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Musings from Brian J. Noggle
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Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Thanks Has anyone ever noticed that status.blogger.com tends to have a post describing a problem after they've fixed the problem? Thought for the Day Sometimes you shoot grainy, out-of-focus photos of the sasquatch, and sometimes the sasquatch shoots grainy, out-of-focus photos of you, in which case it's probably not a true sasquatch. Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Sanity Returning to Wisconsin Government? Lessons in tax and spend?: MATC's levy plan could bolster case for elected board:
Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin) and Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) had planned to spend a little free time building support for their proposal to require elections for all boards that have the authority to tax. The proposal went virtually nowhere in the last legislative session, but they figure tax increases proposed by MATC and the other technical colleges in the state will bring some momentum. And it will help that those increases will appear on tax bills mailed in December, just a month before the next session. "I believe it's best to have representation that's accountable, and that means being elected and having people know who's making the decision; and to give people the opportunity to make changes," Darling said. "People have to be accountable for spending and taxing." Stop: Bubble Time The latest sign that a bubblegeddon might be upon our markets: The Segway IPO:
Monday, May 29, 2006
Preach It, Sister Oracle security sister preaches:
Tax Shell Game in Milwaukee The Milwaukee County Transit System has budget problems, as described in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel story Transit system at 'critical point': Transit funding options skidding into pressures on tax dollars. Setting the dire scene:
Every weekday, more than 150,000 times a day, someone boards a Milwaukee County Transit System bus to reach a job, a class, a store, a doctor or a home. And every year, for six years straight, the Milwaukee County Board has cut bus service, raised fares or both. With one of every 12 county residents riding a bus to work or school, transit supporters believe the county must find a new route to keep the buses and the local economy driving forward. So I'm not arguing that cuts wouldn't hurt or adversely affect a number of people. But the leaders and their cheerleaders in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel face finitude with great pluck, as they perhaps would prefer to merely posit infinity and act accordingly. When referring to tax money, of course:
Instead of making hard decisions, the mass transit special interest has thoughts on levying automobile fees, sales taxes, and all sorts of other creative mechanisms for increasing the overall tax burden on the people upon whom it serves itself. By creating various and sundry unelected Authorities and Boards and Committees with their own focuses and their own ability to request or raise taxes, our elected officials get to abstract and insulate themselves from these actions and can avoid making the hard choices that balance the needs of some of the population. Instead, they can churn new programs, boards, and authorities to do the hard work for them, without direct accountability to the voters, and every time some special governmental interest, they'll have a new, creative revenue source and the taxpayer to tap out. Sunday, May 28, 2006
Nugent 2012 One more reason to vote Nugent for president in 2012: he scares the lesser Brits. Although somehow, my choice of post titles and election years belies a certain dismay with the Republican Party's prospects in 2008. A McGehee Saturday Night Kevin McGehee: Karaoke Superstar! ![]() No one does a better version of Dido's "White Flag". He sings it with such emotion that one thinks that perhaps he's experienced profound loss, such as the lack of a recent Instalanche to bolster his traffic numbers. Unlike some of us. Your Column Says No, But Your Column Inches Say Yes A "feud" exists between former St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Ozzie Smith and Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa stemming from the latter's platooning of the hall-of-famer and St. Louis icon with Royce Clayton in 1996. Starting last week, the "feud" has flared again as Smith let the world know he was happy with the decision, and LaRussa said he was. Here's baseball writer Dan O'Neill in a column entitled 10 years later, it's time for Ozzie to get over it:
But then he didn't move on. He had to pick at the scab one more time with comments about management. A guy who has been paid $2 million by the Cardinals for "personal services" over the past 10 years can't find it in himself to embrace that same organization as long as La Russa is around. That is almost as petty as it is absurd.
(Full disclosure: The author booed when Royce Clayton appeared onscreen in the film The Rookie.) Saturday, May 27, 2006
Just Superstitious Enough I don't think owning a car branded Kia is good luck. I also wouldn't own a car called Doa. I just think that's asking for an amped up tanker truck driver to try to take the Poplar Street exit at 45 miles per hour some morning, tumbling gently down to a car named deathtrap. Friday, May 26, 2006
Doomsday Averted, Again Last of radioactive waste passing through area:
Better luck next time, environmental doommongers. The Dreaded Tentacles of Convenient Health Care Judge tosses out zoning that blocked Aurora hospital:
In response to the ruling, Aurora - the largest and, critics contend, most expensive health care system in southeastern Wisconsin - immediately moved to extend its reach into affluent western Waukesha County. Cptlism fthagn. Convenient Technicalities Ballot proposals rejected by Carnahan:
Carnahan tossed out proposed state constitutional amendments to limit the use of eminent domain and to restrict state spending. She cited technical problems with the petitions, each signed by about 200,000 registered voters, and an inaccurate financial summary attached to the eminent domain petitions.
Thursday, May 25, 2006
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Red Cross warns blood donors of possible ID thefts in Midwest:
The former worker had access to 8,000 blood donors in a database she used in her job, all of whom were notified by mail of possible identity theft problems on March 17, according to the agency. But after the original warning letters went out, the Red Cross decided to expand the identity theft warnings to all 1 million donors in the Missouri-Illinois region because of concerns that she may have accidentally accessed other records in the larger group. Remember, just say no to SSN, boys and girls. Rove's Gift To His Beloved Condi Is there nothing this cabal cannot do?
Rice was rooting for fellow Birmingham native Taylor Hicks and will soon send him a congratulatory letter, says a State Department official. Book Report: Biblioholism: The Literary Addiction by Tom Raabe (1991) I paid $4.50 for a used copy of this book from Hooked on Books when I went on my books-on-books binge (more details here). Of the other books, this is the one I liked least. In the introduction, the author mentions that the book stems from a humorous essay. Perhaps the author should have left well enough alone. I bet this was a humorous essay. As a full-length book, though, it's wanting. The book defines biblioholism too broadly for my test and paints the accumulation of books as trying to just have books or to build a library to look smart. Maybe it's a gag. Maybe it's too close for comfort to me, so I cannot enjoy mirth that ensues as the author lists various and sundry obsessive and compulsive behaviors associated with liking books. I'm not sorry I read the book, but I am sorry I paid $4.50 for it. Since you don't trust a word I say anyway, feel free to buy the revised edition noted below for almost $6.00. Victory for British Police: One Fewer Armed Klingon Star Trek blade seized:
The terrifying Batleth weapon is identical to one wielded by Klingon aliens in the Star Trek sci-fi films. Officers seized the three-handled sword — which has huge pointed blades at either end — at a home in Gloucester. Eminent Domain, One Room at a Time You know that extra room in your house? The city of Chesterfield, Missouri, has taken control of it, or at least who can room in it: Council approves ban on renters in houses:
City officials – and some residents - have insisted the practice can lead to excessive crowding, parking difficulties, more transients, and other neighborhood nuisances. Other residents, who spoke to the City Council on May 15, protested that renting rooms can be a valuable aid to young students and elderly homeowners. In a shocking turn of events, the prosecutors are eager to begin:
Tim Engelmeyer, the city's prosecuting attorney, favored the bill and recently told city officials in an E-mail that the law would "protect the integrity of our neighborhoods." Other than the erosion and generation parts to the benefit of a government, I wholeheartedly support bending the dangerous individual to the will of the community. Dan O'Neill: Disciple of Fark? Fark.com, Tuesday, May 23, 2006, 5:04 pm: Dan O'Neill, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Thursday, May 25, 2006:
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
My Other Hockey Team Is A Mercedes Congratulations to the Milwaukee Admirals (of the American Hockey League) for sweeping the Grand Rapid Griffins and advancing to the Calder Cup playoffs. Great shot, kids. Don't get cocky. More Hoopty Than The World Michelle Catalano, formerly of A Small Victory, is blogging about big 1970s cars and punk music at Faster Than The World. Update your bookmarks and buy misspelled domain names as appropriate. Book Report: Baby in the Icebox and Other Short Fiction by James M. Cain (1981) I bought this book for $1.00 at the Greater St. Louis Book Fair because, as some of you know, I'll soon need to know when it's appropriate to place your baby in the icebox. After all, my beautiful wife is reading a number of parenting books; why shouldn't I pitch in? Imagine my feigned surprise when I discovered that this book was not actual book about child care, but rather a collection of short pieces by the author of The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity! As its title indicates, this book collects a number of short pieces from Cain, including a number of the bucolic "dialogs" he wrote in his early career as well as some of the grittier crime fiction he wrote for some serious money. I enjoyed the book. The early pieces reminded me of Franz Kafka in that they're more slice-of-lifeish than anything earth-shattering, as though they were written as fictional smalltalk than I'm accustomed. Still I appreciated their language more than Kafka's. The crime fiction portions were more pedestrian pulp, but that's what I handed over the dollar for. Enjoyable, and slightly unrealistic crimes, but set in the thirties and fourties, so they provide small glimpses into the past as well as into lurid crimes. And in case it ever comes up, the time to put a baby in the icebox is if your husband has unleashed a hungry tiger into your house to kill you and you're holding the tiger off with a flaming brand which will inadvertently set fire to the house. As soon as I finish this review, I'm going to scan the indexes of some of Heather's parenting books to see if this holds as true in the 21st century as it did in the 1930s. Milwaukee MATC Party Time to dump some textbooks into the Milwaukee River, what with unelected representatives levying their own taxes:
After breathing a sigh of relief that the Legislature had failed to pass constitutional tax and spending limits earlier this month, the board backed a budget that would increase spending about 6.3%, based on current projections. The $309 million MATC has budgeted for 2006-'07 represents a 32.4% increase from its spending at the start of the decade and tops the rate of inflation for that period by roughly 14 percentage points. Over at Boots and Sabers, Owen thinks it's wonderful. He's being sarcastic. New Market For Venezuelan F-16s? If Greeks and Turks are going to play chicken:
The two planes are believed to have rammed each other, in full view of a passing commercial jetliner. The Turkish pilot, Halil Ozdemir, was rescued by a merchant ship after ejecting, but last night emergency services were still searching for the downed pilot of the Greek F-16 jet. Come on, people, think outside the box. We can get this deal done. (Link seen on Outside the Beltway.) Sign That Kid to an NBA Contract This kid has skills:
Bonus flashback: My 1997 riff on Sprewell: The Cynic Express(d) 1.11: Barbarians at the Gates. (Link seen on Wizbang!) Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Always Bet on Black(five) Who are you going to believe, the Beer Advocate when it lists Top 50 Places to Have a Beer in America or Blackfive, who can tell you good drinking cities all across the country? Didn't your parents ever tell you to listen to Rangers? Even An Unset VCR Is Right Twice a Day In Illinois, Rod Blagojevich wants to privatize the lottery:
His proposal includes $1.5 billion for school construction, performance pay for teachers and the consolidation of school districts. Sorry, I guess getting the government to give up one of the things it's seized from the syndicates is a start toward a libertarian paradise. But that it comes from Illinois, and Blagojevich, irkles me. In Overland, They Still Practice Recount By Combat Overland mayor survives recount Unfortunately, the challenger suffered from a fatal naginata wound from the Once and Future Mayor, all hail! Monday, May 22, 2006
Big Fonts Please FTC sees no illegal gas price manipulationBecause you're not going to hear that particular rest in the grand anti-free market symphony conducted by our revered leaders in the media and legislatures.Slow Reader Mooching Geez, gentle reader, I know it's been a while since I've reviewed a book for you to ignore. To make sure you have plenty of book reviews for you to pass over completely, check out Ace's review of The da Vinci Code. And since I said it, I must link to the Amazon page for it. In case you accidentally click through and buy it so I can make another eight cents. In Some Cultures, It's a Gift From The Gods Piece of plane nearly lands on 9-year-old I mean, come on, at the very least, it's free scrap metal. You can do so many things with scrap metal, not the least of which is trade. Nowhere To Go But Up Baby placed in trash bin is improving You know, if you're dumped in the trash as a newborn, I'd say that you have nowhere to go in life but up. Sunday, May 21, 2006
Short Story: "The Brooch" I was walking down Commonwealth towards Berkeley with a spring in my step. I was wearing my nice clothes, the slacks with no holes in them, and a white shirt with a string tie, and my hair was combed. I had things to do. The day after tomorrow was Megan's birthday, and I had seventeen dollars in my pocket. The weeks of working at Mr. Roy's grocery store had paid off, and I knew just what I was going to get Megan. When I had been walking her home last Wednesday, we had walked past the jewelry shop in the Park Square Building. She stopped to look inside, like all girls do. She asked me what kind of ring I was going to get her when we got married. I didn't know, and I don't even know if we're going to get married. But she likes to think so. After she looked at the rings in the bottom of the window, she looked up at another glass case, and ooohed at a brooch. I didn't think it was anything special, but I'm a guy. It was gold and silver, and there was a big M in the middle. It was cursive writing and fancy, and Megan liked it a lot. I wondered how much she would like it when she saw it in a box in her hands the day after tomorrow. "Hey Kevin," Sid Leary called. He was sitting on his front porch with his brother Ronald and the rest of the Dunston Boys. "Where've you been the last month? We haven't seen you around." "I've been busy," I said without stopping. I didn't want to stop. Sid might find out I have money, and if he did, it'd probably get spent on pool or whiskey, neither of which would do Megan any good the day after tomorrow. Sid called out after me as I walked past, and as I turned the corner he shouted again. I hoped he wouldn't be too mad at me, but I had things to do. I imagined how Megan would look opening the box, how the brooch would look on her favorite red sweater, how her friends in school would like it, too. Officer Mulready was out walking his beat along Berkeley, his hands behind his back. He looked me over, but I wasn't doing anything wrong today, so I looked back at him. "Well, Mr. Murphy, out and about this afternoon?" "Yes sir," I replied. He stopped in front of me, and I had to stop, too. "Where you going?" "I'm going to my girlfriend's house, sir," I said. It was just habit not to tell the truth to him. "Isn't she in school?" "Yes, sir, but I'm going to wait for her." He cast a disbelieving eye over me, but nodded and continued on his way. He turned the corner and I could hear faint notes on the wind as he started to whistle. It ended abruptly, and I heard his booming voice questioning some other innocent person. And then I was at the Park Square Building, outside the jewelry store. I fingered the rolled money in my pocket and went in. A bell jingled and a man appeared from another room. "May I help you?" he asked. It was warmer inside and it smelled nice. There were glass cases with all kinds of necklaces and things, but I looked at the case in the window. I could see the back of the brooch. I could very plainly see the little white sticker with the number 21.00 written on it. I felt my stomach drop and my throat got tight. "I, ah, want to see something in that case," I said. "Come around," he said, waving his hand around the display in front of it. He pulled a big ring of keys from his pocket and unlocked the display. Then the bell over the door jingled, and Sid Leary and the Dunston Boys came in. "Look at that," Sid said, pointing at one of the rings in another case. The jeweller stepped around the glass case. "Can I help you boys?" he asked coldly. The case was open, and the brooch was hanging on velvet. I snuck a glance at the jeweller. He was watching the Dunston Boys and paying no attention to me. I could just reach in and take it. It was just like the sham we would pull in Wheeler's drug store. One guy would go in and look around and then the rest would be rowdy and while old man Wheeler was throwing them out, the first guy would be loading his pockets. He'd then buy something cheap and split. It was usually good for a few packs of cigarettes and gum. It was my turn to be the pigeon. Megan wouldn't like something that was stolen. Some of the girls didn't care, but Megan wouldn't wear it if she knew it was stolen. She'd probably get mad at me too. "If you're not buying anything, you should go somewhere else," the jeweller said, and I thought he was talking to me. I turned and he was pushing the last of the Dunston Boys out the door. Reggie appeared in the window and made faces at the jeweller, but then Sid called and Reggie disappeared from sight. "Now what was it that you were looking at?" the jeweller asked after brushing his hands together. "Well, sir, this brooch," I said softly. "The lacework is silver. The letter is inlaid with gold. It'd make a fine gift," he said. "It costs twenty-one dollars?" I asked. "Yes, son, it does. It is a good deal for the piece. It was hand-worked, you know. Imported from Peru." "I only have seventeen dollars. Could I work here for you for the rest?" "For your mother?" "My girlfriend. It's her birthday tomorrow. She really likes this brooch." He looked at me for a moment, probably to see if I was lying. "Tomorrow's her birthday?" "Yes sir." "How old will she be?" "Seventeen, sir." "I tell you what. Seventeen dollars for seventeen years sounds about right to me." I breathed again. "Thank you, sir," I said. He took the brooch from the velvet and punched numbers in the cash register. It chinged and the number seventeen appeared in the windows on the top. I pulled out my two five dollar bills and seven ones. He put the brooch in a little white box and gave it to me. "The other condition is if you marry this girl, you have to buy the ring here." He smiled. "Would you like a receipt?" "No, thank you, sir," I said, and I took the box in both hands and left. Megan was going to be so happy. I opened the box as I walked. The gold and silver didn't look as good against the cotton as they had against the black velvet. Megan was going to love it. Sid and the Dunston boys were standing on the corner of Commonwealth waiting for me. "What'd you get, Kevin?" Sid asked, uncrossing his arms and standing up from the lamp post he had been leaning on. "Nothing." I walked wide around the group. "Hey," Sid said, grabbing my right arm and half turning me. "What's in the box?" "Buzz off, Sid," I said, shaking my arm out of his hands. I hurried up, and the Dunston boys stood, staring at me from the corner. Sid called my name again, but I ignored it. I went home and spent most of the night looking at the brooch and thinking of Megan. Megan smiled when I held the box out. "You remembered," she said with fake surprise. She opened the top and gasped. "Oh, Kevin," she said softly. Her green eyes looked at me. I thought she was going to cry. "It's beautiful," she whispered. "Do you like it?" I asked. "I love it." She stopped. "Can you put it on me?" I stopped. "Sure," I said, swallowing. I put her books down on the sidewalk and took the brooch. I unfastened it and tried to hide my trembling hands. I put it on the right side, right over her heart. I didn't stick her, either. "Wait till Judy sees this," she said after we started walking again. "Thank you, Kevin," she said when we got to the fence around her high school. She kissed me lightly and went in. I watched her walk proudly into the building. Halfway up the steps, her friends Judy and Sandy met her. She gestured at the brooch and pointed at me. They smiled and looked wistfully at me. I felt good. I got home from Mr. Roy's store at eight thirty. My father and mother were screaming at each other in their bedroom. My little sister was in the living room and the radio was turned up to try and cover their disagreement. She ignored me as I came in, and I went up to my bedroom to change clothes. I got my tie off and the top button on my shirt open when Catherine called me from the living room. Megan was pacing on the front porch. I closed the door behind me. "Hi," I said. She turned, eyes blazing. "Don't 'hi' me, Kevin," she said. She was still wearing the red sweater, but the brooch wasn't on it. "What's wrong?" "Where did you get this brooch?" She stuck it in front of me like it was a cross and I was a vampire. "I bought it at Taylor's Jewelry Shop. It's the one we pass going to your house." "Did you buy it, Kevin? Or did you steal it?" "I bought it." "Sid Leary told Sandy that he helped you steal it for me. That they made a distraction and you stole it while the jeweller was throwing them out." "That's not true," I said. "I...." "Tell me they weren't in there with you, Kevin. Tell me you were at the jewelry store alone." They were there, though, and I couldn't lie to Megan. "They were, but...." "Kevin! I thought you were done with the Dunston Boys. I really did. I thought I meant more to you then those hoodlums. If I don't, then you can take your stupid brooch and find another girl." I didn't want another girl, it wasn't like that at all, I did buy the brooch, but none of these words came out. She looked at me for a moment as I stood there with my mouth half open. She then threw the brooch onto the porch and ran down the steps and into the night. The big cursive M glared at me. I picked it up, and wondered what I'd do now. I went inside, drank a couple glasses of water, and went into my bedroom. Girls are crazy anyway, I thought. Another Helpful Hint From Industry Whereas the Chicago Tribune quotes a helpful, neutral expert (registration required) who suggests improvements for workplace productivity:
(Link seen on this little blog out of Tennessee run by an obscure academic. Click through! He could use 1/10th of my traffic.) Saturday, May 20, 2006
Sad Testament So, how many of the RateBeer.com's Worst 50 Beers have you had? My total:
Retaliatory Strike Oh, yeah? McGehee's right. His new self-portrait does make him look like a Klingon: ![]() Friday, May 19, 2006
You Can Download Anything Ginned-up story of the day: Using Internet for drug deals is not unusual, authorities say:
Authorities indicate that with a broad enough band, you can download drugs right into your computer:
Thursday, May 18, 2006
You Couldn't Find a Better Union in a Fark Photoshop Contest Pop-Tarts Presents American Idols Live! Tour 2006. Someone out there in marketingland has a subversive sense of humor. Recursive Logic Error Looks like everyone's running with this story today: Study finds we're human-chimp hybrid. Revel in the logic, friends. It's GNUs Not Unix all over again. We, humans, are a cross between humans and chimps. The humans that they crossed with the chimps were a cross between humans and chimps. Which in turn must have been human and chimp hybrids. Sloppy headlines reveal sloppy thinking. And we get a lot of that in the papers today, ainna? Wednesday, May 17, 2006
That's How You Get Them To Fit Into The Vase Some creative pruning of firearms:
Boeing CEO Doesn't Wear Horsehair Shirt, Self-Flagellate to Post-Dispatch Reporter's Satisfaction The CEO of Boeing gives a speech at Saint Louis University, sponsored by the Boeing Institute of International Business at SLU's John Cook Business School. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports Boeing chief skips mention of scandal in speech:
However, in his speech on Tuesday, McNerney steered clear of a recent development in Boeing's history: a $615 million settlement with the Justice Department that allows Boeing to avoid admitting wrongdoing and criminal prosecution on corruption charges.
Meanwhile, we at MfBJN note that McLaughlin didn't bother to mention the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's declining circulation or job cuts in this article. We have to wonder why not? St. Louis Post-Dispatch Fails Compare-and-Contrast Exam The St. Louis Post-Dispatch today makes equivalent two statements from two very different men (Guards on border: Bistate leaders splitting on plan). Missouri Governor Matt Blunt:
"Missouri's National Guard personnel have answered the call of our federal government many times in the past and were among the first in the nation to help the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast last year. It is a high honor for me to be associated with such a committed group of patriots," he said.
He said Bush had already left National Guard units underequipped and stretched too thin, and he expressed concern that the Guard would be weakened further if it were now asked to police the borders, said his deputy press secretary, Abby Ottenhoff. States rely on the National Guard to respond to disasters at home. The governor called for more answers from Bush about how he plans to protect states if Guard units are diverted to the nation's borders. Matt Blunt:
Governor Blunt was born November 20, 1970 in Springfield, Missouri. He attended public schools in Strafford, and graduated from Jefferson City High School prior to entering the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Prior to his election as governor, Matt Blunt served as an active duty Naval Officer, as a member of the Missouri General Assembly (District 139) and as Missouri’s 37th Secretary of State. Governor Blunt graduated from the Naval Academy in May 1993 with a bachelor of science degree in history. He went on to serve as an Engineering Officer aboard the USS JACK WILLIAMS (FFG-24) and as the Navigator and Administrative Officer on the USS PETERSON (DD-969). Governor Blunt’s active duty service included participation in Operation Support Democracy, involving the United Nations blockade of Haiti, missions to interdict drug traffic off the South American coast, and on duties involved in the interdiction of Cuban migrants in 1994. During his Naval career, Governor Blunt received numerous commendations, including four Navy and Marine Corps Achievement medals. Governor Blunt is the only statewide official in Missouri history called to active military duty in wartime, serving for six months in Operation Enduring Freedom, America’s response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. He is currently serving as a Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Reserves.
In 1996, he was elected to represent Illinois' 5th District in the U.S. House of Representatives. While a congressman, he secured funding for after-school tutoring programs and distinguished himself as an advocate for education. He was also a leader in the fight to establish a Patients' Bill of Rights, to assure prompt access to mammograms, and to require higher safety and care standards at nursing homes. But I'm not a real journalist, so I'm missing the beauty of the direct opposition of their viewpoints and how they build drama and conflict into something that's much of a story with which to begin. Let It Be Known Whereas Musings from Brian J. Noggle is sort of grateful for the traffic represented in its semi-dominant position as seventeenth in the Google search for where to buy heroin in oakland ca, we on the staff prefer to think our law enforcement officials have more competence than to simply monkey-type searches in the search engines as part of a complete investigation.Thank you, that is all. Book Report: Sharky's Machine by William Diehl (1978) Continuing what only appears to be 70s Week here in the MfBJN book review department: I bought this book at the Kirkwood Book Fair for $2.00 because I recognized the name from the 1981 Burt Reynolds movie and thought that, since it was only $2.00 for a stated second printing, it might be worth something Of course, since I seem to be falling into collecting books that are the sources of movies (more to come from the Kirkwood Book Fair where I fell), I guess it is worth that to me, even though I'm not making a killing on these books. Perhaps it's just my way of reading the pop culture that everyone talked about some years ago. At any rate, this book depicts a narc cop (Sharky) who gets put on vice detail when one of his narc stakeouts takes a deadly turn. Once in vice, he gets a case to run, complete with supporting personnel (the "machine" of the title). A simple investigation into a prostitution/blackmail stakeout leads to a presidential candidate looking to unseat President Ford bankrolled by stolen World War II gold. The book starts out Ludlumesque, but about 300 pages into its 370 page length, the book goes Hollywood. You can almost hear the pens of the Hollywood people signing the option while Diehl was still writing. Nevertheless, the book represents some interesting, accessibly 70s pseudo-pulp. The book relies on a third person limited omniscient narrator, but cuts back and forth betwene characters and even begins with the 1944 theft of gold to engage the middle-aged reader of its day. Equal parts MacLean, Ludlum, and 70s film detective fiction, this book satisfied me. For a couple bucks, who could go wrong? Of course, you cannot expect to get a stated Second Printing for a couple bucks like I did, gentle reader. You should expect to pay $30 or $150 or something so as to inflate my perceived value of my own collection. If you're not buying the stuff off of Amazon courtesy the handy links below, it's the least you could do. Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Pancho Villa 2006 So the plan is to put 6,000 of our military troops on the border in advisory sorts of roles. Am I the only one who looks at this and sees the possibility for an escalation of sorts? Because it's one thing for those reputed Mexican Army incursions to barnstorm across the border and pop off a few rounds at U.S. Border control officials, but it will be another thing entirely to have an exchange with the United States military. As a sometime fiction writer, I can see how easily one or more of these sorts of incidents would lead to a hot pursuit into Mexican territory, and suddenly we have a whole new another Mexican Expedition underway. It's easy to forget, with our current public education-enforced historical myopia, just how ultimately unpeaceful our relationship has been with Mexico. Update: Okay, so I'm not the first to remember Pancho Villa. Monday, May 15, 2006
Headline of the Day Charity freeze money collected from raffle sales To someone at the Post-Dispatch, no doubt charity is the plural of the original Latin charitum. And if you click through the link to the story, note that it deals with one of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's current crusade stories. On any given day in the last week or so, you can find the front page of stltoday.com banging on the drums in its current outrage kit:
Nuance Border troops would be temporary, US tells Mexico Because they'll only be on the border before the invasion. Sunday, May 14, 2006
Missing the Bigger Scandal CNN tries to gin up the old outrage that Report: Mentally ill troops forced into combat, wherein only troops who aren't down in the dumps go off to war. No, CNN, you're missing the bigger scandal: The American military is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by sending those troops off to war without their emotional needs dogs. Saturday, May 13, 2006
Book Report: His Affair by Jo Fleming (1976) I bought this book at the Belleville Book Fair last weekend for a couple pennies because frankly I needed something to fill the $2.00 bag I'd already bought. Besides, it sounded interesting. The cover freatures the title in a very seventies script and offers this teaser: The powerful true story of one woman's confrontation with every woman's nightmare. Granted, that was 30 years ago, and some women have different nightmares by now, but a spouse's affair remains a nightmare for some subset of the population. The first section is entitled Ending, the second Midway: The Second Year, and the third Beginning. So the book right away carries with it the progression of some sort of self-help mental health journey. Ending does capture the pseudonymbous author's discovery of her husband's affair as they return from a trip. His mistress just cannot help herself and writes him a letter delivered to the hotel, and the husband proceeds to read it on the plane in front of his wife. The woman then has to question their marriage, their life together, and everything she's known for 25 years. I thought perhaps the book would serve, if nothing else, as a fable of how marriages crumble under time and hopefully could serve as a reminder to not let the dwindling communication and elusive intimacy affect your marriage. However, somewhere towards the end of the ending, it became clear that Jo Fleming was going to overcome the affair by becoming some sort of whackerdoodle post-Sexual Revolution open marriage proponent, and that at the climax of the book, she would overcome her Victorian upbringing and have an affair of her own as she went beyond fidelity. Ergo, the book develops a series of diary entries chronicling her growth with her husband into some 1970s era Greatest Generation Geriatric emotional swingers. It's rife with dream recreations and interpretations, dialogues between her and her husband, her and her therapist, her and her husband's therapist, and her and herself. The writing's somewhat adolescent and repetitive, easily skimmable--a quality I learned to appreciate by the end of the second year. Essentially, it's a twisted rendition of The Total Woman; to build a better, more loving marriage, instead of working inside that marriage, this book advocates going outside the marriage to fulfill your emotional and sexual needs. Now, while that might play on Manhattan, where the narrator of this book resides among the so-cosmopolitan set, here in the middle of the country, that sort of thing sometimes gets a person dead. Oddly enough, even though it's purportedly a true story by a diarist who wants to be a writer, I thought the book might be a clumsy novel. I mean, most spouses don't frequently sit down and share weepy moments while exalting in their spiritual growth and moral nihilism immediately before encouraging each other to keep growing, where "growing" is a euphemism for going all the way with the handsome fellow in the office. Therefore, I felt perhaps someone had packaged up a rough draft of How To Save Your Own Life without Erica Jong's Jongness, or whatever made that particular novel worth its weight in wood pulp. Perhaps I'm being unduly harsh on this book. Perhaps I'm reeling from the offense at being blindered, as the author says:
So I spent a handful of pennies on it, and I personally wouldn't spend it again on this book, but I did get my money's worth on personal outrage and words for the blog, ainna? Police Seeking Sexual Fetish Look at what can happen when you cannot tell the difference between a compound sentence and a compound predicate:
Friday, May 12, 2006
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Casuality Is Not Just A River In Egypt St. Louis Post-Dispatch, today, exclaims Blue-collar workers are paid well here:
Despite a wide wage gap in most parts of the country, local blue-collar workers barely trailed their more educated white-collar peers in pay last year.
The news isn't surprising. Manufacturing employment has slipped below retailing in selected months in recent years. But last year was the first time it was true year-round. Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Where Will They Put the Plaque? The hospital where I was born is closing:
St. Michael, 2400 W. Villard Ave., is closing its emergency room and inpatient services because the hospital's non-profit corporate parent, Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare, can no longer afford them, John Oliverio, Wheaton Franciscan president and chief executive officer, said Monday.
Book Report: Blowback by Bill Pronzini (1997) This book represents an acquisition from the Belleville Book Fair last weekend, where I got books for an amortized $.09 each ($2.00 a bag, I bought a bag and a half since Heather didn't fill half of her bag, I got to fill that, too, so the 24+ books cost me less than a dime each). It's a book club edition, so the real collectors will make fun of me on the playground, but I'm an accumulator more than a true collector. This book features Pronzini's nameless detective, a middle-aged collector of pulp fiction who is facing his own mortality as he frets during the course of the book about the results of a biopsy on a lesion in his lung. To distract himself, he heeds the call of his old friend Harry who has a tense situation at a remote fishing and hunting camp. A jealous husband, a potentially wandering hot young wife (red haired, natch), and a number of available fellows grind against each other mentally and physically. Nameless and Harry see a van containing a stolen Oriental rug smuggler crash into the lake, but they discover the man was dead before he hit the water. A couple other bodies pile up, and Nameless needs to find out who's doing it and survive the detection. It's a thin book, and obviously a series book, but it's contained fairly well for a single book. That is, we're not lost without background details from the previous books. It's short and serviceable as a piece of genre fiction, a quick read and a solution that's obvious once you realize to whom Pronzini pays homage. Definitely worth a dime. Even if it's only a book club edition. A Very Noggle Corollary
No Wonder Tickets Were So Cheap Let's just say the Cirque de Soleil Moon Frye was too comprehensible and too non-random to be truly French in nature. Also, the tickets were $2.50 or $1.50 with any can of beer for the hungry. I was punkied. Monday, May 08, 2006
Book Report: Everybody's Guide to Book Collecting by Charlie Lovett (1993) I bought this book for $4.50 at Hooked on Books in Springfield at the same time as I bought Warmly Inscribed and Slightly Chipped. I found myself in the books about books section and went nuts. What can I say? I already had a couuple books in hand, and once you crack that vast barrier between having nothing and buying something, you're done for. Unlike the Goldstone books, which are personal narrative essays about collecting, this slender volume is a FAQ. It clocks in at a little more than seventy pages with a couple of appendices and an index. The body of the book is a series of questions about book collecting and answers provided by a book dealer. It delves lightly into why you would collect, how to collect, and what the collector terms mean. So if you're new to collecting or need some refreshing, the book's a nice little pocket book. A For Dummies book from before the time when their yellow bindings dominated the introductory scene. Also, given the age of the book (1993), the book does not include the prevalence of the Internet in this hobby, but its not too out of date in spite of it, because we book collectors still like to visit the second hand shops and book fairs and whatnot. To slip into collector mode, this edition is a nice piece of work. Although a trade paperback published by a small Kansas press, its pages are resume-quality paper. I liked it. Worth $4.50, even in a good to very good first edition? Eh, you can almost do better on the Internet before shipping and handling. Socks Checks In Writing in today's Wall Street Journal, Samuel R. Berger opines upon what the United States should do vis-à-vis Iran and says:
Still, the introduction of the hallowed and revered former something-or-other with in the Pax Clintona does lend itself to an obvious solution to the Iran question. Picture: A world-reknowned figure and statesman travels on a diplomatic mission to Iran to review their plans and blueprints under heavy security. Diplomatic mission succeeds, in that Iran thinks it has bought more time from the west, but when they look back in their files for the blueprints for centrifuges and nuclear devices are mysteriously gone! Nothing Better Than Irreversible Body Modification Except Irreversible Body Modification That Requires Cancer-Causing Light To See A new view for tattoos: Ultraviolet ink conceals body art for day jobs but comes alive under black lights:
Look at them under a black light, though, and the words glow. Then, in an old-English font, her left wrist reads "regret" and her right "nothing." Sunday, May 07, 2006
One Fewer Symptom That Brian's Crazy While driving along Big Bend Boulevard here in Old Trees, Missouri, our new home, I said to Heather, "Hey, it's a half track." Driving down Big Bend Boulevard. A half track. Heather didn't see it, and she didn't know what a half track was, so I had to explain it to her. Fortunately, I could hold up a copy of the Webster-Kirkwood Times from this week and prove to her that my spotting a World War II era military vehicle tooling around town was not a symptom of my insanity. Proving this was not a symptom of mental illness is not the same as proving sanity, I know, but I will take what I can get. Book Report: Bump & Run by Mike Lupica (2000) I liked Full Court Press. I liked Wild Pitch. So of course, I was on the lookout for this, Mike Lupica's football book. A ne'er-do-well son inherits a football team from his father, the prodigal son hopes for some measure of redemption in achieving his father's dream....a trip to the Super Bowl. Other owners and the league, however, aren't sure they want the new blood injecting sense into a gentleman's sport, ownership, and the man must deal with two hostile co-owners--his siblings. I thought I'd outgrown sports books sometime in elementary school. I'm not a sports fanatic, contrary to what my widow says. I don't watch non-sporting events on ESPN, for example. But I like Lupica's books because they're well-written. Engaging and often humorous, I enjoy these books, also engaging and humorous, even though they mostly lack dead bodies, space ships, or swords. I was very glad when Heather spotted this book at the Greater St. Louis Book Fair last week for $3.00. There's my endorsement. I'll buy the books for more than $.33, and I'll read them soon after getting them. Unlike the 40 other books I've bought in the last two weeks at these damn book fairs. Saturday, May 06, 2006
Having Destroyed Earth's Climate, Bush Turns His Sites On The Rest of the Solar System New Storm on Jupiter Hints at Climate Change:
But in the good news within this bad news for environmentalists:
Spurious Assertion of the Day Within a piece about computer security on Macintoshes, Arik Hesseldahl makes the following spurious assertion:
I work in a part Macintosh, part Windows shop, and I have had to research and teach some fairly basic Macintosh procedure, such as editing the hosts files and whatnot. That is, they're normal users who happen to use Macintosh. On the one hand, some of them are more technical and into the glamour of their chosen technology; on the other hand, that technology and the operating system are pretty much idiot proof, so you don't have to learn much about the technology since the GUI doesn't crap out. On the other hand, Windows machines are pretty much a commodity, so the basic user knowledge baseline is much smaller, but anyone with any curiosity into the technology will have to learn to get it working correctly. Additionally, since they're default still for youngsters learning, most extremely savvy people will start on Windows PCs, whether they end up on Linux or OS X or one of the even more compartmentalized niche OSes whose acronyms are only known to cabals of the initiates. Maybe these bring the technology savvy average up enough to account for the monkeys trying to compose The Tempest in Microsoft Works or, heaven forfend, Microsoft Paint. Still, the assertion that Macintosh users tend to know more about technology than your average PC buyer merits an objection, your honor. Perhaps Macintosh users tend to have more hubris about technology than your average PC buyer. Which plays into the hands of those who would threaten the Macintosh users' security with viruses, trojans, and worms (oh, my!). A Boy Named Schmuck The headlines were amusing the first time I saw news about this fellow, but they've lost something personally for me, but maybe you'll still get a kick out of them: Schmuck honored as national coach of year If you were born with a name like Schmuck, you could reasonably expect to be picked upon in school. Which makes this fellow's career choice all the more self-flagellating, as he's a high school sports coach. Your One Stop Shop for Freaky Things, Werd To quote a fellow award-winning blogger, THE REAL HONOR IS BEING NOMINATED, but it's nice to be number one on the Google search for a website that has werd freaky things on it.Thanks, searcher, but do remember to offset the aside with commas and make Web site two words: a Web site that has, werd, freaky things on it. Friday, May 05, 2006
Your Paranoia Shidoshi Knew This Would Happen Keyless entry, OnStar, and so on and so forth. You saw convenience, and I saw it coming:
Have a Nice Day, from Family Direct Services, Inc. An unsolicited greeting from the first company my mortgage broker could sell my name to:
The ECONOMICAL term life insurance can PAY OFF YOUR MORTGAGE should you or your spouse DIE. It provides the SECURITY YOUR FAMILY NEEDS at the PRICE YOU WANT. Wednesday, May 03, 2006
The First Thing To Do When You're In A Hole After blowing $26,000,000 on a software system it won't even use, the executive vice president of the University of Wisconsin system offers a mea culpa. Or the bureaucratic, non mea culpa equivalent:
In the real world, this fellow and/or one or two of his ill-informed cohorts would be out of jobs. But in the rarefied world of the public sector, no doubt a little sheepishness and an expression of desire to dig one's self out of a hole will save him. And maybe even make available another $26,000,000 in budget to spend. MfBJN Joins the Fight Against Obesity To join all the cool non-for-profits and organizations now trying to stake their claim on the public consciousness, public health funding, and class action settlement dollars, Musings from Brian J. Noggle joins the fight against obesity, wherein obesity is any shape to your body that does not come from a starving, distended belly by offering the following appetite suppressant as a public service announcement: Radish shortcake, with extra whipped creamThat'll make you put down the bag of Doritos, eh, chubby?Tuesday, May 02, 2006
It's a Little Early to Celebrate, Edmonton Just because the number 8 Edmonton Oilers eliminated the Detroit Red Wings in the first round of the playoffs is a little early to start stocking up the celebratory fireworks:
On Sunday, they also seized two handguns, a shotgun, 1.4 kg of cocaine, six vials of steroids, four grams of marijuana with a street value of $60, a samurai sword and one bulletproof vest. Words That Do Not Belong In Country Songs, Part V Groovin', as in "When the Sun Goes Down":
we'll be groovin' when the sun goes down we'll be feelin' alright Exception to the Rule: I guess you can talk about groovin' if and only if you're singing about a plunge router, perhaps in a song entitled "If I Could, I Wood" about being briefly lonely when your woman tells you to choose between her and your sweet basement workshop. Monday, May 01, 2006
Elegy Weber and Dolan, RIP:
Weber's new program, The Jay Weber Show, will be heard weekday mornings from 8:30 a.m. until 12 p.m., in the slot now occupied by "Weber & Dolan." Bob Dolan, Weber's partner on News/Talk 1130 WISN for the past seven-and-a-half years, asked for and received permission from the station to withdraw from his on-air duties, in order to spend all of his time managing and performing within Dolan Productions LLC, a television production company that he recently formed. I caught it first in probably 2000. I was toiling away in a dark computer testing lab by myself and spent the days dialing around the Internet, looking for something to listen to. I lit upon WISN as a voice of home and enjoyed Weber and Dolan before Dr. Laura in the mornings. Man, I've listened to them for a long time. I've listened to them with five different employers--DRA, MetaMatrix, Tripos, Jeracor, and infuz. I've listened to them through a series of streaming audio providers and their individual foibles and incompatibilities. I've listened, and laughed, through sundry Packer seasons. Tragic as it sounds, when I worked from home, I would often comment to my wife about what Weber and Dolan had talked about that day as though they were co-workers. But they're breaking up, finally. I guess all good things must pass. Like childhood stars who've passed through cuteness and puberty, I guess these fellows need to expand their repertoire before they're typecast. Okay, I understand. But it saddens me still. I probably won't listen to the Jay Weber Show. Part of the draw of the pair was their counterpoints to each other. Jay could be a bit curt and arrogant, but Bob tempered it with his laid-back nature and old-fashionedness. I wish both the best of luck, but I guess it's iTunes for me in the mornings now. Book Report: Bosstrology by Adèle Lang and Andrew Masterson (2003) I bought this book for $1.00 off of the extreme remainder table at Barnes and Noble in Ladue while engaging in a gift-card-fueled orgy of new book buying at the beginning of the year. $1! For a trade paperback! With this profligate spending, it's a wonder I could buy a new, larger house to contain all of my books. This book, subtitled The Twelve Bastard Bosses of the Zodiac, appears as a sequel of sorts to a previous book entitled How to Spot a Bastard by His Star Sign. It does the normal office humor bit, identifying various poor management types as cardboard personalities and then associating them with a sign of the zodiac. It's a conceit that could have carried a ninety or a hundred page book, tops. However, the schtick goes on twice as long as it needed to, and overall suffers as a result. One of the authors must be British and the other American; the book uses a lot of British turns of phrase (bum, arse, and so on) but a large number of American pop cultural references. Perhaps those were dropped in for this, the first American Edition. It didn't really impact the quality of the material, but it was noticeable. Also, I'd like you to know, I don't share many characteristics with the Pisces bastard boss identified in the book. That doesn't mean I'm not a bastard boss, only that my bastardism is self-determined, free will-like, and not predetermined by the universe. Thank you, that is all. Don't Be Whiny Maybe Google wants to become the next Netscape: New Microsoft Browser Raises Google's Hackles:
Google, which only recently began beefing up its lobbying efforts in Washington, says it expressed concerns about competition in the Web search business in recent talks with the Justice Department and the European Commission, both of which have brought previous antitrust actions against Microsoft. The new browser includes a search box in the upper-right corner that is typically set up to send users to Microsoft's MSN search service. Google contends that this puts Microsoft in a position to unfairly grab Web traffic and advertising dollars from its competitors. Remember the last time some pioneering Internet company turned away from innovation and tried to protect its market share in Washington? Neither, apparently, does Google. Words That Do Not Belong In Country Songs, Part IV Makin' it shake, as in "Boot Scootin' Boogie":
Doin' the boot scootin' boogie Exception to the Rule: It's okay to make it shake so long as you're performing some act of violence upon it, such as grabbing a grizzly by the throat and throttling it vigorously. |
To say Noggle, one first must be able to say the "Nah."
"I will." Heather L. Igert, angelweave.mu.nu "Genuis." Neil Steinberg, Chicago Sun-Times "Some wanker." Kim du Toit, on the Noggle Library. "Brian J. Noggle apparently forgot that the proper design for a tin foil beanie calls for the shiny side out." Robb Allen, Sharp as a Marble. "I'm weeping openly right now. Thanks for hurting my feelings, pinhead." Bob Rybarcyzk, St. Louis Post-Dispatch Instapundit Protein Wisdom Ace of Spades HQ Wizbang! Outside the Beltway Robert B. Parker Dustbury Damn Interesting Michelle Malkin Radley Balko's The Agitator Exultate Justi The McGehee Zone Signifying Nothing The Jawa Report Master of None Dr. Helen The Anchoress Electric Venom Kim Du Toit Belmont Club Little Green Footballs Overtaken by Events Rocket Jones Boots and Sabers Triticale Ann Althouse The American Mind Ravenwood's Universe Asymmetrical Information Boondoggled VodkaPundit Professor Bainbridge Virginia Postrel Ken Jennings Joanne Jacobs Faster Than The World Dilbert Blog Junkyard Blog In DC Journal IMAO Baldilocks Powerline Q and O Hugh Hewitt Buzz Machine Daniel Drezner Roger Simon American Digest Blackfive The Volokh Conspiracy Cold Fury Captain's Quarters Tim Blair Chequer-Board Emperor Misha Just One Minute Blame Bush Inaniloquent Trey Givens OverLawyered Suburban Blight Another Rovian Conspiracy Angelweave Bad Example Rachel Lucas View from the Porch StL Recruiting a big victory Spector's Hockey Fark /. TechDirt F*****d Company CNet News Joel on Software James Lileks Mark Steyn Bob Rybarczyk Richard Roeper Neil Steinberg John Kass Steven Chapman Drudge Report Ananova Slate Reason's Hit and Run Best of the Web Today National Review's The Corner Tech Central Station Fox News CNN Washington Post Washington Times Chicago Tribune Chicago Sun-Times Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel St. Louis Post-Dispatch San Francisco Chronicle New York Post Shepherd Express Riverfront Times New York Observer ScrappleFace Bob from Accounting The Onion Top Five List David Letterman's Top Ten BBSpot U.S. Constitution Declaration of Independence Snopes.Com (Urban Legends) Dictionary.com Internet Movie Database Complete Works of Shakespeare Marvel Directory Blooberry HTML Reference
Visualize World Hegemony
Cog in the Machine
Tao Sharks
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