Moses Supposes His Toeses Are Roses...

"There's No One As Irish As..."

2008-11-24T08:55:00.000-08:00

I've heard of "Black Irish", but this is ridiculous!

Happy Puppy

2008-11-18T17:52:00.001-08:00

Roxie panting happily at me at the dog park Saturday morn.

Your New White House Chief Of Staff

2008-11-14T13:56:00.000-08:00

Hey, I think I like this guy...

Freed from the constraints of his stuffy newspaper, Bendavid is able to ratchet up the parental guidance rating from G to R, which is essential to any well-rounded profile of Emanuel. As they said about Buddy Hackett in Vegas, Emanuel works blue. "Fuck" is one of the most versatile words in English, but he seems to have discovered new grammatical and linguistic uses for it. Washington is "Fucknutsville." A Republican congressman is a "knucklefuck." As with his liberal politics, he seems to have inherited his gift for invective from his mother, who is quoted as playfully calling him a "little shithead." The Emanuels -- who hail from the upper-middle-class suburb of Wilmette -- are an intense, competitive family. Emanuel's father and brother are surgeons, another brother is a Hollywood agent who inspired the Ari Gold character on "Entourage." Too tightly wound to stop at politics, Emanuel also races in triathlons.

A little fun

2008-11-13T15:26:00.000-08:00

Seen in front of the YWCA Sat. 11/8 afternoon

Tee-hee.

Bittersweet Tuesday

2008-11-13T11:41:00.000-08:00

Photo by PAGalloway

So Election Tuesday was bittersweet, with the simultaneous election of Obama and passage of Prop 8, the "Let's constitutionalize discrimination" proposition. I was very happy to see an Obama electoral landslide (including Indiana, of all places), and a very strong Democratic showing in the senate races, even if McConnell and that contemptible Chambliss kept their seats (although we shall have to wait and see on Chambliss). At least 7-time convicted felon Sen. Ted "Tubes" Stevens seems to be on his way out now.

But my Prop 8 reaction:
What the hell, California?

The crown jewel of progressive politics, neatly snuggled in the Democratic party's arm for all these years, voting for a constitutional amendment to except a minority from the equal protection guaranteed all by the constitution and deny a fundamental right to the few. I can't help this activist anger I feel, and it's different from just "not getting my way" anger - more than enough of my chosen views on other props were shot down on Election night to give me a sensible baseline for that - this is real "WTF" stuff.

Is it that I feel the Yes on 8 campaign was terribly misleading the voters? Probably. Is it that I feel the No on 8 campaign was timid? Odds are. Am I upset that more high-profile people against 8 didn't actively campaign against it? Yes, and Schwarzenegger, I'm looking at you. But maybe this is all coming from a different place, somewhere much more upsetting than the visceral fury of political loss.

Prop 8 claimed to "protect marriage" or "restore marriage". But what does it need to "protect" it from? How does marriage need "restoring"? Over the past thirty years, divorce rates have decreased about 10%, after skyrocketing over 120% in the 20 years prior. Marriage didn't need "protecting" from homosexuals any more than it needed "protecting" from heterosexuals. The fact that people would essentially vote to teach an old dogma new tricks just saddens me so much, I don't know what to do about it.

People, please, I realize you have very strong feelings about gay marriage, but putting an asterisk in the California Constitution isn't the way to act on those feelings. The Constitution is about ensuring that everyone has the same rights and privileges that anyone can have, and divisive words like Prop 8 do not belong there.

I hope that the courts strike down the proposition. Homosexuals deserve their rights, and any attempt to take their rights away takes away from us all.

To come...

2008-11-12T17:34:00.001-08:00

Reactions to Election Day...

The Scott Eckern affair...

But not yet. Work is a harsh mistress.

Youthquake

2008-11-04T13:29:00.000-08:00

From Slings & Arrows, Season 2, Episode 6:

The relevant part runs through 4:30. After that is still excellent, but the first half is specifically interesting for today.

Why Do I Hate Taxpayer Associations So?

2008-10-31T08:58:00.000-07:00

In reading the arguments for and against propositions and local measures, I find myself looking to see which initiatives are supported by 'Taxpayer Associations' so I can vote against them. Howard Jarvis, Sacramento County, doesn't matter. Taxpayer Association support is usually tantamount to the kiss of death in my book.

But why? I mean, these people are devoted to lower taxes, something which I find laudable. So why do I find myself filled with rage when I see them support something?

I think the main reason is ideological rigidity. They are so mind-numbingly for lowering taxes, I think they miss the point and force their opponents to mount very costly bond measures which, while they do not add taxes, cost us twice as much as the initial principal to pay off ultimately. Instead of paying for the cost of an initiative once, through modestly increased taxes, we pay for it twice: once in principal and again in bond interest. Just not smart.

Look at Prop 3: Children's Hospitals. ~$900 million. CA Income Taxes are projected to return $52 billion last year. 900/52,000 = 0.017, or a 1.7% increase in state income taxes. That means if your TAXABLE INCOME (read: gross income is much higher) is $78,000, your share of the $900 million is $60 in a year. Think about that. A little over $1 a week. And the money's there in one year; no need to sell bonds and bonds and bonds. Pay it once and be done with it.

How about 1A? The ~$10 billion bond measure for a high-speed train? Taking the same tack, 10/52 = 0.192, or 19.2% increase in state taxes. And that's just a single year. The resulting rise in our hypothetical couple's income tax would be more like $675 in a year, or less than $2 a day. And in one year we've paid the way completely. If we wanted to amortize the cost over a few years, it's even less painful.

This is all just income tax, and not property or sales tax increases. The simple fact is that we are costing ourselves twice the value of these projects by using bonds just for the label "no new taxes", when it's cheaper to just raise taxes and get it over with. Want a train? Take the hit and raise taxes. Grow a damn pair already.

Just don't put it on the tab.

(Edit: I felt I should note I'm voting FOR 1A. It's a good idea, if poorly financed. But I felt the benefits outweighed the costs)

Culture War, my foot!

2008-10-29T11:37:00.001-07:00

How 'bout Generation War?

Never really thought about it in generational terms, but this does look to be the beginnings of Generation Y ("We", "Millenials", "First Digitals") political power. Andrew Sullivan of the Atlantic wrote about it back in 2007, and is quite proud of himself for guessing that the younger generation would finally begin flexing their political muscle this year. Although that kind of sounds like "This is the year desktop Linux machines will take over the market!" talk, all signs are saying "Yes We Can!"

Or is that "Yes, 'We' Can!"

Obama enjoys a more than 2-to-1 advantage over McCain among first-time (read: 18-21 year olds) and lapsed voters, 69%-27%. These voters have a much more positive view of Obama (64%-27% fav/unfav rating) than average voters do (56%-33% fav/unfav in last week’s NBC/WSJ survey). What’s more, they have a much more negative view of McCain (29%-59%) and Palin (23%-54%) than average voters do.

...

Not only do they back Obama by a 69%-27 margin, they also prefer a Democratic-controlled Congress by a 2-to-1 margin, 66%-31%. And their views of President Bush? His fav/unfav among these voters is 14%-73%. Ouch. While Karl Rove had ambitious hopes of turning Bush's presidency into a permanent majority for the GOP, this poll suggests that Bush's lasting legacy could actually be turning off a new generation of voters.

Perhaps the GOP will be cast into the wilderness for a few years, doomed to wander in reflection and soul-searching until it re-emerges as the party of choice for the now-aging Millenials. But I suspect the Republican party that emerges from those ashes will look nothing like its current self. Or perhaps Republicans will go the way of Federalists and Whigs, and the Democratic party will split itself up into new parties. Who knows?

All I know is, it looks like a good 4 years ahead of us.

Son of a b**ch

2008-10-28T11:04:00.000-07:00

I've been out-musicaled:

Edit: Although I think Bush would have been a better pick for Javert, and McCain could have been Msr. Thenardier.

The "One Day More" guy is frickin' hilarious.

"Assassins" Opening Weekend!

2008-10-27T12:27:00.001-07:00

Opened Stephen Sondheim's "Assassins" this past weekend. It's been a grueling tech week, not for any serious difficulties (I've had some doozy tech weeks in the past... "Titanic"? "Victor/Victoria", Dave?), but for the sheer intensity of the show.

Well, I'm sure you're all looking for pictures or whatnot, so here are a few:

I'm Ronald Reagan, and I Approve This Tent
(Josh Robertson in the mask, Greg Dorado (Zangara) in background, with Charles Davidson (James Blaine / Gerald Ford / Bystander #X) partially obsured)

SOMETHING JUST BROKE! ... and I think it's Joelle's brain.
(Also, Josh James [Leon Czolgosz] in the back looking morose and more panda-ey by the day)

Myeah, now that you've been tied on those train tracks, your hero will fall into my trap! Myeah!
(Charles Davidson sporting some seriously bad-ass facial hair)

I didn't know James Garfield was a muppet!
(Dave Lack, speaking of "Victor/Victoria"... :-)

TWO POTATO SOUPS!!
(Kristen Wagner, Bystander #5 and Potato Soup Lady)

Sacramento Arts Festival

2008-10-27T12:06:00.000-07:00

Went to the Sacramento Arts Festival this weekend to go see our friends John Hancock and Juan Ramos at their art display. They had some pretty awesome sculptures, including:

Dancing Gene

Damn... Still a pig!

Studmuffin

John and Juan are our good friends from way back when... we met during DMTC's Evita in 2005 (John was a lascivious Magaldi). Their other works can be found on their website: johnjuanart.com. Congrats to the both of them for such great work!

Assassins Opened!

2008-10-24T15:35:00.000-07:00

We opened Assassins last night, and it went REALLY well! The biggest problem we had was with Martha's (Sara Jane Moore's) gun in "The Gun Song" (See Below). The damn thing wouldn't go off, and she stood there:

click-click-clickclickclickclick... "Shit, I shot it."

And the audience roared with laughter. I guess they like those fun moments where something clearly goes wrong, and you just charge ahead as best you can.

Looking forward to doing the show again tonight! Come see it! Reserve your tickets NOW!

Old Eagle Theatre (Old Sacramento)
925 Front Street
Sacramento, CA 95814

Kill Grandma For Votes!

2008-10-24T15:17:00.000-07:00

This is what the conservatives are reduced to:

You just knew it was coming. Obama is so determined to see Grandma - he just had to also sit down for an interview about it first. This is kind of funny for a couple reasons, though. So deeply is he worried ... he even managed to work it into an attack on McCain. What a noble guy, this Obama.

...

Obama was in Hawaii for a full week - on vacation just in August. Did he do some "chores" for Grandma? Did they sit down and "talk."

Yeah, for all of one hour out of an entire week based on reports. And he didn't even take the wife and kids. But, you know, everytime he or Biden open their mouths they get in trouble, so maybe it's best to just lie low for a while and bolster Obama's image with people who might be having trouble signing on to his con? Pathetic. I'm not doubting she is ill. But believe me, if you think this guy would leave the campaign trail for an hour if he felt he were running from behind, he wouldn't do it. Not unless he thought it helped him to do so.

...

Man. I hope his numbers don't start to drop. He might have to hold a pillow against her face and maybe later break into tears the way Hillary did. Only I suspect hers were genuine.

The comments are even better:

Wonder how long he would stay without any press coverage?
Kinda like when he went on his European jaunt, and didnt visit the hospitals cause the cameras werent going to go with him.............what a narcissistic charlatan Obama is.

Hoping Obama's grandma votes for MCCAIN!

p.s. She KNOWS her grandson was born in Kenya, and therefore unqualified to run for the US Presidency.

I'll go out on a limb...

grandma lives four more years...

obama uses the same excuse when he gets the dem party nomination in 2012.

The best part about obama? when he loses this time, the dems will delude themselves into believing he will win next time. Imagine nominating a four/five time loser. Insanity. Let's be honest, the dems gave 8 time loser shrum another chance in 04.

And we see pretty much why Obama did this, which is to put all of his bots to work attacking people.

Funny how these same bots were previously savaging and namecalling Sarah Palin's family, insisting that she lied about her pregnancy with Trig, etc.

Funny how Obama's grandma was supposedly at death's door and about to go any second.....but a man with a private jet who could be there in four hours instead waited four days and about forty press appearances before flying to see her, sans daughters or wife.

And finally, given how Obama supports, endorses, and gives millions of dollars to people like Bill Ayers who planned to execute 25 million Americans to bring about their communist utopia, I would say that Obama and his supporters here.....are demanding the compassion that they refuse to give to anyone else.

Perhaps it's too much to hope for rationality. I suppose in a large enough population, like, say, the United States, there will always be people with disgusting and reprehensible things to say.

But today, words fail me.

What I've been doing

2008-10-22T11:06:00.000-07:00

Hey all!

I'm playing Sam Byck in Artistic Differences' latest production, Stephen Sondheim's Assassins. Open this Thursday, 10/23 - 11/9. Shows are Thurs-Sat, 8:00pm, Sun, 7:00pm. We run three weekends, so reserve your tickets NOW!

Oh, and we don't have a show this Saturday (10/25). You hear me? NO SHOW SATURDAY! That's what Patrick Henry said!

"Pipe Wrench Fight"

2008-10-20T12:07:00.000-07:00

Classic avant-garde 80's meets modern literalism:

Om nom nom nom...

2008-10-16T12:45:00.001-07:00

Zombie McCain feasts on youthful idealism, hope and dreams.

LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU!

2008-10-15T22:33:00.001-07:00

Election by KFC?

2008-10-14T13:30:00.001-07:00

Finger-lickin' good:

"A working class person voting for John McCain is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders, and deserves to be plucked." -- Richard Trumka, at a Biden rally today

Flaming Squirrels Destroy California

2008-10-14T12:19:00.001-07:00

From the Redding Fire Department:

REDDING, Calif. -- With southern California fighting wind-driven flames and spot fires breaking out across northern California, firefighters have fingered at least one arsonist: an unlucky squirrel.

Redding firefighters said the squirrel set off the blaze when it shorted out a power line, caught fire and dropped into dry vegetation.

Battalion Chief Gerry Gray said it took 18 firefighters and six fire engines to fight the fire that started behind a Redding restaurant.

The fire briefly threatened a home before it was contained Monday.

Redding Electric Utility spokesman Pat Keener said about 200 customers might have noticed their electricity flicker when the squirrel shorted out the high-voltage power line. But the incident did not cause a power outage.

Right on the tail (yuk yuk) of this news:

Rocky just couldn't take it anymore. *sniff*

This rhetoric thing is catching

2008-10-02T11:21:00.000-07:00

"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing." -- Edmund Burke

AFL-CIO's Richard Trumka delivering a passionate speech to the United Steel Workers:

via The Atlantic's Andrew Sullivan.

Obama leading today

2008-10-01T16:06:00.000-07:00

Very happy to see Sen. Obama leading the national polls today. Several state polls came out as well, and it looks like this has potential for a landslide liberal victory nationwide: Senate Democrats look to pick up 4 or 5 extra seats from the Republicans, Generic congressional votes favor Democrats over Republicans by about 8 points on average.

See RealClearPolitics and FiveThirtyEight for more details.

knock knock Brushing off cobwebs

2008-10-01T16:02:00.000-07:00

Welcome back, those of you who are still coming here...

Hmmm... haven't updated this thing in a long time. Kind of left it by the wayside, really. I don't know if I'll try to keep it up any more after this, but we'll see. I just saw this clip online and thought it was a fantastic ad, and includes my friend Jason at 1:00.

No on CA Prop 8!
Marriage Equality For All!

Sanderson of Oundle

2007-08-17T10:28:00.001-07:00

I just finished reading a very enjoyable column in the Guardian from 2002 (online, of course) which talks about the lack of "true" education, with emphasis placed on the discovery and encouragement of students' enthusiasm for learning rather than the rote memorization encouraged by standardized testing.

Snippet:

His spirit lived on at Oundle. His immediate successor, Kenneth Fisher, was chairing a staff meeting when there was a timid knock on the door and a small boy came in: "Please, sir, there are black terns down by the river." "This can wait," said Fisher decisively to the assembled committee. He rose from the chair, seized his binoculars from the door and cycled off in the company of the small ornithologist, and - one can't help imagining - with the benign, ruddy-faced ghost of Sanderson beaming in their wake. Now that's education - and to hell with your league table statistics, your fact-stuffed syllabuses and your endless roster of exams.

That story of Fisher was told by my own inspiring zoology teacher, Ioan Thomas, who had applied for the job at Oundle specifically because he admired the long-dead Sanderson and wanted to teach in his tradition. Some 35 years after Sanderson's death, I recall a lesson about Hydra, a small denizen of still fresh water. Mr Thomas asked one of us, "What animal eats Hydra?" The boy made a guess. Non-committally, Mr Thomas turned to the next boy, asking him the same question. He went right round the entire class, with increasing excitement asking each one of us by name, "What animal eats Hydra? What animal eats Hydra?" And one by one we guessed. By the time he had reached the last boy, we were agog for the true answer. "Sir, sir, what animal does eat Hydra?" Mr Thomas waited until there was a pin-dropping silence. Then he spoke, slowly and distinctly, pausing between each word.

"I don't know... (crescendo) I don't know... (molto crescendo). And I don't think Mr Coulson knows either. (Fortissimo) Mr Coulson! Mr Coulson!"

He flung open the door to the next classroom and dramatically interrupted his senior colleague's lesson, bringing him into our room. "Mr Coulson, do you know what animal eats Hydra?" Whether some wink passed between them I don't know, but Mr Coulson played his part well: he didn't know. Again, the fatherly shade of Sanderson chuckled in the corner, and none of us will have forgotten that lesson. What matters is not the facts but how you discover and think about them: education in the true sense, very different from today's assessment-mad exam culture.

I Will Survive!

2007-08-15T10:00:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Dad, who sent me the link to this excellent comedy routine on the interwebs.

I especially like the applauding in rhythm at the end. It's one of the great tragedies of theatre that audiences enjoy this kind of participation, yet they can never do it well. Listen for the claps in the space between beats and once they start changing the tempo.

As an added bonus, here's Tom Lehrer performing "Werner Von Braun"

Mac killed my inner child

2007-07-31T15:05:00.000-07:00

I remember this spoof commercial from many years ago... ahhh... memories.

Actually Unspeakable...

2007-07-20T13:41:00.000-07:00

... no words for this.

12. In or about February 2002, PEACE and VICK "rolled" or "tested" some of their fighting dogs against other dogs owned by CW#1 and others in Virginia Beach, Virginia. "Rolling" or "testing" a fighting dog means placing the dog in a short fighting match to determine how well the animal fights. One of the pit bulls sponsored by PEACE and VICK in this "testing" session did not fight very well.
13. In or about February 2002, PEACE executed the pit bull that did not perform well in the "testing" session by shooting it with a .22 caliber pistol.

...

15. In or about February 2002, PEACE executed at least one dog that did not perform well in a "testing" session at 1915 Moonlight Road by shooting the animal.
16. In or about February 2002, PHILLIPS executed at least one dog that did not perform well in a "testing" session at 1915 Moonlight Road by shooting the animal.
17. In or about February 2002, TAYLOR executed at least two dogs that did not perform well in "testing" sessions at 1915 Moonlight Road by shooting one dog and electrocuting the other.

...

53. In or about March of 2003, PEACE, after consulting with VICK about the losing female pit bull's condition, executed the losing dog by wetting the dog down with water and electrocuting the animal.

...

62. In or about March of 2003, PEACE executed the losing dog by shooting it with a pistol.

...

83. In or about April 2007, PEACE, PHILLIPS, and VICK executed approximately 8 dogs that did not perform well in "testing" sessions at 1915 Moonlight Road by various methods, including hanging, drowning and slamming at least one dog's body to the ground.

84. On or about April 25, 2007, PEACE, PHILLIPS, and VICK possessed various items associated with the continued operation of the dog fighting operation at 1915 Moonlight Road, including the sheds and kennels associated with housing the fighting dogs and hosting dog fights; approcimately 54 American Pit Bull Terriers, some of which had scars and injuries appearing to be related to dog fighting; a "rape stand," a device in which a female dog who is too aggressive to submit to males for breeding is strapped down with her head held in place by a restraint; a "break" or "parting" stick used to pry open fighting dogs' mouths during fights; treadmills and "slat mills" used to condition fighting dogs; and other items.

I'm not going to embed this, because it's a bit too much, but I'll link it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwI_qlq5vHs
Be ready for shocking images.

---------
EDIT:
Found this on a TV news site in Virginia:

"Animal control officers said they also rescued at least ten beagles and said these dogs are commonly used almost as bait to train the larger pitbulls to attack."

Unspeakable...

2007-07-17T12:41:00.000-07:00

Unspeakably *hilarious*, that is...

The 17th century chalk outline of the naked, sexually aroused, club-wielding giant is believed by many to be a symbol of ancient spirituality.

Many couples also believe the 180ft giant, which is carved in the hillside above Cerne Abbas, Dorset, is an aid to fertility.

...

It has been painted with water-based biodegradable paint which will wash away as soon as it rains.

Ann Bryn-Evans, joint Wessex district manager for The Pagan Federation, said: “It’s very disrespectful and not at all aesthetically pleasing.

“We were hoping for some dry weather but I think I have changed my mind. We’ll be doing some rain magic to bring the rain and wash it away.”

(emphasis mine)

I may have to go see this movie despite my misgivings. Kwik-E-Marts and now a super-size Homer carved into an English hillside with pagans working "rain magic" to make it go away... too perfect. The fig leaf is mine. The uncensored version is on the link. :-)

100th Post & Some News

2007-07-16T13:41:00.000-07:00

Yay! 100th Post!

Yay! New Niece!

Elizabeth Grace, born around 3:23 AM on Monday, July 16th, 2007 in Seattle.

Some baby quotes:

“A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for” -- Unknown

“The old Irish when immersing a babe at baptism left out the right arm so that it would remain pagan for good fighting” -- Unknown

“If you were to open up a baby's head - and I am not for a moment suggesting that you should - you would find nothing but an enormous drool gland.” -- Dave Barry

Wee Elizabeth, welcome to the world!

Will it blend?

2007-07-16T11:46:00.001-07:00

As a technophile, I feel it my duty to report this sadistic mutilation of technology to the authorities.

2007-07-13T13:25:00.000-07:00

You answered 9 items out of 15 correctly.

Your score is 60%. Your knowledge is slightly above average. As George W. Bush might have said, they misunderestimated you.

(On an unrelated topic, I'm getting damn close to 100 posts!)

Now, where'd I put that electron?

2007-07-12T16:24:00.000-07:00

I knew I left it around here somewhere... It couldn't have gone far...

Just in time for swimmin' season

2007-07-11T11:14:00.000-07:00

I stumbled on a discussion of the practice of hyperventilation just before diving underwater today. It seems that the physiological basis for it is sound: It lowers the carbon dioxide concentration in the bloodstream which allows you to hold your breath longer underwater. However, this can be dangerous, since it allows your blood-oxygen to drop to blackout levels while still underwater and while not feeling the coming hypoxia, like you would with normal breathing.

See Wikipedia on Shallow Water Blackout:

A shallow water blackout is a loss of consciousness caused by cerebral hypoxia towards the end of a breath-hold dive in water typically shallower than five metres (16 feet), when the swimmer does not necessarily experience an urgent need to breathe and has no other obvious medical condition that might have caused it. Victims are often established practitioners of breath-hold diving, are fit, strong swimmers, and have not experienced problems before.

Many drowning and near drowning events occur among swimmers who black out underwater while free-diving or doing breath-hold pool laps. Blacking out, or browning out, near the end of a breath-hold dive is common. Although the mechanism is well understood, it is not common knowledge among breath-hold divers.

Yub nub ... eee chop yub nub!

2007-07-02T16:12:00.000-07:00

Following on the last post, I found this little gem.

For comparison and reminder of just what the hell I'm talking about...

Virtual Barber Shop

2007-07-02T15:56:00.000-07:00

No, not the vocal variety, the haircutting variety. Really should be listened to with headphones for real effect. If you close your eyes it can really feel like you're there, down to the weird tingle I get when buzzers are going near my ears.

It's amazing how the mind simulates environments based on inputs from the senses. The ultimate in virtual reality processing.

I suppose it was only a matter of time...

2007-06-29T09:08:00.000-07:00

... until I found the PC accessory I was born to own. From the site that gave us our favorite time-telling tool, as well!

Now the computer savvy among us can relive the fun of having your very own personal mini-oven with the PC Ez-Bake oven! It fits in a 5 1/4" drive bay and plugs right into your power supply with the included Molex connector. Also included is "PC Ez-Cook", the open-source oven controller software with hundreds of easy and creative recipes for your PC Ez-Bake oven, and even a fuzzy-logic cooking control system to precisely measure the doneness of your cake, cookie, or cheese souffle. The PC Ez-Bake oven can even be used to cook your Pop Tarts, Bagel Bites, or any tiny or flat food. YUM!

Other features include:

* 1 replacement light bulb
* 1 additional tiny pan
* 6 Mixes for your PC Ez-Bake oven: Chocolate Cake, Vanilla Cake, Peanut Butter Cookie, Chocolate Chip Cookie, and Caffeinated Meatloaf (comes dehydrated)
* Special office friendly recipes including "Duck Sauce Packet Tart", "Vending Machine Casserole", and "Non-Dairy Creamer Creme Brulee"

You Decide

2007-06-25T13:17:00.000-07:00

Hmmmmm....

Evolution as the blind watchmaker

2007-06-25T11:48:00.000-07:00

A very thoughtful and interesting Youtube video... I think I'll have to look at more of this guy's stuff.

"Let's read this corpse!"

2007-06-20T08:25:00.001-07:00

Per an anonymous comment on my previous post, I am putting this up. Enjoy!

The trials and tribulations of post-modernism

2007-06-18T13:13:00.000-07:00

Marc Valdez writes -

"Beauty And The Beast" opened this weekend to appreciative audiences. Few problems that I'm aware of. I understand Babette suffered a torn skirt - understandable with the stage crammed with various knick-knacks - which makes you wonder if "Beauty And The Beast" should be done in an ultra-modern style, with leotards, tights, sophisticated lighting, and an utterly bare stage. I'll make the suggestion to Disney right away....

I'd point him towards these gems from season two of the hilarious Canadian show "Slings and Arrows":

Rocky! No!

2007-06-18T12:15:00.000-07:00

from Reuters:

BERLIN (Reuters) - An aggressive squirrel attacked and injured three people in a German town before a 72-year-old pensioner dispatched the rampaging animal with his crutch.

The squirrel first ran into a house in the southern town of Passau, leapt from behind on a 70-year-old woman, and sank its teeth into her hand, a local police spokesman said Thursday.

With the squirrel still hanging from her hand, the woman ran onto the street in panic, where she managed to shake it off.

The animal then entered a building site and jumped on a construction worker, injuring him on the hand and arm, before he managed to fight it off with a measuring pole.

"After that, the squirrel went into the 72-year-old man's garden and massively attacked him on the arms, hand and thigh," the spokesman said. "Then he killed it with his crutch."

The spokesman said experts thought the attack may have been linked to the mating season or because the squirrel was ill.

Squirrels are tenacious animals. This is one of my favorite pictures of sheer determination:

Am I A Pansy?

2007-06-13T11:15:00.000-07:00

No, really, am I? I don't get it. I went to see the third installment of the "Pirates" franchise last night with the missus and I swear, I could get misty-eyed at it, but she could laugh off what I considered the most touching parts of the movie. I find this happens a lot - the parts of movies which others consider trite I feel resonating deeply inside me. Am I that naïve, that what I find moving and powerful is contrived and schmaltzy to the whole world, or is the whole world just so damn cynical and jaded that they won't let themselves feel depth of emotion anymore?

What gives?

Got Insurance?

2007-06-12T12:32:00.001-07:00

Sometimes, being helpful isn't the best avenue of ingratiating yourself to those around you.

Succeed they will...

2007-06-06T15:34:00.000-07:00

And indeed they have...

As a result, CBS has ordered seven episodes of “Jericho” for mid-season next year. In success, there is the potential for more. But, for there to be more “Jericho,” we will need more viewers.

A loyal and passionate community has clearly formed around the show. But that community needs to grow. It needs to grow on the CBS Television Network, as well as on the many digital platforms where we make the show available.

An added plus, to show no hard feelings...

P.S. Please stop sending us nuts :)

"Jericho" wins?

2007-06-06T09:56:00.000-07:00

From the SJ Merc blog section:

Fans of “Jericho'’ — the post-nuclear holocaust drama — may have succeeded where the fans of other canceled series have failed.

According to several sources, CBS is close to bringing back “Jericho'’ at mid-season — less than a month after it was dropped from the network’s schedule. Apparently, executives became convinced the series had more of a grip on its audience than they thought after being bombarded with thousands of emails and tons of nuts protesting the cancellation. (The nuts were a reference to a line in the show’s last episode.)

They also post this update:

UPDATE: In Wednesday’s Los Angeles Times, “Jericho'’ co-creator and executive producer Carol Barbee confirms CBS’s intent to bring back the series for eight episodes. ”The idea would not be to bring it back for eight and out but to bring it back for eight with the hope that it would keep going,'’ Barbee tells the Times. “They’re making deals with the actors, and there’s other logistical stuff to work out.'’ Barbee says deals with actors could be in place within 48 hours.

It's difficult to not be excited about this possibility(result?), since it's the culmination of a lot of people's determination and desire to see the show's return. The nut-counter from Nuts Online just passed 40,000 pounds (that's 20 tons, or about 8 million peanuts) of nuts to deliver, and they are simultaneously running a donation drive for the real-life Kansas town of Greensburg, Kansas (which was devastated by the recent tornadoes which ripped through that and many other towns) which is almost to $14,500 in donations.

CBS has (apparently) made their decision to revive Jericho in less than a month of announcing it's cancellation. When was the last time this happened?

Where's my tree-fiddy?

2007-06-01T15:04:00.000-07:00

An amateur scientist thinks he may have caught the elusive "Nessie" on videotape. Perhaps the most interesting part of this clip is listening to the accents. I may have to start watching Scottish & Irish newscasts online regularly. These are fascinating. Oh yeah, and there's a somewhat blurry, shaky video of a dark shape underwater which we could maybe possibly begin to speculate about the mere chance of it's being something remotely similar to a GIANT DINOSAUR FROM THE PALEOLITHIC ERA!

ps. Doesn't it seem strange that this guy said he was listening to the underwater soundscape, yet his video is clearly significantly elevated higher than the lake surface? Why would he be listening underwater so far from the water itself? Food fer t'ought.

Theatrical Studies

2007-06-01T11:50:00.000-07:00

Who says Theatrical Engineers can't have fun at work?

The questions probed in this tech note is how to determine the safety of scenery that is receiving heavy point loading or impulse forces. An example of just such a situation would be a platform on which one or more actors are jumping around. The first solution to this issue would be to just grossly overbuild the platform,like the proverbial ‘brick shithouse.’
Of course,this is not a very elegant solution —rather,it would be nice to have a way to actually calculate the e ﬀect of impulse forces and point loads on a platform. This tech note will deal with each of these issues.

My sentiments exactly.

Yes, I Can Can CAN!

2007-06-01T10:45:00.000-07:00

Some AGYG love--

Curiouser and curiouser

2007-05-30T12:05:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh... good satire is usually quite hard to come by.

A Communications Lesson

2007-05-25T14:04:00.001-07:00

Courtesy of, oddly enough, the Hub-folk:

"Well, in that case...."I let it hang for a couple of seconds just to increase the suspense. "If I am as easy to lead as your test says, and if these courses you have attended to become activator are as good as you say, then it should be no problem for you to sell me that book." I leant forward with the air of a neophite hanging reverently on the words of the High Priest. "How does this happen? Please show me."

Please note that my tone was not challenging or skeptical. It was begging. I was quite honest, too. I was positvely beside myself with curiousity about what arcane and esoteric methods she was going to use to push this book on me, and was begging to be shown. (i.e. I had made clear my interest in the alleged impressive results of scientological studies and my acceptance of what I had chosen to regard as the offer of a free demonstration.) I leant back and waited expectantly.

She blinked, looked at me somewhat blankly, then blinked again. I waited expectantly.

She looked at her desktop and blinked at that. This didn't look partcularly encouraging, but I waited expectantly.

Her next move was to place her elbows on the desktop, fold her hands together and start rocking her body backwards and forwards. She finally stopped rocking and started staring at me intensely. What she hoped to achieve by this was unclear.
I felt it was time to give her som encouragement and guidance.

"Dear Lady." My tone was extremely patient and sympathetic. "You have to give me a sales pitch, you know. You aren't going to sell me anything by just looking at me and clamming up."

She frowned, and kept frowning for a while. Then, to my astonishment, she blew herself up like a frog, pointed at the door and screamed hysterically, "UD FOR FAEN!!! UD!!!" (This translates roughly as "Get the fuck out of here! Get out!")

I rose politely while she glared at me balefully, quivering and looking very apoplectic. Having opened the door preparatory to leaving, I addressed her again.

"But Dear Lady." My tone was full of fatherly concern. "You aren't going to activate me into buying anything by throwing me out of your office. Have you paid money for these courses? Are you sure you haven't been ripped off?"

That really did it! She shot to her feet like a champagne cork, hunched her shoulders, withdrew her head like a turtle, stamped on the floor and, gesticulating hysterically in the direction of the door with her index finger, her whole arm and her whole body, emitted an even more ear-splitting "UD FOR FAEN!!! UD!!! U-U-U-D!!!"

Out of concern for her observably imminent heart attack I withdrew.

There's an installment of these people in mid-town, and I recently drove past there (scaring Lauren, who thought I was witnessing some horrible accident or crime, when I gasped with glee on seeing their logo) a few days ago. I remember getting tickets shoved through my old apartment door to an "Orientation" video and being masochistically interested in subjecting myself to it (Although I did watch an Orientation video posted on YouTube some time ago). But our intrepid Norwegian continues with some philosophy of communication and argumentation...

My Copenhagen Thetan had been playing what I call "Virkelighetsleken" (The Reality Game). Her (perception of) reality was that I had to get her to understand that I didn't want the book or I would have to buy it. My (perception of) reality was that she had to get me to understand that I wanted it or she would have to keep it.

In this particular situation, where she had no actual practical power, she could only mobilize her reality with my consent. I, on the other hand, could mobilize my reality without her consent. After all, my actions (buying books or anything else) are directed more by what I understand than what someone else can be bothered to understand (of course with the proviso that they have no practical power to apply sanctions).

We often have a tendency to fall into the trap of trying to get someone like this to understand something. This a waste of time and energy. It's a wrestling match with a sack of potatoes. Avoid it. Nothing happens except that you get tired. In this situation allow the enemy to come to you. Allow him to get tired if he feels like it (Moltke etc.).

One of the things that can cause us to fall into the trap of debating matters with this kind of person is our built-in desire to communicate with our fellow humans (which works fine with courteous, honest people) combined with the manipulative implication in the situation that it would be impolite to say no. (Don't go along with this one. A polite "no thank you" is not impolite.)

One correct strategy in this situation is to give way on all points except the salient one. Remember that your enemy's intermediate aim is not necessarily coincident with his final aim. Napoleon took Moscow, but that didn't give him the food and shelter he was seeking after the Russians had burnt the city to the ground. In this case: "Yes, your test is reliable if you say so," and "Yes, your courses are good if you say so." does not coincide with "Yes, I want to buy your book." Allowing your enemy to occupy tactically useless positions is giving him an opportunity to waste his resources, and he may get out on a limb and bogged down, as she did. Musashi has told us, "Treat your enemy as an honoured guest." Yes, invite him in, into a tactical vacuum or a swamp if you can. In this case: Invite her to make grandiose claims about the quality of her courses. Then invite her to demonstrate. Do this very politely. She is an honoured guest.

Fascinating, and kudos to this Ray fellow. Always remember when arguing with someone that their perception of reality may not be the same as yours. Practice perspective-taking and (my, but I hate this word) paradigm-shifting; it makes a world of difference in getting your point across.

My Dad Strikes Again

2007-05-23T15:25:00.000-07:00

Dad sent me this e-mail last night:

Mike,

I noted your post on Lake Nyos in Cameroon. Africa is an interesting place geologically speaking. Here is another event that occured not far away at Oklo, in Gabon, which touches Cameroon on the south:

http://geology.about.com/od/geophysics/a/aaoklo.htm

As you can see, Africa is prone to the production of many natural disasters, among which we must include the evolution of Homo Sapiens, or "Saps" as they are commonly known.

Continuing along that vein, I must draw your attention to a recent study just released, and picked up by the London Daily Mail:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ [Ed. -URL shortened for brevity's sake]

The results of this study need to be widely promulgated, especially on busses, resturants, theaters, and other public places where this activity is excessively practiced. Now, if a study can be funded to show that the same type of activity causes premature wrinkles in females, perhaps we can achieve a step change in Quality of Life for all of us.

Dad-

P.S. - this link - http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2007/05/015973.htm - implies that there is an available protection for this possibility. The fallacy of this is obvious when you realize that an ungrounded conductor (such as an aircraft in flight) actually generates induction currents from electromagnetic fields, and provides a low conductivity path to ground or oppositely charged atmospheric regions. Think about it.

Well, I thought about it. But you can't use cell phones on a plane. Maybe these are why; they want to discourage people from wearing this protection on planes and hurt themselves or others.

Either way, it might be worth an experiment. Any takers?

"NUTS!" to CBS

2007-05-23T12:55:00.000-07:00

In a followup to my earlier post on the cancellation of "Jericho", I feel I should add something else. It seems that the fans of the show are making their disappointment known in a somewhat unorthodox way.

In the final episode of the season (hopefully not the series), the small town of Jericho, KS comes under siege by the neighboring town which is trying to take their food and other supplies for themselves in a shooting war. After repelling the forward attack party with a tank (don't ask), the de facto leader of Jericho (Skeet Ulrich) speaks with the opposing town's sheriff/mayor, who demands Jericho surrender. Skeet responds as any good field commander would: "NUTS!" (The story of McAuliffe's reply was told earlier in the episode in a flashback)

So, Jericho fans are responding to the cancellation of Jericho by saying the same to CBS. And not just saying it, sending them. Yes, Jericho fans are sending boxes and boxes of peanuts to the CBS offices in New York City via a small New Jersey online nut delivery company, NutsOnline.com. The current total, as of 4:05pm EDT, is $13825 totalling 10061 lbs since May 17th. They also list the weights of daily shipments:
- shipped 89 lbs on 5/17
- shipped 24 lbs on 5/18
- shipped 1393 lbs on 5/21
(inc. 1000 lbs of pooled order)
- shipped 4042 lbs on 5/22
(inc. 4000 lbs of pooled order)
- yet to ship: 4513 lbs

There are also a few videos shot by Jericho fans on their cell phones of the nuts from the "first wave" of some 1,000 lbs of nuts being offloaded at the CBS offices.

and

I also found an interesting analysis of the phenomenon that is the "Save Jericho" movement; mentioning that this is a battle between the Old Media (broadcasters & Nielsons) vs. the New Media (YouTube, the Internet and viral marketing)

We'll have to see how this plays out, and if CBS can get rid of the deluge of 400 25-pound peanut boxes coming in before they completely overwhelm their mail room.

Conspiracy Theories

2007-05-23T12:51:00.000-07:00

Cute cartoon from one of my favorite webcomics, xkcd. Click to see in it's full glory.

Lake Nyos: Strangest Disaster of the 20th Century?

2007-05-22T10:28:00.000-07:00

I read this little article about the 1986 Lake Nyos disaster in Cameroon.

On the morning of August 22, 1986, a man hopped onto his bicycle and began riding from Wum, a village in Cameroon, towards the village of Nyos. On the way he noticed an antelope lying dead next to the road. Why let it go to waste? The man tied the antelope onto his bicycle and continued on. A short distance later he noticed two dead rats, and further on, a dead dog and other dead animals. He wondered if they’d all been killed by a lightening strike – when lightening hits the ground it’s not unusual for animals nearby to be killed by the shock.

Soon the man came upon a group of huts. He decided to see if anyone there knew what had happened to the animals. But as he walked up to the huts he was stunned to see dead bodies strewn everywhere. He didn’t find a single person still alive—everyone in the huts was dead. The man threw down his bicycle and ran all the way back to Wum.

Turns out some 1,800 people died in villages surrounding a lake in the West African country: Lake Nyos, a lake which old legends held that 'evil spirits' lived in which once killed the people who lived on it's shores. Not to be deterred, scientists continued their search...

As the scientists took samples from deeper and deeper in Lake Nyos, the already high carbon dioxide (CO2) levels climbed steadily higher. At the 600 foot depth, the levels suddenly shot off the charts. Beyond that depth, the CO2 levels were so high that when the scientists tried to pull the samples to the surface, the containers burst from the pressure of all the gas that came out of solution. The scientists had to switch to pressurized containers to collect their samples, and when they did they were stunned to find that the water at the bottom of the lake contained five gallons of dissolved CO2 for every gallon of water.

As the scientists pieced together the evidence, they began to form a theory that centered around the large amount of CO2 in the lake. The volcano that formed Lake Nyos may have been long extinct, but the magma chamber that fed it was still active deep below the surface of the Earth. And it was still releasing carbon dioxide gas—not just into Lake Nyos, but into the surrounding environment as well. In fact, it’s not uncommon in Cameroon to find frogs and other small animals suffocated in CO2 “puddles” that have formed in low points along the ground. (CO2 is heavier than air and can pool in low spots until the wind blows it away.)

CO2 in a 5:1 ratio? I remember chemistry classes in high school when we were taught about solutions, we were told about "super-solutions", where more than expected solvent can be dissolved when under great pressure or being heated. In fact, once dissolved under heat and cooled, the solvent remains in solution, but any disturbance could result in precipitation of the solvent (salt would form and fall to the bottom of the glass, and not be able to return to solution.

There is a physical limit to how much CO2 water can absorb, even under the tremendous pressured that exist at the bottom of a 690 foot deep lake. As the bottom layers become saturated, the CO2 is pushed up to where the pressure is low enough for it to start coming out of solution. At this point any little disturbance—a landslide, stormy weather, or even high winds or just a cold snap—can cause the CO2 to begin bubbling to the surface. And when the bubbles start rising, they can cause a siphoning or “chimney” effect, triggering a chain reaction that in one giant upheaval can cause the lake to disgorge CO2 that has been accumulating in the lake for decades.

CO2 is odorless, colorless, and non-toxic; your body produces it and you exhale some every time you breathe. Even the air you inhale consists of about 0.05% CO2. What makes it a killer in certain circumstances is that fact that it’s heavier than air: If enough escapes into the environment at once, it displaces the air on the ground, making breathing impossible. A mixture of as little as 10% CO2 in the air can be fatal: even 5% can smother a flame…which explained why the oil lamps went out.

...

In the meantime, they had also come up with an estimate of just how much CO2 had escaped from the lake on August 22—and were stunned by what they found. Eyewitness accounts from people who were high enough in the hills above the lake to survive the eruption described how the lake began bubbling strangely on August 17, causing a misty cloud to form above the surface of the water. Then without warning, on August 22, the lake suddenly exploded; water and gas shot a couple of hundred feet into the air. The CO2 had taken up so much space in the lake that when it was finally released 1.2 cubic kilometers of CO2—enough to fill 10 football stadiums—in as little as 20 seconds. (Are you old enough to remember the huge volume of ash that Mt. Saint Helens released when it erupted in 1980? That eruption released only 1/3 of one cubic kilometer of ash—a quarter of Lake Nyos’s emission.)

guuuuuhh.... and I thought anthropogenic CO2 emissions were bad. Then I did the numbers. 1.2 cubic kilometers seems to come out to 0.07% (approx. 2¼ million metric tons) of the annual net carbon increases (3.2 billion metric tons estimated by the IPCC 2001 report)
(from this website)
However, using these same figures, in the same amount of time (20 seconds), this lake put out over 1,000 times the carbon humanity did in the same time period. Wow!

Scientists spent the next decade trying to figure out a way to safely release the gas before disaster struck again. They eventually settled on a plan to sink a 51/2-inch diameter tube down more than 600 feet, to just above the floor of the lake. Then when some of the water from the bottom was up to the top of the tube, it would rise high enough in the tube for the CO2 to come out of solution and form bubbles, which would cause it to shoot out the top of the tube, blasting water and gas more than 150 feet into the sky. Once it got started, the siphon effect would cause the reaction to continue indefinitely, or at least until the CO2 ran out. A prototype was installed and tested in 1995, and after it proved to be safe, a permanent tube was installed in 2001.

...

As of the fall of 2006 the tube was still in place releasing more than 700 million cubic feet of CO2 into the air each year. That’s a little bit more than enters the lake in the same amount of time. Between 2001 and 2006, the CO2 levels in Lake Nyos dropped 13%.

Again, 700 million cubic feet is roughly equivalent to 36,822 metric tons, or just over a millionth of the net annual increase of atmospheric carbon. I was worried about the atmospheric effects of dumping 700 million cubic feet of CO2 into the atmosphere until I figured that out, and the fact that it actually pumps out (assuming it works constantly day and night year round) 2.5 pounds of CO2 every second. The world is an absolutely fascinating place.

Save "Jericho"

2007-05-21T11:49:00.001-07:00

I admit, one of my favorite television guilty pleasures is "Jericho", a postapocalyptic adventure/drama on CBS. I got into it because CBS posted episodes on our On Demand service at home, and it has become a weekly watcher for me. I think "Jericho", like "Lost" and the up-and-coming "Heroes" (which I haven't gotten into yet) are a burgeoning style of TV show: thoughtful, character-driven, story intense shows which truly entertain and make you think. These are shows that need to be saved, and I'm all too glad to toss my chit in with the angry fans over the series' cancellation last week. If you enjoy the show, please consider signing this petition to save it.

Is This A Coincidence?

2007-05-21T09:15:00.000-07:00

Via DS & his past life friends -

Could be coincidence... but then again...
Some will recall that on July 8, 1947, witnesses claimed that an
unidentified object with five aliens aboard crashed onto a
sheep and cattle ranch just outside Roswell, New Mexico.
This is a well-known incident that many say has long been
covered up by the U.S. Air Force and the US government.

However, what you may NOT know is that in the month of March 1948, exactly nine months after that historic day, George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, and Dan Quayle were all born.

See what happens when aliens breed with sheep?
This piece of information may clear up a lot of things.

A Cute Distraction

2007-05-17T15:28:00.000-07:00

Watch this... kinda amusing. Warning: 9½ minutes long. Count up how many movies you recognize, how many you've seen all the way through and how many you own.

Recognized: 14
Seen: 14
Owned: 14

Not so great, actually... I thought I'd do better.

2007-05-14T09:05:00.001-07:00

Google Me!

2007-05-08T13:24:00.000-07:00

Apparently, A Google search for "Mike McElroy" brings up:

Michael B McElroy, Gilbert Butler Professor of Environmental Studies
Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences
B.A., Applied Mathematics, A.M., Ph.D., Applied Mathematics, Queens University, Belfast
(2 references)

Mike McElroy, Decatur, IL Councilman

Michael McElroy, Actor, Director, Music Director (Original Tom Collins in "RENT" and toured through Sacramento with the Roundabout production of "Big River")
(5 references)

Mike R. McElroy, Esq.
Schacht & McElroy
Attorneys at Law
Providence, Rhode Island

And me! (although it does point to my old blog)

There is also a mikemac.com, mikemac.org, mikemac.net, and mikemac.nl. Apparently, mikemac.co.uk has "just been registered".
Feh.

There is, however, no mikemac.ru. I shall parlay this to get mikemac.ru/es onto the 'net.

Michael Scott v. David Brent

2007-04-19T10:54:00.000-07:00

A great comparison of Michael Scott (Steve Carrell) and David Brent (Ricky Gervais), of the American and British versions of The Office, respectively. They rate the two inept bosses on 6 different categories, complete with exemplary clips from both series for all categories. My favorite clips:

"The Kiss" (American version):

"The Dance" (British version):

I'm gonna have to rent me the British version's DVDs...

Musical Theatre for the Brain

2007-04-18T14:35:00.000-07:00

This from Cognitive Daily:

Researchers Helga and Tony Noice believe that training in the theater arts has similar cognitive benefits, with the added benefit of actually being quite enjoyable to its participants. Together with Graham Staines, in 2004 they developed a controlled study to test their idea. They recruited 124 older adults, age 60 to 86, to participate in one of three study groups

And the results? I'd say positive!

The theater group improved significantly more compared to the control group in each of the measures (there was much less variance in the psychological well-being scores than in the other tests, so those small gains are significant). For problem solving and well-being, the theater group also improved significantly more than the visual arts group. The theater group also had the lowest drop-out rate of any group: All theater participants attended all 9 sessions, while 8 of the 44 visual arts students dropped out, despite the fact that all participants said they enjoyed the sessions.

This is good news for me! As a longtime aficionado of the theatrical arts, I now expect my problem-solving skills to be herculean, if not deity-like. This also helps explain why my word recall (most people say everything boils down to a Simpsons or Family Guy anecdote with me) is so good.

The team says it would like to try other types of training in the future to see if they can find similar effects. We've reported on a study conducted that same year which showed IQ gains in children who studied music compared to kids who studied drama or nothing at all. This suggests that musical theater might beat music or theater alone as a brain fitness product!

Hot damn! But then why are so many musical theatre people flakey and decidedly set in their routines? Wouldn't they be more attuned to finding new and novel ways of solving problems?

(Although I must admit, I'd love to see how some technical theatre training associates with knowledge in basic physics, spatial orientation and mathematics)

Suicide? In the comics page?!

2007-04-18T09:46:00.000-07:00

I don't think I'll ever look at balloon shapes the same way again.

(from The Comics Curmudgeon) (click image for larger picture)

Holy Crap

2007-04-13T12:00:00.000-07:00

Gorgeous video (w/ good music) of the Inner Life Of The Cell (3 minute abridgement of an 8 minute presentation)

Here is the 8-minute presentation... no music, but even more fascinating visuals.

You look at things like this and just have to feel an incredible sense of awe at how lucky we are to be alive in this world of amazing beauty and complexity.

Goofy UFO nutcakes

2007-04-11T15:12:00.000-07:00

Famous Dutch medium Robbert van den Broeke (who doesn't even have the common decency to have a Wikipedia page!) posted some pictures of aliens he saw once. These were posted a couple years ago (I'm remiss in my scouring of the 'Net, I guess), and MAY CAUSE HILARITY IF SEEN!

(shamelessly stolen from these guys)

Stay tuned when I post fuzzy pictures of the Easter Bunny's ears. They may LOOK like my index and middle fingers positioned into a general "V" shape, but that's exactly what the Bunny wants you to think!

UPDATE: This text from the linked page:

The ETI on the camera is an 'immaterial image'. With immaterial images there's a registration of the ectoplasm (a subtle living matter present in the body of a medium, and which is capable of assuming various semi-solid or solid states, which can be, and have been felt, and photographed) or a registration by means of psycho-inductive feedback (caused by the medium directly on the registration material). While these appearances only occur in the presence of Robbert - a person who is a renowned medium with paranormal gifts - is this a matter of a 'mediumistic immaterial appearance' in stead of a physical ETI. With these types of appearances it's understandable that the image itself strongly resembles something actual or archetypically, that means: the perception the medium has out of his memory how something should look like.

Guuuuhhh... I think my brain just imploded.

tap tap Is this thing on?

2007-04-10T15:37:00.001-07:00

Anyone miss me? No? Well, you'll have to deal with me again. Tough. A little quickie though... something fun found on Digg.com lately:
"π IS EXACTLY 3!" (with respects to Dr. Frink)

"Chicago" Publicity

2007-01-16T14:26:00.000-08:00

The cast from "Chicago" had a brief spot on "Good Day Sacramento" this weekend. Looked awesome. Come see it! Tickets are going very, very fast and the show is consistently eye-poppin'!

(Thanks to DL for putting this up on YouTube)

Happy New Year

2007-01-09T13:01:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all! I'll try to write about "Chicago"s opening later this evening. But in the meantime, listen to this concert solo by Bobby McFerrin:

Karma

2006-12-21T13:30:00.000-08:00

There's got to be something to this Karma thing.... Two bags of Nacho Doritos fell out of the vending machine today, and there was an extra two dimes in the change tray as well. So, instead of spending $0.01512 per delicious gram of nacho cheesy goodness, I spent $0.00554 for each gram of carefully formulated, delightfully flavorful tortilla chips. In your FACE, philosophical concept of 'ill fortune'!

Aaugh!!

2006-12-21T12:07:00.000-08:00

So I'm getting out of my car from lunch, and realize I should really throw away some of the garbage that has been accumulating in my car these past few days. Good idea, right? I grab some garbage and start to get out of the car when a plastic cup holding a Diet Dr. Pepper can (which I thought was empty) falls over and completely covers my pants leg with tasty diet soda! Arrrgh!

RIP Peter Boyle

2006-12-13T10:28:00.000-08:00

One last time, "Puttin On The Ritz!"

Hah!

2006-12-07T16:11:00.000-08:00

Apparently, we've changed paradigms for web designs for this particular site a co-worker's been working on twice already: "Hip", then "Professional" and now "Official".

Overheard from the cube next to me:

Boss: "How's the official-looking site coming along?"

Worker: "Officially boring-looking, if that's what you mean."

The Atheist Delusion

2006-12-06T14:48:00.000-08:00

As if my prayers have been answered, this showed up on my screen today... Has twinges of Stephen Colbert's "The Word" segments.

Evolution & (Un)Intelligent Design?

2006-12-06T13:41:00.000-08:00

Recently, I got into an involved debate with someone I didn't even know about evolution and so-called Intelligent Design, the latest effort to teach Creationism to impressionable young minds. I can't understand how people can be so deluded about these topics; it goes to show the damage that a little education can have... and I mean that as 'a LITTLE education'. Poor science understanding will open people up to pseudosciences like astrology, phrenology, palm-reading and the perennial thorn in my craw, Intelligent Design. This is crazy, people. I don't know how else to say that evolution is a well-developed scientific concept which the vast (vast, vast, vastvastvast) majority of scientists regard as a natural truth.

Ahhh, these people can never be brought around. We can only hope that the evolution of our society will allow the rationalistic to become the dominant mindset over the supernaturalistic. It may have worked when we were cavepeople who couldn't spend time and energy considering these things (lest we become brontosaurus lunch, if you believe Creationists), but it's time to move on.

Gotcha, Hawking!

2006-12-01T08:34:00.000-08:00

Stephen Hawking is only one of the most brilliant humans ever to have lived. What does he know? Evidently not as much as Stephen Colbert.

Protein Synthesis: An Epic on the Cellular Level

2006-11-29T16:06:00.000-08:00

This is perhaps the most bizarre, surreal teaching aids ever dreamt of. And yet I think I learned something from it. Ingenious and creative to the end. I love the guy yelling out "m-R-N-A" and "In-dex-ing!" with the music.

On an open field at Stanford University in 1971, several hundred students convened to undulate and impersonate molecules undergoing protein ... all » synthesis by a ribosome. A few were trained dancers, wearing costumes and colored balloons to identify their roles; most were recruited with the promise of fun and refreshments.

But make no mistake: despite the flower-power feel and psychedelic strains of the "Protein Jive Sutra," this is serious science. The narrator is Nobel laureate Paul Berg, who explains the process in a prologue that introduces the leading players, such as 30s Ribosome, mRNA, and Initiator Factor One.

"Annie" Cast Pictures

2006-11-28T10:41:00.000-08:00

After the show Sunday, the "Annie" cast re-assembled one last time onstage in Warbucks' Mansion for a cast photo. Here's the better photo I got on my camera:

And the funny picture:

Toeses! Roses! Moses!

2006-11-28T08:25:00.000-08:00

In celebration of my 50th post, here's the song that inspired this blog title:

"Annie" Closing

2006-11-27T15:07:00.000-08:00

Well, "Annie" is over and done with. Strike was complicated for me, mainly due to repairing a curtain tear and rehanging both proscenium curtain panels. (I didn't repair the tear) It was a good show, and I am glad I worked on it. Closing performance I set the camera going a few times. Here are some good videos (complete with my "Spots standby... spots go" commentary):

Hooverville

NYC (Yes, that's me yelling "KEEP IT QUIET DOWN THERE!")

In other news, "Hair" is just about fully cast! Looks like a good group; I'm excited about it! "Chicago" is moving forward, I got to block the Courtroom scene at the end of the show, and it's a lot of fun. Lots of company members running around. D's choreography is going well, and I can't wait to see it all. I made a suggestion while watching a rehearsal, and he included it. I'll be so proud every time I see it. :-)

My technical theatre mentor in high school told me about his first experience with set building: He made a papier-mache rock. It was an ugly rock, with jagged edges where he couldn't get the paste to set just right; something he would never stand to see on a stage he ran. But he was so excited when he saw it onstage in performance (he was very young), he almost leapt out of his seat and yelled "THAT'S MY ROCK!" That's the magic of theatre, I guess.

"We are the makers of music, and we are the dreamers of dreams." - Willy Wonka

Auditions for "Hair"!

2006-11-16T17:11:00.000-08:00

Auditions for Artistic Differences' production of "Hair" coming up this Saturday! Be there or be square!

What: Auditions! For HAIR! Dude!
Where: Woodland Opera House, 340 2nd Street (2nd & Main), Woodland, CA
When: 1:00pm, Saturday, November 18th (This Saturday)

Please bring a resume and headshot stapled together (Neither is required; a Polaroid photo will be taken and you may write your theatrical experience on the audition card), and prepare 32 bars of a song that shows rock styling (a song from another rock musical, or a popular rock song in keeping with the show's style). Bring sheet music marked with your start and end. Everyone will be taught "Aquarius" as well.

The dance portion and further singing will be done at the callbacks Sunday, November 19th. Those called back will be notified by phone Saturday evening.

I expect to see some of you out there. This means you, whoever you are.

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ

Claude (Rock Baritone/Tenor)

The most beautiful beast in the forest. Smart, attractive male, with a playful side; a lover of life and the picture of a young man next door of the 60's. Strong actor. A man of conscience who struggles with the conflict of what his heart tells him is right and what the authorities around him lead him to believe. Sings "I Got Life" and "Where Do I Go?"

Berger (Tenor)

A social activist recently banished from high school. An unrestrained animal. He knows what is right and sticks to it no matter the consequence. The leader of the tribe. High energy, athletic, wild. Strong presence and, though he may be a young man, he is looked up to. Must be willing to appear nude. Sings "Donna" and "Going Down".

Sheila (Rock Alto/Belter)

A second semester NYU student and passionate protester who lives with Berger and Claude, and who loves Berger. The most intelligent of the tribe, she is idealistic and concerned with social and political issues of the day. Must have a strong voice and presence. Sings "Easy To Be Hard" and "Good Morning Starshine".

Jeanie (Alto)

Incredibly sweet, the earth mother of the tribe, who understands Claude better than anyone. Wise, passionate, creative woman, who is pregnant with the tribe's baby. She has taken every drug there is, and takes care of the tribe. Strong actress to play comedic and dramatic scenes. Sings "Air".

Hud (Soul/Rock Baritone/Tenor, African-American)

Speaks his mind and hopes you can keep up with him. High energy, spiritual performer with a strong voice and presence on stage, willing to be abrasive and offensive to get his point across. Sings "Colored Spade".

Woof (Rock Baritone/Tenor)

May not want to admit it but he is gay. A young animal. High energy, versatile performer, must be a natural with comedy. Hung up on Berger although he says he loves Mick Jagger. Sings "Sodomy".

Crissy (Mezzo)

An ethereal, willowy, innocent flower child mourning a lost love - the youngest female of the tribe. Sings "Frank Mills".

Dionne (Alto/Mezzo Belt, African-American)

Sassy and lots of fun. Great with comedy and ad-lib vocals. Featured vocalist throughout the show.

Margaret Mead (Male who can sing falsetto)

Must be willing to appear as a believable older British woman who sings "My Conviction". Good with comedy and improv. Will also be in the tribe.

One Stupid Burglar

2006-11-16T17:07:00.000-08:00

This is ridiculously funny. Almost Chaplin-esque in its absurdity and slapstick. I almost hope this is fake; I like to believe that people aren't this dumb, or are at least not permitted to contribute to the gene pool. A Darwin Award Honorable Mention candidate if I ever saw one. :-)

2006-11-16T12:04:00.000-08:00

Hah! Irony is so sweet! My father said this kept getting linked to my site's AdSense, because of all my references to AC. At least I know it works. :-) Redacted to do my part in keeping vitriolic discourse from infecting the world's eyes.

Musical Listening Test

2006-11-09T13:35:00.000-08:00

Hmmm... was an interesting test. I thought it was interesting. I put this out there to all my music-loving family and friends. Give 'em a try!

Dear Michael McElroy
We are delighted to say that over 45,000 people have taken the Musical Listening Test that was first posted on the BBC website. Thank you very much for your participation - you scored 28 out of 30.

We have now selected a group of you, across the whole range of scores, to participate in the next stage of the research. This involves:

* Answering a few questions about your musical listening and that of your close family.
* Retaking the test to give us an idea of how variable your performance is over time.
* Inviting your close family (parents, children, brothers, sisters) to take the test so we can see if musical listening ability runs in families.

The following link is a personal login for you and your family and friends to access the Musical Listening Site. Clicking on it will:

* Allow you to proceed to the second stage of the research.
* Allow your family and friends to take the test on your computer.

Please forward this to family members who do not live with you and encourage them to take the test.

Click here if you are willing to continue
http://www.delosis.com/listening/login.html?u=113785_3259495eac

Best Wishes,
The Musical Listening Test Team

My second time through the test was 29 out of 30. Boo-yah!

"Annie" Opening

2006-11-08T09:44:00.000-08:00

Well, we had a great opening weekend for "Annie", and it's turned out to be a pretty fantastic show, and one of the best tech weeks I've worked on at Runaway (Bob has said much the same). I attribute it's success to a great cast, a relatively simple show, and a dedicated set builder. Each night we dismissed everyone by at least 11:30pm, especially considering we would run the show (2 hours + some odd minutes), get out of costumes & makeup, and give notes. No late night rush, we had some lights set up on Wednesday for the runthrough. I'd say it was a shining beacon of what tech weeks should be.

Opening night, I was a little harried, having worked all day on lights, rushed home to change into my Stage Manager fatigues, then got stuck in traffic on the way back. Then I had some last-minute programming to do, and a couple problems with the lights arose that I hadn't noticed before. But all in all, it ran very smoothly. The only thing I would ask for is to have an ASM who wasn't in the show, so I could maintain communications back there. We'll see how Chicago runs. I may decide to man the "deck", while Nic, the ASM, could call the show from above. I miss being closer to the show.

Speaking of Chicago, we had auditions Sunday and Monday, where a heavy turnout was expected, and we were not disappointed. In all, some 48 people auditioned. (14 gents, 34 ladies) We decided we needed to have callbacks, and had those last night. I enjoyed running parts of the auditions, particularly the "here's what we're looking for" analysis. Bob and I came to a realization that we have differing opinions on certain scenes, so we'll have to hash those out sometime before we get too deep into the show. But it'll be great fun, and a fantastic show. And that's really what I like doing: making fantastic shows.

Physics Exploration

2006-11-06T12:35:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

Little quickie before I write about opening weekend... this came up on Digg this morning; a simulation of what a flyby of Saturn would be like at some 297,000 km/second (99% of the speed of light):

Some people are explaining it's strange visuals with Lorentz contractions, time dilations and special relativity, although I think it has a simpler, and yet just as mind-bending an answer. See this diagram and explanation I drew up (click to see a larger version):

Essentially, the jist of my explanation is that as the observer craft passes Saturn, the detector (eye) of the observer catches light reflecting from different places of Saturn's "surface", resulting in the sort of walleye vision exemplified.

Move-in, and impressive "dance"

2006-10-30T15:32:00.000-08:00

Well, we're moved into 24th Street Theatre for "Annie"! We had a very good move-in day, adjusted the major numbers to stage, and held a small Q2Q to assign some set-moving jobs. I think the show will flow nicely; I don't forsee any major difficulties; the set seems to be at least 75% (probably more like 85%) done, at least to my sight. A very good position for Monday of Tech. Lighting work will happen Wednesday, and we should have a close-to-finished Final Dress. Don't want to jinx it, but it looks like this could be the smoothest tech I've done in a long while.

So, I might not be posting very often. In the meantime, feed your desire for my wit and wisdom with this little Nugget O' Awesome.

Artistic Differences' Next Show

2006-10-27T09:29:00.000-07:00

Erik Daniells's new company, Artistic Differences, has decided on the show to follow up their fantastic Falsettos: HAIR, The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical. The show will be directed and vocal directed by Maggie Hollinbeck (Trina from Falsettos), Choreographed by Gino Platina, and Stage Managed by moi for the time being, barring a potential time conflict later on.

Performance Dates aren't settled yet, and they are shopping for a venue, but they will be having auditions on November 18th and 19th at 1:00pm and 7:00pm, respectively. Dance audition will be held on Sunday, so dancers should audition that evening. We may also call people back from Saturday to perform the dance audition.

“HAIR: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical” is exactly what it says it is. Set in 1968 against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, it invites audiences to spend an evening with a tribe of young hippies who are celebrating their youth and freedom from the social constraints of the 50’s and early 60’s, using free love and the drug culture to try and find their place in society. When Claude reveals that he’s being drafted, the tribe struggles to come to terms with the world around them.

Wild, irreverent, shocking and uplifting, “Hair” is just as relevant today, in the throes of another controversial war, as it was nearly forty years ago.

We are looking for a MULTICULTURAL cast of 16-20 young people, all strong singers who dance or move well, with high energy and the ability to be creative on stage (improv, audience interaction, puppetry, etc). Persons of all colors are strongly encouraged to audition.

WE WILL HAVE NUDITY IN THE SHOW – not everyone needs to participate, but most of the tribe should be willing to appear nude briefly at the end of Act I. One male tribe member must be willing to appear nude on stage alone in Act II.

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ

Claude (Rock Baritone/Tenor)

Berger (Tenor)

Sheila (Rock Alto/Belter)

Jeanie (Alto)

Hud (Soul/Rock Baritone/Tenor, African-American)

Woof (Rock Baritone/Tenor)

May not want to admit it but he is gay. A young animal. High energy, versatile performer, must be a natural with comedy. Hung up on Berger although he says he loves Mick Jagger. Sings “Sodomy”.

Crissy (Mezzo)

An ethereal, willowy, innocent flower child mourning a lost love - the youngest female of the tribe. Sings "Frank Mills".

Dionne (Alto/Mezzo Belt, African-American)

Sassy and lots of fun. Great with comedy and ad-lib vocals. Featured vocalist throughout the show.

Margaret Mead (Male who can sing falsetto)

Must be willing to appear as a believable older British woman who sings “My Conviction”. Good with comedy and improv. Will also be in the tribe.

TRIBE: This is not a "chorus", as the entire cast is a true ensemble. Tribe members sing many featured songs including "Aquarius", "Black Boys", "White Boys", "Walking in Space", "Electric Blues", "Dead End", etc., and play many roles in the show. Energetic, creative performers with heart and passion.

Audition Preparation: Please bring a resume and headshot stapled together, and prepare 32 bars of a song that shows rock styling (a song from another rock musical, or a popular rock song in keeping with the show’s style). Bring sheet music marked with your start and end. Everyone will be taught “Aquarius” as well.

Limbaugh vs. Fox Link Aggregation

2006-10-26T08:34:00.000-07:00

All right, here we go, boys and girls...

Michael J. Fox, famous actor afflicted with Parkinson's Disease and advocate for Stem Cell Research, recently made the following ad for the Democratic challenger in Missouri's Senate seat race:

Rush Limbaugh responded with this (Someone decided the recording would be a fantastic way to smear Limbaugh about his history):

I tried to find the video feed of Limbaugh imitating Fox's movements, and the only one I could find was in the Keith Olbermann (the Democrat's O'Reilly) piece: (The clip starts around 1:02)

(Olbermann's claim of the symptoms being a side effect of being ON the medication seems wrong to me, from what I read.)(EDIT: From what I understand now, I was wrong and Olbermann was right. It is, in fact a side effect of the medication; the condition is called dyskinesia, although Rush's latest charge of taking too much medication to exacerbate his condition is probably false, too, as the Wiki entry says it's a side effect of "chronic levodopa therapy". Is there a doctor in the house to corroborate this?)
Here's a couple links to Wikipedia:
Parkinson's Disease
Stem Cell Research

Now for the editorial bit.

Limbaugh's problem (after a pseudo-apology on the air) seems to be that Fox is allowing his disease to be exploited for political means. But isn't that Fox's right to do that? I mean, if he has this incurable chronic disease, shouldn't he have the right to raise awareness of it, to stump for causes and politicians who support its cure? Where was Rush's righteous indignation when Fox recorded his commercial for Arlen Specter in his 2004 campaign? (Starts 3:27 into the Olbermann clip) Limbaugh also has mentioned Ann Coulter's claim that the liberal left trots out "infallible" people to make their points for them. But I say that they're only infallible in the sense that people won't stand for ad hominem attacks (attacks on a person's character to undercut their argument) against them. No politician could say a bad thing about Christopher Reeve or Michael J. Fox and keep their job, so they find themselves at a loss when confronted by them. But, armed only with facts on the issues, one can have a CIVIL, logical discourse with advocates. Famous sufferers need not be the end-all, be-all, and I don't think they consider themselves that. They raise awareness, make people interested in learning about the issues. And THAT is what makes a well-informed citizenry. Not attack ads, not character debates, not slinging mud at opponents. Facts.

2006-10-25T14:26:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I think these are so funny, but I can barely suppress my giggles. Who says engineers don't have a sense of humor?

Here are some actual (alleged) logged maintenance complaints and problems as submitted by Qantas pilots, and the solution recorded by maintenance engineers. By the way, Qantas is the only major airline that has never had an accident:

(P = The problem logged by the pilot.) (S = The solution or action taken by the engineers.)

P: Left inside main tyre almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tyre.

P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.

P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.

P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.

P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.

P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.

P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.

P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That's what they're there for.

P: IFF inoperative.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.

P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you're right.

P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.

P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.

P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.

P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.

P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget.

"Lost" theory Wednesday!

2006-10-25T13:11:00.000-07:00

Entertainment Weekly's Jeff Jensen serves up some mildly credible, if fanciful, theories on "Lost" with a twist of humor on the rim. John Locke == Luke Skywalker? I still think there will be a new level of adversary discovered in this series, with an even greater mystery involving both the Others and the castaways. I expect to see more of Smokey! I also think that Locke and Desmond will find themselves at loggerheads like he and Jack found themselves, except perhaps in opposite positions. Locke will be the leader of the remaining castaways, while Desmond will be the New-Ager (I think they're setting him up as a sort of messianic figure, like Locke was in Season 1)

Also, for fellow Losties, Smokey's first significant "appearance":

Steve Carrell on Night Of Too Many Stars

2006-10-20T11:50:00.000-07:00

Recently, Comedy Central had it's "Night Of Too Many Stars", an awareness and fundraising event for autism research. Here is Steve Carrell's appeal to a small yet important segment of the viewing audience.

Once again proving in my mind that Steve Carrell is one of the great comedic geniuses of our time. That is all.

"A Chorus Line"

2006-10-19T09:27:00.000-07:00

Apparently, the new cast recording of "A Chorus Line" (with Sacramentan Mara Davi) was released on October 10th, 2006. It's hit iTunes, if anyone's interested.

Mara is one of a happy few Sacramento Community Theatre veterans to have struck it big in the world of theatre. Others include Mara's sister Melody (on tour with "42nd Street") and Kelly Daniells (in Vegas with "Mamma Mia!"). Stories like this warm the cockles of people's hearts, but they are few and far between. Far too many talented people's hopes have been crushed in the meat grinder of showbiz, while doubly (triply or quadruply) far too many untalented people have hopes of their hopes being crushed in said grinder.

Which reminds me, I love Despair.com.

Anyways, a heartfelt "Congratulations" and "Break a leg" to those who are making it.

Juan Peron reburied?

2006-10-17T17:00:00.000-07:00

(Photo courtesy of Wikipedia's Juan Peron entry)
What is it with these Perons? They keep getting buried and re-buried. Now Juan is moving to his old summer estate in San Vicente. Apparently some of his supporters were so upset about not being able to be at the ceremony, they started a riot. He should consider himself blessed, compared to the post-mortem treatment of his model, Benito Mussolini. Found through clicking around a website linked from Ray Fisher's political blog

This Pale Blue Dot

2006-10-17T09:11:00.000-07:00

NASA posted this picture yesterday:

It was taken by the Cassini Spacecraft when it moved into the shadow of Saturn for a few hours on one of it's orbits. Turns out Earth is visible in the picture in the left, just above the brightest inner rings (more visible in the original size picture). In the notes for the day, NASA referenced Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot quote from the days of Voyager I:

Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there - on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors, so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

Truer words have rarely been spoken. People don't like seeing proof of their insignifigance paraded in front of them, but it's necessary to break through the generations of arrogance to reach that little bit of humility and self-realization necessary for the next step to our maturity as a species and as individuals.

One Week Post-less

2006-10-13T11:42:00.000-07:00

So it's been about a week since the last post I made. Been a bit busy, what with Lauren's birthday last weekend and starting a new project at work. I organized a surprise party for Lauren for Monday. We spent the weekend visiting Lauren's family, then came up Monday afternoon to be surprised by friends hiding behind our kitchen counter. :-) Good fun had by all, and Lauren was granted special leave from rehearsal that night to enjoy her birthday.

I'm working on a major, all-encompassing annual change to the system at work as a business analyst. Things are moving apace, and we have a release date in early 2007, but it just seems like so much to do. Oy!

As I figured, I got "brought" (Bob...) into "Annie" with RSP as Stage Manager and Lighting Designer. I just hope this tech goes better than Full Monty's, where I slept 2 hours out of 50-some-odd around opening night. At least we won't be moving at the same time this time. :-)
But along those lines, I'm looking for someone interested in helping out in stage management (either front-of-house or backstage work). Unreliables need not apply. :-) Basically, I'm looking for someone to either call the show and run the light board from the booth or ASM "on deck" (backstage) while I call the show and run the light board. Anyone interested please let me know!

This weekend is Mendocino Travel Weekend, where I get to "spider-monkey" (as Lauren calls it) all over ocean cliffs in Northern California with my paw. Gotta try to find my old rock-climbing equipment.

Northern Lights

2006-10-06T16:00:00.000-07:00

I really want to see these in person someday. Absolutely amazing.

Groop, I implore thee, my foonting turlingdromes

2006-10-06T11:35:00.000-07:00

More Vogon Poetry from spammers:

Subject: lack the tight direction of that. And evening of Anacreon,

lack the it is dangerous. It's so called on done it Korell? Well, it's not a ruler and suggest that you haven't

Spammers: stop sending me this crap

Or I will rend thee in the gobberwarts with my blurglecruncheon
See if I don't.

Best Drunk Ever

2006-10-05T11:00:00.000-07:00

This is making the e-mail rounds among "Full Monty" castmembers.... good stuff.
"I want you to step, BUMP, step bump BUMP, 5, 6, 7, 8..."

O'Reilly says I don't know what's going on!

2006-10-04T09:27:00.000-07:00

Goodness me! Guess I'll just have to educate myself!

During the May 23 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, Bill O'Reilly asserted that "[m]any Americans ages 18 to 24 have no idea what's going on," stating that they "get their news from [Comedy Central host] Jon Stewart and their point of view from bomb-throwing entertainers." In fact, studies have shown that viewers of Comedy Central's The Daily Show with John Stewart are consistently better informed about current events than consumers of other media, and Daily Show viewers are considerably better educated than viewers of The O'Reilly Factor. Further, consumers of Fox News in general have been found to be significantly more misinformed about current events than consumers of other mainstream media.

A little something for Noël

2006-10-03T07:30:00.000-07:00

High Schoolers or Bloggers: Where does the literary talent lie?

This guy administered a timed SAT test against upwards of 500 bloggers. The results surprised me. Eye gess id beter refesh my memry on spelig n' writn.

(Ouch. That was painful to write.)

Full Monty Closes

2006-09-24T23:51:00.000-07:00

Well, it's over. This is one of the best shows I've ever been involved with, and I thoroughly enjoyed it every step of the way (except maybe the 48 hours leading up to opening night, but that's neither here nor there. Here's a video clip I took of Stephen Russell finishing up "Big Black Man". I'm tired, I go to bed now, but I will return to blog about closing night. I also have some pictures I'm uploading, and I'll caption them later.