Musings from Brian J. Noggle
Friday, February 29, 2008
How to Beat 30 Year Old Video Games
A YouTube playlist of retro games, mostly taken from an old videocassette series on how to beat them.
- posted by Brian J. @ 3:12 PM 0 comments
Tragic Writing Flaw
Many times, I go all When in the course of human events when I should be like Sometimes.
- posted by Brian J. @ 2:46 PM 0 comments
The Business of Government Is Business
Two things from the SunCrest Call, a local free paper I pick up whenever the OB pats my beautiful wife on the belly and says, "Good job." The first, an insert by the mayor of Sunset Hills:
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The mayor took office in Sunset Hills after the previous administration approved a redevelopment proposal that would have depopulated a subdivision. Many of the residents bought new houses before the actual buyout occurred, and when the funding for the project collapsed, ended up with double mortgages. They were not pleased and threw that bunch out, but now the new bunch wants to redevelop a different area using all of its coercive government powers, and the mayor wants to let you know he's a better big Keynesian wheel than the last guy.
Meanwhile, a columnist in the paper lauds another mayor for using coercive government power--the power to tax some, but to not tax others--on something the columnist likes:
- "There comes a time when you have to back off on your principles and do what's best for this community."
We commend Crestwood Mayor Roy Robinson for putting aside his former blind hatred of TIF and trying to ensure that the city has all of its economic-development tools available.
When Crestwood Mayor Roy Robinson made this statement in January 2006, some of us held back laughter, wondering how this was possible.
But two years later, Robinson has shockingly lived up to this creed.
On Feb. 12, the mayor who once ran for office opposing tax-increment financing broke a tie vote among aldermen to protect the use of TIF and, in our opinion, also protect the city's best interests.
Because those new businesses would buy ads in that same paper, don't you know? Well, hopefully, anyway.
Lazy fare capitalism, it's called. And it's close enough for the Call Newspapers.
See also Krauthammer's bit on rent seeking at the Federal level.
- posted by Brian J. @ 9:12 AM 0 comments
A Simple Mistake by a Travelling Ricin Salesman
Not jumping to what would probably be good suspicions, police again prefer to calm the sheep instead of alerting the citizens (Police: Deadly toxin found at Las Vegas hotel):
- FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said Friday there does not appear to be a link to terrorists.
- posted by Brian J. @ 8:53 AM 0 comments
Making the Bad Part of Human Nature Easy
One of the arguments against massive government databases is that the rank and file government bureaucrats will have the opportunity for personal mischief. Aside from the slippery slope argument that the presence of these databases will make it easier for future tyrants. But don't underplay how much simple human curiosity will lead to systemic abuse:
- A landlord snooped on tenants to find out information about their finances. A woman repeatedly accessed her ex-boyfriend's account after a difficult breakup. Another obtained her child's father's address so she could serve him court papers.
All worked for Wisconsin's largest utility, where employees routinely accessed confidential information about acquaintances, local celebrities and others from its massive customer database.
Documents obtained by The Associated Press in an employment case involving Milwaukee-based WE Energies shine a light on a common practice in the utilities, telecommunications and accounting industries, privacy experts say.
- posted by Brian J. @ 8:37 AM 0 comments
Refuting Ehrenreich
A long time ago, I promised my wife I would do a bit on Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting By In America, her treatise on how poor Americans cannot make it. She built her treatise up on a flawed experiment, where she beamed herself into areas for a couple of months of trying to make it on a meager salary by herself.
Well, although I have not yet filled that promise, a kid out of school put the American dream to the test:
- Alone on a dark gritty street, Adam Shepard searched for a homeless shelter. He had a gym bag, $25, and little else. A former college athlete with a bachelor's degree, Mr. Shepard had left a comfortable life with supportive parents in Raleigh, N.C. Now he was an outsider on the wrong side of the tracks in Charleston, S.C.
But Shepard's descent into poverty in the summer of 2006 was no accident. Shortly after graduating from Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass., he intentionally left his parents' home to test the vivacity of the American Dream. His goal: to have a furnished apartment, a car, and $2,500 in savings within a year.
I can imagine reading this book in hardback, unlike the Ehrenreich tome, which I read in paperback so that it would do less damage when I threw it across the room. Which I did more than once.
- posted by Brian J. @ 8:30 AM 0 comments
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Meanwhile, Elsewhere
Hey, don't forget the other blog: QA Hates You.com.
- posted by Brian J. @ 11:24 AM 0 comments
Someone Leak It To His Nanny State Supporters
Buried in this story, an often overlooked nugget about Barack Obama:
- is delivery is interesting and pleasantly cadenced, and his cigarette habit helps keep his vocal register commandingly, almost seductively, low.
How do you like him now, granola munchers?
(Link seen on Instapundit.)
- posted by Brian J. @ 11:21 AM 0 comments
Getting Wasted Together
Kim du Toit joins me in voting for Fred Thompson.
- posted by Brian J. @ 11:20 AM 0 comments
Object Lesson About Online Services
EMC offers an object lesson to people who would become dependent upon online services:
- EMC Corp. this week confirmed that it has notified customers that a massive price increase is about to kick in for users of its hosted MozyPro backup and recovery service.
Of course, I'm not a fan, either, of taking prescription drugs for indefinite periods, either.
- posted by Brian J. @ 10:27 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
How Many Times I Have Said It Myself
Check out the books on her.
- posted by Brian J. @ 2:58 PM 0 comments
The Essence of Packrattery, Distilled
Because our bathrooms lack certain amenities, like storage, my sainted mother bought us a pressboard over-the-toilet storage cabinet that has a two-door cabinet, a shelf, and then a cubby with a drop-down door that was supposed to be held in place by a magnet on the cabinet and a metal disk affixed to the drop-down door. However, the adhesion between the magnet and the disk exceeded that between the disk and the door. Several times. It outlasted the original adhesive, it outlasted double-sided tape, and it would probably have outlasted the next glue I used to bond it.
Except I hit it with a laundry basket, breaking the chipboard at the two screws that acted as hinges. Irreperable enough, but now as another shelf, it will not be a problem. So I threw the pressboard door out, but, wait a minute, it has a plastic knob in it. And you never know when you might need a ten cent plastic knob. I mean, it wouldn't be worth it to run out to the hardware store for it.
So I took it out of the pressboard door.
And I threw it in a drawer in my work area where I can amply forget about it, not that I'll ever need a knob like that in the future. But I have one.
On the plus side, I did actually throw out the pressboard door, so I'm not that much of a packrat.
- posted by Brian J. @ 2:38 PM 0 comments
There's Always Pennsylvania Sneaking Up On You
I got 49 of 50 on the 50 States in 10 Minutes quiz, which asks you to name all fifty states of of the top of your head (and type them) in 10 minutes.
I knew those tiny "states" back east would be my problem. I got my first 46 in the first four minutes, remembered Delaware and Maryland at about six minutes, and then West Virginia at eight minutes and thirty seconds. But Pennsylvania? Slipped my mind entirely, even though I thought it was very pretty when I drove through it.
Which, I guess, gives you a four state head start on me.
- posted by Brian J. @ 2:13 PM 2 comments
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Monkey Love
Reduced again to cat pictures. I wish I had more for you, gentle reader.
- posted by Brian J. @ 6:38 PM 0 comments
Monday, February 25, 2008
Ditching It All To Be A Stockbroker
Alicia Keys and Jordin Sparks coming to Scottrade
- posted by Brian J. @ 3:14 PM 0 comments
Book Report: COBRA #2: Paris Kill-Ground by Joseph R. Rosenberger (1987)
Wow, I've never actually wondered what pulp fiction would read if it were written by an actual 12 year old gamemaster, sitting behind a screen and rolling a couple of d20s, but this book is it.
I mean, we've identify people who engage in non-traditional sex as perverts or nymphos (nontraditional includes oral sex, multiple partners, and whatnot). We have exclamation points throughout! We have descriptions of rooms wherein you can imagine the pauses so you can put the furniture on the graph paper and know that the door is on the north wall, about 10 feet from the west wall. These descriptions indicate An Encounter is going to happen, wherein the good guys' guns come out, and the words caress each Browning Hi-Power pistol and Uzi SMG. When the lead flies, the author goes into great detail describing the trajectories and major organs each round hits coupled with names and details about the deceased as if to ensure the reader that the gamemaster, er, author had information and details on index cards, and dang it, he's going to use them.
Unfortunately, the author didn't share the index cards with whatever sort of editing staff might have existed at Critic's Choice paperbacks, because the typos abound, including misspelling the main character's name once. After enough of the sequences, the author decided one was the climax, and the book ends.
The end result, sadly, is an actual poorly-written, poorly-paced paperback that is endured rather than enjoyed.
- posted by Brian J. @ 3:14 PM 2 comments
Friday, February 22, 2008
Unofficial Supporter
You can guess who's sort of unofficially rooting for a Mike Huckabee presidency.
Although the film will probably get more arthouse cred if Huckabee doesn't make the presidency. There's gold in portraying obscurity.
- posted by Brian J. @ 1:21 PM 0 comments
Your One And Only Source
MfBJN is the only hit on Google for
Monitoring the monitors "Macho man is dead!"I can only guess what that person was looking for.
- posted by Brian J. @ 9:47 AM 3 comments
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Aren't They All?
A photographer or editor with an apparent lack of astronomy experience titles a photo of last night's eclipse The Moon In An Otherworldly Moment.
Good job, fellows. Good job.
- posted by Brian J. @ 1:50 PM 0 comments
I'm Popping My Cork For It
The Anchoress celebrates the semicolon.
As regular readers and any users of documentation I've written know, I use it because I can. Also, it shows readers that I am one of the Haves when it comes to grammar sophistication and wealth.
Kinda like my relationship with the tag.
- posted by Brian J. @ 12:37 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Book Report: Secret Prey by John Sandford (1998)
I am reading the series so out of order. This book falls sometime after the earlier books, but before the later books. That being said, the quality of the books and their lack of dependence on the storylines across the books for fluff. Sure, the books contain some of that, but the books build the overarching storylines, not the other way around. And each of the books is compelling enough in its own right.
This one tracks Lucas Davenport, who has just broken up with Weather (but you know what happens later if you read these out of order, to which this is past and prologue). Someone kills the CEO of a bank undergoing a merger while the CEO is deer hunting with various other executives of the bank, most of whom would lose their jobs if the merger went through. So there are plenty of suspects and opportunity. As the novel progresses, the novel looks into the dealings to see who will suceed the deceased as CEO, and the business dealings reminded me a bit of some of John D. MacDonald's paperbacks. Like MacDonald, you get enough difference in tone and subject to keep the books fresh.
Definitely a welcome rinse for my last mystery reading experience.
- posted by Brian J. @ 4:54 PM 0 comments
Robin Carnahan's Ghostwriting Efforts Panned
Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, whom I have already noted (here and here) likes to put her own particular donkey stamp on what Missouri voters can and cannot vote on as the result of ballot initiatives, gets her work panned by the court:
- A judge has rewritten the ballot language for a proposed constitutional amendment banning certain embryonic stem cell research.
Cole County Judge Patricia Joyce says the language written by Secretary of State Robin Carnahan was insufficient and unfair.
- posted by Brian J. @ 3:45 PM 0 comments
Monday, February 18, 2008
Group Pushes St. Louis County Sales Tax To Benefit Selves
Come on, who are they trying to fool with this gambit?
- A quarter-cent sales tax that would provide $40 million a year for children's crisis and wellness programs will probably make the county ballot next fall.
A regional consortium of 20 providers of mental health and other support services for children says St. Louis County children are suffering because they lack critical funding for services geared toward mental illness, physical abuse, substance abuse, pregnancy and homelessness.
The county, despite having more than three times the youth population of any other county in the state, is lagging behind its smaller neighbors, including the city of St. Louis and St. Charles, Lincoln and Jefferson counties, say members of the group called Putting Kids First. All of those counties have established a sales tax to fund mental health services, substance abuse and child abuse prevention programs. The most recent was Lincoln County, which approved a quarter-cent sales tax in November 2006.
And phooey, again, on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for supporting it and continuing to identify sales tax rates in the terms of a horse race or the arms race. What, are we in the county afraid that the city will break the beautiful, wonderful, happy 10% sales tax barrier first?
- posted by Brian J. @ 4:45 PM 1 comments
Book Report: Stranger in Paradise by Robert B. Parker (2008)
All right, this book offended me.
Of course, as you probably know, I read the early Spenser novels in my formative years, and the books led me to Thoreau and Chandler and whatnot and provided me with a basic set of dictates for manliness. Intelligence, strength, and sarcasm. But then the thing happened, the Spenser Valediction/Catskill Eagle bit, and the Spenser books declined. Slowly, I suppose, but still, they're now just collections of television scenes, many of which could be excised if anyone dared to incense a best-seller.
Then came the Sunny Randall books and Jesse Stone books (of which this is one) so that Parker could continue to revisit the themes sewn up pretty much in the Spenser books: namely, that strong, decent people can be in messed up relationships for decades, and that's okay. It takes a strong man to bear the cuckold horns. Also, let us not forget the autonomy thing (lectures provided handily in each book in case it's your first Parker read); let us remember the tough guys of all races (with "honorable" representatives from African Americans, Italian Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and white guys); let us remember the positive homosexual characters (minimum one per book, and many of them are tough guys, too).
I read the books out of a sense of duty, but as I said, this one offended me.
It has all the normal flaws, some of which I allude to above. An ethnic tough guy (Apache) comes back to Paradise. He, like the other main characters in Parker books, are Sex Gods, right? Attractive women want Crow (not Hawk!)/Jesse Stone/Spenser/Sunny Randall (a Sex God in female form). There can be no conversation between attractive women and the Sex Gods without the undercurrent of sex. Then, we have the scenes with the shrink, wherein Stone and his therapist go over why he's stuck on stupid. Then, finally, we have a minor sympathetic character who's married but cannot resist the Sex God, so she commits adultery and then confesses she feels no guilt for it, and another adulterer confides that sex between adults is a good thing if it makes you feel good, husband and four kids be damned. Just don't tell him.
Oh, for Pete's sake. That goes beyond promiscuity, which I don't have a problem with. But justifying and rationalizing adultery? Give me a break. With that blow, the series has a total of zero recurring characters that I respect. None. No one for me to identify with. No reason to read.
I'm probably overreacting, but I traced some influence of my personal code of ethics to Parker's earlier work. I am beyond disappointed with this outing and don't know if I'll bother with the other Sunny Randall/Jesse Stone books from here on out. I just picked up the movie Stone Cold just last week, and if I get the others, it will be because I like Tom Selleck, not because I like Robert B. Parker.
Even aside from my moral high-horsing, the book is flawed. Contrary to the oft-reprinted AP review, the dialogue in this book is not crackling, wry, sparkling, or whatever the thesaurus wanted to stick in there for this Parker book. The plot is forced, the resolution relies on the now-frequent shootout trap for organized crimesters, and....
Jeez, can you tell how I feel about this book? I'm so spitting mad about it, it's like my review wanders out of the room and comes back to add just one more bit of venom? For the sake of consistency, I've put the Amazon link to the book below, but jeez, save your time and money.
I cannot believe I pay full price for these things any more.
- posted by Brian J. @ 2:17 PM 0 comments
Book Report: Infinite Possibilities by Robert A. Heinlein (2002)
After the Niven, I wanted something with a little more zing to it. I've had this book on my shelves for a bit, so I took it out. I misremembered it as a collection of short stories; instead, it is a Science Fiction Book Club collection of three of Heinlein's juvenile novels from the 1950s: Tunnel in the Sky, Time for the Stars, and Citizen of the Galaxy.
Back when I was in middle school, M. Gene Henderson had a collection of Del Rey imprinted paperbacks in the hard library binding which I tore through in the sixth grade and the first part of the seventh grade. Hence, once I knew the nature of this book, I'd expected I'd find something familiar in it, that I'd read one or more. Actually, although one was familiar, I hadn't actually finished it. More on that by-and-by.
Tunnel in the Sky deals with students in high school participating in an off-world survival class. Their final exam is to go onto an unknown planet and survive for a couple of days or a week and finding the rescue point. A teleporter device sends them off, but as time passes and the students fight amongst themselves, they realize they're on their own. Then
I almost read Time for the Stars at M. Gene Henderson; however, the subject matter deals with a subject that was touchy. I was at M. Gene Henderson for the year and a half immediately following my parents' divorce and our subsequent move from the friendly environment of the Milwaukee housing projects to the wild suburban world of St. Charles, Missouri. During the course of the divorce, my mother took us on a two-bus transfer excursion to see an attorney who was going to evaluate the children's interests in the case and act as an advocate for my brother and I. During our meeting, he suggested a crazy custody arrangement: my brother and I spend six months with our mother and then six months with our father, a complete split down the middle of the year. However, in addition to the semiannual jerking us from school to school, the attorney also proposed that my brother and I actually split up so that one of us was each with a parent during those six months. Boys and girls, this was before the crack epidemic, okay?
So Time for the Stars deals with a deep-space probe program using identical twins with telepathy as the communication mechanism. One goes on a deep space probe traveling at near light speeds, and the other remains on earth to receive instant messages from psi. Well, at age 11 and fresh from the divorce, I couldn't handle that topic, so I didn't read the book. I read up until I got the conceit, and then I read the last chapter where the old brother and the young brother (travel at light speed will do that to you, or so Einstein tells me) meet again.
Now, 20 years have passed and my brother and I are naturally estranged, so I could get through it, but not without some meloncholy about my brother and my estrangement. So one twin goes in the ship, has some adventures, and gets in touch with his real relationship with his brother. While dozens of light years away, the ship's excursion runs into disaster. Suddenly, they're rescued.
Citizen of the Galaxy deals with a young slave sold to a beggar on a distant outpost. Neither is what he seems, and as the beggar-slash-spy is captured, the young slave follows instructions left by his adopted father to discover his past. It's a big one. Suddenly, the book ends.
That's a knock I'll throw on Heinlein: Man, the books just kinda end out of nowhere, with little resolution to the main problems in the book or with pat resolutions. Maybe I just don't grok Heinlein to that level. But they're quick, engaging books that carry you along and don't have the flaws that Niven's books do.
- posted by Brian J. @ 1:35 PM 0 comments
Good Book Hunting: February 17, 2008
On Saturday, we traveled to St. Peters, Missouri, all the way across the Missouri River and everything, to the Adult Hardbacks portion of the Friends of the St. Charles Library book fair. It had hardback mainstream fiction and mysteries for $2 each and videocassettes for a dollar or under. We bought:
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- Alice in Jeopardy, a non-87th precinct book by Ed McBain.
- Transgressions, an anthology of novellas edited by Ed McBain.
- Secret Prey, a Davenport mystery by John Sandford.
- Paradise Alley, a novel from Sylvester Stallone, fresh from his Rocky triumph.
- From Here to Infinity, an astronomy bit narrated by Patrick Stewart and advertised heavily on ST:TNG movie videocassettes.
- Earth Versus The Flying Saucers.
- A Howie Mandel tour videocassette.
- A video about the history of St. Louis.
I did note, though, that mixed in among the videocassettes were some jiggly direct-to-video or late night cable movies including at least one soft core porn film available for $1. I assume that these were donations that the librarians didn't know the nature of. Or the library in St. Charles is more liberal than even the Old Trees one.
- posted by Brian J. @ 12:11 PM 0 comments
Sunday, February 17, 2008
The Birthday Card He Should Have Gotten
I attended friend gimlet's birthday party and provided him with a rather pedestrian birthday card.
Here is the card he should have gotten, arrayed so you, gentle reader, can download it and print it for your own friends:
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- posted by Brian J. @ 3:20 PM 1 comments
The Noggle Library 2008 Update
In response to comments in this post, I hereby present the state of the Noggle Library 2008 post.
Back in the day, Kim du Toit posted a picture of his home library (on his old blog, obliterated at some point before he resurfaced with his current blog. I posted the first Noggle Library post in 2003. Man, five years ago, we had nothing. In response to my post, du Toit posted on his blog that some wanker had one bigger than his; hence the sidebar endorsement. However, that actual post, too, was lost when Mr. du Toit ended his original blog, so you'll just have to take my word for it.
Last year, I posted an update which showed my then office and the rest of the Noggle Library. The volume has continued to grow, though, since last year's picture did not take into account the 2007 Book Fair Season. Here's what we have now.
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Shelf in the hutch includes more computer books and writing reference/dictionaries.<
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Well, there's where we are going into Book Fair Season this year. I estimate this year I will hit my event horizon, wherein I will actually own more books than I can possibly read in my lifetime given current life projections. However, ever the optimist, I will probably buy a pile more so that I will have plenty of reading choice and so I don't actually come to the end of my life and have to read Ulysses just because I own it.
Check back next year for the next exciting installment!
- posted by Brian J. @ 2:33 PM 0 comments
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Return to Apogee
Hey, whoa. 3D Realms, the software company that apparently used to be called Apogee, has a page where you can download all those shareware side-scrollers from the late 80s and early 90s.
Just like I used to play on my 286 after spending an hour downloading them from a BBS.
I mean, it's not like I don't have a bunch of them on 3.5" diskette, but I will complete my collection.
- posted by Brian J. @ 7:24 PM 2 comments
I'm a Branding Expert, Dammit, Not Educated!
Kudos to whomever designed the label for the new Gillette Clinical Strength Antiperspirant:
Yeah, let's go with the hexagons and make it all scientific and stuff. If anyone noticed something amiss or astray with that initiative, that person was overruled. Too bad, too. When you're going all scientific and whatnot, you'll find that the hexagon is the chemical representation of benzene:
No, branding experts, benzene is not the cheaply photocopied collection of angst-ridden poetry and inky vampire drawings that Ben publishes. Benzene is:
- Benzene exposure has serious health effects. Breathing high levels of benzene can result in death, while low levels can cause drowsiness, dizziness, rapid heart rate, headaches, tremors, confusion, and unconsciousness. Eating or drinking foods containing high levels of benzene can cause vomiting, irritation of the stomach, dizziness, sleepiness, convulsions, and death.
- posted by Brian J. @ 12:43 PM 0 comments
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Packrat Pragmatism
More stuff means less floorspace to vacuum. It encourages efficiency, baby.
- posted by Brian J. @ 12:27 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
The United States Is Just Another European Country
From The American Thinker:
- What do I accept? That the U.S. is just another European country now. We are all welfare states if not outright socialist ones and our political choices are between center-left and left-left. Time to get used to it. Moving to France won't make much difference, whether you are Alec Baldwin or Chuck Norris.
- More children to conservative families than non-conservative ones.
- Home schooling and more attention to education by conservative families balances the unchecked education indoctrination in schools and universities.
- Migrations of the population out of the cities and to less populated areas, leading to a decentralization of governments in the best case scenario.
- posted by Brian J. @ 9:39 AM 0 comments
Monday, February 11, 2008
Heretics in the Temple of Bibliophilia
Virginia Postrel and friend endorse the Amazon Kindle because it takes up less space than books. Postrel:
- I love books too, and I wouldn't want to relinquish all those individual physical volumes for an electronic reader. But, that said, I had to give up hundreds of books when I moved back to L.A., because there just wasn't room for them all. I buy a lot fewer books than I would if I didn't have to store them (and live in fear of having them fall on my head in an earthquake). So maybe I need a Kindle after all.
-
I am inundated in books. I have way too many. I have no place to put them. I often can't find them when I want them. I often don't know what I want to read on a trip, so I carry six heavy books with me, which sucks.
Apparently, Tam of the mere sixty boxes understands.
(Link seen elsewhere on Dynamist.com.)
- posted by Brian J. @ 7:48 PM 3 comments
Irene Is Safe
Robbers steal $163m in art from Zurich:
-
Three armed men in ski masks stole four paintings by Cezanne, Degas, van Gogh and Monet worth $163.2 million from a Zurich museum in one of Europe's largest ever art heists, police said Monday.
- A reward of about $90,000 was offered for information leading to the recovery of the paintings - Claude Monet's "Poppy field at Vetheuil," Edgar Degas' "Ludovic Lepic and his Daughter," Vincent van Gogh's "Blooming Chestnut Branches," and Paul Cezanne's "Boy in the Red Waistcoat."
- The museum also owns Auguste Renoir's "Little Irene" and Edgar Degas' "Little Dancer."
The article claims the following regularly scheduled "Don't try this at home even though the news article has a big dollar amount in its headline" warning:
- The FBI estimates the market for stolen art at $6 billion annually, and Interpol has about 30,000 pieces of stolen art in its database. While only a fraction of the stolen art is ever found, the theft of iconic objects, especially by force, is rarer because of the intense police work that follows and because the works are so difficult to sell.
But I'd save the real plot twist for what comes next.
- posted by Brian J. @ 7:34 PM 0 comments
Another Highlight Reel Headline
Safety experts dis' Hannah:
- Many parents consider Hannah Montana a role model for children. But a scene in her current blockbuster movie is drawing negative attention from some safety experts.
The scene shows the 15-year-old Disney superstar and her dad, country music star Billy Ray Cyrus, riding in the rear seat of a Range Rover on the way to a rehearsal for their sold-out concert tour. In real life, Hannah is Miley Cyrus.
Neither was wearing a seat belt.
But to put dis in your headline. 90s urban slang, for Pete's sake.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is such low-hanging fruit.
- posted by Brian J. @ 7:30 PM 0 comments
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Headline Words Tilt
I know it's no surprise, but let me point out the obvious. This St. Louis Post-Dispatch headline indicates its lack of objectivity: Ashcroft defends Bush on spying
Spying? Well, I guess that's one way to put surveillance. If you're against it.
Don't you hate how the cops on the side of the road spy on your speed with radar "guns"? Me, too.
How about your municipality spying on you with red light cameras or with cameras downtown or microphones designed to pinpoint gunshots? What, Post-Dispatch, it's not spying unless you can hang it on Bush?
- posted by Brian J. @ 6:50 PM 2 comments
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Forget Hussein
Is America ready for President Barry?
In related news, how did the New York Times photographer Max Whittaker know to go to Hawaii in 1978 to photograph a high schooler in case he ran for president 30 years later?
I smell a conspiracy theory cooking.
- posted by Brian J. @ 8:49 PM 0 comments
Good Book Hunting: February 9, 2008
Ah, finally, that time again, my friends. The birds are singing, the sun is shining, the snows that came on Friday have receded by Monday, and it's book sale season again! Well, not quite full on book sale season, but Heather found something in the city claiming to be a sale of 1000 books, so off we went.
The sale was in a nice section of the city, St. Louis Hills or thereabouts, and it did indeed feature a number of books. A lot of books. Dollar hardcovers and old hardcovers at that. I never did ask the source of the books--the sale was in a single family home--but I did partake. I would have partooken of more were I building a reference library, gentle readers, but recent bookshelf acquisitions have shown me how space-consuming a reference library really is. So I only bought a couple of books (noted below, of course). The sale also offered old bottles at $3.00, collector sorts of bottles from various liquors around the world. Which leads to the funniest thing I saw today (so far): a rather South City Hoosierish looking fellow followed me in the pay money line, and he carried an esoteric and exotic bottle. Full. He spoke with the woman and they agreed that the vodka would still be good. Also, he had a Shooter's Handbook gun reference guide that he wanted, but he didn't want to pay a dollar for it; fifty cents, he offered, even though large reference books were $2.00. The woman offered it to him for the buck, but he wouldn't pay more than fifty cents for it. I can guess why not; that fifty cents was a whole sixth of a bottle of ancient vodka.
We also made a couple of other stops: one, a garage sale in the tiny municipality of Grantwood Village that had record albums for $3.00. I asked her if she'd take a dollar, and she would. Jeez, you record and cassette sellers, you need to know your price point here. Individual songs are a buck on the Internet. If someone wants to buy your old record or cassette, that person probably wants one song for sure and perhaps the rest as "maybe I'll like it, too." So you need to beat that dollar price point. You cannot hope that the stuff you liked back in the day along with millions of other teenagers in your generation will somehow prove to be a "collector's item." Keep it under a buck, or you'll keep it, period.
Our third stop was the local rec center for the community garage sale. People, and not a lot of them, ponied up $18 for a table. Given the selection scattered across the dozen tables, either the rush came right when it opened and cleaned it out, or people were foolish to expect to sell that stuff and make $18 back. Never the less, I bought some baseball cards and cassettes.
Here's our first noted score for the year:
Click for full size
- The Civilization of The Renaissance in Italy by Jacob Burckhardt. Not pictured because it was floating around the back of the truck until after the photo was taken.
- The Princess Bride by William Goldman. I realized when I told Heather about the book that I'd borrowed it from a friend to read. Now, I have it, so she can read it. Which is good, since the friend went from my best man to not talking to me in about 1 year. Which, oddly enough, is longer than it took the fellow who was supposed to be my best man.
- Chivalry by a fellow named Cornish. Not actually a book about Cornish Chivalry.
- The Danger of Peace by J.W. Allen. A lecture given at King's College in London in 1915, so I think it will have an interesting perspective.
- Armor and Arms, a catalog of arms in the City Art Museum of St. Louis in 1954.
- Armor in the Victoria and Albert Museum (London) in 1951.
- The Book of Buried Treasure, a nonfiction book about buried treasure.
- At The Hemingways, a nonfiction account of life with Ernest Hemingway and family by someone with Hemingway in the name.
- Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling.
- The Man with the Golden Gun by Ian Fleming because I haven't read a Bond book in a while. Of course, I already had a couple to read, but now I have this one, too.
- First Blood by David Morrell. I bought Rambo: First Blood Part II in August last year, but I should read this book first. Side note: of the 23 books I bought on August 27, 2007, I have already read 5. Yay, me.
- 1066, a book about the Norman Conquest. Because one cannot have enough about that pivotal moment in history in one's house.
- Four audio cassettes with names like Quiet Moments and Ocean Waves: Interludes. BECAUSE I NEED THE SOOTHING!
- Street Talk by Steve Perry on vinyl. "Oh, Sherrie" plus.
- Songs in the Attic by Billy Joel on vinyl. Sure, I already have it on cassette. But I am a collector! Come to think of it, I might already have this on vinyl. If so, it's still good. BECAUSE I NEED THE COLLECTING!
- Keep Your Hands Off My Power Supply by Slade. "Run Runaway" plus. Man, I cannot wait to blare that one.
Also, we got a game for the boys, and my wife bought a couple of cookbooks.
A couple weeks ago, I bought a couple new five shelf bookcases to spread out my to read stack. This means that on two bookcases, my books are not double-stacked. This spring and summer will alleviate that, no doubt.
Total purchased:12 books, 3 records, 4 cassettes.
Total spent:$20.90
- posted by Brian J. @ 1:12 PM 0 comments
Friday, February 08, 2008
Drive Shaft: The Early Years
Rachel Lucas is right; anything with a British accent is funnier.
- posted by Brian J. @ 1:34 PM 0 comments
Any Civilization Player Knows Differently
AP overstates its poll results when it says Bush, Congress hit bottom in AP poll:
- It's almost as if people can barely stand the thought of President Bush and Congress anymore. Bush reached his lowest approval rating in The Associated Press-Ipsos poll on Friday as only 30 percent said they like the job he is doing, including an all-time low in his support by Republicans. Congress' approval fell to just 22 percent, equaling its poorest grade in the survey. Both marks dropped by 4 percentage points since early January.
(Link seen on Instapundit.)
- posted by Brian J. @ 10:51 AM 0 comments
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Book Report: Playgrounds of the Mind by Larry Niven (1991)
Wow, it's been almost three years since I read N-Space, the collection to which this book is billed the sequel. How do you get a sequel to a collection of short stories, snippets, and novel excerpts? Beats me, I am not a marketing flack for a publisher.
Like that book, I didn't care for this book too much. For starters, it pads the nearly 500 pages with excerpts and scenes from novels (a disturbing number of which I have already read). It offers a number from his Warlock series, which I haven't read and might have to look into. Other than that, it dabbles mostly in the Known Space arena.
It did, however, allow me to put my finger on one of Niven's flaws: his books are best when the science isn't actually a freaking character within it, particularly the one that speaks most. The later Ringworld novels fell into this trap, as did one of the stories in this book ("The Borderland of Sol") whose only purpose was for Niven to noodle about the conceit of a quantum blackhole. The narrator is a space adventurer who follows along with Carlos Wu, father of Ringworld's Louis Wu, as they uncover a scientist engaged in piracy. The bulk of the story is Wu knowing the science of what's going on and not spilling it until they're in the pirate's lair, where the pirate scientist gives a lecture on quantum black holes.
The nonfiction bits talk about how much Niven likes to deal with the hard sciences and that, in one of the many science fiction convention memories he treats us to, he and a group of artists and writers got a conference room set aside so they could create a world, including the topography, the aliens on it, and their culture. They worked in the room for the whole convention, and that was it: people putting together a world. Niven was surprised that more fans didn't stop by to see this riveting action as artists created the images, writers wrote up the prose, and everyone brainstormed without a freaking story.
Niven, apparently, lives for this stuff, but readers don't necessarily. Ergo, this book is okay for real Niven fans, but casual science fiction fans should probably stick to the real novels or the real collections.
- posted by Brian J. @ 10:39 PM 0 comments
ABC News Corrects Coyote's Spelling
From the story Fake FedEx Trucks; When the Drugs Absolutely Have to Get There:
- A fake U.S. Border Patrol van was found to be carrying 31 illegal aliens in Casa Grande, Ariz.
An alert agent recognized that the "H" in the van's serial number is a letter used only on U.S. Border Patrol Jeep Wranglers. It should have been a "P."
Now, how about some Pantone colors for the fake logos, ABC? What, are you holding something back because the Bush administration censored you?
(Link seen on Instapundit.)
- posted by Brian J. @ 1:19 PM 0 comments
Those Poor, Poor Donkeys
Southern Residents Asses Tornado Damage
(Link courtesy of William Squire.)
- posted by Brian J. @ 6:35 AM 0 comments
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Regardless of the Adjective, More Money Needed
MoDOT: Roads safer, more money needed
Do you get the sense that if the roads were less safe, more money would be needed anyway?
Roads remain the same....more money needed!
Flying cars invented, more money needed to convert the roads to bike paths!
Roads? Where we're going we don't need roads? More money needed to subsidize production of organic garbage for the Mr. Fusion.
Come on, everybody play "Think Inside The Bureaucratic Box"!
- posted by Brian J. @ 9:27 PM 0 comments
Me and 3105
Total Missouri vote count for Fred Thompson: 3106.
That might include me, but on further reflection, I somehow was filling out a St. Louis City paper ballot; I know because I voted against its half cent tax increase for practice.
- posted by Brian J. @ 4:22 PM 1 comments
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
I Was Going To Write In Thompson
I voted this morning, about 9:30, about the 98th person at my polling place to use the scanned paper ballots instead of the touch-screen voting machines. I took the piece of paper because I'd planned to write in the name of my favored candidate, a man who has since left the race, Fred Thompson.
The current front runners of the party, Romney and McCain, are not my first choice. Nor my second choice. Nor, really, men I would choose at all if given any good field. Romney signed MassCare (Google asks, "Did you mean Massacre?"). Romney promised auto workers that he would save the auto industry. I mean, Romney isn't what I'd call a conservative.
McCain, now, I liked him well enough in 2000, before I knew much about him. I even forgave him for earnestly supporting McCain-Feingold because I thought his heart was in the right place with his intentions, but I didn't think the law would prove "Constitutional" (the difference between Constitutional and "Constitutional" lies in the difference between my opinion and that of the swing vote of the Supreme Court). However, it did, and ultimately the better I got to know McCain, the less I liked him.
I would have voted for somebody else, anyone else, when I got to the polling place. Instead, I hoped to write in the name of Fred Thompson to indicate my displeasure with the ruling mass of the Republican party that its calculus that weights "electability" (that is, how positively enamored the media coverage of a candidate is) over substance (that is, reason, individualism, and capitalism tempered with individually-motivated charity that make up the American psyche, or what I always hope is ultimately would prove to be the American psyche).
I wanted to let the Party and its new ruling locus back east understand that they weren't speaking for me, that I would go outside the established paths they chose for me and would actually write in the name of a Federalist, a man laden with gravitas, and someone who I think exuded sincerity and down-to-earth belief in himself and the aforementioned tenets of American society.
Of course, between the two evils vying to be the lesser of the two evils on the ballot in November, the current leader McCain varies from all that I think is good in politics more than the other guy, and a vote for a who has no chance is really a vote for the front runner. That is, any vote for anyone other than the guy in second place is irrelevant. And I didn't want McCain to win, did I?
Brother, that argument that my opinion is irrelevant doesn't work if you're trying to bring me to inflate your relevance. I know that I differ from the bulk of the party, and this primary offers me the opportunity to remind you just how much.
I was going to write in Fred Thompson, but his name was on the ballot. Good, that means that people who feel almost as fervent as I do but are lazy might take the opportunity to send the same message that I did. I filled in the circle and scanned it in, leaving a paper trail in case of voting irregularities or whatnot and a record that I stand apart from the direction this party is going, down the slippery slope into disconnection from me, if not its base.
- posted by Brian J. @ 5:48 PM 0 comments
Monday, February 04, 2008
Another Juxtaposition
On Friday, I shoveled nine inches of snow off of my walk and driveway.
Today, it was seventy-five degrees and the snow is all gone.
You cannot really explain that to someone who hasn't lived in St. Louis.
- posted by Brian J. @ 9:42 PM 0 comments
Friday, February 01, 2008
Another Fancy Headline Juxtaposition
Following the "coincidence" yesterday, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch identifies another suspicious bit of serendipity:
Click for full size
- posted by Brian J. @ 9:09 PM 1 comments
So Who's Trying To Remove The Middle East From The Internet?
Third undersea Internet cable cut in Mideast:
- An undersea cable carrying Internet traffic was cut off the Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai, officials said Friday, the third loss of a line carrying Internet and telephone traffic in three days.
Ships have been dispatched to repair two undersea cables damaged on Wednesday off Egypt.
- posted by Brian J. @ 4:11 PM 0 comments
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