Timatollah |
|
 Comments, possibly informed. Tim Wilson Daytona Beach, Florida, USA timatollah@mackandtim.net Personal Homepage Professional Homepage Agenda Bender Dave Barry Bull Moose The Corner Defense Tech Matt Drudge Half Bakered Hit and Run Huffington Post Instapundit Kausfiles Mark Lane Ken Layne James Lileks Josh Marshall PaperFrog Virginia Postrel Shattered Buddha Mike Silverman Sploid Andrew Sullivan TPM Cafe Tapped Matt Welch Archives  |
Wednesday, March 26, 2003
Freedom Trumps Peace I know, I know. That's not what some of you want to hear. Still, it's pretty much how I think. No diatribe here, just a phrase caught in my mind. Still That Sodomy Case Dahlia Lithwick's comments are now online. My wish has been granted. Long live Jambi. Small World, Part 2,502,599,124 Mike Silverman has reported here that he just read a book by someone I went to high school with. And some of the work of another literary schoolmate of mine can be found here. While I'm name dropping, might as well include this guy, too. (Different medium; different school, too.) That Sodomy Case The Washington Post refers (here) to the Supremes as "deeply divided", then goes on to note that Justices Rhenquist and Scalia asked questions seeming to support the defendants (state of Texas) while Justice Breyer asked questions seeming to support the plaintiffs. And that's different than the usual state of affairs how? I'd predict the same 6-3 split as in Romer, but I'd like to hear the very pregnant but always enjoyable Dahlia Lithwick's summary of oral arguments in Slate before sticking my neck out (and her report's not up yet). Not Wall Drug Several days ago, I wrote (here) about recalling some humongous drug store that used to exist in Saint Petersburg, Florida. The ever resourceful Dragonleg / Shattered Buddha wrote that what I was remembering was Webb's City. Get this: It's a defunct drug store / tourist attraction with enough history to make a musical! Have to Be Happy with What You Have to Be Happy With to Be Happy with What You Have to Be Happy With What You Have The new King Crimson record, The Power to Believe, is great, if you like that kind of thing. It's a great mix of Fripp's angular and chunky guitar work, Belew's wailing and warbling guitar work, Gunn's bending and rolling guitar work, and Mastelotto's powerful and punching drums. Mr. Belew's voice is as confident as I've ever heard it, and it's singing thoughtful and powerful lyrics. I'm not clear what someone who's never heard this or any version of King Crimson -- or not heard anything but the "21st Century Schizoid Man" edition -- will think. QuickTime audio samples are available via a pop-up window at the album's web site. Tim Bob sez check it out! Tim Bob sez also check out artwork by P. J. Crook, who's supplied images for the last several Crimson products. Monday, March 24, 2003
Mike's in the Trunk From today's New York Times (registration required) coverage (here) of last night's Academy Awards ceremony: But Michael Moore, who won for best documentary for "Bowling for Columbine," asked the four other nominees in his category to come up on stage with him. "They are here in solidarity with me because we like nonfiction, and we live in fictitious times," Mr. Moore said. M*A*S*H -> F*R*S*S CNN is currently featuring this story on current practice in wartime medicine. US Navy doctors -- the Devil Docs of the USMC's mobile Frontline Resusitative Surgical Suites -- in southern Iraq decide who gets treated, friend or foe, the same way as when you or I go to the emergency room: On the basis of how bad the condition is. Sunday, March 23, 2003
Africa, USA In this post, Dragonleg / Shattered Buddha reminds all about the wonder that was Africa USA. I've been there. I was probably about four years old at the time. Somewhere in the the vast Timatollah archives, there's 8mm (that's 8mm, as in 16-mm cut in half, not Super-8) footage from, oh, 1960 of an ostrich at Africa USA walking up to our tram and biting my dad on the arm. Ah, the warm glow of nostalgia for the salad days of Florida's tourist attractions. Say, isn't Sunken Gardens opening up again in St. Pete? And what was that humongous drug store there? West Memphis? Lebanon? Who Can Tell? Tim Cavanaugh has the latest on what's happening in Lebanon. Not Lebanon, Tennessee; that Lebanon country in the Middle East. Iraqi Generals: Liberate Yourselves Here's a piece from, ugh, National Review Online in which a former military leader from Romania urges Iraqi generals to get on the right side of humanity and posterity. And to get on with life outside a dictatorial regime. The author's mention of Nicole Ceausescu, now dead but then dictator of Romania, reminded me, for reasons (the mechanisms of association and memory which I don't claim to understand) of Yassir Arafat's being there in Romania, not long before Ceausescu's regime fell, celebrating the longetivity of the once-Soviet-supported dictator. S (Sodomy, not Saddam) Day This Wednesday, 26 March, the U. S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in Lawrence and Garner v. Texas. That's the case where two Houston, Texas, men were arrested for homosexual conduct while in the privacy of their own home (after a bogus police tip regarding somebody in their apartment complex having a gun). Here's a story in today's LA Times (registration required) about the case. There's also this site from the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund. Friday, March 21, 2003
Deregulation Blues Last night, I went to my local professional society meeting. Normally, the speaker is someone from the electrical/computer engineering world, and ostensibly so was last night's speaker. The topic was supposed to be deregulation of the power utilities. I expected discussion of framework and of details: like, how do you deal with there only being one physical set of wires for distributing power to the consumer from various power generating companies and the like. Instead, what I got was a right-wing diatribe where the speaker seem to think (or seemed to act, at least in my opinion) like he was preaching to the choir. There was the wink-wink nudge-nudge "at least the Unabomber did less damage than Ted Kennedy joke" and the Uzi law joke: "The law would require two things: that if you had to comensate someone else for damage done to their property, and you had to shoot someone coming on your property if they were from the government." And several other similar very hostile almost, to my tastes at least, borderline hateful comments about everyone who's not lined up with "them" against the government, in their move towards zero regulation of power utilities. (Just remember: there's always regulation. Sometimes it's in the form of a legislatively-created commission, and sometimes it's the legislature itself, but there's always some level of government deciding what the rules of business are. The discussion is about where the level of government involvement is and/or how deep is it, not whether there's any government involvement or not. It may be that the power companies think it's cheaper to lobby, to buy off the legislature than to lobby, to buy off some public-utilities board, but a framework for lobbying, for buying off is still there. When someone starts talking that their approach means zero government involvement, it's time to put your hand on your wallet.) I know that someone should explain to these folks that they're the same folks currently running the governments in Washington, D.C., and in Tallahassee, but that's like explaining to their fellow travellers that welfare reform has been the law for five or so years now, so you can't complain about "welfare queens cashing their government checks" like you used to. After political successes, you have to change your message to reflect those successes. You can't play outsider when you're not the outsider anymore, or not with any degree of credibility. I do believe that in due time reality will catch up with those who try to wrap their agenda in libertarian cloth while promoting their own big government agenda that moves money into their own already big pocketbooks. Eric Hoffer used to talk about Hollywood liberals with "left-wing principles and right-wing bank accounts". I think what I saw last night was libertarian principles mouthed by someone with very much of a traditional big-business attitude. And the imagery of death to the domestic enemies (wink wink, nudge nudge) was unwelcome, rude, senseless, and not consistent with good citizenship, regardless of political agenda. Wednesday, March 19, 2003
And So It Begins May our forces be fortunate and successful, and may our souls find mercy and peace. I believe we do this, by and large, with sincere intentions and rational expectations, which is no guarantee that it's necessarily the right thing to do. I know that judgement calls involving the lives of millions or billions of people are distasteful, repugnant even to some, to many, but I don't see how they can be avoided. Let's hope for the best outcomes, for the people of Iraq and for ourselves. Sunday, March 16, 2003
Comments? Mike Silverman asks here whether he should have his head examined for making comments available. The short answer: You're nuckin futs! :-) A somewhat longer answer is that I think that comments turn blogging into BBSing (emphasis on the BS part). Or Useneting. Those kinds of forums have their strengths, but reasoned discourse and commentary aren't usually parts of those strengths. I've said it before, and I'll probably say it again. If someone wants to comment on something I've said, let 'em get a blog and go for it. Or they can send me e-mail. Beyond that, I don't see any responsibility or motive to provide them a forum, even if they should happen (by accident, I suppose) to agree with something I've said. Addendum: There's also the whole clique thing. The blog world has more than enough of that, in my opinion. Comments sometimes seem to be little more than a vehicle for cliques, possies, and other mutual-admiration societies to form. Hey, we can do mutual-admiration societies just fine without comments, right [insert usual suspects here!]? Getting Antsy? Some folks seem to be getting ansty about the timing of the very likely upcoming war with Iraq. My unsolicited advice to them: Chill. Trust that the military leadership will let the political leadership know whether or not the timing of the political decisions is negatively impacting the ability of the servicepeople to perform their duties without undue casulties. Trust that the political leadership has information, from both the military and from intelligence agencies, that you or I clearly don't, and that they are able to use that information appropriately to make tactical and strategic decisions. The timing of the war is a tactical issue. The strategic issue of who will and who won't be part of the coalition is still playing out. Yes, the playing out can seem interminable, but I don't know of good reasons to believe I have information that tells me today as opposed to next week is absolutely a better day to start the war, and I doubt if anyone I'm reading does either. This war should not be something we desire. If it has to happen, then it should happen as a responsibility to ourselves and to future generations. So, please: A little more thoughtfulness about the awful necessity of what we're doing and a little less "let's get it over with all right, already". Immigration Issues Just when I write a long post about immigration policy and this article by Dan Baum from the LA Times magazine (registration required) in which he, in my opinion, portrays anti-immigration activists as racist jerks or gun-toting yahoos, the always reliable (yeah, right) Blogger decided to balk at my entry. Hate Blogger; hate Blogger very much. But I blame Google and whatever they're doing trying to spiff things up at Blogger and Blog*Spot. Anyway, besides the link to the article, here's links to info on Michael Lind and Carol Swain, both of who have argued that paying attention to those opposed to the volume of immigration -- not lip-service paying attention, but giving the ideas due consideration -- is a worthy activity. My apologies for not trying to reconstruct the entire article. I'm kinda irritated right now. Saturday, March 15, 2003
Student Dignity Here's a story in today's Miami Herald about student lobbying for the Dignity for All Students Act. The bill would require schools to train teachers and administrators with techniques for protecting gay and lesbian student rights. With dignity. The bill would go through the House Education K-20 (K-20?) committee. The chair will meet with student lobbyists, but hasn't said whether she'd let the bill be considered. The vice chair drones on along why-do-they-need-something-special lines. My guess is that there's going to be some disappointed young people. Hoof and Mouth, Part N+274 A Nashville, Tennessee, city councilwoman seems to have used the threat of "blacks, Mexicans, and gays" moving into a neighborhood as an argument to support a townhouse development project requiring rezoning. Story here, from the Nashville Tennessean. Memo to politicians: There's no "wink wink, nudge nudge" that ever really takes. Your words will out. Thursday, March 13, 2003
Stop Him Before He Soundboards Again Him who? Shattered Buddha, that's who. Most recent soundboard link: This post linking one and all to some Bruce Lee soundboard. (I still remember Bruce Lee as Kato, but I couldn't tell you who played the Green Hornet. Van Johnson? Van Hefflin?? Van Halen??? The IMDB says it was Van Williams, whoever that is.) Previous Dragonleg / Shattered Buddha soundboard links have included Darth Vader and Homer Simpson. I'm surprised he hasn't snarfed this Miss Cleo one from its link at Solonor's. Libertarian Links Solonor States Virginia Postrel (no permalinks) linked to nearby blogger Solonor's states site. We'll see how many hits that yields when Solonor publishes his wicked pissah of a monthly referrer log. (Hey, he's from Maine!) Wednesday, March 12, 2003
UN Summit? Maybe a head-of-state summit at the UN wouldn't have been such a bad idea. President Bush (43) could've used on the French et al. that move that President Reagan used on then candidate Bush (41) back one day in 1980 on the campaign trail in New Hampshire. "I paid for this microphone, Mr. Chirac." Monday, March 10, 2003
Saturday, March 08, 2003
Alaskan Samsonite Alaskans reportedly laugh at federal government recommendations for duct tape use. Why? Because they already use it for everything. Airplane repair, cold protection, musical instruments...; the list is long. Story here, from the Anchorage Daily News. Yet Even More Bike Week Pics Will at Sliverfisch has extended his massive collection of Bike Week photos. That collection is here. Before the Rumble Cloudy morning. Bikes in hotel parking lots. 
The complete collection is at http://home.cfl.rr.com/mackandtim/photos/bikeweek/index.html. Gay Teens? In Tennessee? Today's Nashville Tennessean has this story about attempts by LBG teenagers to form gay-straight alliances in public secondary schools in middle Tennessee. What I took away from the story was a general sense that administrators in those schools just don't know how to handle the issue, so they look for ways to make it go away. For instance, one says something along the lines that gay teenagers' needs in dealing with their situations are better served by professional counseling than by peer-group activiites, given the negative environment many of those kids find themselves in when they come out. But those thinking along that track don't seem to grasp -- or would like very much to avoid grasping -- that the very act of putting together an LBG peer group or a gay-straight alliance, with a public face, does the long-term work of making the environment better. Instead of teaching gay teens coping solutions to jerky actions by thoughtless or hateful people, you change things such that those jerky actions are less likely to happen. Trying to make the situation go away or pretending it's not there or relabelling it as something that it's not doesn't change that at all. Hey, how'd I get up on this soapbox? Oh, right. I'm gay, and I grew up in middle Tennessee. Friday, March 07, 2003
When Good Writers Get Colds Here. Read Mark (Flablog) Lane, in today's News-Journal. (This hopefully resolves some Blogger or Blogspot weirdness as well as this author's moronicity.) Thursday, March 06, 2003
More Bike Week Photos Night shots! 
The complete collection is at http://home.cfl.rr.com/mackandtim/photos/bikeweek/index.html. Warholisim First the links from InstaPundit and Weblog Central, now this. If Channel 13 runs the Daily-Show-esque interview they did with me on Riddle's domestic-partner benefits, my fifteen minutes will have thankfully expired. Wednesday, March 05, 2003
More Bike Week Photos! Here's a mess of photos from Daytona Beach area blogger Will at Sliverfisch. Check out his other pics here. Myself, I hope to get out, oh, Friday or Saturday -- or Sunday! -- and get some more shots. Muy busy at work right now. Tuesday, March 04, 2003
States Are All Right, Not States' Rights The always interesting Solonor of the famed Ink Well is featuring this page about the fifty U.S. states. He's got links to state overviews from http://www.50states.com/, and then he's providing space for you, the reader, to comment on what's good about your state. This one is a native Tennessean (29 years total, not contiguous), lived in Massachusetts (for about 13 years, not continguous), and now lives in Florida (4.5 years total, not contiguous). p.s. He's got great state-flag gifs! Doin' the Right Thing Dragonleg/Shattered Buddha points all (in this post) to this story from the Tampa Tribune about how a guy who did right paid the ultimate price. Don't stop doin' right, even though it sometimes costs big. Bikers to God: Wet, Shmet This article from today's Daytona Beach News-Journal explains how bikers from up north -- well, if West Virginia and North Carolina count as "up north" -- don't care that it's raining. Also: Dyno testing your bike at AMI! Monday, March 03, 2003
God to Bikers: You're All Wet It rained today. No new Bike Week pics. Not that some bikers weren't out in it. The Awfulness of AIDS This story from the Orlando Sentinel explains the awfulness and frustration of AIDS from one individual's point of view. Sunday, March 02, 2003
Primordial You ever take a photo and not quite know what to make of it? Consider this one, which I took early one morning last week as I walked between where I park my car and the building I work in. It's a drainage ditch. First Bike Week Photos After heavy rain at times on Friday and yesterday, and even a shower this morning, it finally cleared up into a beautiful afternoon. Below are some of the first Bike Week 2003 photos. 
I'm putting the whole mess of photos I take over the course of Bike Week 2003 at http://home.cfl.rr.com/mackandtim/photos/bikeweek/index.html. Enjoy! Saturday, March 01, 2003
Yee Haw! This story, from the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, has something to do with a guy in a cowboy outfit, a lasso, a towed truck with an obscenity painted on the side, and the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Please forgive me, but I'd rather not put it all together for you. Oh yeah, as reported here, it has something to do with local favorite Shattered Buddha being stuck in traffic. The Ever-Popular InstaPundit Effect I think the image below doesn't refute (or, in ordinary usage, supports) the idea that a link from InstaPundit leads to an increase in the number of hits at a web site. 
Why the Floating Head? Everyone and his or her brother (or sister!) has likely linked to the New York Times story (here, registration required) about former President Clinton's being in the jury pool for a gang-shooting case. But why oh why did the Times accompany the story by the image below?  |
