Hey, I got 90% right, tell me what you got? Gotta’ love those links courtesy of website for Mental Floss magazine.
Here (or should it be Hear) are the bunny ears I scored from Pinballz with my redemption tickets being put to good use by a co-worker’s adorable daughter. I was informed she was hopping all around the house for a while.
Swartzwelder’s incompetent detective extraordinaire Frank Burley returns but this time his inevitable foe are the Martians. It’s not a spoiler, the title and the descriptions of particular people Burley picks up at the last bus stop (an empty corn field) make it obvious. Besides, this is a humor book, not a diehard mystery novel.
Much like The Time Machine Did It, the story begins in media res with Burley trying to make ends meet as a bus driver since we all know the private detective thing isn’t very profitable when he’s the worst. It’s a good thing Burley is stupid too, otherwise the Martians’ plans would’ve been more successful if they kidnapped a dedicated Fox News watcher.
The same humor from Time is there, the wordplay, poking fun at the well-known Noir/Sci-Fi tropes and how frustrating Burley can be to his enemies. It’s another quick read one could get through in a day if you put aside say a long afternoon. I still recommend Swartzwelder’s material regardless of the genre you prefer.
In other good news, they finally got his second novel Double Wonderful available in electronic form.
I was out sick for the last couple days so here’s a clever commercial from Canada that probably wouldn’t pass Standards & Practice even on Fox. Well, at least our neighbors from the Great White North gave us this to make up for Ted Cruz.
I may be a Liberal (or as they say in areas outside of Austin, Librul) but even I find paying taxes to be on par with mosquito bites. Nobody enjoys them (short of Ned Flanders) yet they’re an inevitable fact of life few can escape, people like near the polar caps are the only people I can think of. My point is, as I’ve grown older, learned more about infrastructure, the interconnectivity of life, hopefully become more empathetic with other humans and boned up on history.
John Oliver’s interesting and comedic piece makes a good point. Everyone loves the things civilization has, they just don’t want to pay for it, especially the One Percent who benefit the most from it. I don’t mind paying taxes, I just wish more of it went to better things such as schools, space exploration, daycare and medical research not bombs, corporate welfare and projects to ungrateful, hypocritical Teabaggers and “Christians.” The dilemmas Oliver’s team points out demonstrates how the Republican Congress continues to put America on the road to suicide. Without revenue being collected, it will be rather difficult to pay for their precious pork projects despite all the poor people they’ve starved.
…plus their cousin and Steve’s noticeable gut!
Yesterday I had a great lunch with the younger faction of the California Lowrys at Catfish Parlor. I also had the opportunity to give them their pirates who were appropriately named (by age) Sabrina, Stephanie and Choo Choo. They were quite the hit proving my point how girls love the same toys as boys, they just might have a different narrative.
Now I have an even bigger incentive to visit SF/SJ because there’s more children to spoil! Oh yeah, and a picture to cheer me up after paying the IRS today.
Not the most well-known song by the Pythons but a favorite near the middle of The Meaning of Life. I love all the astronomical facts with it concluding on how we’ve beaten the odds…that we know of.
Since the Lowrys are in town, I ran out to Terra Toys to make customized female pirates for Ethan and Kelly’s three daughters. You rarely see them in toy form, even Playmobil is guilty of focusing the girl lines toward shopping, ponies and dollhouses. Puh-leeze, girls love the same genres as the boys.
So I bought various sets to modify them all and watched various YouTube videos on how to pull the “fixed” figures apart. The only technique I got to work was a standard screwdriver to pop the hip area to remove the legs from the torso. Removing the head required needle-nosed pliers and I grabbed on the back of their heads since the tool would make slight impressions on the plastic. Thankfully, the figures have wigs to hide their newfound “scars.” A little change up with the colors and accessories, voila, three female pirates, one for each daughter. They can make up a story about how they banded to together to give Blackbeard, Captain Kidd, Captain Morgan and Long John Silver a run for the money.
I think so Jamie, but isn’t Social Media Expert just another term for Internet Marketer?
Yet another great mash-up for the Nineties’ greatest vermin comedy team as Science’s best debunkers in a world filled with crap “reality” TV and a fact-impaired electorate.
The presidential race already upon us whether we like it or not and the choices suck ass, as of today: Teabagger, Randroid and a DINO.
Mr. Woodard’s recent book makes an interesting argument about getting us to rethink the US, especially when it comes to our collective history and voting patterns. His premise isn’t original; previous historians, sociologists and authors have proposed the multiple nations within the countries theory. Woodard even referenced the popular nine-nation theory backed by GOP writer Kevin Philips who predicted the election of Reagan.
Let me give a quick synopsis. Ever since the ugly 2000 election cycle, the SCLM has continued to purport the lazy, inaccurate Red v. Blue narrative. It’s an oversimplification now and it has always been much like the American Revolution often boiling down to Revolutionaries v. Loyalists. Woodard claims there’s really 11 distinct nations. A couple tend to be traditional allies (Yankeedom and Left Coast v. Tidewater and Deep South) yet others switch coalitions depending upon the issues (Midlands, New Netherland, Far West and El Norte). One is definitely not monolithic so its members side against anyone they perceive as being the oppressive authority (Greater Appalachia).
The first ground rule Woodward lays down is the difference between a nation and a state:
This makes more sense since there’s an old joke about my former home state of Illinois, the people are divided in two main camps…Chicago and Northern Kentucky. It’s said mostly to poke fun at the people with “southern” accents, racist attitudes and White Trash behaviors. In all seriousness though, it does explain why the people of Central Illinois and vast swaths of Indiana vote against their own economic interests by electing the Republicans who destroyed the decent-paying jerbs.
I got ahead a little bit by explaining the Chicago v. Downstate feud Illinois has had for some time. I want to go over the first nine nations of North America according to Woodard:
What about the other two, the book says there’s 11. The remaining two were formed as the US expanded toward the Pacific Ocean.
Obviously there’s a whole lot more to the 11 nations, you’ll have to read the book for yourself to see what the other details are in the “characters” of their residents.
After Woodard establishes the core nations’ backgrounds, he gives his interpretation of American history through their interactions with each other and outside states. I already knew the American Revolution’s breakdown: New England and a lukewarm South fighting England with its Hessian auxiliaries. I learned that New York was more ambivalent, practically sympathetic to the Loyalists. The Greater Appalachian types also used the conflict to settle old scores against whoever they thought was screwing them locally. One thing Greater Appalachia did agree on was the American Indians residing on land they wanted. Explains why Andrew Jackson violated a Supreme Court decision to force the Cherokee Nation to relocate to Oklahoma.
This is followed by the US’s struggle to become a cohesive state: the Whiskey Rebellion, Jackson’s election, the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Gilded Age and the remainder of the 20th century. One interesting argument he makes is the area/voting bloc collectively known as Dixie didn’t appear until the Reconstruction due to Greater Appalachia being divided by state lines in the Civil War. I have serious doubts the US was going to split into three or more countries before the attack on Fort Sumter. Even Lincoln had a wait-and-see attitude toward the Confederacy at the beginning.
I do take issue about some things in Woodard’s claims with the character of Yankeedom, New Amsterdam and Midlands; he downplays the influence of immigration. He says they conformed to the originators. I beg to differ especially when it comes to New England, the Irish Catholics certainly don’t share Unitarian values. Due to my dislike of “Dixie,” I would say he is spot on with the Deep South and Tidewater in their continued racist tendencies paired with the spreading Ayn Rand worship from the Far West. He also discounts any real pockets of nations within nations. For example, Austin is practically an island of Yankeedom in a sea of Greater Appalachia/Deep South. Why? Until recently, Austin tended to fight more for preserving the common good while the Texas Legislature has done everything to dismantle Austin’s laws to make us more like Houston/Dallas (both toilets with uninhibited “growth.”) which follow the Greater Appalachian mindset of the Earth being disposable. Black Americans get short shrift too. I highly doubt they share the values of Tidewater and Deep South beyond religious devotion.
So which nation do I belong to? Personally, I feel I’m a Yankee by conviction with touches of the Left Coast since the environment is important. As FDR said, forests are the world’s lungs, it would be wise to preserve them. I did grow up in an area overrun by Greater Appalachian which I completely agree with Woodward about yet the Central Illinois I come from still has elements of Midlands, the original inhabitants until the were outnumbered by migrating Kentuckians in WWII. My family definitely fit the Midlands pattern but I think it’s more of a generational matter with issues such as Civil Rights: (Grandma said MLK was a Communist), Marriage Equality (I clearly remember my mother openly opposing the ERA movement). While they aren’t willing to sick their necks out as much as I will, they openly despise the Republican party thanks to its past association with the Know-Nothings.
Woodward gave me much to ponder and reconsider. I have often agreed with what is labeled the Marxist Theory of history, class (or economic) struggles are a huge factor driving events. Woodward entertains it, especially with Greater Appalachia’s violent patterns, New Netherlands’ sociopathic tendencies to wreck the economy and Deep South’s hostility toward any who question their authority. It’s not the Rosetta Stone about America’s internal quarrels. It is a good start nonetheless.
I named him so because he’s my little buddy, plus he’s small and I think the other strays pick on him. Gilligan could’ve been somebody’s abandoned pet due to his friendliness but in my experience, it isn’t a guarantee. How else did cats become our companions if some weren’t willing to take a chance on us.
I was reluctant to replace my last beard trimmer of eight years but the key plastic “rake” part was losing teeth faster than a meth addict. While is just browsing at Target, boom, I spotted this amongst the other male-hygenie products. The “made in the USA” label was the clincher to push me over. There was a missing caveat, the plastic “rakes” were made in China. Well, if the lion’s share is American, I can live with it.
Spotted at Dragon’s Lair and worn by a dude who wasn’t me!
We’re close to having that Hollywood ending in Pandemic!
The Nerd High Holidays are now officially upon us! First up is the celebration put together by Nerd/Gaming icons Felicia Day and Wil Wheaton three years ago. Now there’s a difference between tabletop and roleplaying games before you scratch your heads, thinking it’s a D&D holiday. No. Although traditional roleplaying games (aka D&D) are played on a table(top), they don’t fall under this category, plus they get celebrated at various conventions and have their own holiday in June, Free RPG Day. Tabletop is more about boardgames but the celebration is to introduce people to lesser-known stuff: Settlers of Catan, Pandemic, Love Letter and Ticket to Ride. Card games and traditional stuff is allowed but again, the idea is to try out new stuff, the worst that could happen is you’ll like the game and buy it.
I managed to remember to attend this year and support my local place Rogues Gallery. I missed out last year since it overlapped with Record Store Day and I missed the Nerd memo in 2013. I didn’t get to play as much as I would’ve liked due to unforeseen delays (aka I’m a slow exerciser). Still, I tested out Castellan, Love Letter (Batman edition) and Pandemic. The first was OK, nothing compelling. Love Letter was impressive! My store’s podcast raved about the original and Batman version (there’s also a Hobbit one coming out). I was bewildered. How can this game function with only 16 cards? It does and does it well, so I need to pick it up. Pandemic was another I was stoked to finally try. Unlike most games, it’s cooperative, nobody wins if the human race is decimated by outbreaks. I didn’t get to see how it ended for I had tickets to the Austin Symphony. I didn’t get to play any X-Wing despite packing all my gear in the car. Next year I guess.
So if you have kids and need a nice activity on a Saturday, watch your calendars for next year’s celebration.
Next up…Record Store Day on April 18. This year’s ambassador is Dave Grohl.
What were the odds that I’d get to see Bad Religion, an openly Atheist Punk band with 35 years under its belt on Easter? Pretty slim but none of us believe in divine anything. The bass player Jay Bentley was in the spirit dressed as the Easter Bunny, he never took the darn thing off the whole evening.
Normally, I’m indifferent to Punk or whatever passes for it. I was a little kid when the original movement happened in the last Seventies. It was puzzling at my age but the reality of the forerunners never meant it to last directly or indirectly. You can only be noisy and angry for a so long. The punks who survived learned how to play their instruments to continue their careers: PiL, Black Flag, X and the Damned. Those who didn’t either died from booze and drugs or moved on. Bad Religion on the other hand, endured with their sound evolving. What makes them even more unique is the band’s lead singer Greg Graffin. When he isn’t recording/touring, he teaches Science at UCLA because he has a PhD in Biology. Even on stage he looks more like a teacher than a rock star. I was drawn into Bad Religion’s sphere well over a decade ago with their album The Empire Strikes First which wasn’t all anti-Iraq tunes (“Let Them Eat War”), it pondered the social injustice at home (“Los Angeles is Burning”).
They definitely didn’t disappoint live plus it was my first show at the relatively new Emo’s, formerly the Back Room. The stage was moved and the general area got expanded. The lack of decent parking has remained, maybe this will improve as East Austin is being gentrified from the crappiness I knew 21 years ago. These guys can still play better than Metallica. The biggest surprise for me was the ratio of women to men. It wasn’t quite even, more like 55 men:45 women would be my estimate. I haven’t been to many Punk-like shows overall but it’s often a male-dominated genre due to the anger, speed and loudness elements. Throw in Atheism and you’ve got a sausage party and/or Rush concert (except replace Atheism with “Objectivism”).
Would I see them again? Sure. Do I recommend them? Depends upon the friend/associate. I would have to be reluctant in general. They’re a very acquired taste. I may get that chance, Bad Religion plans to have a new record out this year.
