I can feel it ...

Where's my spanking? Damnit! There's gonna be some hell to pay around here.

Clear Ayes,
Since you enjoyed the other Live tune, I thought I would plug this one. It is very poignant. In a moment of synchronicity, I just happened to be listening to this song very late one night when, unbeknownst to me, my niece was delivering her first child.

Here are the words to Lightning Crashes

Lightning crashes, a new mother cries
Her placenta falls to the floor
The angel opens her eyes
The confusion sets in
Before the doctor can even close the door

Lightning crashes, an old mother dies
Her intentions fall to the floor
The angel closes her eyes
The confusion that was hers
Belongs now, to the baby down the hall

Oh now feel it comin' back again
Like a rollin' thunder chasing the wind
Forces pullin' from the center of the earth again
I can feel it.

Lightning crashes, a new mother cries
This moment she's been waiting for
The angel opens her eyes
Pale blue colored iris,
Presents the circle
And puts the glory out to hide, hide

Quandry

Yes, that's right, I am in a quandry. Whatever will I wear for National Tea Bagging Day? I wonder if it's too late to get hold of one of those cute little French Maid outfits. Well, if worse comes to worse, I can just wear my birthday suit!

FYI: If you didn't already know, this is 'tea bagging'.

Art? Beauty? Ugliness? Who the f#@! knows?

While all the 'good' people went to church today and mingled with their addle-brained peers, I was busy practicing witchcraft and becoming a lesbian. How'd you spend your day?

I like this little ditty!
.......................................................

"I talk of freedom
You talk of the flag
I talk of revolution
You'd much rather brag
And as the decibels of this disenchanting
Discourse continue to dampen the day

The coin flips again and again and again
And again as our sanity walks away

All this discussion
Though politically correct
Is dead beyond destruction
Though it leaves me quite erect
And as the final sunset rolls behind the earth
And the clock is finally dead
I'll look at you and you'll look at me
And we'll cry a lot
But this will be what we said

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幪¦â°®­­­­­­ªµ­Àº·½Öã幪¦â


Look where all this talking got us baby.

A father watched his young daughter playing in the garden. He smiled as he reflected on how sweet and pure his little girl was. Tears formed in his eyes as he thought about her seeing the wonders of nature through such innocent eyes. Suddenly she just stopped and stared at the ground. He went over to her to see what work of God had captured her attention. He noticed she was looking at two spiders mating. 'Daddy, what are those two spiders doing?' she asked. 'They're mating,' her father replied. 'What do you call the spider on top?' she asked. 'That's a Daddy Longlegs,' her father answered. 'So, the other one is a Mommy Longlegs?' the little girl asked. As his heart soared with the joy of such a cute and innocent question he replied, 'No dear. Both of them are Daddy Longlegs.' The little girl, looking a little puzzled, thought for a moment, then lifted her foot and stomped them flat. 'Well, we're not having any of that gay shit in our garden,' she said.

More Than Rememberance

Wow! Remember this? Talk about a blast from the past. Boy, those were the days. I just love nostalgia. Why can't we all just go back to yesterday? It was so much better then.

WM,
You'd better get your anarchist, paint-slatherin' booty back over here or else I'm gonna start dissun' ya around the corner. You just about took over this blog not too long ago and I, for one, miss you. You should know that I still have my eye out for that Abbaye de Belloc. Word has it that it keeps 'spooks' at bay. Sounds like a win-win situation to me. I can turn off the video surveillance cameras and indulge in a little 'Menage a Trois' while munching on the latest offering from those Pyrenees shepherd boys. Ahh, the life!

Another Evening of Beautiful Music

I will be leaving in few minutes to go see these guys play.
It should be delightful :)

What Is Art?

A very interest subject popped up last night about "What is Art".

PromiseMeThis, in response to a question from Lemonade714 had some very definite opinions to deliver about what he considers to be the differences between "high art" vs "crude art".

"Lemonade,
"PMT, while you provided the picture, you did not comment on Mapplethorpe, do you like his work?"
Yes.

"No comments on Serrano? I did not link to offend, but to fill out the discussion. I personally was disgusted by what purports to be art, but do not believe in censorship. I also find many types of art and music unmoving, but I am not so arrogant as to think that it is not special to others. Like beauty, art in the eye of the beholder."

So what is art?
First and foremost, one must distinguish between crude art and 'High Art'. The litmus test, the question one must ask is, "Is the purported truth of the work, in fact, the 'actual truth'?"

A couple of examples are in order:

One of the most famous Baroque paintings is Peter Paul Rubens' The Disembarkation at Marseilles">. This painting while exhibiting a degree of craftsmanship is, never-the-less, nothing more than commercial art. The painting serves exactly the same purpose as television commercials do today .. to sell us something. It was commissioned by the Medici's to cause the average schmuck (in this case, many of them being supposedly educated nobleman) to swoon when they saw it and to welcome Catherine d'Medici with open arms as the new, semi-divine Queen of France. Either Rubens was a complete idiot, or he was a whore who took the job for the money.

Contrast that to Picasso's Guernica, an UGLY painting. Guernica is that quintessential picture that Ma and Pa Kettle inevitably encounter upon their arrival at the Prado. Upon which, old Pa turns to old Ma and says, "Wood ya look at that monstrosidy, Myrna! Li'l Jimmie cooda paintud sump'n better'n that." Picasso's work, unlike Ruben's, was not primarily economically determined. The man was expressing his outrage over the
atrocities committed during the Spanish Civil War. He was not being commissioned to sell a lie. He was sincere, and that is what differentiates him from Paul Ruben.

So, is Mapplethorpe a whore?
Before you answer ... ask yourself, "Which does more harm, the image of someone willingly inserting something into there rectum, or someone shedding somebody else's blood, as is so often depicted on TV?

How pretty a work of art is, how well it adorns one's accoutrements is meaningless. The only question is whether or not the artist was sincere or merely a whore.

I just had a lot of questions.

PMT, So...An artist accepts a commission to paint a specific subject. He is not emotionally moved by the subject. He still sincerely does the best technical rendition he can because he owes it to the patron.

Are you saying that no matter how beautiful his execution might be, the product is merely "crude art"? Is what you call high art only to be determined by motive? Is the Sistine Chapel "crude" because an unwilling Michelangelo was waylaid by Pope Julius into the painting? Or did it become "high art" because of his personal religious convictions? What if that motive or sincerity cannot be determined? Are centuries of Church and royal commissions to be tossed aside as crude simply because we cannot know the mindset of the artist?"

I thought Wolfmom, as our resident pro, might want to weigh in on the subject. And of course, any other comments from PMT would be interesting.

Secrets

Red Cross says doctors helped CIA "torture"

Tue Apr 7, 2009 4:04pm EDT

By Jane Sutton

MIAMI (Reuters) - Health workers violated medical ethics when they helped interrogate terrorism suspects who were tortured at secret CIA prisons overseas, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

The medical workers, thought to be doctors and psychologists, monitored prisoners while they were mistreated at CIA prisons and advised interrogators whether to continue, adjust or halt the abuse, the ICRC said in a report based on interviews with 14 prisoners in 2007.

One prisoner alleged that medical personnel monitored his blood oxygen levels while he was subjected to waterboarding, a simulated drowning designed to induce panic and widely considered to be torture, the ICRC said.

Other prisoners said that as they stood shackled with their arms chained above their heads, a doctor regularly measured the swelling in their legs and signaled when they should be allowed to sit down.

The ICRC interviewed 14 men who had been held in secret CIA prisons overseas before being sent to the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2006.

The 14 are considered by the United States to be "high-value" al Qaeda suspects who plotted or carried out mass murders, including the September 11 attacks and the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings. They had been held by the CIA, most for more than three years, in extreme isolation and had not been allowed contact with each other when the ICRC interviewed them at Guantanamo in November 2007.

The ICRC said their claims had credence because they gave similar accounts of their treatment, including the actions of medical monitors whose names they never learned.

The ICRC monitors compliance with the Geneva Conventions governing the treatment of war captives and keeps its reports secret, sharing them only with the detaining government.

The report, written in 2007, was posted on the New York Review of Books website on Monday night by journalist Mark Danner, who has not said publicly how he obtained it.

"VIOLATED ETHICAL DUTY"

He first published excerpts last month, including a portion in which the ICRC concluded the al Qaeda captives' treatment in the CIA prisons "constituted torture" and violated international law.

The report alleges collars were placed around some prisoners' necks and used to slam their heads against the walls, and that they were forced to stand with their arms shackled above them for two or three days and left to urinate or defecate on themselves.

The prisoners told the ICRC they were beaten and kicked, left naked for long periods, subjected to sleep deprivation, loud music, cold temperatures, rape threats and forced shaving. Some said they were denied solid food unless they cooperated with interrogators and one said he was confined in a crouching position in a box too short to stand in.

A previously undisclosed portion of the report concluded that medical workers who monitored or took part in the interrogations had violated their ethical duty to do no harm, preserve dignity and act in patients' best interest.

The ICRC said "any interrogation process that requires a health professional to either pronounce on the subject's fitness to withstand such a procedure, or which requires a health professional to monitor the actual procedure, must have inherent health risks." [full article]

History Collapsed

(VINCENZO PINTO, AFP/Getty Images / April 6, 2009)





The dome of the Cathedral in the center of L'Aquila was damaged by an earthquake measuring 5.8-magnitude on the Richter scale. The death toll was rising steadily after many homes collapsed in the Abruzzo region.

I don't know if you guys will recall it but, back on February there was a clue in the old TMS XW for which the answer was 'spruce'. Argyle, who guess blogged that puzzle commented that both the noun [spruce: any evergreen, coniferous tree of the genus Picea] and the verb [spruce: trim in dress or appearance; neat; smart; dapper] came from the same root, Prussia. I mentioned in my subsequent comment that I found that very interesting since I had never made a connection between the two homonyms, much less any connection to Prussia. I also commented that whenever I think of Prussia I always recall the Hohenstaufen dynasty and, specifically, the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. So, you might ask, what does this have to do with the earthquake in central Italy? Well, in my comment I included the following quote from Wikipedia that points out Frederick II's contribution to poetry.

"He was patron of the Sicilian School of poetry. His royal court in Palermo, from around 1220 to his death, saw the first use of a literary form of an Italo-Romance language, Sicilian. The poetry that emanated from the school predates the use of the Tuscan idiom as the preferred language of the Italian peninsula by at least a century. The school and its poetry were well known to Dante and his peers and had a significant influence on the literary form of what was eventually to become the modern Italian language."

OK so, once again, what does this have to do with the earthquake in Italy? Well, apart from being a great patron of poets, he was also a patron of the other arts as well as architecture. He was the one who began the construction of the city of L'Aquila.
According to the story from the Associated Press, in the historic center of the city, a wall of the 13th century Santa Maria di Collemaggio church collapsed and the bell tower of the Renaissance San Bernadino church also fell. The 16th-century castle housing the Abruzzo National Museum was damaged. The story also mentioned that firefighters with dogs worked feverishly to reach people trapped in fallen buildings, including a dormitory where half a dozen university students were believed still inside. Castelnuovo, a hamlet of about 300 people 25 kilometers (15 miles) southeast of L'Aquila, appeared hard hit, and five were confirmed dead there. Another small town, Onno, was almost completely leveled. It is possible that the university buildings are quite old as are, no doubt, the buildings in those nearby towns. While many famous structures, such as the Ponte Vecchio, have been spared the ravages of time, many have not and it is always a shame to see this kind of thing happen.

The last major quake to hit central Italy was a 5.4-magnitude temblor that struck the south-central Molise region on Oct. 31, 2002, killing 28 people, including 27 children who died when their school collapsed. I remember that one well. It was just a small town that lost so many of its children. Very sad.

The Florida Highwaymen

Fort Pierce-area artists celebrated
March 29th, 2009

The story of the Highwaymen seems improbable. The spark that ignited this celebrated African-American art movement was provided by A.E. "Beanie" Backus, a middle-aged white man and scion of a prominent Fort Pierce family. Alfred Hair, the Highwaymen's leading figure, was gunned down in a bar age 30. And most of the artists lacked formal training, let alone access to the established art market.

Yet, through their industriousness and entrepreneurial spirit, the Highwaymen were able to make considerable money peddling their paintings — often from the trunks of their cars as they traveled through Central Florida towns — at a time when employment options for black men and women were largely limited. (more)

Secrets

Anonymous said...

Hey most of you phony's I know who you are...go lurk on the other blog where you can dis people and share your high falutin' opinions in private. Sorry, probably spelled high falutin' rong. wat due eye no?

April 3, 2009 11:14 PM

Did any of you notice this comment posted around the corner the other night?
Just who the fuck is this dumbass?
Some god-damned coward for sure!
Oh, and BTW, shouldn't that be 'wut'?

The Quality of Life

My mother was a very practical woman. She and my father had a living will long before it was a well-known method to make your end of life wishes known. She was a believer in keeping things and people working until it no longer made any sense. My father had two heart attacks before the final one that sent his consciousness reeling into the stratosphere (or wherever). She was the one who kept him going for the additional 30 years.

After he died, she went sensibly on with her life for another two decades. At the age of 80, she gave up living alone and moved in with my youngest sister's family. One of the reason's she did so was that she had been having a lot of trouble with her balance and with pain in her hip. She had hip replacement surgery and expected to be able to go back to an improved quality of life. That didn't happen.

For some reason, her new hip didn't respond the way it should have and she was plagued by severe pain for the rest of her life. Her surgeon offered a free "re-do", but she decided that she didn't want to go through additional surgery without the prospect of a better outcome than she already had. She tried several different pain medications, but the only one that brought her any relief was morphine. Her doctor tried to dissuade her.

"Mrs. L. Don't you understand that morphine is highly addicting? You could very easily become dependent on it. You don't want that, do you?"

Mom's reply was, "So what. I'm 80 years old. If I'm an 81 year old morphine addict, who cares?"

She got her morphine prescription and was able to resume some of her activities.

A few years later, morphine wasn't taking care of her pain as well as it had. Her doctor refused to increase the amount to what she would have required and she came to me with a difficult request. She had read about a book titled, "Final Exit" , that detailed methods of suicide for the terminally ill. She was not terminal, but she was concerned that her pain was robbing her of an acceptable quality of life. In addition, even though she had never been a smoker, she suffered from advanced respiratory disease and couldn't breathe properly without the constant aid of supplementary oxygen. She wanted me to get a copy of the book for her. As it turned out, that visit was the last we had.

As you can imagine, this was an extremely difficult request for me to act on, but I did purchase the book for her. She had given me so much and had asked so little in return, that I felt I couldn't refuse her in what was her hour of need. I was spared having to give it to her, because she died of a massive stroke about a week after we had talked.

Would I have given the book to her? I have no doubt that I would have. I knew my mother well enough to know that this wasn't a frivolous request. Constant pain had invaded her life and she was no longer able to enjoy the things that gave her pleasure. She was worn down and exhausted by pain and no longer felt that her life was meaningful. Her life was still very meaningful to me, but it wasn't my choice to make.

The photo is of the hill at the top of our property. She loved the view from our patio. 1/3 of Mom's ashes are scattered there. The sisters have disposed of the other 2/3's in a couple of other world locations. Mom did love to travel.

Progressions #2

Good afternoon and evening...

I am posting this uncropped photo because I would like some critical input. It is a concept I came up with a few months back and have been sitting on it for a bit...I'm not sure if works, if it is boring or intriguing or bland. I often find that when I am away from an image for a while that I either really like it or feel somehow divorced from it...this is leaning toward the divorced, although I now think that I may have a better solution to the multiple image conept.

Appologies for the quality.

Blast away. If it s%*$s, then ok...

Possibly Shakespeare in the evening...

OLD TIME RELIGION

I did this as a starting point for Thursday...anything goes.

The heading is the title of the painting. Salisbury Cathedral on Salisbury Plain with Stonehenge...hence the title. It also an uncropped photo...sorry.

Made it large so you could see details...

CA...please post more of your lovely work.

PMT...it's your blog, so change or remove if you wish. I just thought that it is easier to have a starting point for each day to avoid confusion and this is "toot my horn" day...hope you like it. Now I have to go do more of that. WM

Secrets

Oil, Smoke & Mirrors

"Oil Smoke & Mirrors" offers a sobering critique of our perceived recent history, of our present global circumstances, and of our shared future in light of imminent, under-reported and mis-represented energy production constraints.

Through a series of impressively candid, informed and articulate interviews, this film argues that the bizarre events surrounding the 9/11 attacks, and the equally bizarre prosecution of the so-called "war on terror", can be more credibly understood in the wider context of an imminent and critical divergence between available global oil supply and global oil demand.

The picture "Oil, Smoke & Mirrors" paints is one of a tragically hyper-mediated global-political culture, which, for whatever reason, demonstrably disassociates itself from the values it claims to represent.

While the ideas presented in this film can at first seem daunting, it's ultimate assertion is that these challenges can indeed be met and surpassed, if, but only if, we can find the courage to perceive them.

Nothing Special

PMT...I'm not trying to take over the blog, but just wanted to post a new place to start. I am not "allowed" to turn on the computer tomorrow because Bill is worried about this worm thing and I never downloaded the patch for the computer...as things are going, until I can get the extra memory card/chip/whatever...I am a bit leery of downloading anything else...so you all are on your own tomorrow...

I am hoping that by this next weekend we can fix stuff in the computer...Bill seems to think if we can get through the next day or so it might be ok...this thing has been on the loose for awhile and I really don't think that home computers are terribly at risk...but I'm going along with this for now.

Maybe Windhover will regale us with some more Wendell Berry-ism...looking forward to this.

Lovely day to you all...WM

The Good Life

To continue a bit away from the rants, a small discussion on what constitutes the proverbial "Good Life"?

The picture is a good indication of where I might start. I find that the things that count the most are great food, good wine , friends and family. My art works in there, but I went many years without it and as long as I had the 4 things above I would be endlessly happy.

I also find that the incredible beauty of each day is important. We live backed up to the East/Southbay hills and almost immediately we are outside of the "city". Behind us is a stable and then into the hills. The bay is nearby and the views if you drive into the hills are miraculous. It is eaasy to imagine what it looked like when nothing was here but nature.

We already know some of the beauty that PromiseMe creates for himself. WH must have beauty everywhere he looks and I would imagine that CA has great beauty around her in the mountains. So what else does it take to make you content?

Secrets

The Swiss, Are They Cuckoo?

ZURICH, Switzerland, March 14 (UPI) -- Switzerland is bowing to international pressure, agreeing to end its policy of allowing secretive banking, officials said.

The Times of London reported Saturday that the move means Switzerland will join Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Andorra, which also agreed this week to share limited information on their accounts on request from foreign governments.

The newspaper said Zurich's decision to end its 300 years of banking secrecy precedes the G20 meeting, where British Prime Minister Gordon Brown plans to press for international tax havens.

Switzerland has said it would share information on bank accounts with other countries on individual cases. Swiss Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz said despite the change, there would be no "fishing expeditions" for information.

"It's an enormous change, the most fascinating development since the end of the Second World War," said Jay Krause, a partner at Withers. "The Swiss continue to say that banking secrecy remains. That is in part true but it is for ever changed."

------------------------------------------------------

Is there a pattern here? Control the press, control the right to bear arms, control the flow of money? Jeezuz Christ, they are controlling our every move via vehicular toll passes. They are even pushing a mileage tax (which sounds good on the surface but is, in fact, pernicious). They plan to track drivers' fuel usage via mandatory GPS units in all vehicles.
We ALL know that our fucking tax dollars have always gone into the pockets of the wealthy, the 'powers-that-be', those who handle us. So why on Earth would we be lining up and chanting this mantra: "Let me pay more, let me pay more, let me pay more than my share", all the while knowing that our system is as corrupt as any that ever has been.
Particularly odious is this little tidbit, "Switzerland has said it would share information on bank accounts with other countries on individual cases.".
Just who the fuck are the assholes whose information they intend to 'not share'?

Personally, I am all in favor of being able to squirrel my money away and having nobody know where it is. On the other hand, I think that we should take the people who possess the vast majority of the world's wealth, line them up and shoot them all. This should raise no alarm for they comprise all of about 1% of the total population.

Uh-Oh ...
I hear them knocking.

Collections

This by way of a test run...

The photo is my small collection of masks in my tiny entry hall. The 3 on the far right are ceramic ones that I made and the gold beaky one is a Mardi Gras mask from my daughter's high school French class(we made it together). The big black and white one was brought from Venice by my brother.

I was just thinking about things that I find important and things that I probably could call obsessive behavior...like my collection of cookbooks, cooking magazines and recipes from the internet and from long since vanished magazines. I always have this feeling that if I throw out recipes that I will eventually need them. I go through them periodically and find them endlessly fascinating and keep making promises to make any number of them. I used to keep a mental list of 5 cookbooks that I would grab if I had to leave the house suddenly. That list has never really changed, although there are probably 5 more I could easily add. I try to put trip photos into albums. It pares down what you keep and would make it easier to take with you in an emergency.

I guess what I am asking is what do you consider of such value that you would grab it if you had to get out FAST? I know that, ultimately, I could certainly do without most of what I have, but I find it comforting to have those things around me. We live in earthquake country and could have a disaster without warning. Fire and flood are much less an issue, although with last summer's fires, anything is possible. I just think of the people that lose everything in fires, tornados, hurricanes and floods, and wonder if I could just step back from everything and feel a sense sense of freedom from all these THINGS. I would hope that I could if it ever came down to that.

Secrets

FAA Keeps Bird-Strike Data Secret

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Aviation Administration is proposing to keep secret from travelers its vast records on where and how often commercial planes are damaged by hitting flying birds.

The government agency argued that some carriers and airports would stop reporting incidents for fear the public would misinterpret the data and hold it against them. The reporting is voluntary because the FAA rejected a National Transportation Safety Board recommendation 10 years ago to make it mandatory.

The agency's formal secrecy proposal came just after FAA officials said they were going to release the huge database to The Associated Press in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. The FAA's move to expand secrecy also comes as President Barack Obama is promising a more open government.

"To have the government actually chill public access to safety information is a step backward," said James Hall, former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. "Public awareness is an essential part of any strong safety program."

Sen. Chuck Schumer and fellow New York Democrat, Rep. John Hall, vice chairman of the House aviation subcommittee, wrote administration officials urging them to abandon the proposal.

"There's no reason to make ... the causes of other accidents public and not this," Schumer said Friday.

"Whether the public should worry is for the public to decide, not FAA," said Rep. Brad Miller, D-N.C.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller. D-W.Va, chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, advised the FAA he would review any change to ensure travelers and local communities have enough information "to make informed decisions regarding wildlife strikes on aircraft."

After a multiple bird strike forced a US Airways jet to ditch in the Hudson River on Jan. 15, the AP requested access to the bird strike database, which contains more than 100,000 reports of strikes that have been voluntarily submitted since 1990.

In a Feb. 18 conference call, FAA officials promised the AP the agency would turn over the data within days. Since then, the FAA has said the AP's request for the data under the Freedom of Information Act was "under review."

Last Thursday, the FAA quietly published its proposal to keep the data secret in the Federal Register, the government's daily compendium of new and proposed rules and regulations. On Wednesday, after the FAA proposal, Melanie Yohe of the FAA FOIA office told AP that release of the database was "way overdue" and "it should be with you right now." She said there is "no reason for it to take this long."

The agency's proposal rested on the assumption that some carriers and airports it regulates would allow concerns about their image and profits to override efforts to keep passengers safe.

"The agency is concerned that there is a serious potential that information related to bird strikes will not be submitted because of fear that the disclosure of raw data could unfairly cast unfounded aspersions on the submitter," the FAA wrote.

The FAA is worried the public will compare the data on various airports. "Drawing comparisons between airports is difficult because of the unevenness of reporting," it said. Not only do some airports do better reporting than others, they also face different challenges based on local bird populations, the agency said.

"Inaccurate portrayals of airports and airlines could have a negative impact on their participation in reporting bird strikes," FAA added.

"It sounds like the FAA is going back to their early 1990s view that their job is to promote the carriers and look out for their bottom line," said Mary Schiavo, former Transportation Department inspector general. "They were criticized for that and then said they also were concerned with safety, but this sounds like they're reverting to being cheerleaders for the industry."

"In this case, secrecy is going to kill," added Schiavo, a pilot herself. Since the US Airways incident, businessmen who have had corporate jets damaged by strikes have told Schiavo they want to research the problem; she said the FAA's proposal would hamper that.

The Airports Council International-North America, which represents most U.S. airports, was consulting its members on how to respond to the FAA proposal.

The FAA has rejected another method of dealing with the problem of unequal reporting by airports and airlines.

In 1999, the National Transportation Safety Board concluded voluntary reporting omits many bird strikes so the FAA database "grossly underestimates the magnitude of the problem." Further, the board said "over 50 percent of the reports lack the most critical piece of information about a strike, the species of bird."

As a result, the board recommended that the FAA require that bird strikes be reported. The FAA refused.

Meantime, the FAA acknowledges the problem is growing along with increases in air travel and in the number of dangerous large birds like Canada geese. It said reports of strikes grew from 1,759 in 1990 to 7,666 in 2007.

FAA officials say the loss of both of a jetliner's engines to bird strikes is rare. FAA safety rules do not require that engines continue to produce thrust after a bird strike, only that they not break into pieces if hit by an eight-pound-or-smaller bird.

Two years ago, Richard A. Dolbeer, chairman of the Bird Strike Committee USA, a voluntary group of government officials and industry executives, wrote the safety board about four incidents in 2005-2007 in which both engines of an airliner were damaged — by yellow-legged gulls in Rome, canvasback ducks in Chicago, starlings in Washington, D.C., and doves in Ohio. In a 2005 incident, a Falcon 20 freight aircraft ingested mourning doves into both engines, lost all power, slid through an airport security fence in Ohio and across a highway into a corn field.

Dolbeer said the incidents "show the margins between safety and catastrophe are becoming rather thin."

The Roots of Coincidence

With a title like 'The Roots of Coincidence' one might figure that I was posting something philosophical. Nope. Just an amazing song that will definitely raise your 'hip quotient'!

WH,
Thanks for posting again. I will try to catch up tomorrow.

Part Deux

Sorry I'm a little late, but I guess the time is prime in PDT. First, a little housekeeping. ClearAyes, you say that you are not very "spiritual", as if that was synonymous with belief in the dominate myth. I beg to differ. You are best known around the corner for your contributions of poetry. The writing, reading, and perception of poetry are all spiritual undertakings. While I pegged right away when I first encountered your contributions to CC's blog as a fellow skeptic, It was also evident that there is a great deal of depth to your intellect and character. So I'm not buying your claim of non-spirituality, though your non-belief is as natural in my world view as breathing. It is a fact, though that I didn't learn to "breath" until I was past 40.
BTW, your poetry selection is from a collection titled "The Country of Marriage". Here is another from the same source.

The Mad Farmer's Love Song

O when the world's at peace
And every man is free
then will I go down unto my love

O and I may go down
several times before that.

I hope you've all been able to find a WB bio. If not I'll try to locate one and point you too it. Tonight I
want to,as requested recommend some reading. Some of these are most likely out of print, but are available everywhere used.
In poetry, some of my favorites are "Sayings and Doings" , Sabbaths, & The WindowPoems. WB lives on a hillside overlooking the Kentucky River near Port Royal, Ky. , a small town in Henry County. His writing shack, located on the riverbank a few hundred yards upstream, features a 40 pane window salvaged years ago from a demolished building. The poems in this collection were inspired, over a period of years by scenes viewed through this window.
WB is probably best known as a essayist focussed on cultural, particularly agricultural, issues. You can discern some direction from a selection of titles. His breakout book , in 1977, was called The Unsettling of America, which is a not too subtle play on words. It also remains for the most part, very relevant to our present condition. Others are "What are People For", Home Economics, "Sex, Economy, Freedom, and Community", and more recently" The Way of Ignorance". I recommend any or all, but you've got to start somewhere.
His fiction works now span 50 years, the first started in the late 50's and published in 1960. Some of the more recent and best are "Hannah Coulter", Jayber Crow, "A World Lost", and my personal favorite," The Memory of Old Jack".
Why should you read Wendell Berry? He is, after all, an unapologetic Christian, and we (most of us) are not. He is one of a half-dozen C's that I do more than humor or tolerate. But most of his religiously tinged writing is directed at his fellow Christians, insisting that they live up to their ideals. He does something similar for all of us in his collection "Citizenship Papers".
It's now 11:33 here in EDT, so I'm off again. I'll try to start earlier tomorrow, but the Irish and I sometimes have a little party on Saturday night. You won't be hearing about that, though. In the interim, try to find some WB.
Windhover

The Real Farmer Philosopher

Well, after several false starts, here goes nothing. My purpose here is to introduce PMT to my friend, and mentor of sorts, Wendell Berry, and to those of you who are familiar with his work, encourage you to delve more deeply into it. This first effort will be necessarily brief, because my battery is low. I intend to keep this going for some time, and will look to PMT for guidance as to whether to continue this thread or simply start new ones.
I encourage each of you to find a reliable bio on Wendell. It is important to know his background and history, as they are very relevant to understanding his work, which is both vast and varied. I would supply a link, but you are familiar with my ineptness re the 'internets'.
The piece you read last week 'The Burden of the Gospels', is the tip of an intellectual iceberg. Although he is best known as an essayist, WB is a poet and novelist. His poetry has been labeled as didactic, (in, I suppose, a reference to some of his longer poems being in the style of Virgil's Georgics), but that is much too narrow and confining. His 'Sabbath poems' written over a long series of Sunday mornings when he visits a secluded hillside on his farm, are very insightful and to me, represent the only divinity I recognize, Nature. There are also the 'Window' poems.
WB's fiction is a series based on a fictional Kentucky farming community. My favorite, 'The Memory of Old Jack' seemed when I first encountered it 18 years ago, to be the story of my life so far, but we didn't know each other at the time. I'll have a lot more to say about all this later. iPhone says it's time to publish or risk losing it again.
Thanks, PMT.
Windhover

Dismayed

I must admit to being a bit dismayed that my, otherwise so astute, colleagues on the TMS blog seem to have missed my post in response to C. C.'s query. It was posted at 5:52pm local time.
Did you guys miss it, too?
WH, being a 'philosopher', it was ready made for you.
Disclaimer: While I am loathe to toot my own horn, F#@! I+!
No one else seems to want to do it ... which may just be payback for me not wanting to feel rich.

Secrets

Here's a little something to chew on.







The next time you think that this whole push to shift the center of the financial world to Washington is not just another 'Overseas Contingency Operation', ask yourself: Isn't everywhere overseas? And just why are they hiding all that $#@! from the 911 survivors? There is some seriously sinister business going on and if you think the reality of things bears any resemblance to the picture painted by Brian Williams on the Nightly (so-called) News ... you are naive, to say the least. Hey, don't blame me. I voted for the black woman.

Oh ... and by the way ...

It is hard to say which is more disconcerting, the big story at the top of page three of today's 'Business' section or the little one that got stashed down at the bottom. The top story about Timothy Geithner and Ben Bernanke's insistence that the federal government be given even more "unprecedented powers" was disturbing enough, but tucked way in the lower right (as if the editors were hoping no one would notice it), was this little gem.

China floats currency plan

March 25, 2009

BEIJING — China is calling for a global currency to replace the dominant dollar, showing a growing assertiveness on revamping the world economy ahead of next week's London summit on the financial crisis.

The surprise proposal by Beijing's central bank governor reflects unease about its vast holdings of U.S. government bonds and adds to Chinese pressure to overhaul a global financial system dominated by the dollar and Western governments.

In an essay released Monday by the bank, Zhou Xiaochuan recommended creating a currency made up a basket of global currencies and controlled by the International Monetary Fund and said it would help "to achieve the objective of safeguarding global economic and financial stability."

—From news services

Do you suppose Chairman Mao's face will be on that one, too?

Sunshine On My Pillow

Just click the picture for a little 'Sunshine On Your Pillow'. I know it's all warm and mushy and $#@! But, what the hay? I gotta do something to redeem myself after the other night's indiscretions. After all, presumably Elissa's watching and I, for one, have had enough run-ins with Navy lawyers (If, in fact, you are reading this, Elissa, please don't take that the wrong way. You are as welcome here as anyone. In fact, I plan to read your book ... just as soon as Dennis and I can settle on a price.)
If anyone listens to the song and finds that they are actually interested in the words that Mr. Collins is uttering, then please click here for the lyrics. It is a damned shame that he has lost his hearing. He really shined for a while.

None

I can't seem to get to your daily blog site. Can only get to the old postings. Help.

Buckeye

My Last Post

My last post was an attempt to be humorous. However, I ultimately decided that it was a poor attempt that could too easily be taken personally. I just wanted to post something outrageous so that everyone would know that anything goes over here. Obviously, I felt the potential for misunderstanding trumped any humor and so I deleted it. I am sure I can find something more suitable if my intention is merely to post something shocking.

The biggest thing to hit Butte since Evel Knievel

damn! I just heard about the plane crash in the cemetery in Butte. I wonder if it's the one where my father no longer lives.

The Third World

I am kind of bummed. I had begun typing what turned out to be a rather lengthy post addressing Mr. Wendell Berry's essay "The Burden of the Gospels" and , wouldn't you know it we had a power surge and I lost it. I cannot say that I am surprised. Although I have developed a pretty good habit of composing messages for BBS, blogs, etc. using notepad and saving frequently, in this case I had not done so. Not long after we moved here it became apparent that brief power surges were common in this neck of the woods. Rich, having just moved down from NYC declared that this was part of the third world. He may be right, in more ways than one. As for me, I just add Florida Power and Light to the long list of mega companies that I despise. That's all I am going to say about that lest this post turn into one loooooong rant.

Tub Trouble

Well, I am getting a late start today and I am still way behind on my bookclub assignment. I have just been so distracted lately. Wednesday, the maid pointed out that one of the bathtubs (the one I use) was in bad condition. I had noticed that there was rust around the drain, but I had not realized how bad it had gotten. The maid pointed out that it was completely rusted through. Had I realized that, I would have stopped using it a long time ago. We called up a company that has the capability to place a new tub over the old one. That guy showed up yesterday and the time spent watching his video presentation and looking over his samples further cut into my reading time. I will be darn lucky if I am able to finish my book by Tuesday.

I am going to look over the 'Settings' options for this blog and see if there isn't some way that I can authorize anybody to be an 'author' and have the ability to make new, original posts while still retaining sole ownership of the blog so that I don't lose complete control of it. I hope there is a way to do that because it would help make it more of what I had originally envisioned the blog to be.

A Chunk Out of My Reading Time

Well, with the exception of a couple of hours yesterday morning, it has been been overcast since Wednesday morning, raining much of the time. This really puts a cramp in my style. I am not used to being cooped up inside for so much of the day. Ah well, I really shouldn't complain since I know there are people in the northeast who had a nice little snow storm yesterday. What a bummer for the first day of Spring. The weather has taken a chunk out of my reading time, though. I am way behind on my assignment for my book club. We meet on Tuesday at noon and I am only one-quarter of the way through Chris Bohjalian's, 'Skeletons at the Feast.' I am going to have to make some serious headway over the next three days.

Oh, look, the sun is peeking out. Let me go check to see how wet my reading chair is. Ciao!

Where's the bull?

WM,
Your comments regarding the agri-business are well put. There was a recent news story about how the US is implementing economic retaliatory measures against the EU. The price of many European gourmet foods such as San Pelligrino water and Roquefort cheese is about to double. This is due to the fact that the US is about to raise tariffs on many of the European gourmet foods to as much as 300%. Many of these goods are already subject to a 100% tariff. While I am sure that we have water here in America that is every bit as good San Pelligrino, I am still disturbed by the news. Apparently, the US action, which appears to be just fine with that non-elected body the WTO, is due to the European people having decided that they don't want to consume our hormone-laiden beef. How dare those evil Europeans! Damn them!! Damn them all to hell!!!

Babysitter Woes

Well, the rain has stopped for the moment. As I predicted, it did rain pretty much all day yesterday, coming down fairly heavy at times. That's good, we need it. None-the-less, days like yesterday are not my favorite. I would sooner deal with the intensely humid summer days. On those days, it is clear and hot all morning until the air finally reaches the point where it simply cannot hold anymore water and down it all comes in buckets. Of course, then it turns into a steam bath outside as all the water on the ground begins to evaporate once more in an effort to start the whole cycle over again. Many people don't care for that kind of weather, but I have been here long enough that I am accustomed to it. I do not care to live where it is dry and far from the ocean ever again and I prefer to take my rain in large doses, rather drawn out over long periods.

Yesterday's film party did not go off without its share of glitches. Shortly before anyone arrived, I managed to stop up the kitchen sink. Do these things always happen at such moments? The dishwasher broke not so long ago. Wouldn't you know, it was Christmas Day. Anyway, my little party was supposed to start at o1:00pm. So after the other guests had arrived and it drew close to 1:30, I began to get concerned about the absence of my initial invitee. I had originally invited Cat over to watch the film because I thought she might enjoy it, but also because it would give us a chance to ask her to babysit our girls. Inviting the others was an after-thought. Rich and I are hoping to take a Scandinavian cruise in June and we need to make a firm commitment of our ship reservations by today. Having pets always complicates our travel plans, especially the parrots (I am not naming names .. Dexter). We have gone through soooo many babysitters. One time when we had Cat over for dinner, Amy took an immediate liking to her. That told us a lot. It turned out that she used to raise parrots. During the course of our conversation the subject of the difficulty of getting a sitter came up and she offered to help us. Knowing that she is also a nurse was nice because little Phyliss has been through a lot and is blind. Both her and Melanie came from Cocker Rescue and have had their share of medical issues. So, when Cat couldn't make it yesterday Rich and I feared that our cruise plans might be down the drain, unlike the water in the kitchen sink. After our phone conversation we exchanged emails and it looks she will be able to sit for us. We will know for sure today.

Oh, look, the sun is peeking out :)

Our first real rain in months

Yes, we are getting our first significant amount of rain in months. It has been raining for hours and it seems to be coming down heavier, not easing up. It is completely overcast, so it may go on all day long. It is kind of a bummer since I cannot sit out by the river to do the crossword. I usually hate it when it rains heavy on a Wednesday morning because then I am trapped inside with the maid. Whenever she is not running the vacuum, she is running her mouth. To say that she is a motor-mouth would be putting it lightly. If silence was golden, she couldn't raise a dime. LOL. I am just teasing. She is very nice.
One upside to this downpour is that it makes for a good day to stay inside and catch a film. I had planned to do that anyway, so it will be fine. I am having some scuba friends over at 1:00pm to see, "Blue Water Hunters." Narrated by Peter Fonda, it is a very cool film about freedivers who spearfish. I am going to pop a pizza or two in the oven, toss up a salad and serves some tortillas with guacamole and a Greek dip called Tzatziki. It should be a good time.
Oooh, here comes the maid, gotta run.

The end of the rainbow?

Happy St. Patty's Day

According to Bill Maher, due to the current economic situation, for the first time in a long time there is actually serious talk of the federal government legalizing marijuana.
Maybe there finally will be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow ...
Kona Gold, that is!

Sensitivity

ClearAyes said:

"Here's an interesting topic that has had enough at other places. Let's not give any names, it isn't necessary. But, when is joke over the line? Does anything go? Is it OK to, even indirectly, make fun of the aftermath of genocide? If somebody is offended, is an apology due?

My opinion is that there is a (very fine) line. I'll laugh at a lot of what is considered un-P.C. Bill Maher is one of my favorite commentators. But there are words and situations I personally avoid. ie. I'll joke about death, but not about murder. There is nothing wrong with considering the sensitivities of your potential audience."

I think there is definitely a line. As you said, ClearAyes, it may be a very fine one. When I first read the post that so offended the anon, I was not quick to assume an offensive intent. There is a different and altogether legitimate association one could make. While I do feel that the person badly over-reacted. We are not mind -readers. If the person hadn't spoken up we might never have realized that the original post could be perceived as highly offensive. While I think it was fine for them to share his feeling, they might have done so in a more tactful fashion. Never-the-less, whether or not the intention of the original poster was to inflict deliberate pain, it would have been nice for them to apologize upon realizing that they had.

I'll show you mine, if you show me yours ...

I just received an email from some newly established conservative Internet group. They claim to be a 'grassroots' organization that is mobilizing to help ward off Obama's socialistic aims. Although that sounds sort of appealing, I have to confess that I am wary of them. I am considering responding to the email with a sort of "I'll show you mine, if you show me yours" kind of thing.
It might look something like this:
ME:
--------------
Gay
Pro-gun
Anti-abortion (although not in favor of over-turning Roe. v. Wade because it just would not help)
Opposed to the government taking so much of my money (basically because I typically object to how those assholes spend it!)

You:
---------------
?


Although I am opposed to 'socialism', I am aware that the Earth cannot sustain the gluttony paradigm that the latter half of 20th century America came to symbolize.
I am unapologetically Libertarian. Regardless of which cloak statism is wrapped in, I am not willing to surrender my free will to the those who would care to crown themselves. There is no Camelot, there are no royalty. Public officials are our servants. Period.
A few years ago I posted a message to the Pat Metheny Group web site. My moniker at the time was, Piper Cub. I took that from the make of airplane I owned back then (before I got rid of it after grudgingly admitting that that fucking thing was an even bigger money pit than my damned boat). Anyway, I posted a comment to that message board that I stand behind today. This was in the immediate aftermath of 911 and someone made a post wherein they claimed that the US was the most 'moral' country on the planet. I could not resist the urge to chime in with the remark that, "Sure ... if you can call a country that constitutes 3% of the world's population and yet annually consumes 40% of it's resources - 'moral'." Not surprisingly, nobody said a word ... at first. Finally, someone did speak up, if only to ask, "Does anyone care to respond to Piper Cub's comment?" Nobody did.

I still need to unload that damned boat. It has a 7.4 liter inboard/outboard Mercruiser that must be worth something, even if it needs to be rebuilt. I want to get a sharp little technical flats skiff so I can properly fly fish for Bones down on Biscayne Bay. However, I haven't been feeling rich lately which, no doubt, is part of the reason why he isn't eager to cough up some money for a new boat.

Good Deeds

It bears mention that Dennis was, in fact, my primary motivation in creating this blog. He stated, in a late night post, that he didn't enjoy the posts related to cooking. It was at that point that it occurred to me that it might be good if there was some other venue available to those who wanted to discuss various subjects at length. This would be good for C.C., who wanted to limit the number, as well as the length, of the posts on her blog. It appears that there is some truth to the notion that, "no good deed goes unpunished."

Primary Motivation

Apparently, Dennis is convinced that my primary purpose in creating this blog is self-aggrandizement. Nothing could be further from the truth. My linking to the Montana girl joke on this blog was simply a matter of expedience. This site offered me a space to display that joke. I could just have easily uploaded it to any other web server. It appears that I am on thin ice over at 'Crosswordcorner'. While I am willing to accept responsibility for my part in that, I do not feel that I have done anything terribly egregious. It seems that there is more afoot here than my, ultimately, benign transgressions.

Just a Girl from Montana

A girl from Montana and a girl from the east coast were
seated side by side on an airplane.
The girl from Montana being friendly and all, said, 'So, where ya from?'

The east coast girl said, 'From a place where they know better
than to use a preposition at the end of a sentence.'
The girl from Montana sat quietly for a moment and then replied:

'So, where ya from, bitch?'

HOW TO MAKE A SIMPLE HTML LINK

If you type what you see in paragraph #1, your post will appear like paragraph #2. In order for it to work, you must remember to make the proper substitutions of the inequality symbols for the parentheses. Once you have got it, just put in whichever URL you want in place of the YouTube address.


#1 - This is my example paragraph. In my paragraph, I wish to link to (a href="http://www.youtube.com")YouTube(/a). You have to type it just the way it appears here. Except, instead of using parentheses, you would use these < >. Also, don't forget to include the http:// and also the quotation marks.


#2 - This is my example paragraph. In my paragraph, I wish to link to YouTube. You have to type it just the way it appears here. Except, instead of using parentheses, you would use these < >. Also, don't forget to include the http:// and also the quotation marks.

Now you know the 'Next' of the story!

This blog is for those who would care to elaborate upon any discussions that take place on The Star Tribune Crossword Corner, hosted by the impressive Ms. C.C.
Please, feel free to discuss at will.