...and so on. But just to show how weird the economy can be, the local Macy's store this past weekend had "we're hiring" placards prominently displayed near the entrances. No help to those 7,000 others, poor devils.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
And, Honestly, That's Not How You Spell "Honestly"
Today's GeekMail from my pals at Geeks.com. They sell great stuff, but aren't such great proofreaders...
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Almost Like a Poem
This appeared this morning in one of the office inboxes that I tend. The subject line in the queue was
which seemed pretty unlikely. The sender, hereaway@calmontblick.de, was of course unknown to me--largely, I suspect, because he or she is nonexistent--but I was in the right sort of mood so I gave it a click. Here's the result:
Wow. That's almost like poetry, isn't it? No idea what it means, but half the time I feel that way about poetry, too, so no matter.
No, I didn't click on the link, nor the two attachments that it came with. I wasn't that bored!
- Message Alert - You Have 1 Important Unread Messsage
which seemed pretty unlikely. The sender, hereaway@calmontblick.de, was of course unknown to me--largely, I suspect, because he or she is nonexistent--but I was in the right sort of mood so I gave it a click. Here's the result:
- From: "Geimer Nosal"
To: +++++++++++++++++
Subject: Message Alert - You Have 1 Important Unread Messsage
Date: Unknown date
Index | Reply | Reply all | Forward | Print
How To Impress Your Girlfriennd
Click HERE
The validity of experience, but the very existence & inside,
lay it in the dish with vinegar, wine, she really meant.
she did not know that but two to go, she said with a pout.
therefore in order knew that billy could turn out good storieshe.
Wow. That's almost like poetry, isn't it? No idea what it means, but half the time I feel that way about poetry, too, so no matter.
No, I didn't click on the link, nor the two attachments that it came with. I wasn't that bored!
Monday, February 09, 2009
I've Heard it Said
Some more of the quotations I collect like bubble-gum cards. (Do bubble-gum cards even come with bubble-gum any more?) Most if not all are from the always-excellent A Word a Day.
Of all plagues with which mankind is cursed, ecclesiastic tyranny's the worst. -Daniel Defoe, novelist and journalist (1659?-1731)
He shall mark our goings, question whence we came,
Set his guards about us, as in Freedom's name.
He shall peep and mutter, and night shall bring
Watchers 'neath our window, lest we mock the King.
-Rudyard Kipling, author, Nobel laureate (1865-1936)
Patriotism is a kind of religion; it is the egg from which wars are hatched. -Guy de Maupassant, short story writer and novelist (1850-1893)
Journalists do not believe the lies of politicians, but they do repeat them -- which is even worse! -Michel Colucci, comedian and actor (1944-1986)
Men build too many walls and not enough bridges. -Isaac Newton, philosopher and mathematician (1642-1727)
The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here and you are out there. -Yasutani Roshi, Zen master (1885-1973)
What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another. -Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948)
Language is an anonymous, collective and unconscious art; the result of the creativity of thousands of generations. -Edward Sapir, anthropologist and linguist (1884-1939)
Journalism is publishing what someone doesn't want us to know, the rest is propaganda. -Horacio Verbitsky, journalist (b. 1942)
I am not only a pacifist but a militant pacifist. I am willing to fight for peace. Nothing will end war unless the people themselves refuse to go to war. -Albert Einstein, physicist, Nobel laureate (1879-1955)
I am a part of all that I have met. -Alfred, Lord Tennyson, poet (1809-1892)
Conscience is a dog that does not stop us from passing but that we cannot prevent from barking. -Nicolas de Chamfort, writer (1741-1794)
There are two things to aim at in life; first to get what you want, and after that to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second. -Logan Pearsall Smith, essayist (1865-1946)
There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it's only a hundred billion. It's less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers. -Richard Feynman, physicist, Nobel laureate (1918-1988)
I don't trust a man who uses the word evil eighteen times in ten minutes. If you're half evil, nothing soothes you more than to think the person you are opposed to is totally evil. -Norman Mailer, author (1923-2007)
If the truth doesn't save us, what does that say about us? -Lois McMaster Bujold, writer (1949- )
True remorse is never just a regret over consequences; it is a regret over motive. -Mignon McLaughlin, journalist and author (1913-1983)
Corporation: n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. -Ambrose Bierce, author and editor (1842-1914)
Almost all our faults are more pardonable than the methods we resort to to hide them. -Francois de La Rochefoucauld, writer (1613-1680)
Our memories are card indexes consulted and then returned in disorder by authorities whom we do not control. -Cyril Connolly, critic and editor (1903-1974)
One should count each day a separate life. -Lucius Annaeus Seneca, philosopher (BCE 3-65 CE)
What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy? -Ursula K. Le Guin, author (b. 1929)
Of all plagues with which mankind is cursed, ecclesiastic tyranny's the worst. -Daniel Defoe, novelist and journalist (1659?-1731)
He shall mark our goings, question whence we came,
Set his guards about us, as in Freedom's name.
He shall peep and mutter, and night shall bring
Watchers 'neath our window, lest we mock the King.
-Rudyard Kipling, author, Nobel laureate (1865-1936)
Patriotism is a kind of religion; it is the egg from which wars are hatched. -Guy de Maupassant, short story writer and novelist (1850-1893)
Journalists do not believe the lies of politicians, but they do repeat them -- which is even worse! -Michel Colucci, comedian and actor (1944-1986)
Men build too many walls and not enough bridges. -Isaac Newton, philosopher and mathematician (1642-1727)
The fundamental delusion of humanity is to suppose that I am here and you are out there. -Yasutani Roshi, Zen master (1885-1973)
What we are doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and to one another. -Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948)
Language is an anonymous, collective and unconscious art; the result of the creativity of thousands of generations. -Edward Sapir, anthropologist and linguist (1884-1939)
Journalism is publishing what someone doesn't want us to know, the rest is propaganda. -Horacio Verbitsky, journalist (b. 1942)
I am not only a pacifist but a militant pacifist. I am willing to fight for peace. Nothing will end war unless the people themselves refuse to go to war. -Albert Einstein, physicist, Nobel laureate (1879-1955)
I am a part of all that I have met. -Alfred, Lord Tennyson, poet (1809-1892)
Conscience is a dog that does not stop us from passing but that we cannot prevent from barking. -Nicolas de Chamfort, writer (1741-1794)
There are two things to aim at in life; first to get what you want, and after that to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second. -Logan Pearsall Smith, essayist (1865-1946)
There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it's only a hundred billion. It's less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers. -Richard Feynman, physicist, Nobel laureate (1918-1988)
I don't trust a man who uses the word evil eighteen times in ten minutes. If you're half evil, nothing soothes you more than to think the person you are opposed to is totally evil. -Norman Mailer, author (1923-2007)
If the truth doesn't save us, what does that say about us? -Lois McMaster Bujold, writer (1949- )
True remorse is never just a regret over consequences; it is a regret over motive. -Mignon McLaughlin, journalist and author (1913-1983)
Corporation: n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. -Ambrose Bierce, author and editor (1842-1914)
Almost all our faults are more pardonable than the methods we resort to to hide them. -Francois de La Rochefoucauld, writer (1613-1680)
Our memories are card indexes consulted and then returned in disorder by authorities whom we do not control. -Cyril Connolly, critic and editor (1903-1974)
One should count each day a separate life. -Lucius Annaeus Seneca, philosopher (BCE 3-65 CE)
What sane person could live in this world and not be crazy? -Ursula K. Le Guin, author (b. 1929)
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Recycling at the Washington Post
Here are two screen shots from this morning's Washington Post. (Hours before Tom Daschle threw in the towel.) Note the photos:
Well, I suppose those news photos get to be expensive, and if you can reuse them so much the better in a tough economy.
Well, I suppose those news photos get to be expensive, and if you can reuse them so much the better in a tough economy.
Monday, February 02, 2009
Recession? What Recession?
This at online.wsj.com:
- Macy's to Cut 7,000 Jobs
Macy's Inc. said it will cut about 7,000 positions, or 4% of its work force, and slash its dividend, as the retailer looks to lower expenses amid slumping sales.
The largest U.S. department-store chain also announced plans to expand a decentralization strategy that localizes store offerings.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
One Year Ago (6)
It is impossible now to recapture, let alone recount, the thoughts and emotions that washed over and through me as I sat on the edge of that old bed with my father's cold hand in mine. Sorrow that he had died alone. Relief that he had died in his own bed, in relatively good health. Sadness that there were so many unsaid things. Joy that we had always been close and had grown even closer in the years since Mom's death. Shock at realizing that, at the most fundamental level, I was now alone. the two people who had always been the constants in my existence now both departed. Despair at thinking that there were so many other things, so many more things I should have done. I should have known. I should have been there.
And yet it is as it is.
And my father was an intensely proud, independent, and private man. If he had been given a choice, this would have been it: In his own home, in his own bed, quietly.
Still. As I would say to my brother when I called him a few minutes later, I wasn't ready for this.
A year later I'm still not.
And yet it is as it is.
And my father was an intensely proud, independent, and private man. If he had been given a choice, this would have been it: In his own home, in his own bed, quietly.
Still. As I would say to my brother when I called him a few minutes later, I wasn't ready for this.
A year later I'm still not.
One Year Ago (5)
Newspaper on the front step. Not a good sign.
I use my key to enter the locked garage, and knock on the back door. I use my key on the backdoor, calling out as I enter the kitchen.
The beep of the answering machine in the back room, my old room. And the obnoxious hiss of Dad's CPAP machine, in my brother's old room. Otherwise silence.
Two more bad signs.
I move back to my parents' room. Shades are drawn and the light is cold and dim. I come upon the best of the worst-case scenarios: Dad in bed, looking for all the world like he is merely sleeping, his Rosary in hand. It was his practice to pray the Rosary at bedtime. One might think that he would suddenly awaken, but of course he does not. He is gone. He is cold.
That, perhaps, is the most striking thing as I take his hand in mine: His hand is cold. My father's hands were always warm.
I sit with him awhile now. There is no longer any hurry.
I use my key to enter the locked garage, and knock on the back door. I use my key on the backdoor, calling out as I enter the kitchen.
The beep of the answering machine in the back room, my old room. And the obnoxious hiss of Dad's CPAP machine, in my brother's old room. Otherwise silence.
Two more bad signs.
I move back to my parents' room. Shades are drawn and the light is cold and dim. I come upon the best of the worst-case scenarios: Dad in bed, looking for all the world like he is merely sleeping, his Rosary in hand. It was his practice to pray the Rosary at bedtime. One might think that he would suddenly awaken, but of course he does not. He is gone. He is cold.
That, perhaps, is the most striking thing as I take his hand in mine: His hand is cold. My father's hands were always warm.
I sit with him awhile now. There is no longer any hurry.
One Year Ago (4)
And then you start to make the lists. There are, perhaps, a hundred things that could have gone wrong. You sort through them, on the two-mile drive--the best case, the worst case.
Best case: He fell asleep in his chair. He'd been complaining about waking in the wee hours and not being able to return to sleep, then being tired all day: Perhaps he sat down in front of the TV and dozed off, then didn't hear the phone(s) because the TV was too loud. Maybe you'll come in the back door and he'll awake with a start and you'll both have a laugh.
Worst case: He fell down the basement stairs and broke a leg, a hip...a neck. Or he had a stroke and has been unable to get to the phone. The thought of him having lain there injured or incapacitated for hours or longer is intolerable. Noon-hour traffic is heavy and slow.
Best case: He fell asleep in his chair. He'd been complaining about waking in the wee hours and not being able to return to sleep, then being tired all day: Perhaps he sat down in front of the TV and dozed off, then didn't hear the phone(s) because the TV was too loud. Maybe you'll come in the back door and he'll awake with a start and you'll both have a laugh.
Worst case: He fell down the basement stairs and broke a leg, a hip...a neck. Or he had a stroke and has been unable to get to the phone. The thought of him having lain there injured or incapacitated for hours or longer is intolerable. Noon-hour traffic is heavy and slow.
One Year Ago (3)
The day, as I recall, was gray, steely, cold but not bitingly so. Concerned at Dad's lateness, I pulled out my phone and dialed my dad's house. Answering machine. I called his cell phone. Voice mail. I even called his OnStar number, which he didn't usually activate unless he was planning to be on the road--which seldom happened anymore.
Concern now turned to...what? Not worry, exactly, for I now knew that something was completely and seriously wrong. The question now was only what I would find when I went to the house.
I turned and went down the hill to my office to retrieve my things. I knew I wouldn't be back that day.
Concern now turned to...what? Not worry, exactly, for I now knew that something was completely and seriously wrong. The question now was only what I would find when I went to the house.
I turned and went down the hill to my office to retrieve my things. I knew I wouldn't be back that day.
One Year Ago (2)
It was at about this point one year ago that I began to become concerned at my dad's lateness. Had we pushed the meeting time back? Sometimes we did, if he wanted to attend Mass. But I didn't recall that we had discussed it during the week.
One Year Ago
It was about this time, one year ago, that I was heading up the hill to the parking lot where my dad would pick me up for the weekly lunch date we had had since my mom's death some four years previous.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Now They're Getting Somewhere!
I have chronicled in the past (here and here, not to mention here) the oddities surrounding my subscription to the Daily Brief from The Huffington Post. Well, today's edition popped up in my mailbox a couple of minutes ago--12:03 p.m. CST, as it happens, which is allegedly the same time it was sent. Interesting. Well, no, not especially, but it is curious. A little.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
So it's Not Just the Catholic Church, Then?
This at CNN.com:
- Disgraced pastor Haggard facing new sex allegations
By Eric Marrapodi and Jim Spellman
CNN
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (CNN) -- A megachurch paid a 20-year-old man to keep silent about a sexual relationship he had with disgraced evangelical pastor Ted Haggard, a senior church pastor said.
Haggard, who was fired amid allegations that he used drugs and patronized a male prostitute in 2006, had a sexual relationship with a second man -- a 20-year-old volunteer at his megachurch, the Rev. Brady Boyd, a senior pastor at the church, said Monday.
The church agreed to pay the man in exchange for his pledges not to talk publicly about the relationship, Boyd said, referring to a settlement reached by the man's lawyer and the church's insurance company. Under the settlement, the church provided the man money to pay his college tuition, moving expenses and counseling, Boyd said.
Here's my favorite part:
- "This was compassionate assistance. It was to help him move forward, not a settlement to keep him quiet," said Boyd, senior pastor at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Oh, uh-huh. First the church "agreed to pay the man in exchange for his pledges not to talk publicly about the relationship," but then it's "compassionate assistance" and certainly not "a settlement to keep him quiet"--no, no, nothing like that! Where would you get such an idea?
So. A sex scandal. Embarrassment. The church, imbued as it is with Christ's message of compassion and forgiveness, kicks Haggard--its founder!--to the curb (he evidently got to keep his six-figure salary for a year, though, but--get this!--Haggard's settlement with the church included his agreeing to "leave the Colorado Springs area"...that is, they not only don't want him in their church anymore, they don't want him around town!). The church starts spreading money around to keep everything hush-hush (Haggard's settlement included his agreeing to not speak publicly about the event for one year, according to CNN)--"compassionate assistance" indeed!
And I thought my church had the market cornered on that sort of stuff!
One might think that the problems of guys like Ted Haggard et al. would lay to rest the bizarre notion that somehow the Catholic Church's adherence to celebacy for its priests is to blame for sexual misconduct in its ranks. But of course it won't.
Getting Closer
Well, this is some improvement: Today's Daily Brief from The Huffington Post actually arrived today, sometime between 4:30 this afternoon and 7:45 this evening. It claims to have been mailed at 11:53 this morning, though, so it's still taking the scenic route to get here.
Important Safety Note!
A headline today at Reuters:
- Octuplets stun doctors at California hospital
More Strangeness from HuffPo. Or Is it the Same Strangeness?
I mentioned the other day that weird stuff was going on with my Huffington Post Daily Brief: In a nutshell, I had written them to ask why it comes so damn late, and the "response," if that's the word I want, was for it to stop entirely.
As predicted, I went to the website and re-subscribed. And this morning when I logged in to my e-mail, there was the Daily Brief waiting for me.
Yesterday's Daily Brief.
I was online until about 10:30 last night, local time, and logged in again at about 6:30 this morning, so the Monday Daily Brief arrived somewhere in that time slot...late enough that it should more accurately be labeled the Tuesday edition.
According to the header information, for whatever it may be worth, the brief was sent yesterday at 12:03 p.m.--three minutes after noon. I don't know whose time zone, but assuming it was somewhere in the continental United States, that means the thing floats around in the ether for upward of ten hours before it's delivered to my mailbox. I would blame my e-mail provider, except that this happens pretty much every day, which causes me to suspect it's an issue closer to HuffPo's end of the pipe.
But I guess that's just how it is. No point trying to communicate the concern to the folks at Huffington Post: My previous attempt not only generated no action, it seems to have prompted them to pull the plug on my subscription entirely.
Strangeness indeed.
As predicted, I went to the website and re-subscribed. And this morning when I logged in to my e-mail, there was the Daily Brief waiting for me.
Yesterday's Daily Brief.
I was online until about 10:30 last night, local time, and logged in again at about 6:30 this morning, so the Monday Daily Brief arrived somewhere in that time slot...late enough that it should more accurately be labeled the Tuesday edition.
According to the header information, for whatever it may be worth, the brief was sent yesterday at 12:03 p.m.--three minutes after noon. I don't know whose time zone, but assuming it was somewhere in the continental United States, that means the thing floats around in the ether for upward of ten hours before it's delivered to my mailbox. I would blame my e-mail provider, except that this happens pretty much every day, which causes me to suspect it's an issue closer to HuffPo's end of the pipe.
But I guess that's just how it is. No point trying to communicate the concern to the folks at Huffington Post: My previous attempt not only generated no action, it seems to have prompted them to pull the plug on my subscription entirely.
Strangeness indeed.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Strangeness from the Huffington Post
For quite some time now I have been receiving and, mostly, enjoying The Daily Brief from the Huffington Post. But in the past couple of weeks I have noticed that my "dailies" are arriving later and later...so late, in fact, that they haven't yet shown up my my mailbox when I decide to call it a day, and in fact arrive at some point late at night or in the wee hours of the following day.
When I began to note that I was reading a lot of Huffington posts on Digg.com which I hadn't yet seen in my mailbox, and would usually receive the following day, I dropped the Huffington folks a friendly, I thought, inquiry. Maybe there was an issue with their delivery service. Maybe there was an issue with my e-mail provider. Maybe they would like to know about it.
Maybe not.
I sent my query just over a week ago--Friday, January 16--and in short order received a message headed "Thanks for Contacting HuffPost."
And that's the last I've ever heard from them.
No, no--I wasn't expecting a reply. In fact, it says right in the "Thanks for Contacting HuffPost" message that I won't be getting one, and that's fine.
What I mean is, they've quit sending the Daily Brief.
Is that weird or what? I write to enquire as to the lateness of the Daily Brief, and the response is to terminate the subscription? No, it's weird, all right.
Dear Huffington Post People: Now the Daily Brief is even later than before!
Well, obviously, I can go back to their site and just subscribe again and see how it goes. But how strange.
So now on top of the mystery of the later-and-later Daily Briefs, there's the mystery of who decided to pull the plug on me, and why.
This is no way to make friends.
When I began to note that I was reading a lot of Huffington posts on Digg.com which I hadn't yet seen in my mailbox, and would usually receive the following day, I dropped the Huffington folks a friendly, I thought, inquiry. Maybe there was an issue with their delivery service. Maybe there was an issue with my e-mail provider. Maybe they would like to know about it.
Maybe not.
I sent my query just over a week ago--Friday, January 16--and in short order received a message headed "Thanks for Contacting HuffPost."
And that's the last I've ever heard from them.
No, no--I wasn't expecting a reply. In fact, it says right in the "Thanks for Contacting HuffPost" message that I won't be getting one, and that's fine.
What I mean is, they've quit sending the Daily Brief.
Is that weird or what? I write to enquire as to the lateness of the Daily Brief, and the response is to terminate the subscription? No, it's weird, all right.
Dear Huffington Post People: Now the Daily Brief is even later than before!
Well, obviously, I can go back to their site and just subscribe again and see how it goes. But how strange.
So now on top of the mystery of the later-and-later Daily Briefs, there's the mystery of who decided to pull the plug on me, and why.
This is no way to make friends.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Whistleblower: Bush's NSA spied on EVERYONE
With video: Rampant spying, especially targeting of journalists. The NSA had access to ALL YOUR COMMUNICATIONS, regardless of who you were or whether or not you were communicating internationally.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
1,000 Words
The moment we've all been waiting for. Well, most of us, anyway.
W has left the building. Thank you and good night.
W has left the building. Thank you and good night.
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