Plat du jour

I don't think this is the way it's spelled in Florida.

This doesn't surprise me at all

AP alleges copyright infringement of Obama image

















It's amazing how frequently artists seem to feel free to use other people's work. But when their work is appropriated by others they suddenly remember there's a copyright law. (Shepard Fairey hasn't done the latter, as far as I know, but plenty of other artists have.)

Plat du jour

I played with Tonka Trucks when I was little. This was not on a Tonka Truck.

The sad thing is, she's probably right

From Overheard in the Office:

Girl: My dad said I can't get a boob job because of the economy. I told him if I got a boob job, I'd have a better chance of getting hired and making money.

Weekly free associations

1. Take :: One


2. 350 :: Degrees


3. Stand :: Up


4. Raspberry :: Black


5. Turnstile :: Subway


6. Infomercial :: Never


7. Dejected :: Rejected


8. What’s the word? :: Hummingbird


9. Awestruck :: ??


10. Smashed :: Potatoes

HT to Unconscious Mutterings.

Plat du jour

And what kind of serial killer would you be?

What Kind of Serial Killer Would You Be? Your Result: Organized and Goal-Oriented   You're a planner. You'd carefully plot each murder, and carry it out methodically. You'll kill them in one location and move them to another later, and you'll study up your forensic science. The good news is, you're much harder to catch. You won't kill for the person, you'll kill for material gain. Your goal is finance, not a psychopathic compulsion- but you have absolutely no problem killing as many people as necessary to get what you want.
Disorganized and Gain-Oriented
Organized and Mission-Oriented
Disorganized and Mission-Oriented
Organized and Hedonistic
Organized Visionary
Disorganized and Hedonistic
Disorganized Visionary
What Kind of Serial Killer Would You Be? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

HT to Veronica

Not you, too, Harvey!

Just stop it now--All of you

Either Facebook has a bug, or

I want to know what it knows about the stock market:

Yetta G. Kurland wrote
at 1:17am tomorrow...

Weekly free associations

1. Unwanted :: Hair


2. You’d better :: be good


3. Woman :: Man


4. Weighed :: too much


5. Upright :: piano


6. I feel :: good


7. Ill :: Ind


8. It’s like :: this, man


9. Poor man :: Rich Man


10. Great :: Scott

HT to Unconscious Mutterings.

This is getting old real fast

I didn't think too much of the Barack Obama posters by Shepard Fairey when the campaign started using them. Even worse, more and more politicians, at least the liberal ones, are now copying this style. Enough already.

At long last!

Former NY Senate leader Joseph Bruno indicted

It's too bad this had to wait until after he quit the NYS Senate. But I'm not the least bit surprised that this came when the Repugnants are no longer in control of the Department of Justice.

Plat du jour--guest submission

When I first saw this I read it as "ME ON LYME."

HT to Jean from the MHB boards.

Headline of the day

(assuming the day was January 15)

Fish poop helps balance ocean's acid levels

Semi-random thoughts

● This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down. There's a whole generation who never experienced Berlin, and Germany, being divided.

● The people proposing a cabinet-level secretary of LGBT affairs are crazy, for a good number of reasons. Equating LGBT people with veterans is wrong (for one thing, the government creates veterans). But a secretary of the arts is not a bad idea.

● I'm glad they figured out a way President Obama can keep using his Blackberry. I think one of the biggest problems of our presidency is how isolated they become.

● The Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team just doesn't have the talent it did the past two years. It is doubtful they will repeat as regular season or Big Ten tournament champions. I think there's a good chance they can get into the NCAA tournament, but I'd be quite surprised if they win more than one game there.

Blog For Choice Day

It's the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

This is a blog for choice. Basically, I believe people should have the right to control their bodies. My friend Helen Boyd, who can write rings around me when she's half asleep, explained it much better:

I’m pro-choice because

● because this planet is too crowded
● because abortion will always be available, but it will only be available to wealthier women if it’s illegal, which is class discrimination
● because women deserve to decide their own lives & when & how they want to have children
● because they never, ever report on where the father is when a teenaged girl leaves her baby on someone’s doorstep (or in a local dumpster, etc).
● because women don’t always choose when they’re having sex, even if they’re not raped
● because younger women, especially, may not have the self-confidence to insist on safe sex

Plat de l'année

Well, last year.
From the NY Times: Story.

HT to @Sarahgoat

My thoughts on the inauguration

Today is a historical day. This we all know. I am a bit amazed at the millions of people who traveled to Washington and braved sub-freezing weather to witness the inauguration of Barack Obama. I can understand how African-Americans would want to be a part of such a big step toward racial equality. But there are so many others there also. There are also so many more who did not go, but were too excited even to sleep last night.

I understand their excitement, but I don't share it. There will be big changes, for the good, some immediate. But there will also be disappointments, especially for those anticipating huge, quick changes on everything that President Obama campaigned on. The economy is a mess, and I think it will be the focus of his first weeks. Other areas will be touched, especially ones that can easily be handled by executive order, but some will be put on the back burner. Guantanamo (the prison, not the whole base) can be closed. The process of getting out of Iraq can be started. But the repeals of Don't Ask Don't Tell and DOMA will wait. Health care will wait. A little can be done about global warming right now, but mostly it will wait.

Again, there will be disappointments. No president ever gets everything he wants. The Republicans in the Senate still have enormous power to throw up roadblocks, and I doubt they will refrain from using it, despite the enormity of the economic disaster the country is facing. They don't understand what got us into this mess, or how to get us out of it. Some of them may look at the polls that are so supportive of the president and temper their opposition, but plenty will just ignore them.

I was, to be honest, a bit disappointed in the inaugural address. It was good, but not great. There were no great lines, there was no "Ask not," maybe nothing that will make the quote books. There were certainly no surprises. Obama effectively made his points, basically repeating his campaign positions, but without any rhetoric that will make the speech memorable. I'm sure former-president Bush (smile, smile) was quite uncomfortable at parts of it (assuming he was even listening). I think even former-president Clinton may even have heard a veiled criticism or two.

History has been made. The celebrations continue. But I can only be hopeful that President Obama is successful in acheiving his program.

Weekly free associations

1. Arrival :: Departure


2. Vomit :: Puke


3. Fit :: Fiddle


4. Stutter :: Speech impediment


5. Lifestream :: huh?


6. Tread :: Tire


7. Desire :: Want


8. Freezing :: Cold


9. Permit :: Allow


10. Crinkle :: Cut

HT to Unconscious Mutterings.

A sign you're getting old

Nothing fazes real New Yorkers

I just saw a woman walking down the street eating an ice cream cone.

It's 14°F in New York right now.

A great toy for kids--NOT

Playmobil Security Check Point









Click on the image and read the reviews. They are hilarious. My favorite:

This is just a sop to the authoritarians among us. I am holding out for the release of the Guantanemo Playset. Hopefully this will come with an extrordinary rendition option.

HT to Betty Crow

Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it)

Click here.

Han and Luke kiss? That must be the version they show at the Chelsea Cinema.

HT to Allyson Robinson.

The Zipper Factory Theater closes

Playbill article

This is awful. It was a great place. It was just three blocks from CDI, where I change clothes to present as Caprice. It had some wonderful shows (even a few on weeknights when I could go). And they even knew me there a little.

Public Service Announcement

Estimated Taxes are due today.

Headline of the day

Flying car leaves London for Timbuktu

You can't make up stuff like this.

Weekly free associations

1. Resolution :: High


2. Break :: fast


3. Tied :: Up


4. Suffering :: Headache


5. Instead :: Of


6. Slash :: Budget


7. Divorce :: Court


8. Cough :: Drop


9. Happy :: Days


10. Sniffle :: Tissue

HT to Unconscious Mutterings.

Exercise log

An hour today. Maybe tomorrow I can get in a full 90 minutes--if my wife decides we're not going to MoMA.

Exercise log

I'm not exactly sure how long I exercised today, because I was interrupted in the middle (which is redundant, come to think of it). It had to be somewhere between 75 and 80 minutes--all at the higher leg effort. (Nothing yesterday.)

Weekly free associations

1. Confirmation :: Day


2. Verse :: Chorus


3. Authorize :: OK


4. Blog :: Glob


5. Thirty :: I wish


6. Heir :: Apparent


7. What are you doing? :: Twitter


8. Complaint :: Department


9. Leave :: It To Beaver


10. Tune :: Out

HT to Unconscious Mutterings.

Exercise log

Another after-dinner session: I squeezed in 37 minutes. I really wanted to do something because I doubt I'm going to have time tomorrow. (Nothing yesterday.)

The top lie of 2008

According to the Burlington Liars Club:

"My grandson is the most persuasive liar I have ever met. By the time he was 2 years old he could dirty his diaper and make his mother believe someone else had done it."

George W. Bush was ruled ineligble because he's a professional. (That's my entry for 2009.)

Exercise log

I did it after dinner, but I only had time for 47 minutes. I don't like to do it past 9:00 because it might disturb the neighbors. Again, I raised the leg effort setting.

Guide to converting to metric from xkcd

Click on the image to see the whole thing.










I think the use of penises and cars as examples of length are quite problematic. Both vary a great deal--and the former does not even have a fixed length. Ditto for moms as an example of mass.
HT to Victoria Marinelli

Exercise log

I left it too late, and I only had 48 minutes before I had to take a shower before dinner. I had the leg effort on the higher setting the whole time, and I really felt it going over the highest "peaks."

Sad news

Richardson withdraws bid to be commerce secretary

Bill Richardson was my first choice for president at the start of the campaign. After he withdrew, and my second choice was elected, I was hoping Obama would choose him for secretary of state. I'm sure he would have done well as Commerce secretary.

I have no idea whether there is any truth to the allegations. I'm hoping that there is none, and that Richardson is just taking advantage of a face-saving way out of the Commerce post--which I suspect he realized too late was in no way a career advancement for him. (He has already had a cabinet post.)

Places I slept in 2008

New York, NY
Albany, NY
Lee, MA
Boston, MA
Lowell, MA
Las Vegas, NV

A rather short list for last year.

HT to Veronica

Exercise log

I only had time for 65 minutes today, but I pushed up the leg effort a notch during the second half.

Why I don't have kids

Boss: My daughter's turning two tomorrow.
Employee: What can I get her? Anything she doesn't have that she really needs?
Boss: An "off" button.

from Overheard in the Office

Exercise log

Ninety minutes for my first workout of 2009. Yay me! I'm going to try to exercise at least 4 times a week. (I have a combination recumbent stationary bicycle-rowing machine.)

Movie mini-reviews

• Valkyrie: Pretty good, but I wish they had shown how the conspiracy started. Cruise was OK.
• Defiance: I liked it, despite a couple of instances when Daniel Craig's character makes eloquent, articulate speeches totally uncharacteristic of his rough-hewn, poorly educated background. Some of what appear to be movie clichés (e.g. the white horse) were true, according to someone who met one of the brothers. (I have also heard that white horses are quite common in that area.)

Donald E. Westlake died!

My favorite mystery writer died suddenly yesterday. Donald E. Westlake, creator of the humorous crime series featuring the very talented (but equally very unlucky) burglar "Dortmunder," apparently had a heart attack while on vacation in Mexico.

I love his books. I'm reading one of his more recent books now, Put a Lid On It. Though he wrote a lot of comic crime novels, he was just as good at writing serious ones. He wrote another series of books about a totally "hard-boiled" criminal, Parker--though Westlake used the non de plume "Richard Stark" for those. And that wasn't the only pseudonym he used.

I heard him speak a couple of times, and he autographed a few of my books after one talk. I remember him being asked how he felt when a successful book of his was made into a not-so-successful movie. He said he thought of them as he did his children--he raised them as well as he could to adulthood, and then wished them luck and sent them out to succeed or fail on their own.

He wrote more than a hundred books in all (using manual typewriters!), and I'm not sure I've read even half of them--so there will be plenty of Westlake in my future. And there is one more scheduled to be published this year. Still, it's sad he has died. He was only 75.

Happy New Year! (except...)

There are already two unsettling events to start off 2009.

• Petitions were filed to reverse the Kalamazoo, MI ordinance adding gays, lesbians and transgender individuals to their non-discrimination law.
• Helen and Betty have taken down their message board (where I am a semi-retired moderator). Hopefully this is just temporary, while they figure out how to handle the recent trends of "me-ism" and partner-unfriendly posts. (They took the board down once before for a couple of weeks or so, to revamp.) They have just journeyed from Brooklyn to Wisconsin, where Helen will be teaching for the next several months, so they are a bit pre-occupied. When they get things sorted out, I'm hoping they will figure out a way to make the board work again. I miss it already.

Weekly free associations

1. Destined :: to win


2. FAIL :: blog


3. Camping :: yech!


4. Only you :: can prevent forest fires


5. Incessant :: noise


6. Tomorrow :: is another day


7. Impressive :: collection


8. Riches :: wealth


9. Dislike :: like


10. Speaker :: of the House

1. Carpet :: tacks


2. Bottoms :: tops


3. Music :: sound


4. Nails :: acrylics


5. Watch it! :: ??


6. Your life :: is yours


7. Candies :: no-no's


8. Chafing :: dish


9. Svelte :: I wish


10. Ding :: dong

HT to Unconscious Mutterings.

Plat du jour

An orthopedist, I presume.

Happy Chanukah!

Happy Chanukah!

Plat du jour

Actually, the adjective is "euphoric."

Back in New York

I'm back from Las Vegas. It was a quite uneventful journey.

Happy Chanukah!

Happy Chanukah!

Happy Chanukah!

Report from Vegas

We're staying at the Paris Hotel. Here's a view of it, with its silly shrunken Eiffel Tower, taken from the Bellagio across the street. Unfortunately, they don't let you cross the street, which is known as the "Strip." The only way to get across the Strip on foot is via some pedestrian bridges. But there aren't enough of them. After dinner my wife was too tired to walk over to one. So we took a cab--just to cross the street!

The Paris is OK. The room is comfortable, except for there being no heater, only air conditioning. It's not really cold, though, just two or three degrees cooler than we're used to. Housekeeping isn't perfect--I had to call to get more toilet paper. The internet works OK--it's wired. But it costs $14 or $15 a day (I'm not sure--two different things list two different prices.) The rooms are cheap, but they make it up with exorbitant extras like this, and the $25/day they charge to use the fitness center.

So far I'm losing less at the casinos than I anticipated--I view it as a cost of entertainment. So I'm pretty happy.

Happy Chanukah!

It's December 23, so...

To all Seinfeld fans (and non-fans), Happy Festivus!

To the tune of Let it Snow:

What a lovely day for Festivus,
a Festivus for the rest of us,
this is the place to hate,
let them wait, let them wait, let them wait.

It doesn't show signs of stopping,
I bought some caps for popping,
aluminum pole's aglow,
let them know, let them know, let them know.

With the feat of strength at hand,
stop crying fight your old man,
so go and drink another beer,
T'is the best time of the year!

What a lovely day for Festivus,
a Festivus for the rest of us,
gather your family around,
cut them down, cut them down, cut them down.

No need for decorating,
as tinsel's too distracting,
all you need is a metal pole,
cleanse your soul, cleanse your soul, cleanse your soul.

With the feat of strength at hand,
stop crying fight your old man,
so go and drink another beer,
T'is the best time of the year!

What a lovely day for Festivus,
a Festivus for the rest of us,
gather your family around,
cut them down, cut them down, cut them down.

No need for decorating,
as tinsel's too distracting,
all you need is a metal pole,
cleanse your soul, cleanse your soul, cleanse your soul.

With the feat of strength at hand,
stop crying fight your old man,
so go and drink another beer,
T'is the best time of the year!

T'is the best time of the year!

Happy Chanukah!

Off to Las Vegas!

In a few minutes I'm off to Las Vegas for a family celebration of my 60th birthday. I've never been there before. Wish me luck. (Ha!, I'll be happy if everyone makes it there in time for dinner.)

I hope to be able to blog a bit from there.

Happy Chanukah!

Plat du jour--guest submission

It never hurts to have in-house counsel.

Thanks to Joanne from MHB.

Spam of the day

Oprah Winfrey's No.1 SuperFood, Natural _LoseWeight! only $19.95 FREE TRIAL geg uc9k

Considering the fact the Oprah has recently topped 200 lbs., this spam-o-gram is particularly untimely.

Plat du jour

OK, we get it.

Complaint of the day

Trying to put together an evening out with semi-closeted crossdressers is like trying to nail jello to the wall. With a foam rubber hammer.

Weekly free associations

1. Travel :: clock


2. Expensive :: cheap


3. Backspace :: delete


4. Traffic noise :: constant


5. Now see here :: son


6. Vegetables :: yummy


7. Chat :: Thursday


8. Your calling :: retired!


9. Weekly :: monthly


10. Oh! :: well

HT to Unconscious Mutterings.

Plat du jour

An incorporated wife? Unless it's Mr. Sinc. Or any one of a number of M.R.S. corporations.

Weekly free associations

1. Love affair :: romance


2. Bubble :: blow


3. Pimple :: teen


4. Knocks :: socks


5. Persistent :: varmint


6. Infected :: wound


7. Yay! :: team!


8. Repaint :: eventually


9. Daily :: News


10. Quickly! :: fast!

HT to Unconscious Mutterings.

Yay 2008!

Apparently people think so much of 2008 they're going to make it even longer. On top of the leap day we had on February 29, there's going to be another second added to December 31.

Actually, this has nothing to do with the year's popularity. It's just that the earth's rotation is slowing down.

So if you want to know when 2009 starts exactly, you'll have to reset your watches after 6:59:60 p.m. EST on 12/31.

A bit of a coincidence

Yesterday afternoon I went to the Morgan Library for a guided tour of its exhibition of Babar drawings. While waiting in the lobby I noticed on the list of major museum donors inscribed on the wall the name of socialite Sunny von Bulow. I was trying to remember the details of what happened to her many years ago. She was the alleged victim of attempted murder by her then husband back in the early 80's. Now I'm reading the news to find she died yesterday, after being in a coma for 28 years.

Plat du jour

I have absolutely no idea of what this means.

Semi-random thoughts

● I got my first senior discount for a movie on my trip to Massachusetts (not counting the one I got years ago at a theater in New Hampshire, I think, that gave it to anyone over 55!). One of the big theater chains here in NYC gives it at 60, but at the other one I frequent it's 62. And the theater I usually go to for "art films" makes you wait until 65.

● The ice-maker in my refrigerator is making noises again. As the repairman who looked at it suggested, I have turned up the freezer thermostat (i.e. less cold) as much as I can, but it's still creaking, and my Weight Watchers chocolate mousse pops are getting soft. I really don't want to spend the money to fix it, as it makes ice just fine, but it sure is annoying.

● And while we're on the subject of noisy appliances, my big television started whining the first time I turned it on after returning from my trip. It's the color wheel I'm sure. The noise went away after a few minutes, but it's a portent of a future repair. At least for the TV I have an extended warranty--assuming that Circuit City's bankruptcy doesn't end that. It's actually handled by a third party, so the warranty should be safe.

● A GPS makes driving so much easier.

● I got a call from the hotel in Lowell, MA, after I filled out their survey, complaining about various small things. Result: a credit for half of the charges, after they removed the $9.95 wi-fi fee. It pays to fill out those surveys.

● Now you can pick your exact seats when ordering tickets online for the New York Philharmonic. Yay!

Plat du jour--guest submission

Wizard alert for Virginia! Thanks to Victoria Marinelli

Let's make sure we get this right

From Overheard in the Office:

Developer: Is "buttload" hyphenated?
New guy: No, I think it's just one word.

Weekly free associations

Catching up:

1. Sleepy :: Hollow


2. Thanksgiving :: dinner


3. Fifteen :: sixteen


4. Authority :: question


5. Bangs :: love them


6. Curled :: up


7. Young man :: young woman


8. Surprised :: ??


9. Mistake :: me?


10. Handle it :: carefully

1. Spit it out :: now


2. Shadow :: eye


3. Database :: useful


4. Expression :: for it


5. Boss :: None!


6. Baby :: Baby


7. Mystic :: Seaport


8. Kate :: sister-in-law


9. Boobies :: I wish


10. Raid :: bugs

Thanks to Unconscious Mutterings.

I'll bet this gets moved to the back of the tree

Christmas Colors for the White House: Red, White and Impeach

From the Washington Post:

When Deborah Lawrence got the invitation from the White House, the Seattle-based artist decided to make a lefty political statement.

But she never expected it would hang on the official Christmas tree.

Laura Bush asked members of Congress to pick local painters to decorate ornaments for this year's 20-foot Fraser fir in the Blue Room. The globes (to be unveiled by the first lady tomorrow) are supposed to showcase something special about each congressional district. Washington state's Rep. Jim McDermott contacted a local arts organization, which asked Lawrence, a collage artist, to create the local entry.

"I was at first nauseated, then realized it was an opportunity," said Lawrence, 55, who frequently combines politics and satire in her work and saw this as the perfect way "to highlight Jim McDermott because he's a hero of mine."

The nine-inch ball is covered with swirly red and white stripes -- and, in tiny glued-on text, salutes the Democratic congressman's support for a resolution to impeach President Bush. (Also showcased: Washington state's 1919 labor strike, its suffrage movement and the violent anti-World Trade Organization riots of 1999.) Lawrence sent it off to D.C. in September and was very surprised it was accepted for the tree -- and that she was invited to this afternoon's White House reception for the artists, which she flew to D.C. to attend.

"Apparently, they didn't read it -- or Laura Bush is more progressive than I believed," Lawrence told us.

Sally McDonough, the first lady's press secretary, said yesterday that hundreds of ornaments were submitted for display and there were no plans to pull Lawrence's artwork or her invitation. But, she said, "it really is too bad. I haven't seen the ornament, but I would hope that no one would take this as an opportunity to be divisive and partisan. There is a time and place for everything, and I don't think this is either."

The comments are quite good--especially this one:

This is a microcosm of the last eight years in a nut shell. The inability for the administration to pay attention to detail.

HT to Victoria Marinelli

A deer hunter gets it

Deer gets revenge after hunter shoots him

I know there is a very large population of deer that is increasingly venturing into suburban if not urban areas in search of food, and that hunting is needed to try to keep some sort of balance, and that venison cooked properly is delicious, but I always feel sorry when deer are killed by hunters. Maybe it goes back to Bambi's mother. Mostly I think that killing fairly defenseless animals should not be considered a sport.

It seems like such an uneven contest. But this shows that once in a while a deer can get some revenge--though he died in the end anyway.

Boston photos

The first is an amazing sight: the hotel in Boston had both Coke and Pepsi products in the same vending machine. Note that Coke seemed to have sold much better than Pepsi.











I did not take the second photo. It is "Tobin Bridge 4am," the work of Phillip Jones. I saw it while visiting the Boston Athenæum, a private library that still has vestiges of an art collection. I thought the picture was stunning. I'd love to have a print of it, but I'm afraid to ask how much it would cost--we are having a sizable decrease in our income for the next few months. (This has nothing to do with the Bush recession, but now it is much more difficult to make up the decrease by shifting investments.) Maybe I'll just buy a copy of Murder Suicide by Keith Ablow--they used the photo as the cover artwork.

Back from Massachusetts

I'm back in New York. In fact I've been home since Friday evening, mostly disposing of hundreds of e-mails that came in while I was gone (plus a good number that had accumulated in the days before I left). I also wanted to catch up on the other internet sites I follow, and get in some exercise each day, because I gained two or three pounds while I was away. Saturday we went and saw Frank Langella in A Man For All Seasons as well. So I haven't wanted to take the time to blog. (If anyone is really interested in more up-to-date reports on what I'm doing, they should follow me on Twitter. There's a link at the bottom of my Twitter Update list at the right.)

Part of the reason there was so much internet stuff piled up was that the wi-fi didn't work in our hotel room in Lowell, where I went from Boston for Thanksgiving with my sister. A lot of things didn't work very well at the hotel there, and I am looking forward to filling out the online questionaire about my stay that the hotel e-mailed me yesterday. But first I want to see what shows up on my American Express bill--a discrepancy about the charges was also part of the problem.

I still have a pile of snail mail to go through, and I have to finish getting the last few things out of my suitcase. Then I will be back to what passes for normal in my life.