 2006
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The Photos link on the sidebar now leads to a database of all my pictures that Erika wrote. Suggestions welcome.
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(2)
01:04:14 PM,
Sunday 12 February 2006
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site & script courtesy of Moss
