Musings from Brian J. Noggle: August 2007

Musings from Brian J. Noggle

Friday, August 31, 2007

Book Report: Be Happy! selected by Ann Danner (1972)

This book collects a bunch of quotations and a couple of poems about happiness. Eh. But the best part is the photos ca. 1972 of people in various states of happiness and 1970s dress. I highlighted some of them when I bought the book, but let me share a few others. They always bring a smile to my face, announcing happiness. Or perhaps it's merely a smirk identifying wry superiority; maybe that's the best I've got.

She's feeding the ducks marijuana!

Ah, feeding marijuana to the ducks. Obviously, this is some weird LSD trip; I'd rather have seen an image from about two minutes further into the trip, where the ducks' bills turn into little aligator snouts with six inch teeth and the hippie girl flees screaming from them, only to jump from a bridge into the dark safety of the water below.

I'm not giving you the flower, lady!

"I'm not giving you the flower, lady; I'm trying to sell these weeds I stole out of Mrs. Busby's garden so I can afford to buy a shirt or a bottle of Mogen David."

I've had nightmares like this.

I've had nightmares like this. I am a small child, falling, falling. Instead of hitting the ground, a strange man in a leather vest appears out of nowhere to catch me. It's my father, and this is the genetical line which I perpetrate through my very existence! AHHHHHHHH!

The discosaurs are coming!

No, that's not a fifty yard line or something that would make sense; instead, it's the gutter of the book because an image this astonishing needs to be spread across two pages.

The prophet ran from the mountains and crossed the fields to warn the villagers that the discosaurs were coming. The villiagers thought he was mad. Only four years later, unheeding of the warning, the villiagers bought velvet suits and silk shirts with the top half of the buttons missing.

How the West was almost lost

This is how the West was almost lost. I'd pay extra for a DVD that features these people in a deleted scene which depicts Clint Eastwood on his walking horse coming into the scene, getting told he was harshing their mellow, man, and shooting the man in the leg and freeing the Indian woman to go back to her tribe.

I think I paid a dollar for this book. I mean, the text is meh (which is about what one expects for a book that collects inspirational junk for review; it's a hardcover Ideals magazine without the topical relevance). But the pictures are awesome.

Books mentioned in this review:

- posted by Brian J. @ 10:07 AM 0 comments

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Book Report: Poems of Friendship edited by Gail Harvey (1990)

I read another book in this series, Poems of Flowers, earlier this month. Like that book, I enjoyed the accessibility of these poems. One could read them aloud and follow the images and the syntax and the stanzas to the ultimate point of the poet (unlike some poetry).

This book collects a similar cast of poems about friendship, including work by Wordsworth, Coleridge, Longfellow, and a suspicious number of "author unknown" (read: modern poems not in public domain but for which we didn't want to pay).

The quality of imagery and profundity is uneven, but the cadences and sound of the poems are not; you can sit down or stand and read these aloud and not stumble over the way the words fit together or bluster through enjambment that only seemed to indicate the maximum number of characters that would have fit on one line.

So the book was middlebrow and almost fun. Worth a buck.

Books mentioned in this review:

Poems of Friendship

- posted by Brian J. @ 3:12 PM 0 comments

Book Report: Ariel by Sylvia Plath (1965)

Somewhere in the 20th century, the academics killed poetry. Sylvia Plath served as one of the weapons, although it's not clear she intentionally participated.

That is, poetry used to be accessible to the masses. Good poetry was accessible and profound. You could read a poem and get its point, enjoy its language if applicable, and reflect upon its meaning. Sometimes, if a poem was good, people could memorize them to recite for pleasure. No fooling. I've done it myself. Bad poetry that was accessible and not profound sort of went in one ear and out the other, but many had cadence (iambic pentameter, forced if needed be) and rhymes (forced, if needed be) that sounded good aloud and end-stopped and everything. Good poems, though, that had both that accessibility and brought profundity--a deeper meaning that resonated--along with provocative and evocative imagery, those poems lasted and brought pleasure for hundreds of years of readers.

But somewhere along the line, academics grabbed a hold of poetry and said, "We'll tell you what's good poetry." Perhaps the markets were already drying up for middlebrow poetry consumers. But the academics started liking and promoting poems that were inaccessible and profound, which became the new Good. If they couldn't be profound, they could still be inaccessible. The more inaccessible, the more academics with time on their hands, whole days of life unbroken by actual life except for the accursed office hours where they had to face impertinent and unteachable students of the bourgeoisie, could determine the beauty and meaning of the chaotic clapping of syllables and characters.

Sylivia Plath is slightly better than that, but not much. She's slightly better with imagery than Rod McKuen, but tied for last with him (and much of the Poet race) in cadence and earsound. Her jumpcut imagery, though, really doesn't serve to keep the reader in the moment of the poem and obscures her meaning. Except for the default men suck and I want to die which we can infer from her continued relevance to modern academics and her eventual success in the latter.

This book represented the second book of Plath's poetry I've read; the first was Colossus, which I read in college for no apparent reason (that is, not because it was a class assignment, but instead because I liked to read poetry). So I recognize the relevance and can sometimes get something from a couple lines of her poems, but never a complete poem.

I think I have The Bell Jar still on my to-read shelves. Fortunately, I have plenty on them to keep me occupied for the next decade until I work myself into it.

Books mentioned in this review:

- posted by Brian J. @ 3:05 PM 0 comments

Book Report: All Summer Long by Bob Greene (1993)

At worst, this book is nothing more than a set of Bob Greene's columnesque riffs surrounded by a narrative gimmick and some wish fulfillment (43 year old network correspondent finds true love, sex with 25 year old grad student). As the book begins, that's about the best I hoped for.

The book follows three friends from high school who, after their 25th high school reunion, take the summer off to relive some of their youth. They travel randomly, whimsically across the country. Ben, the network correspondent, lives alone after his divorce and dotes on his 8 year old daughter from a distance. Ronnie married into money and ended up chairman of a large public company by accident. Michael stayed in their small Ohio suburban town and taught school. Their adult life roles cause some friction for them, as do situations they find along the way. But friendship wins out for some reason.

The story moves along with incidents and asides that don't add to a larger movement and don't resolve anything. Ronnie's father goes into the hospital; Michael meets his first high school love and seems in danger of sacrificing his happy home life to it; and Ben finds out his ex-wife is going to remarry. Then they move on to somewhere else. Ronnie picks up a woman who's not his wife and she travels with them a bit. They sleep in the Elvis Suite in Las Vegas. Then they come toward the end of the summer and encounter some life-changing events.

I suppose I wanted to see this book as something more than the "at worst." Perhaps it played to my proclivity toward Bob Greene's work (see review for He Was A Midwestern Boy On His Own from earlier this month). Perhaps it played to my proclivity to undertaking life-altering lifestyle changes in the summer (or in the spring, as it were). But I enjoyed the book slightly more than I thought I would, and the book was maybe slightly better than the worst case.

But it's not a good book, and Greene has been wise to stick to nonfiction since.

So it's worth it if you like Greene's work; you can find a used copy easily at a garage sale or book fair. Take my word for it; I've bought more than one first edition for a buck or two each.

Books mentioned in this review:

- posted by Brian J. @ 2:39 PM 0 comments

Obeying Tax Laws Not Fair, Say Tax Money Spenders

In Wisconsin, the state is going after Wal-Mart for using legal techniques to lower its tax obligations: Wal-Mart owes back taxes, state says: Paying rent to itself cuts millions off retailer's tax bill:

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has avoided millions of dollars in state taxes by paying rent on 87 Wisconsin properties in a way that the state Department of Revenue calls an "abuse and distortion of income."

As a result, state tax auditors say, Wal-Mart owes more than $17.7 million in back corporate income taxes, interest and penalties for 1998, 1999 and 2000. More could be due for later years.

The cause for this? The state is imposing its own standard:

Revenue Department lawyer Mark Zimmer argues that the world's largest retailer is not paying its fair share of taxes that support public schools, local police and fire departments and the highways it uses to transport what it sells in Wisconsin.

Essentially, Wal-Mart is setting up its own entity to own the land that it uses for its stores; Corporate Wal-Mart gets to deduct the rent from its gross income so that its taxable income subject to taxation is less. Then, Landlord Wal-Mart pays Corporate Wal-Mart the profits as dividends, which are taxed less than the same amount as straight income would have been taxed.

Two distinct companies with different ownership wouldn't draw the ire of the tax seekers; that it is, and it's Wal-Mart, makes it look like easy pickings for the state of Wisconsin.

Hopefully, Wal-Mart and its REIT will prevail. A fie upon "creative" unelected officials who think their position gives them license to determine when "legal" isn't "fair" and to use the people's resources to extract more resources from the people.

- posted by Brian J. @ 12:03 PM 0 comments

Perhaps It Just Wasn't A Good Idea

Municipal Wi-Fi - wherein the city pays to have wireless infrastructure installed because the hipsters love it and because city coffers are overflowing and all existing infrastructure is shining and schools are accredited, amen.

But there's trouble in hipsta paradise in:

Houston: EarthLink pays $5 million to delay Houston Wi-Fi buildout:
First of many happy returns, I bet.
San Francisco: S.F. citywide Wi-Fi plan fizzles as provider backs off:
Not economically viable? Dammit, the city will do it anyway!
St. Louis: Light poles create delay in rollout of city's Wi-Fi network:
Hey, where did all those light-up lollipops come from all of a sudden? They weren't there yesterday!

Behind schedule, over budget, and ill-conceived: the headlong rush to municipal wi-fi whose useful shelf life will probably be less than the time taken to roll it out proves that public/private projects built around the "Wouldn't It Be Cool" imperative (see also light rail) combine the worst of both spheres. The only thing they do efficiently is to continue to spend taxpayer money at an ever-increasing rate.

- posted by Brian J. @ 10:06 AM 0 comments

Security of Online Storage and Online Software, Part II

I went on a little rant here about trusting a company and its online business plan as a mechanism for storing your data. As a follow up, we have these two stories:

Don't Trust the Servers: The danger of putting your data at the mercy of a company's servers was made apparent when Microsoft's own WGA servers crashed over the weekend.
The Content in Google Apps Belongs to Google:

Although to be fair to Google, kids these days are to young to remember when a similar clause appeared in the Microsoft Office EULA and caused a similar reaction, albeit one not magnified by the ease with which people discuss it on the Internet.

But both stories do highlight the dangers in trusting things in the Internet cloud with core data or core functionality. And it highlights how the "good enough" standard of quality, when multiplied hundreds of times in the number of core users, will leave a large number of users affected by "minor glitches" that will render their services useless to them. Hopefully, before they're too invested in the online software/data storage vendor.

- posted by Brian J. @ 9:32 AM 1 comments

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Government Could Learn Something From Major League Sports

Since governments are spending so much money building/financing venues for sports teams, shouldn't they at least learn a lesson from the experience? Apparently, the risks of a long-term, high-dollar contract elude our elected "leaders":

A month after the deadly Minneapolis bridge collapse, Missouri lawmakers are poised to approve a massive bridge repair project that could serve as a national roadmap for renovating aging infrastructure.

Missouri plans to quadruple the pace of its bridge repairs by awarding a single, 30-year contract to fix and maintain 802 of its worst bridges.

The sheer scope and duration of the project is so unusual that Missouri lawmakers are meeting in a special session to waive conventional contractor requirements. The House passed the plan overwhelmingly. The Senate is expected to give its final approval this week.

The key to good service is to guarantee a lot of money for a really long time.

- posted by Brian J. @ 9:36 AM 0 comments

So Much Snark From One Story

City leaders pitch local control of Arch grounds:

Mayor Francis Slay and former Sen. John Danforth, hoping to revamp the city's riverfront, want to convince the public and the federal government there is only one way to do it: obtain part of the Arch grounds.

Taking land from the National Park Service would be rare, if not unprecedented. It would require not only an act of Congress, but also broad political and public support.

Because Mayor Francis Slay and the "city" of St. Louis cannot give away land that it does not own to a land developer whose no-risk loan the "city" has co-signed.

Maybe I am being too hard on Mayor Francis Slay and the "city" of St. Louis; perhaps they want that land to solve its Lucas Park problem; after all, if the homeless are sleeping under the Arch, they're only bothering tourists, not voters. Think of it as a sort of non-monetary tax upon visitors to the city; I know municipalities like to stick it to the middle class transients.

- posted by Brian J. @ 9:25 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

From Bad Government to Worse

Ill. governor sues House speaker:

The arguments over a state budget are escalating again, with Governor Rod Blagojevich suing the speaker of the Illinois House.

Blagojevich is angry that Speaker Michael Madigan has defied his proclamations requiring the Legislature to meet in special session.

Illinois. Is there anything there worth emulating?

- posted by Brian J. @ 10:48 AM 2 comments

The Security of Online Storage

Ever since the first Internet boom, people have been excited about the prospect of storing your photos or other files online using things like I-drive. Me, I've never understood why you would trust that third party to keep your stuff safe and available. Never mind that I-drive collapsed in the first boom. The recent decision by Google to end its video thing, including terminating some people's rights to videos they "bought," combined with a Yahoo! decision to close one of its photo sharing sites,where your photos will be lost unless you act promptly, reinforce my notion. I mean, Google and Yahoo! are the big guys in the space. If they're so eager to jettison your data (more likely your access to your data), what of the little guys and companies that come along with the service offering?

Oh, yeah, like I-drive.

Never mind. I am going to continue backing up to 3.5 disks and hoarding old 3.5 disk drives.

- posted by Brian J. @ 10:40 AM 0 comments

ComputerWorld Magazine: Government Should Force Telecommunications Providers to Lose Money

In the article ISPs to rural America: Live with dial-up, writer Robert Mitchell apparently wants the government to force businesses to lose money so that BOBOs who move to rural areas can have fast Internet access. The problem:

Kim Rossey is one of them. Soon after moving to Gilsum, N.H. (population 811), Rossey learned that he couldn't get broadband to support his Web programming business, TooCoolWebs. DSL wasn't available, and the local cable service provider wasn't interested in extending the cabling for its broadband service the three-tenths of a mile required to reach Rossey's house — even if he paid the full $7,000 cost.

Funny, the solution is:

Rural areas need broadband. But deregulation has freed carriers from any real obligation to offer it. The market will never provide universal broadband access without regulation or subsidies, but the U.S. lacks both a coherent policy and the political will to address the issue. Even as the telephony infrastructure itself is absorbed into the Internet, some policy-makers still fail to view broadband as the new critical infrastructure.

The U.S. (government) should compel telecommunication providers to lose money on this install. Or perhaps the government should compel taxpayers to run fiber up to rural homes. Who knows? All that's important is that the policy is coherent, not that it's economically viable.

Next up: Compelling Chinese places to deliver to Web design businesses in the sticks. Because third world countries, particularly China, have plans in place to get Chinese food to rural areas.

- posted by Brian J. @ 10:13 AM 0 comments

Monday, August 27, 2007

Good Book Hunting: August 27, 2007

The annual book sale at the YMCA in Carondolet provides many people with the opportunity to expand their libraries at low cost. Most hardbacks are $1, but many are $.50, and the selection proves just a little short of overwhelming. We didn't get a chance to make it down there this weekend, but fortunately for us, it ran longer than the weekend. Like when we went to the J, today was the last day before the discounts; tomorrow is half price day, and Wednesday is box day, where everything you can fit in a box is a flat rate. Given how I approached this book fair, it's again a good thing I didn't get any less reason to reject books.

Heather spent most of her time in the media room, again, whereas I spent most of my time in the uncooled gymnasium storing the fiction with side trips to the tents holding the nonfiction and the second floor multipurpose room holding the rare books and the humor books. Here's what we got for a total of $42.05.

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I got:

Clash of the Titans and The Black Hole by Alan Dean Foster and Rambo: First Blood Part II by David Morrell because I have a thing for movie tie-in paperbacks.
The Secret Ways by Alistair MacLean; a paperback, but a book that I'd never heard of.
The Executioner: Panic in Philly by Don Pendleton. I've been trying out some of these pulp paperbacks this year but this will be my first in The Executioner series.
Ranting Again by Dennis Miller. I like his rants; the fellow has an ear for speech rhythm and an eye for allusion.
The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy because I don't have it, and I thought this might be an early edition. Further review indicates it's an early Book Club Edition.
Deathtrap by Ira Levin. I saw the film in high school and guessed the plot very early in the film. Let's hope I can make it through the book without envisioning Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve kissing.
Just Wait Till You Have Children Of Your Own by Erma Bombeck and Bill Keane. Now that I have a child of my own, apparently this appealed to me. The humor section was rife with Erma Bombeck. It's been since elementary school that I have read her; I'll have to see if she holds up into the 21st century and my adulthood. No, seriously, my mother was a fan, so I read some of her books The Grass Is Always Greener Over The Sceptic Tank and If Life Is A Bowl Of Cherries, What Am I Doing In The Pits? when I was a young man.
Kilroy Was Here, a collection of World War II humor with an introduction by Charles Kuralt.
Escape by Ethel Vance. Published in September 1939, it tells the story of an actress tried and condemned for treason in Germany who must escape. Published in September 1939. By the time it was out, it was out of date.
The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck. I've already read this book, but it was a handsome copy with a dustjacket. Book club edition, but still.
The Inhuman Condition by Clive Barker; apparently a collection of his horror short stories. It's been over 10 years since I read the first of his Books of Blood, so I think I'm ready for another set.
The Conquest of Mexico by W. H. Prescott. Don't tell Heather, but in addition to Classics Club editions, I might start collecting these Book League of America volumes.
Supership Noël Mostert. Somehow, a novel set on a supertanker just sort of sounded cool.
False Witness by Dorothy Uhnak. Her mysteries seem fairly prevalent at book fairs; perhaps I'll enjoy this book and will have access to a new author (to me), cheap.
Man O'War by William Shatner. Because when James T. Kirk writes a book, I have to buy it. Used.
The Handyman by Penelope Mortimer. Although it's supposed to be some sort of story about an older widow putting her life together and rebuilding her life after she moves to an old home in a small town, with a title like The Handyman, decapitation has to come into play sometime. I mean, dude's got access to power tools, all I am sayin'.
Three Novels by Damon Knight. Because I need some science fiction in my diet.
Black Star Rising by Frederik Pohl. Man Plus washed the Starburst taste out of my memory, so I'll give this author another shot.
The Saxon Chronicle by Jane Ellen Swan. It's purportedly a narrative history, but I bought it because it has the Vantage Press imprint. I don't know that I've ever seen one before. Vantage Press is a vanity press; Ms. Swan paid to have this book published. That's worth it in curiosity value alone.
The Lion and the Throne by Catherine Drinker Bowen. A biography of Sir Edward Coke, the Attorney General of Britain under Queen Elizabeth. This is a fourth printing, which must mean that this book was somewhat popular ca. 1957. This book virtually guarantees I'll be smarter than or at worst tie with any fifth grader if asked "Who was Attorney General of Britain under Queen Elizabeth I?"
Jem by Frederik Pohl. See Black Star Rising above.
Lori by Robert Bloch. I haven't read any book length Bloch; all I've read has been in the Cthulhu mythos short stories. Perhaps this will lead me to seek books out.
The Antagonists by Ernest K. Gann. The huge Swedish startlingly-literate machinist next door when I started college challenged me to read more important work than the paperback police procedurals I bought by the bucketload in late high school and the summer before college (as I previously mentioned); he recommended Gann's Fate Is The Hunter. I only remember the vague outline of that book, but I bought this book to read more Gann. Why not?

So that's, what, another 23 books? You can see that's why my collection of unread books now looks like this:

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I'm going to need another bigger house.

Fortunately, book fair season is winding down.

- posted by Brian J. @ 3:29 PM 7 comments

All That's Missing Is An Apple Logo On Something

The Hipster Olympics:

(Link seen on Instapundit.)

- posted by Brian J. @ 6:53 AM 0 comments

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Is There A Lesson Government Can Learn From This?

A front page article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch outlines how faith-based organizations delivered more aid to Katrina-ravaged regions than FEMA:

The scope and scale of the devastation brought by Katrina, which crashed ashore Aug. 29, 2005, underscored the crucial role religious groups play in emergency response and recovery.

The National Council of Churches estimates that church-sponsored volunteers have produced $600 billion worth of labor for the Gulf Coast. In contrast, the total amount of federal funds spent on Katrina aid as of March was $53 billion.

Lower-overhead operations driven by their own desire to help fellow man rather than their desire to keep their jobs/budget will tend to be more efficient than the government? Hah!

"There were so many things we learned," said John Kim Cook, director of the Department of Homeland Security's Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. "The framework for responding to a disaster is being revised to be more inclusive of faith-based organizations to make sure (the partnership) is improved upon and enhanced for the future."

The government needs to keep its budget and its jobs and to manage the partnership it has with church groups better.

The lessons government teaches itself never include lessening its reach or trimming its tentacles, ainna?

- posted by Brian J. @ 2:02 PM 0 comments

Crap, Sylvester Brown and I Agree

Recently, a couple left a child in a car in the summer heat here in St. Louis and the child died. Because the woman was a pediatrician and the father a researcher at Washington University, I told my beautiful wife and my child's wonderful mother that, they probably wouldn't face charges because they were doctors. Had they been less, they would be going to jail for child something-or-other, the charges society dishes out when it's shocked and appalled how the lower classes treat their kids.

Sylvester Brown of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch expresses the same sentiments.

I think our prosecutors like to come down like a hammer on crimes of negligence without tempering their "justice" (enforcement of laws) with a little mercy because it's easier to up conviction rates on "crimes" that shock society/juries/defense attorneys into seeking plea deals. And it's not so tedious or dangerous for law enforcement to shackle these poor souls than to go out and get people who intentionally harm one another because those who intend harm tend to be better armed and more dangerous.

- posted by Brian J. @ 12:18 PM 1 comments

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Good Book Hunting: August 25, 2007

The Ethical Society of St. Louis had a books, music, and video sale today, and we happened to find it. Hardbacks were $1 each or 3 for $2; paperbacks were $.50 or 5 for $2; cassettes were .50 each or something; CDs were $1 each; and albums were $.25 or 5 for $1. Which explains the carnage that was to occur:

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I got:

The Running Man, the movie tie-in paperback.
How to Take a Trick a Day with Bisquick because I'm interested in learning more about prostitutes and pastries, and Through-the-Years Cookbook because the two were a quarter together.
The Fall by Camus because I have been buying Camus lately, and it has become a compulsion.
St. Louis: A Concise History by William Barnaby Faherty, S.J., and Gateway Guidebook because I live here and might as well learn some trivia about it.
Yo, Millard Fillmore by Will Cleveland and Mark Alvarez because I'd like to bone up on my presidential trivia.
Hoaxes! Dupes, Dodges & Other Dastardly Deceptions by Gordon Stein and Marie J. MacNee because these sorts of compilations serve as good idea sources for essays and the stories I used to tell my officemate when we'd stare out the window.
Be Happy!, a 1972 hardback collection of happy little thoughts simply because the book has pictures like this:

and

Brother, any review of those pictures make me instantly happier. I mean, if my sideburns ever show up in my silhouette, shoot me with a silver bullet.
Ernest Hemingway: A Life Story by Carlos Baker because I think Hemingway's writing is the bomb and I think his biography is riveting; let's see how this guy does with it.
Reagan's America by Garry Willis and Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness by Peggy Noonan because I've suddenly been seized with the urge to read more about those halycon days. I don't think the Noonan book deals with that time period, but.
The Death of Common Sense: How Law is Suffocating America by Philip K. Howard because Walter Olson shouldn't have all the fun.
100 Love Sonnets by Pablo Neruda because I'll soon need to wash the voice of Sylvia Plath out of my head.
The Braille Woods, a chapbook by Ann Townsend, simply because I could. Chapbooks are good as they give small doses of an individual poet.
Dave Barry Does Japan because I'll need to see if he's still as funny as I remember.
Strange But True: Mysterious and Bizarre People by Thomas Slemen because (see Hoaxes! above).
Digital Darwinism by Evan I. Schwartz because I think I'll have some time for it in 2009.

Hmmm, I seem to have misplaced Poems of Friends, which I picked up and intended to buy.

For audio, I got:

My first Zamfir!
Timeless by local jazz singer Anita Rosemond
Pure by Hayley Westenra because she's hot.
An Adam Sandler comedy cassette.
The Grease Soundtrack, obviously.
A record of T.S. Eliot reading his poetry, including "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock".
The Sinatra Christmas album.
And misc big band stuff, including a 10 record set.

Not a bad haul considering my collection and Heather's stack cost a total of $16.50.

- posted by Brian J. @ 8:19 PM 0 comments

Good Book Hunting: August 18, 2007

I've been a bit remiss in posting the Book Hunting for last reason, and I'm sure you'll see why; I am ashamed:

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I bought one lousy book, Dr. No. Heather, because she's into more modern thrillers, found a number of hardbacks to grab and a couple of cassettes and records (she's now got one of those USB record importers to create digital audio files).

This might well be the first time she's out-purchased me.

- posted by Brian J. @ 8:05 PM 0 comments

What a Cute Little Library

What a cute little library.

Of course, gentle reader, you know that we at MfBJN take great pleasure in the Noggle Library, but we like to see the kids these days accumulating books as best they can.

Of course, as you know, I am only currently working on my 76th-79th book for the year, a total which Tamara K. apparently reaches every couple of weeks.

- posted by Brian J. @ 7:33 PM 2 comments

Friday, August 24, 2007

Egypt Must Have Misplaced It

West Nile reported in Edwardsville

- posted by Brian J. @ 2:30 PM 0 comments

ACORN Preparing To Sue Missouri; Voter Fraud Made Too Difficult

ACORN threatens suit over drop in Mo’s voter registrations:

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, also known as ACORN, joined with others Thursday in sending "a letter of intent to sue" to the Missouri Department of Social Services.

ACORN, Project Vote and Demos (a national, non-partisan public policy, research and advocacy center) contend that the state has failed to comply with "a requirement of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) to provide voter registration opportunities in public assistance offices."

The letter was sent in connection with the release of a Project Vote report detailing concerns because voter registrations at public assistance agencies "have dropped from 143,000 in 1995-1996 to just 16,000 in 2005-2006."

Could that be that all the people who receive assistance might have registered to vote in the last 10 years?

Nah, it means that someone creative, like ACORN, should be able to "find" 125,000 additional voters each and every year until a Democrat becomes president for life.

- posted by Brian J. @ 1:36 PM 0 comments

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Life Imitates Sick Jokes

Pit bulls at Vick's house face deadline:

More than 50 pit bulls seized from Michael Vick's property face a Thursday deadline to be claimed. If no one comes forward, they could be euthanized.

Federal prosecutors filed court documents last month to condemn 53 pit bulls seized in April as part of the investigation into dogfighting on the Vick's property. No one has claimed any of the dogs, which are being held at several unspecified shelters in eastern Virginia, the U.S. Attorney's office said Wednesday.

- posted by Brian J. @ 5:56 PM 0 comments

I, For One, Fear The Austrians When Provoked

U.S. missile shield is provocation: Austrian minister:

Austrian Defense Minister Norbert Darabos has called U.S. plans for a missile defense shield in eastern Europe a "provocation" reviving Cold War debates.

"That the United States are installing a defense shield in eastern Europe is a provocation in my view," Darabos was quoted as saying in an interview with daily Die Presse on Thursday.

It's the dreaded Austrian Navy that I fear most.

- posted by Brian J. @ 5:53 PM 0 comments

Forget WhatIsMyIP.com

Why see it static on the screen when a woman can, erm, enunciate it for you?

MoanMyIP.com.

(Link seen on Ace of Spades HQ.)

- posted by Brian J. @ 11:01 AM 1 comments

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

I Do Not Think That Word Means What You Think It Means

Apparently, the reporter is ignorant of that place of business:

The Overland Police Department this afternoon sent out a plea for help in solving an armed robbery that happened at a toy store last Wednesday by sending out a photograph and video of the gunman. An armed robber held up Priscilla's Toy Box at 10210 Page Avenue in the city at 8:55 p.m. on Aug. 15, according to police.

Friends, that's not a children's toy store. So I hear.

UPDATE: Well, I guess someone at the paper noticed, as the word "toy" has gone down the memory hole.

- posted by Brian J. @ 5:22 PM 4 comments

Book Report: Deadly Welcome by John D. MacDonald (1959, ?)

This book, one of John D. MacDonald's paperback originals reprinted when his Travis McGee novels took off, covers a story of one Alex Doyle, former resident of Ramona Beach, Florida, and his return home. Back around the end of the war, orphaned Alex Doyle decided to join the military; on the night before his induction, he went drinking for the first time and awoke from his overindulgence with some cash stolen from his adopted family's store in his pocket. Run out of town (but allowed to join the military instead of jail), Alex Doyle serves honorably and joins the State Department. But when the Department of Defense needs a scientist to return to the organization, they turn to Doyle to shepherd him back because the scientist married a Ramona Beach woman and settled there. To get the scientist back, Doyle promises to solve the scientist's wife's murder.

It's a short novel, a paperback thriller. I liked it well enough. It lacks the depth of some of the Travis McGee series, but come on, it's a paperback thriller.

Worth a couple quarters if you find it at a book fair, or a couple bucks if you're a raving John D. MacDonald fan like me and find it in a used bookstore.

Books mentioned in this review:

- posted by Brian J. @ 12:53 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Town Councilchair Quarterbacks Go Three And Out

Sometimes when a municipality decides that its ideas about how to design and run the business are better than the business owner's, the business owner decides not to play:

Menards has dropped plans to build a warehouse store at the east end of Grafton near the I-43 / Highway 60 interchange, saying village officials insisted on too many changes in the company's plans, a Menards official said Monday.

"We just went as far as we could go revising the plans, and finally we said it wasn't worthwhile," said Marv Prochaska, the company's vice president of real estate. "At some point, you have to operate your business, and it was beyond the point where the deal made any sense.

"It was just numerous, numerous small things that all added up to way too much, and it just didn't make any sense," he said.

Look on the bright side, Grafton! That's sales tax revenue you never had, so you won't have to worry about what to do if the location started making less year over year.

- posted by Brian J. @ 2:24 PM 0 comments

Monday, August 20, 2007

Disproving Lileks's Theory

Hypothesis:

Morgan Freeman in uniform = good, though.

Evidence against: Dreamcatcher.

In Lileks defense, I happen to be one of six people in the country to have watched Dreamcatcher.

- posted by Brian J. @ 7:11 PM 0 comments

If You Can't Beat 'Em, Join 'Em

Google opens click-fraud Web site

- posted by Brian J. @ 9:50 AM 0 comments

Book Report: Puppet on a Chain by Alistair MacLean (1969)

I forget which book fair I bought this book at this year; I do remember thinking it was great to get a copy of a non-book club edition of Alistair MacLean's work, but when the Book Fair Employee put this in the box, she tore the dustjacket almost completely. Swell.

I probably hadn't read this book since high school. It's centered around an Interpol narcotics investigator going to Amsterdam to sniff out a big, organized crime syndicate shipping heroin abroad. It's interesting that it's a commonplace crime handled as though it's bigger than it is. Some of the response to the drug thing is over-the-top, but this was early in the war on drugs, before it became commonplace I suppose. The point of view is a little different from many MacLean books in that this is a storyteller first person. Unlike other first person points of view, where the I is supposed to play it straight, this storyteller withholds information and foreshadows later events to make a better story. I think it's a good point of view, a bit of the double-effect narrator going on, and think I should try it again.

A good read, quick enough (a little over 2 nights for me) and probably readily available at book fairs or the link below if you're interested.

Books mentioned in this review:

- posted by Brian J. @ 9:42 AM 0 comments

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Book Report: Ghosts by Ed McBain (1980)

This book, an 87th Precinct novel coming from the old tradition of hardback mysteries under 200 pages in length, is a throwback even at its publication date. The phone numbers within it appear as town plus five digits. In Isola. In 1980. So I guess it was on the shelf for a decade or so before publication.

In it, Carella investigates the murder of a known writer whose fiction books were so-so, but whose nonfiction book on ghosts was a runaway bestseller. The murderer also killed a woman outside the writer's apartment building, and then moves on to kill the writer's editor and try to kill the writer's girlfriend, a medium--but the killer attacks the woman's twin sister inadvertantly. In the course of the investigation, Carella encounters some actual ghosts, marking one of the few if not the only time the supernatural makes its appearance in these books.

It's a decent enough thriller and a quick enough read.

Striking, though, is the back of the book which features two long paragraphs of praise for Ed McBain and this book from Stephen King. Ed McBain's been plying his trade for 25 years, and the book company puts an endorsement from a relatively recent, although popular, upstart to sell more books. How Mr. Lombino must have felt. Of course, he probably sold more books on account of it, so he probably was okay with it, as he was a professional.

Books mentioned in this review:

- posted by Brian J. @ 1:21 PM 0 comments

Answering My Wife's Question About Transportation Budgets

The other day, I commented that Ronald Reagan allowed for a federal gas tax 25 years ago because of the state of the interstate highway infrastructure. I made the comment that transportation budgets are always diverted to other things, and she jumped on my "always." However, I think I have a better insight into government nature than she does.

This column enumerates some of the ways transportation,that is, gas tax, money is spent that doesn't involve maintaining roadways:

As recently as July 25, Mr. Oberstar sent out a press release boasting that he had "secured more than $12 million in funding" for his state in a recent federal transportation and housing bill. But $10 million of that was dedicated to a commuter rail line, $250,000 for the "Isanti Bike/Walk Trail," $200,000 to bus services in Duluth, and $150,000 for the Mesabi Academy of Kidspeace in Buhl. None of it went for bridge repair.

And:

Minnesota spends $1.6 billion a year on transportation--enough to build a new bridge over the Mississippi River every four months. But nearly $1 billion of that has been diverted from road and bridge repair to the state's light rail network that has a negligible impact on traffic congestion. Last year part of a sales tax revenue stream that is supposed to be dedicated for road and bridge construction was re-routed to mass transit. The Minnesota Department of Economic Development reports that only 2.8% of the state's commuters ride buses or rail to get to work, but these projects get up to 25% of the funding.

Here's how it works:

Government get general tax revenue.
Government spends tax revenue on shiny things, not maintaining core government services (law enforcement) or infrastructure (roads).
Shortfall in core services funding becomes an emergency requiring raised taxes/dedicated taxes.
Government gets dedicated tax revenue in addition to general tax revenue.
Government spends general tax revenue on shiny things and new dedicated tax revenue on shiny things, not on core services or infrastructure.
Shortfall in core services funding becomes emergency requiring raised taxes.

The problem does not lie in the amount the government is getting and spending; it lies in the things the government buys.

But don't tell the government or our elected/unelected "leaders" that. They like shiny things.

(Link seen on Instapundit.)

- posted by Brian J. @ 8:16 AM 0 comments

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Being an Imperial Pilot Has Its Privileges

Such as your own lane on suburban streets.

Woe to that minivan; a couple of proton torpedoes from a couple upgraded fighters, and soccer mom is walking her kids to practice as punishment for parking in the TIE Fighter lane.

- posted by Brian J. @ 7:28 PM 0 comments

Sick Joke

What is the difference between Michael Vick (Falcons' Vick Accused of Executing Dogs) and the city of Denver (Denver pit bull ban draws dog lovers' ire)?

Michael Vick bought his own pit bulls and "executed" them, whereas the city of Denver seized other people's pit bulls and "put them down" for the good of society.

Haha! No, I guess it's not funny. It's even less funny when you think of the lack of principles involved.

And you know what's really cheesing me off about the dogfighting thing? It's the perversion of the language. I mean, come on, a rape stand? That's not the term by which you buy them in the catalog; it's called a breeding stand, and it's designed so that mating dogs don't hurt each other during mating (or to hold the dog for grooming or whatnot). But the papers and the indignirati all use rape stand because rape is an automatic bad word above reproach. Like here's Brian J. Noggle saying that rape isn't rape when a breeding animal hasn't given its consent to be bred.

Or Michael Vick "executing" dogs. I mean, seriously, executing them? We've used that term to refer to a procedural sort of killing by some sort of authority, not tossing kittens in the river. But, again, it's an automatic bad word, worse than killing a dog, Michael Vick was executing them.

George Orwell would nod sadly but knowingly.

- posted by Brian J. @ 12:28 PM 0 comments

Friday, August 17, 2007

Good Book Hunting: August 16, 2007

The Jewish Community Center in Creve Couer has been holding its annual book sale all week, and we picked the absolute worst night to go to it. The first night is preview night with a cover charge; Friday, today, is half-price day; Saturday, tomorrow, is bag day, where one can buy a bag and have everything that fits into it for five dollars. Last night, then, was the last day at full price, and hence the most picked over selection possible for the full price. Not that it stopped me from finding far too much:

Click for full size We have:

A number of Perry Mason mysteries, including The Case of the Mischievous Doll, The Case of the Fiery Fingers, and The Case of the Horrified Heirs.
Several of the Classics Club books I've taken to collecting. New books include History of Plymouth by William Bradford; Selected Stories by Anton Checkov; The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler; and Seven Plays by Henrik Ibsen. I already had Selected Works by Cicero, but it was a different printing. This brings my collection to, what, 29 volumes in this set?
The Pathfinder by James Fennimore Cooper; I have most of the Leatherstocking books now. Perhaps I should read them.
Hallowe'en Party and The Mousetrap (a play) by Agatha Christie.
A collection of poetry by someone I'd never heard of, James Kavanaugh.
A "chapbook" by local poet Pam Puleo. I knew Pam when I was doing the open mike circuit about 10 years ago. This "chapbook," which looks more like a school project and includes some loose poems tucked into it, looks like a school project. When I read these to the boy, I might try to imitate Ms. Puleo's voice and delivery.
A bunch of Camus, including The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays and Caligula and Other Plays.
The Realm of Numbers by Isaac Asimov.
Star Trek: The Return because I'm interested to see how Shatner got them to resurrect Kirk.
The Lost City of Zork because I'm an old school geek.
Some philosophy books, including Basic Ethics, Dilemmas, Bertrand Russell's The Problems of Philosophy, and A Casebook on Existentialism.
Open Net, George Plimpton's hockey book.
Friday by Robert A. Heinlein.
A hardback copy of The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton.
The Closing of the American Mind by Allan Bloom. I am getting quite a collection from Bloom. Probably because I keep thinking he's the guy who got a hand on Naomi Wolf's thigh.
The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran.
A Death In China by Carl Hiaassen and some other guy. The Carl Hiaassen is what's important.
Night Thoughts of a Classical Physicist, some musings of some science guy.

Brian, you say, that's 30 books, meaning that you've picked up 62 this week. Isn't that more than you read in a year?

Not this year, friends; I am at 72 total books and I'm going all the way! Although I'm not sure where that is, but if I can get there in my comfortable recliner, I am there.

- posted by Brian J. @ 11:02 AM 2 comments

Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit, Endorses Giuliani

First, he flirted with the Giuliani campaign, saying it was "highly recommended" and "it's quite good". Later, Reynolds described his experience with Giuliani by saying, "I liked it very much" and said of Guiliani's speechwriter "He's like Neal Stephenson's more poetical cousin."

- posted by Brian J. @ 10:03 AM 0 comments

Book Report: The Parisian Affair by Nick Carter (1981)

This completes my recent reading of three great novels set in Paris (the others: The Three Musketeers and Hunchback of Notre Dame). This book, number 148 of about 260 featuring Killmaster Nick Carter, offers everything a growing boy needs. The action and the story are tied together. The story moves. The cover's not as lurid as one would hope from a paperback original, but one can learn to accept.

Plot Summary / Spoiler Alert!

Nick Carter is ambushed, saves damsel, sleeps with damsel; Nick Carter is ambushed, kills a couple ambushers, one escapes; Nick interviews model who might be an expert assassin, sleeps with her; Nick is in building that explodes; Nick sleeps with woman he saved; Nick ambushes model, kills level bosses, discovers model is only a junkie; Nick finds another model, dead, declines to sleep with her; Nick drives Ferrari fast; Deus ex maquina encounter as Nick discovers big boss and kills him; Nick drives Ferrari fast, rescues his boss; book ends with more implied sleeping with damsel formerly in distress.

Fortunately, no trained goats tempted Nick, or it would have been a much different story.

Now, I can read some quality junk fiction to clean some from my shelves.

Books mentioned in this review:

- posted by Brian J. @ 10:03 AM 0 comments

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Every Google Search Tells a Story

Apparently, I am the number 3 Google hit for winning the lottery and awol.

- posted by Brian J. @ 2:39 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Book Report: The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo (1831, 193x?)

As you might have guessed, gentle reader, I've been on a French Lit kick for some reason lately; I guess it was because The Three Musketeers was good enough to warrant another look at a potboiler from France in the nineteenth century. Well, this book is not quite that fast of a read.

For starters, the first third to four ninths is mostly exposition. We're introduced to some of the characters through a long and mostly meaningless scene depicting the titular cathedral during a festival of fools. Some extraneous ambassadors are in town, and Quasimodo, the bell ringer, is elected the king of fools. The poet/philosopher who wrote the main drama finds the audience's attention continues to be diverted by all sorts of interruptions, comings, and goings, and ultimately he's disappointed. Dejected, he wanders about Paris and ends up in the neighborhood frequented by the vagabonds, who'll hang the intruder unless someone saves him by marrying him. Against all odds, the beautiful Esmeralda does.

Then, we get not one but two long essays on architecture and the way Paris looked in the time period in which the book was set. Remember, like The Three Musketeers, this novel was a historical novel when it was written, so the author must have felt the need to pad up 40 pages of exposition to educate his readers. But it really kills the pacing of the story.

To make a short story long, this book really collects a very brief number of scenes with a lot of words dedicated to them (much like other older books, I've noted). Ultimately, the author lavishes detail on characters that play minor roles in the action (although major roles in the story, I suppose; the action and the story being two different things here).

Spoiler alert!

So Esmeralda falls for a philandering captain of the guard; a repressed bishop fixates on Esmeralda; the poet/philosopher drops out of the book for a while as the bishop stabs the captain while he's entertaining Esmeralda, framing the young pseudo-gypsy for the crime; as she's sentenced to hang, the bishop offers to save her, which she rebuffs; the hunchback steals Esmeralda from the hangmen and takes her to Notre Dame, a sanctuary for criminals; the bishop meets the poet and gets him to foment a rebellion of the vagabonds so they--bishop and poet--can secret Esmeralda from Notre Dame; the bloody uprising occurs; the bishop and the poet steal Esmeralda and her trained goat from the church; when they reach the opposite shore of the Seine, the poet takes the goat instead of the alluring Esmeralda to whom he's already wed by the laws of the vagabonds; the bishop again pleads for Esmeralda's love, and she rebuffs him; and they all die, including the subplots, except for the captain of the guard, the poet, and presumably the goat.

I don't know how you can turn that into a Disney film; I suppose it's only American audiences' lack of knowledge of the basics of the plot that allowed it to happen. I mean, Disney wouldn't dare to try Hamlet. And the hunchback: not a nice guy.

So I've got one more French book to go and then I am thinking about knocking off some junk from my to-read shelves before the next book fair later this week.

Wish me luck.

Books mentioned in this review:

- posted by Brian J. @ 4:49 PM 0 comments

If the Police Get Initiative and Hit Rolls Are Favorable

Melee might lead to arrests

- posted by Brian J. @ 10:26 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Book Report: Poems of Flowers edited by Gail Harvey (1991)

As I mentioned, I bought this book at an estate sale this weekend. Since it's one of those lite collections of poetry that came out in the early 1990s, printed by companies happy to have content from the public domain, I assume that Mr. Paul got it as a gift.

It contains 43 poems dealing with flowers. Irises, hawthorn, roses, and fields of flowers. Poets including Dickinson, Wordsworth, Longfellow, Herrick, and so on extol the virtues of blooming plants. Most of them are accessible even though many are hundreds of years ago. These are definitely middlebrow poems, written with cadence and rhyme for the enjoyment of all readers before the academy determined that poems should be inscrutible to the bourgeoisie.

So it's a nice collection of fun little poems to read. A couple of insights into the human condition, but mostly various poets playing with words pleasingly.

Apparently, it's not available currently on Amazon; I had not realized how much of a collectors' item (hem) this was. I have provided a book search link below for your convenience, if you're interested. You see, here at MfBJN, it's all about your convenience, gentle reader, not my ability to make a couple quarters every couple of years from Amazon referrals. You illiterate sops.

Books mentioned in this review:

Poems of Flowers

- posted by Brian J. @ 1:44 PM 0 comments

Monday, August 13, 2007

Post-Dispatch Misses Soccer Coverage

I don't know how else to explain that they're running another story on the guy who wants to trick Collinsville into wasting its tax revenue on a sports venue.

Has the Post-Dispatch ever found a cockamamie tax-spending scheme that didn't make it want to hump a land developer's or highly paid consultant's leg?

- posted by Brian J. @ 9:51 PM 0 comments

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Good Book Hunting: August 11, 2007

We bought so many books yesterday, I should have a hangover. I almost do, but we'll come to that bye and bye.

We decided, as it was a cool (only 90 degrees at 8:00am) morning, to walk to a couple nearby yard sales with the boy in the stoller. So we loaded up on all our spare cash and a couple vessels of water, and we headed southwest to the outlying small home subdivisions of Old Trees, Missouri.

We found a yard sale selling cassettes for a quarter, specializing in 80s music, so we loaded up on Barry Manilow and some country and western (Heather being the operative part of we here) and a couple of CDs (Billy Ocean's Love Zone and Roxette's Joyride) for fifty cents each. Then we passed through a couple small but well organized (Heather said) sales featuring kids stuff (how disorganized can you be with very little, I asked). Then we hit a nearby estate sale, and the gluttony occured.

Friends, the people handling the affairs of this gentleman had his books and cassettes priced at twenty-five cents each, at which point "Because we're walking and you'll have to carry them" doesn't hold up as an excuse not to buy. I mean, we did have a cart/dolly since the boy could walk now. About time he starts learning how to walk for distance.

I mean, look at this haul:

Click for full size

The gentleman's collection of music focused on Big Band and jazz, so while Heather helped herself to some Benny Goodman (or Benny Youngman--whichever was the musician and not the comedian), I got some Sarah Vaughn, John Pizarrelli, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, and Diana Schuur. The books included some serious literature, a pile of art books and some very nice and old art museum supporter giveaways, and a few conservative tomes. Of which, I acquired:

Lolita by Vladimir Nabakov. You know, that book mentioned in the Police song.
Five volumes by Ogden Nash.
Ariel by Sylvia Plath; I apologized to Jimmy Ray in advance for reading these at him.
Flowers of Evil by Baudelaire; I mean, if you have to have flowers.
Sonnets of Blood, a collection of poems written originally in Slovak and somehow made to fit an English rhyme scheme. That takes more than mere translation.
Dynamics of Faith by Paul Tillich; it will go along side the copy of Morality and Beyond and will probably remain so on my to-read shelves until the middle 2010s.
Poems of Flowers; we probably won't be so lucky that these, too, are evil flowers, but they'll break up the Dickinsonotony.
Tales of the Alhambra by Washington Irving, which talks about that famous building in Spain.
Down with Love, a movie tie-in; I can only assume that Mr. Paul owned it because of its tie to the song.
Gentleman: The William Powell Story by Charles Francisco; I don't normally buy celebrity bios, but I just watched the documentary about him that came with the Thin Man DVD box set, so I was primed for this particular book.
The Confidential Clerk by T.S. Eliot; this is the first American edition of his verse play. For a quarter!
The Seduction of Hillary Rodham by that one guy who was a good guy and is now a bad guy or who was a bad guy and is now a good guy or however the mythology goes.
A boxed two-volume set from 1948 called The American Constitution.
Detectionary, a reference guide for early detectives in fiction; a special printing by the Hammermill paper company.
Couples by John Updike; a first edition for a quarter!
A Collectors' Club edition of Edgar Allan Poe's select tales and poems. I should put this on my read shelves, since I've already read everything from Poe in a complete edition, including the Narrative of A. Gordon Pym.
A single volume that collects Carl Sandburg's Smoke and Steel, Slabs of the Sunburnt West, and Good Morning, America from the 1920s. I said so.
A play entitled Tiger at the Gates translated from the French.
The Meaning of the Creative Act, an early 20th century musing on creativity, translated from the German or from the Russian.
Resistance, Rebellion, and Death by Albert Camus; I'll read this when I need a good pep talk.
Hardluck Ironclad, the story of a sunken Civil War vessel.
Time and Again by Jack Finney; a first edition! W00t!
A St. Louis County Geneology study of last names in the county in 1989-1990. Because I could.
Literary America, a study of American writers and photographs of the things/places about which they wrote.
Political Bestiary, a collection of political humor of some sort, I guess.
Collecting Nostalgia, a guide to things from the 1930s and 1940s to collect. Heather no doubt hopes I don't get into collecting stuff from that era since I'm packing away enough clutter already with my narrow bands of material I seek.
Light of August, a William Faulkner book that got too close to my stack. Seriously. It was nearby, so Heather thought it fell from my stack and added it.

You can see Heather's two books standing upright; if I had seen Varieties of Unbelief, I probably would have nabbed it for myself.

That's 32 books for me, 2 for Mrs. Noggle, and a collection of audiocassettes for Heather to rip into digital format, ensuring that she's not bored well into 2009.

So I better stop reading long classical works and take time to clear some of the shorter reads off of my shelves or I will face a space crunch. I mean, a greater space crunch than I have now.

And I carried the collection, some 45 pounds of it, the half mile or so home. You know, it used to be automatic that I could do that, but perhaps it's because I'm aging or because I think I'm aging that I mentally pause before doing it (without actually pausing, you see, because that's unmanly). As a result, my shoulders are a little tight today, but that only means they'll look better tomorrow. Lots of books and ripped shoulders: this is possibly the best book sale ever.

- posted by Brian J. @ 1:42 PM 1 comments

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Caution: Do Not Eat In Dark

Watch for that warning label, coming soon thanks to this lawsuit:

A Morgantown man, his mother and his friend are suing McDonald's for $10 million.

The man says he bit into a hamburger and had a severe allergic reaction to the cheese melted on it.

As a severely allergic man, he took every reasonable precaution to ensure his own safety:

Jeromy did his part to make it known he didn't want cheese on the hamburgers because he is allergic, Houston said.

He told a worker through the ordering speaker and then two workers face-to-face at the pay and pick-up windows that he couldn't eat cheese, Houston said.

"By my count, he took at least five independent steps to make sure that thing had no cheese on it," Houston said. "And it did and almost cost him his life."

After getting the food, the three drove to Clarksburg and started to eat the food in a darkened room where they were going to watch a movie, Houston said.

Jeromy took one bite and started having the reaction, Houston said. One of the three immediately called the McDonald's to let restaurant employees know they had messed up the order, but had to cut the call short when Jeromy started having a bad reaction, Houston said.

That's right, he told people he was allergic but didn't take the precaution of actually checking his food. Afterwards, while he's reacting, his friends call the McDonalds.

Sounds like someone is digging for some free money here.

On the other hand, here's an encouraging sign from our health industry:

The lawsuit alleges Jeromy "was only moments from death" or serious injury by the time he reached the hospital.

. . . . McDonald's representatives offered to pay half of Jeromy's medical bills -- which totaled about $700. When Houston became involved, he said the company offered to pay all the medical costs.

The cost of saving someone only moments from death: $1400.

Good work, health care industry!

- posted by Brian J. @ 3:13 PM 1 comments

Weird: Supply and Demand's Limited Impact

Prices are going up for some commodities when the supply goes down and demand remains the same or goes up:

The wholesale price of cocaine has surged since December because of a shortage of the drug in 37 U.S. cities, including Milwaukee, according to a recent announcement by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Isn't it stunning that this happens to drugs but not to petroleum, where price increases are always the result of mere greed on the part of the oil companies?

- posted by Brian J. @ 3:10 PM 0 comments

Scientists Prove Rest of World Is Parallel Universe to United States

With the recent discovery by American scientists that, in the rest of the world, Roxette continued to exist after 1991.

- posted by Brian J. @ 2:30 PM 0 comments

Friday, August 10, 2007

Taking The Draft Off The Table

In between the bomp-bomp-bomp-bomps of the NPR All Things Considered intro music today, they teased me that one of their upcoming stories was about the possibility of reinstituting the draft.

Oh, for Pete's sake, I have been hearing that for the last five years. In 2003, my own grandmother expressed fear of it, sure that Bush was going to impress my younger cousins and send them to Iraq.

To heck with it; I am on the bandwagon. Let's restore the damn thing so that I don't have to hear horror stories about that particular monster in the closet, children voters, a whole decade.

UPDATE: Here's the story.

And I've reconsidered; if we reinstitute the draft, the same people worried about it coming back would take to the streets to demand its end, again. So we might as well not if they say we're going to.

UPDATE II: James Joyner weighs in, sort of.

- posted by Brian J. @ 5:03 PM 0 comments

Preparing My Plan for $100 Million Cricket Stadium, $100 Million Roller Derby Arena, $100 Million Pokemon Dome

Stadium of dreams:

Efforts to bring professional outdoor soccer back to St. Louis will enter a decisive phase on Monday when a prominent Metro East lawyer will propose a $100 million stadium complex in Collinsville that he intends to be home to a Major League Soccer franchise.

A $100 million dollar complex that's funded as a public/private partnership wherein the city takes the fiscal risk and the private guy reaps any rewards that accidentally occur in spite of this being a Major League Soccer stadium being built in the middle of nowhere.

Public/private partnerships: is there anything they won't try?

- posted by Brian J. @ 10:21 AM 0 comments

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Book Report: He Was A Midwestern Boy On His Own by Bob Greene (1991)

As you know, gentle reader, I like Bob Greene's books well enough to spell his name correctly most of the time. This is the first I've read in two plus years (since Duty: A Father, His Son, and the Man Who Won the War in March 2005 and Bob Greene's America in May 2004).

It collects a number of his columns from Esquire and the Chicago Tribune again, so he's back in his sweet spot of short narrative nonfiction with the occasional forays into "People and Things That Happened Because I Am A Columnist" or "Things I Made Happen Because I Know Michael Jordan" filler material. Of course, we cringe when he talks about calling a seventeen year old girl in 1988 and talking to her about her sexual arousal watching Dennis Quaid in The Big Easy and wonder is that the one?

Greene trends more mawkish than Andy Rooney, so he falls beneath the old curmudgeon in my estimation, but he did make a career at it whereas I'm only making a blog of writing my insights. So I respect the man and enjoy his work enough to pick up a collection of columns from time to time, but I'm not exactly plunging into the first edition copy of All Summer Long, one of two first edition copies that have passed through my hands and have remained on my to-read shelf.

Books mentioned in this review:

- posted by Brian J. @ 2:26 PM 0 comments

The Coming Russo-Canadian War

Canada joins rush to claim the Arctic:

“Our government has an aggressive Arctic agenda,” Dimitri Soudas, Mr Harper’s spokesman, said on Wednesday.

“The Russians sent a submarine to drop a small flag at the bottom of the ocean. We’re sending our prime minister to reassert Canadian sovereignty,” said a senior government official, according to Canadian press.

Since the Russian expedition was discovered last month, Mr Harper has faced increasing pressure to fight back.

The twenty-first century promises to be as odd as all the others that preceded it. I mean, it almost takes a suspension of disbelief to believe that the French once dominated Continental Europe with its army or that the Belgians had colonies. Looking forward to the 21st century, how many other almost inconceivable things remain to come.

- posted by Brian J. @ 1:29 PM 1 comments

What a Difference a Good Title Makes

On a book, perhaps, but certainly on a law:

A Cole County judge on Wednesday struck down a new law that would have allowed more midwives to help deliver babies in Missouri.

Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce declared the law unconstitutional. The law was attached to a health insurance bill, and Joyce said the title of that bill was too narrow to encompass midwifery.

Good to see that the Post-Dispatch is impartial on the matter. On one hand, we have:

While a doctors' association praised the ruling, home-birth advocates promised to appeal it. Mary Ueland, who lobbies for midwives' interests, said she was confident the Missouri Supreme Court would uphold the law.

A dreaded lobbiest, a paid spokesperson for a vile interest group. And on the other side:

The state's largest physicians' association, the Missouri State Medical Association, has fought the changes. Jeff Howell, the association's director of legislative affairs, said Wednesday that the new law would have "significantly lowered the standard of care for childbirth services, and we just don't think that's acceptable."

An association of physicians and its director of legislative affairs. In other words, a someone who lobbies for physicians' interests.

Perhaps the Post-Dispatch doesn't think its readers know any other words or thoughts aside from those it presents to them. Perhaps it's right.

- posted by Brian J. @ 9:06 AM 1 comments

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

A Morbid Hobby, I Know

So I've taken to watching music videos from the 1980s and, while watching the comely young ladies in big hair and short skirts shaking their body parts amid the smoke machines for the cameras, started trying to guess: grandmother or dead some 20 years by now from a speedball.

Everybody play!

- posted by Brian J. @ 10:21 PM 2 comments

In Case Of Catastrophic Failure, An Alarm Will Sound

Wisconsin to install monitors on 15 bridges:

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation will install devices on 15 bridges to monitor unusual movements, officials announced Tuesday, six days after the fatal I-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis.

The devices, called accelerometers, will be placed on the 15 bridges in Wisconsin that have support structures similar to the Minneapolis bridge.

Accelerometers work much like seismometers, which measure movements of the Earth, and will gauge horizontal and vertical movements in the bridge supports.

Kudos to the state government of Wisconsin for spending tax dollars making a public gesture that won't actually fix anything.

Perhaps if they installed cameras, too, so they could have pictures of the actual collapse as well, kinda like security cameras favored by police departments don't prevent but allow government officials to watch governmental failures in progress from the safety of their offices.

- posted by Brian J. @ 11:11 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

People Cannot Self-Regulate; Please, Government, Regulate Me

I guess that's the message from this poll:

Ninety-one percent of Americans believe sending text messages while driving is as dangerous as driving after having a couple of drinks, but 57 percent admit to doing it, a poll released on Tuesday said.

The Harris Interactive survey commissioned by mobile messaging service Pinger found 89 percent of respondents believe texting while driving is dangerous and should be outlawed.

Even so, 66 percent of the adults surveyed who drive and use text messaging told pollsters they had read text messages or e-mails while driving. Fifty-seven percent admitted to sending them.

Please, mama government, save me from myself!

A good follow-up question would have been to ask how many obeyed the speed limits, existing laws designed to regulate behavior while driving, to determine how many of those people we could expect to heed new laws about texting while driving.

Oh, never mind.

- posted by Brian J. @ 9:18 AM 0 comments

Monday, August 06, 2007

Ailing Retail Development Holds No Lessons

In St. Ann, a municipality in northwest St. Louis County, its sales tax mainstay is not providing the tax revenue it used to:

When Northwest Plaza gets a cold, St. Ann sneezes.

Northwest Plaza is ailing right now, and St. Ann's finances are following suit.

The city depends on sales taxes from the shopping mall for a big chunk of its revenue, and sales at the mall have been on a steady decline since 2000.

"We are extremely sales tax driven," said Mayor Tim James. "When that money goes on hiatus, which is what we are hoping, and not gone for good, it really shakes things up."

Since 2000, the city has reduced its work force to 92 from 112 and has begun charging residents for garbage pickup that used to be free. But so far, the city has kept up appearances. Potholes are being fixed, and the streets are being patrolled.

Ah, yes, the facade of providing core government services instead of blowing scads of cash on a water park that won't break even on an annual basis (like so many of your neighbor municipalities are).

So what is the lesson about this that municipal leaders can learn? Partnering with land developers in crony capitalist schemes to increase your sales tax revenue and then spending that sales tax revenue as though it will continue to grow infinitely might put you into trouble when those sales taxes decline?

Nah; the lesson is thank goodness you're not fools like those people in St. Ann!

- posted by Brian J. @ 7:50 PM 0 comments

That's a Dig, Right?

Deep within this New York Times article lamenting that having only a couple of million dollars doesn't make you nutso rich (a point of view with which I agree, actually), we get this bit of commentary with which I don't:

David Koblas, a computer programmer with a net worth of $5 million to $10 million, imagines what his life would be like if he left Silicon Valley. He could move to a small town like Elko, Nev., he says, and be a ski bum. Or he could move his family to the middle of the country and live like a prince in a spacious McMansion in the nicest neighborhood in town.

But Mr. Koblas, 39, lives with his wife, Michelle, and their two children in Los Altos, south of Palo Alto, where the schools are highly regarded and the housing prices are inflated accordingly. So instead of a luxury home, the family lives in a relatively modest 2,000-square-foot house — not much bigger than the average American home — and he puts in long hours at Wink, a search engine start-up founded in 2005.

"I'd be rich in Kansas City," he said. "People would seek me out for boards. But here I'm a dime a dozen."

Speaking on behalf of those of us in the middle of the country, please stay on a coast.

I don't know who's more of a self-important twit; the journalist writing the story, or the mcmillionaire.

- posted by Brian J. @ 7:45 PM 1 comments

Sunday, August 05, 2007

Anger Is Not Zero Sum

Workplace anger -- who wins?

Anger is not zero sum; that is, if everyone is angry, it doesn't mean that one person is winning and another person is losing. An angry tide raises all boats, and it makes them run in ship-shape fashion.

- posted by Brian J. @ 4:15 PM 0 comments

Saturday, August 04, 2007

Top People Whose Voices I Wished I Had

Morton Harket, a-ha
Iva Davies, Icehouse
Geoff Tate, Queensrÿche
Ronnie Dunn, Brooks and Dunn

- posted by Brian J. @ 10:36 PM 3 comments

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Right Hand Called, Left Hand's Phone Was Busy

You know what those of us with credible city experience call this:

Police were at a loss to explain why thieves removed the license plates of 32 vehicles in the Skinker-DeBaliviere neighborhood in the city's West End over the last few days.

A slow night.

And special good kudos for this insight that the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

"This is the first I've heard of anything like this," Sgt. Al Nothum, spokesman for Troop C of the Missouri Highway Patrol, said of the rash of license plate thefts.

"Maybe the thief is taking the plate to get to the tab later, but then, why not snip the tab off instead of taking just as much time or more to unscrew the plate?"

Wholly guacamole, the stunning ignorance on display here is twofold:

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch runs to the Highway Patrol for a comment? Of course the Highway Patrol hasn't heard of this. Stealing license plates/tags is a local offense; you would call the City of St. Louis police department or whatever municipality you live in when you discover someone in the Central West End has stolen your tabs
The state Highway Patrol is obviously unaware that the Missouri Department of Transportation recommends putting the registration tabs in the center of your license plate these days specifically to prevent people from cutting off the corners of license plates if the registration tabs are there.

Cut crisscrosses in your registration stickers, the thieves will snip the corner of the plate. Put the registration stickers in the middle of the plate, the thieves will steal the plates. Got any more good ideas, public officials?

- posted by Brian J. @ 8:50 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Someone Hit a Double down the 20 Yard Line

MADD offers comments on Amtrak offering booze to high end rail customers:

Mothers Against Drunk Driving questioned whether $100 in free alcohol was too much.

"This sounds like a lot of credit toward possible overindulging," said MADD spokeswoman Misty Moyse.

Considering that the overindulgers would be riding a train, I think MADD is out of place here, but kudos to CNN for finding political opposition for a business/travel story.

- posted by Brian J. @ 4:52 PM 1 comments

Press Leaks Invasion Details

Apparently, the press cannot keep its mouth shut regarding the United States' covert incursions and invasion of a sovereign nation:

O, Canada! More Americans Heading North: The Number of Americans Moving to Canada in 2006 Hit a 30-Year High

Our citizens cry out for more wait times for medical services!

- posted by Brian J. @ 12:19 PM 2 comments

Congratulations to the New Hall of Famers

Hey, congratulations to Tony Gwynn on making the Hall of Fame.

I see my rookie baseball card is now worth like $10. Let my retirement commence!

Well, at least I only traded a couple commons circa 1986 for it.

- posted by Brian J. @ 11:08 AM 0 comments

To say Noggle, one first must be able to say the "Nah."

Endorsements
"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