missing picture from Mr. Gore's book...

when it's cold out, you can always put on more clothes, use a thicker blanket, start a fire, snuggle with someone...

when it's hot out, you can take off all of your clothes and you'll still be hot...

need more proof?

just asking...

It may be criminal...

Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR) rose in the Senate to make what some are calling a remarkable speech regarding the circumstances in Iraq. He laid things out on the table that usually are relegated to talk-show punditry rather than on either floor of Congress and, especially, not by a senator from the President's own party.

In his speech [You can see it on the Senate television site: src.senate.gov], Sen. Smith left no one with any doubts about his remarks:

I, for one, am at the end of my rope when it comes to supporting a policy that has our soldiers patrolling the same streets in the same way, being blown up by the same bombs day after day. That is absurd. It may even be criminal. I cannot support that anymore. I believe we need to figure out how to fight the war on terror and to do it right. So either we clear and hold and build, or let's go home.

This is the part that is being given the most play, and appropriately so, but there is a quote early in his speech that is insightful:

I was greatly disturbed recently to read a comment by a man I admire in history, one Winston Churchill, who after the British mandate extended to the peoples of Iraq for 5 years, wrote to David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of England:

"At present we are paying 8 millions a year for the privilege of living on an ungrateful volcano."

When I read that, I thought, not much has changed. We have to learn the lessons of history and sometimes they are painful because we have made mistakes.

Brings to mind something we've all heard:

Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it - George Santayana

plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose, n'est-ce pas?

just asking...

and the number one seller on amazon.com is...

nooooo... it's not

The Iraq Study Group Report: The Way Forward - A New Approach




it's [hold your breath]...





You: On A Diet: The Owner's Manual for Waist Management*



we must keep our priorities straight, mustn't we?

just asking...




* I have never seen two colons (:) in the same statement before now. I'm not sure it's legal. Oh wait, there probably is a signing statement on it. Never mind.

not your mother's Julia Child...

warning: gratuitous video

cooking lesson: les pates

Kitchendales les nouilles

Now that's some pasta. I think I like the first one with chevre better. The mint in the second recipe doesn't do anything for me.

as far as your mother's Julia Child, would she approve?

just asking...

Iraq strategy...

what happens when you follow blindly?

just asking...

if you ever find yourself with extra time on your hands...

create something like this guy did in five days...



fantastic video, great song and appropriate images for each lyric...

wonder what he wants to be when he grows up?

just asking...

what's going on here (part X)...

This could kill New Orleans

St. Paul Travelers Cos. Inc., Louisiana's largest commercial insurance provider, plans to cancel all its commercial property policies in the New Orleans area next year, sparking fears that other insurers will follow and slow the region's economic recovery.

I wonder how much of this has the right wing-nuts behind it? modern-day sodom and gomorrah? just asking...

Rumsfeld Memo on Iraq Proposed ‘Major’ Change

Two days before he resigned as defense secretary, Donald H. Rumsfeld submitted a classified memo to the White House that acknowledged that the Bush administration’s strategy in Iraq was not working and called for a major course correction.

So was he fired because he was doing a lousy job or because he was starting to not kowtow into King George W's agenda? just asking...

Has He Started Talking to the Walls?

As Mr. Bush has ricocheted from Vietnam to Latvia to Jordan in recent weeks, we’ve witnessed the troubling behavior of a president who isn’t merely in a state of denial but is completely untethered from reality. It’s not that he can’t handle the truth about Iraq. He doesn’t know what the truth is.

Civil war? Sectarian violence? A phase? This much is certain: The dead in Iraq don’t give a damn what we call it. Mr. Rich is just asking...

Shhh! He's wearing make-up!*

According to Georgina Caldwell, the assistant editor of European Cosmetic Markets magazine, the male grooming market is worth £667 million. And more and more professional men - Tony Blair, as was recently revealed, included - are discovering the benefits of a bit of foundation.

The male in the vast majority of species is the better looking, prettier eye-catcher, ie the peacock. The female doesn't have any color at all. It has to do with survival of the species. The better looking, the better the chance the male is healthy and can produce... offspring that is. Besides, if you look better, don't you feel better? just asking... Oh, my. We have a conundrum here. Gay men are in the forefront of wearing foundation. They don't produce. Wait, isn't there Queer Eye for the Straight Guy? Whew. They're helping to keep the species going. Aren't they? just asking...


Mars Attacked

The founder of the conservative megachurch [Mars Hill], the largest Christian assembly in Seattle, often shares his opinion that women shouldn't be leaders of homes, congregations, or nations.... Driscoll's latest controversial remarks appeared on his blog, in a response to the gay-prostitute and meth scandal that brought down fundamentalist Ted Haggard. Driscoll wrote that he had seen many pastors' wives who "really let themselves go," implying to many readers that Driscoll blamed Mrs. Haggard for neglecting her wifely duties and abandoning her husband to his sexual vices.

Shame on you Mr. Driscoll. [and shame on you for thinking this was an Orson Welles/H.G. Wells posting. Helllloooo...., Tom Cruise!] I can't imagine that Mrs. Haggard had anything to do with her husband's indiscretions. [Well, some believe that the elder Mrs. Haggard, Ted's mommy, may have.] If the Christianists believe that sex is for procreation, then Mrs. Haggard [the younger] fulfilled her duty by having children and wasn't bound to continue having sex with her husband. At least that's one way of thinking about it. Right? Another way would be, "Have you looked at Haggard? I wonder what she saw in him anyway. And the hustler? just asking...

Sources: first draft, New York Times, New York Times Opinion, Telegraph.uk.co, the stranger.com, wikipedia.org

* The answer to your question is, "Yes, I do." Have for years. No one, even my closest friends, has ever said a word. I've always wondered what my response would be should anyone ask. I could say, "My skin medication is tinted." or "No." or "So, what?" I hope that my answer, since the question might come up rather quickly and when least expected, will just be, "Yes." and I'll quickly move on. I hope...

i hate all of you...

WFMT, the classical music station in Chicago, has been playing excerpts from an interview with Sir Georg Solti for the past couple of days. It has been very interesting.

There was one excerpt that caught my attention and has kept roiling in the front of my head since hearing it. I'm going to be paraphrasing it from memory.

In the interview Sir Georg refers to hearing a story of Maestro Arturo Toscanini, one of the greatest conductors of all time. He said,

"There is a story about Maestro Toscanini, and if it is not true, I wish that it were. At a rehearsal the Maestro stopped and said to the orchestra, 'I hate all of you. You ruin all of the music I hear in my head!' It is true. I hear the music in my head in a certain way. It never comes out just the way I hear it."

It never can come out the way we hear it in our heads. Not just the music, but anything we hear in our heads.

I watch what goes on around me and realize that I have a certain belief, understanding, outlook that does not match what I see. I set myself up for failure, for disappointment, for anger and for hurt because of what I hear inside my head.

The Maestro realized that it was impossibe for him to get 100+ musicians to play each instrument and each note precisely as he heard it in his head. He was powerless.

This is true of everything. Not only music. Iraq? Religion? Politics? Career? Right to choose? Sexual orientation? Marriage? Art? Film?

I see each of these things in a very specific way. You don't see them in the same way. You see them in your own way. It leads to chaos.

The problem starts when you insist on my seeing things in your way only. It can never happen. I will only see things my way no matter what you say or do. You can pass laws. You can institute amendments. You can yell, scream, kick and hit me. You can make war on me. It will never make a difference. I will only see things in my way.

Over time, you may be able to persuade me to see things your way, but I still will never precisely see things your way. I have in my head all of the times before I was persuaded that put a different slant on what I see. There will be some nuanced difference in what I perceive. no matter what...

I accept this. There is no other way. We are a lonely species. We are disconnected from one another at the basic core. I accept, also, that you have the right to see things as you want to see them. I have no problem with that. I have a problem when you tell me that I don't have the right to see things the way that I see them. Conflict ensues.

the solution?

Miranda & Spock again...

Miranda: The glory of creation is in its infinite diversity.
Spock: And the ways our differences combine to create meaning and beauty.

too simple?

juat asking...

no questions about it...

play safe...

know everything you can...

take caution in anything you do that could be risky...

December 1, 2006: World AIDS Day...

after 16 years, i still miss Ronald. twenty years ago we were working under ignorance of HIV. we've learned alot in all these years. use that information. no one can claim ignorance of HIV/AIDS anymore...

celebrate life...

Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.

World Aids Campaign

at first I wrote...

and so it starts...
I've tried this blog thing before and the most difficult thing is keeping up with it, but I would like to try and make a commitment to add to it at least a couple of times a week. Sometimes it might be something important, but most of the time it will probably be just some things that have been on my mind, my life, my thoughts about the state of the world, my distastes, my likes, music, b.s., etc., etc., etc.

I've been reading blogs for awhile now and they are playing a big part in the way civilization is evolving. It's the time of instant response, instant rebuke, and instant interpretation. I wonder, however, if the instantaneousness of this whole thing is allowing for time to reflect on what's being read, yet alone written. Is there anyone who is looking at the signs of what is happening - the semiotics.

Semiotics is an important concept of study. According to Martin Ryder,

"Linguistic and Cultural Semiotics is a branch of communication theory that investigates sign systems and the modes of representation that humans use to convey feelings, thoughts, ideas, and ideologies. Semiotic analysis is rarely considered a field of study in its own right, but is used in a broad range of disciplines, including art, literature, anthropology, sociology, and the mass media. Semiotic analysis looks for the cultural and psychological patterns that underlie language, art and other cultural expressions. Umberto Eco jokingly suggests that semiotics is a discipline for studying everything which can be used in order to lie." (1976, p7). Whether used as a tool for representing phenomena or for interpreting it, the value of semiotic analysis becomes most pronounced in highly mediated, postmodern environments where encounters with manufactured reality shift our grounding senses of normalcy."

Blogging, in a way, is both the means and the end of semiotics. It is manufacturing reality as well as analyzing it. It is art. literature, sociology and mass media all rolled into one. It looks at cultural and psychological patterns, as well as creates them. It is almost oxymoronic.

So, why do I want any part of it? I, like everyone else, have a need to be listened to. The "act" in my life has always been that no one listens to me, so why bother. I've thought myself a failure for that and I'm getting over it. People either listen or they don't. I know longer care. I am going to be inspiring and powerful. As a result - FREE!

and so it starts...

Lately, I've been thinking about going back and reading what I've been writing for almost the last two years. [two years in January!] Above is the very first post I wrote for no matter what....

Looking at it again, I find it interesting, especially the semiotics part. The signs are everywhere to be found, not only in the world but also in this blog. There has been an evolution in what I've been writing and, yet, I sense that I've pretty much stuck to what I set out to do.

There have been changes over the course of the two years. I have turned to a pseudo-Socratic method of asking questions about what I bring up. Lately, I added the what's going on here... weekly post citing headlines from around the world and posing the question, "What is really going on here? I'm including music, video, humor, irony, photos.... I've tried to do more of an ongoing dialogue approach because I readily admit that I don't know everything. [Nor do I necessarily want to know everything. Somethings are better left in the ether!]

Though I'm still can be somewhat of a cynic, I have let more of myself be known to the world than ever before now. It is easier to do this when it's somehow more anonymous and you don't have a stake in losing something or someone. However, I am more at ease with myself and much more confident.

The end of the original post cites how the act I play is no one listens to me, so why bother? I am quite over that. It still pops up now and then, but even in my professional life I have become more demonstrative. It reminds me of something that happened a number of years ago and how incongruent it was with my act.

My mother was always one who thought about other people before herself. She was extremely giving, loving and caring. Catholic and Christian probably more than most regular people. There was one extreme that was part of it though. She worried about what others would think. My father and I could care less.

One Sunday I was over for dinner and a visit. I don't even remember what the conversation was about but she said, "What will the neighbors think?" My father and I, on cue, simultaneously turned to her and said, "Who the fuck cares?"

We both were totally shocked at what we said. Shocked that we did it at exactly the same time and even more shocked that we used the word fuck. Even my father very seldom used that word and it's the only time I remember him saying it in front of my mother. It was also the very first [and the very last] time I ever said it in front of her. It just was never done!

My father never cared what other people said about him. To this day, I really don't care what other people think about me. Yet, on the other hand, I didn't think, and sometimes still don't, that other people listened to me. Ironic.

This blog has helped me realize that people do listen to what I have to say and it's all right that they agree or disagree with it, yet I still don't care about what they think about me. It's there opinion. It's more important what I think about me.


do you find yourself this way sometimes?

just asking...

pander...

the word of the day: pander

verb [intrans.] (pander to)
gratify or indulge (an immoral or distasteful desire , need, or habit or a person with such a desire, etc.) : newspapers are pandering to people's baser instincts.

noun dated
a pimp
• archaic a person who assists the baser urges or designs of others : the lowest panders of a venal press

ORIGIN late Middle English (as a noun):
from Pandare, the name of a character in
Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde (see
Pandarus). The verb dates from the early
17th cent.

Pope Backs Turkey’s Bid to Join European Union

the money quote:

ANKARA, Turkey, Nov. 28 — Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Turkey on Tuesday armed with a surprise gesture of good will aimed at blunting Muslim anger toward him: he backed Turkey’s long-stalled desire to join the European Union, reversing a statement he made two years ago.

The traditional Hollywood image of a pimp in the US includes a man riding around in a popemobile - I'm sorry - pimpmobile wearing an outrageous outfit that often includes red shoes.

Sound familiar?

just asking...

Source: New York Times: 11/29/06

what's going on here (part IX)...

Grandmother Blows Self Up in Gaza Suicide Blast

Okay, here's my question. Suicide bombers are promised, what, 71, 72 virgins when they blow themselves up in the name of Allah against the Isrealis. Right? Does this mean she gets 71 male virgins? Or, is she a lesbian? just asking...

Woman faces fines for wreath peace sign

Yes, she may have moved into the neighborhood knowing that there were rules to how her house could look and what was acceptable decoration, but her response that displaying a holiday wreath in the form of a peace symbol is not meant as anti-Iraq and consequently anti-military support is just more hooey to the response from the Architectual Design Committee: He [the homeowners association president] said some residents have also believed it was a symbol of Satan. Now, I might be way off base here, but doesn't Satan love chaos and destruction and death and war and human suffering? Does this then make the christianists satanists for being against peace? just asking...



awesome, after proofreading the two items above, I realized how well they go together. peace, anti-peace, war, anti-war, christianism, islamism, terror of the minority, terror of the majority aaaannnndddd just plain nuts. what is the world coming to? just asking...


Sources: New York Times, Yahoo! News

Dancing feet...

Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell [no, not Ginger Rogers in this one] dancing to the music of Cole Porter's Begin the Beguine It is purported to be the greatest dance sequence ever filmed and was done in one take. Amazing foot work and they are almost always in unison. [voice of the narrator - Frank Sinatra!]

Pop music today doesn't lend itself to techniques and grace like this. What do you think?

just asking...

Light to Unite...

Click Here to light a candle for the National AIDS Foundation. Bristol-Meyers Scribb will donate $1 up to $100,000 to the National AIDS Foundation. You can also make a personal donation.

candles lit as of 8:35 pm, November 24, 2006: 51,251

pure genius...

and beauty.



This is the final portion of the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini by Serge Rachmaninov. It is played by Mikhail Pletnev in this video.

The genius of Rachmaninov comes through in all of his work but this one shines bright. Rachmaninov took a simple Paganini melodic line and played it backward to immortalize an extremely beautiful new melody.

Add to that the almost athletic ability to play Rachmaninov and the exquisite and sheer beauty of the piece becomes a fete accompli of which anyone would be proud. I believe it was pianist Earl Wright who said something to the effect that to play Rachmaninov it would be easier if you had ten fingers on each hand rather than ten fingers total. Watch Pletnev's hands as he switches from simple one finger sections to both hands flying across the keyboard so fast they blur.

This was a great way to start my Thanksgiving Day at 4:30 am. It also brought to mind this exchange* between Miranda and Spock from TOS:

Miranda: The glory of creation is in its infinite diversity.
Spock: And in the way our differences combine to create meaning and beauty.

Happy Thanksgiving!

no question..

If you would like to listen/see the entire piece you can go to DIVX or click on the Youtube to find the three parts individually uploaded.

*Source: Star Trek: Is There in Truth No Beauty?