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Sat - October 20, 2007UnluckyI would love to go to South Africa, especially
Cape Town, but this is another piece of scary
news...
JOHANNESBURG: A team of gunmen shot and killed Lucky Dube, an international reggae star and one of South Africa's best-known musicians, in an apparent carjacking attempt late Thursday that underscored the continuing peril of violent crime here. Dube, 43, what shot by three hijackers in Rosettenville, just south of downtown Johannesburg, as he dropped off his teenage son at his brother's house. Another child, a 16-year-old daughter, was in the car at the time, the police said. The hijackers fled after Dube crashed his car into a tree. He died at the scene.  Posted at 02:14 PM Read More Wed - October 3, 2007Here With MeThis item was actually published this summer,
but it's more than a little spooky... Lt Walter Haut was a PR officer at the
Roswell Army Air Field at the time of the reputed UFO crash. He died in 2006,
but left behind a signed affidavit concerning what happened that
summer...
Haut died last year but left a sworn affidavit to be opened only after his death. Last week, the text was released and asserts that the weather balloon claim was a cover story and that the real object had been recovered by the military and stored in a hangar. He described seeing not just the craft, but alien bodies. He wasn't the first Roswell witness to talk about alien bodies. Local undertaker Glenn Dennis had long claimed that he was contacted by authorities at Roswell shortly after the crash and asked to provide a number of child-sized coffins. When he arrived at the base, he was apparently told by a nurse (who later disappeared) that a UFO had crashed and that small humanoid extraterrestrials had been recovered. But Haut is the only one of the original participants to claim to have seen alien bodies. Posted at 10:35 PM Read More Tue - October 2, 2007Now how much would you pay? But wait...Bob Mould writes about Radiohead's announcement this week that they
will release their next album online, allowing fans to state their own price for
the music. Whatever they're willing to pay. Even
free.
The Big Bob is basically saying he can't quite ditch the "traditional" model of music distribution yet, but if he could, he throws several variations of a new paradigm out there to ask his fans which they would choose... Here's three that I have long thought are reasonable. Please be mindful of the following expenditures: studio cost, musician fees, equipment upgrades, rent and utilities, web site maintenance, management, publicist, other professional services. My parts and labor. Individual songs, $1 - 2 When I finish a song, you are notified by e-mail. You are directed to a secure site, some sort of unique password is generated, and you download the DRM-free file. Album length release, $10 - 20 When I finish a group of 10 songs, you are notified by e-mail. You are directed to a secure site, some sort of unique password is generated, and you download the DRM-free files. Annual fee, $20 - 40 Artist subsidy. In return for underwriting my work, you receive all music as it is completed, as well as exclusive content (video, artwork, stuff from my storage space). When tours are scheduled, additional consideration at each venue (VIP seating, etc.). Posted at 11:32 PM Read More Dangerous photojournalism, right hereAnd we wonder why Snickers is an evil cat who
only achieves emotional release by shredding the achilles tendon of passing
earthlings?
 Posted at 10:52 PM Read More Fu is in the NY Times, and it's not for planting a bombFu's little brother, G-Fu, sent out an email
almost a month ago when this was printed, but as I already stated, I was adhering to a no-blogging policy
for several months while the sedatives and anti-spasmodics kicked
in...
So the New York Times wrote a travel piece on wine bars in San Fran, and of course, Fu's little grape-juice joint made it into the short list of hot spots reviewed...  Hôtel Biron (45 Rose Street; 415-703-0403; www.hotelbiron.com) is tucked on a back alley near a cluster of restaurants on Market Street. One would be forgiven for thinking it a bar bar upon entering. The walls of the small, moody space are dark-painted brick, hung with art of the energetic Mission School. Alt rock plays loudly, and low seats cluster in nooks around tiny tables crowded with big wine glasses. I visited with a large and unruly crew that included both wine enthusiasts and rank amateurs. The bar does not offer tastes, but the owner, Chris Fuqua, was patient and generous with our high-maintenance group. From his station in the back, he eventually splashed out nearly 20 small samples before we ordered our first bottle — a 2004 Agricola Cueso nero d'Avola from Sicily ($27) that was delightfully tart and fruity. We skipped the selection of excellent cheeses, fruits and nuts, although we probably shouldn't have. Posted at 10:36 PM Read More Pope disappears for 6 months and the world continues spinningI don't really have an excuse for not blogging in
so long. I can blame it on a little product I was working on in the US, and am now
working on in Europe... But it wouldn't really be accurate, because it's not
like I am working so much harder now than I was three years ago or two years ago
or whenever. Rather, I think that it's a combination of being overwhelmed with
things I wanted to do and with a desire not to be
introspective.
[Aside, whenever I write "rather," I say it in my mind the way Stefan the Folklorist says it -- "raaaaather". That's all] Posted at 07:51 AM Read More Mon - February 19, 2007Wiesel's attacker identifiedHow sick do you have to be to stalk Elie Wiesel??
The man who tried to grab Wiesel on an elevator at the World Forum, an
interfaith conference on non-violent conflict resolution, has been named as Eric
Hunt.
Sounds like the conference could have used at least one more attendee... Posted at 06:15 AM Read More Sun - February 18, 2007My deadly ValentineSpeaking of Valentine's Day, it was pretty
uneventful for us this year. Sören came home from school Tuesday saying
that seven kids in her class were sick that day, and one of them was Ruth, who
sits next to her... Uh, get ready to stay home with a sick child. Wednesday her
fever and vomiting started. Ug.
Of course, I was out of town until late Tuesday night, too. Maxzilla's brother died of spinal cancer last week, and I went to Missouri with him to go through the funeral. That affected me more than I thought it would. I stayed pretty quiet, meeting the family, listening to stories, and trying to just be there for the mourners. But I think I got infected by a deep sense of grief and mortality, myself... I kept thinking about how much my sisters mean to me, and how hard it would be if anything happened to one of them. Meanwhile, Sören's flu still hasn't abated. And another dear friend of mine, Shoeless Melissa, has now been in the hospital for six days with some mystery illness that includes plummeting white blood cell counts and soul-splitting headaches. Her husband is beside himself. Posted at 06:05 AM Read More Sun - January 7, 2007Wendy Howell grabs the headlinesLaw.com has the best piece I have read yet
concerning Apple's executive options woes, focusing on the attorney who wrote
the minutes for the board meeting that apparently never
happened...
People like Wendy Howell, the former
in-house Apple lawyer responsible for option paperwork, probably won't be
attending Jobs' eagerly awaited MacWorld speech Tuesday. Late last year, she
became the lone person to lose her job as a result of the company's
well-publicized options problems.
Howell's name hasn't been publicly
mentioned in the Apple options mess, and her firing wasn't disclosed by the
company in its series of public disclosures of options problems.
But she was the person who filled out
the paperwork on a 2001 option award to Jobs that has grown infamous since just
after Christmas, when Apple acknowledged that the value of the grant was
artificially pumped up via a set of fabricated meeting minutes.
Posted at 04:23 AM Read More Same as the old yearI met someone a few months ago and she mentioned
a MySpace account, in passing. For some reason, I have been obsessive about
reading her posts there. Most have been relatively blasé, about celebrities
or concerts, or what have you. But today she posted an entry about unrequited
attraction, and it was filled with such melancholy longing that it took my
breath away. I felt guilty for reading it, even though it is posted for God and
country...
Posted at 04:14 AM Read More Sat - December 30, 2006Kidnapped by crafter, please send helpSören and I took off this morning at about
ten to go to the ski slopes, but Hwy 108 was shut by the time we got through the
village of Stowe. We waited for about an hour, in hopes that the police car up
ahead of us would start letting cars through, but to no
avail.
So, we returned to the lodge and spent the late morning and early afternoon sledding. This is what the lodge looks like right now:  Posted at 09:16 PM Read More Skiing at StoweSören and I had our first day of skiing
yesterday, at Spruce Peak. We got private lessons for about two hours for the
two of us, and Sören picked it up perfectly. We kept skiing for a couple of
hours more, before both of us were really beat and
cold.
I was very surprised, because there really hasn't been much snow here yet this winter, but the snow-making equipment had kept the runs very nice. Vermont also has a bad reputation for ice on the runs, but we didn't encounter much of it yesterday. Posted at 01:17 PM Read More Thu - December 28, 2006How to ensure a troubled psyche in your offspring (mine and some anonymous traveler's)While Sören and I were eating breakfast this
morning, I had the guilty pleasure of listening in on another fathers'
conversations, or rather, exhortations, with his children. He had a daughter and
son, both of whom had to be under five years old. Among some of the parenting
tips I pass on to you, my faithful readers, at no charge...
⁃ "Your mother has a special camera. She
can see everything you're doing. It's on the internet. So, behave!"
⁃ "Honey, when you don't listen to me in
the restaurant, you make me look like a bad daddy. All the other daddies in the
restaurant will look at how you're behaving and think I don't know how to be a
good daddy. And I know you think I'm the best daddy in the world, don't you want
other daddies to think I'm a good daddy, too?" (At this point, let me interject
that I was, in fact, judging his parenting abilities, but not so much based on
his daughter's behavior...)
Posted at 08:45 PM Read More Day 1 in VermontI have taken a long break from posting any blog
entries over the last several weeks. It was a combination of pressure from work
and getting ready for the holidays -- mainly, at least. Plus a little portion of
melancholia.
One of the things that I was stressing about was Christmas break vacation plans. My parents used to plan out great vacations for our family, and I have got fond memories of many of them, especially from when I was younger. I wanted to get out of town and have a great family vacation for me, Ms Pope, and Sören, too, but it seems like it is so much harder to plan than it ought to be! Plus, Ms Pope really had no desires to leave town at all this winter. Probably because she knew it would be a bear to plan. So, Sören and I made up our minds to go to Vermont together, just the two of us, and indulge her fondness for Sound of Music by staying at the von Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe. We flew on jetBlue to Burlington. I thought we would rely more on the free TV they have on the backs of every seat, but we used the time to catch up on some sleep, read, and play hangman or 20 questions. There was a long layover in JFK, so we landed in Burlington about 5:00 and got to Stowe a little after 6. By the time we got to dinner, Sören was about to melt down from being tired and hungry, and she was not pleased with the vegetarian food options at the restaurant. I don't know if it is always like this, but dinner and breakfast are included in the price for our lodge room, so I was not really inclined to go find another restaurant. And I liked the food (especially the dessert). We got through dinner ok, though, and came back up to the room to read and get ready for bed. When we awoke this morning, it was just beginning to snow. This was the view from our balcony:  Posted at 08:27 PM Read More |
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Total entries in this category: Published On: Nov 04, 2007 12:32 PM |
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